Work/life balance and career growth were negatively impacted by poor leadership decisions and lack of subject-matter expertise within team management.
Work/Life Balance
The team is led by someone, who had prior connections with the CMO, without sufficient background in Marketing Operations, which creates ongoing inefficiencies and misalignment. Foundational concepts (such as standardized UTMs and best practices) often have to be re-explained to leadership, slowing progress and creating unnecessary frustration.
Leadership initiated two major platform migrations within a single year - one (the MAP) being expedited - driven primarily by short-term cost savings. Both were undertaken without adequate planning or resourcing. At the same time, leadership removed internal project management support, only to later rely on external consulting support—consuming budget and hours that would be better spent on the technical and strategic execution of the work.
Leadership creates an environment that is consistently reactive rather than strategic. Every issue—large or small—is treated as urgent or an emergency, which contributes to constant interruptions and an unsustainable work pace.
Career Growth
As with many large organizations, advancement can already be slow, but career growth on this team is particularly limited due to leadership constraints.
Team leadership lacks both the skill set and the willingness to invest in employee development or to effectively advocate for the team’s work and impact, and takes little to no accountability for these gaps. Most leadership effort is directed toward managing delivery on overcommitted initiatives, leaving no time for mentorship, growth planning, or skill development for direct reports.
Additionally, there is a limited understanding of the scope and complexity required for core Marketing Operations work. As a result, leadership is unable to effectively communicate the effort and value of team members’ contributions to senior stakeholders. This makes it difficult for team members to gain visibility, recognition, or meaningful opportunities for advancement.