In many of our conversations, especially over the last few years, we are seeing an increasing need for companies to do more with less. This challenge is backed up by recent research on financial services organisations. The Keegan Adams 2025 annual report “The Evolving Workplace – Trends in Employment, Benefits, Recruitment and Salaries” shows that businesses are reporting significant pressure to do more with less due to instability in economic conditions and growing business costs.
We’ve heard plenty of leaders saying that cost pressures are pushing companies to promote people into leadership roles before they’re ready, simply because they appear to be cheaper options – at least until the fallout from inadequate leadership becomes far more expensive than the salary savings. Meanwhile, organisations are finding that salary costs continue to rise while profits remain stagnant or aren’t increasing at the desired rate, creating an even tighter squeeze on resources.
So it appears we have a critical gap between the business demand for increased efficiency, and the actual leadership capabilities needed to deliver increased profits, all preferably without destroying teams in the process.
So what’s causing this?
The drive for greater efficiency is completely normal and should always be a priority – businesses need to remain competitive and can’t afford to waste resources in any way.
Yes, economic conditions are volatile (and I’m sure a few key Presidents aren’t helping!), and that’s not entirely negative if it pushes us to eliminate genuine waste and inefficiency.
The source of this challenge generally comes down to outdated assumptions about what actually creates performance, mixed with leadership methods that simply haven’t adapted for today’s workplace.
Consider the changes to the workplace landscape over just the past few years:
- Different financial pressures – largely driven by global uncertainty and escalating business costs;
- Different generational expectations about purposeful work and life integration;
- Different understanding about what represents “effective” work versus mere activity (people still seem to have an obsession with being busy about being busy);
- Different technological options that promise productivity but often add complexity;
- Greater insights from neuroscience and psychology research on what drives high performing teams.
And I’m sure you can identify many more significant changes.
As just one illustration, the Keegan Adams report reveals that leaders are spending excessive time in internal meetings and non-core activities that frequently lack engagement and effectiveness.
Another critical finding from the report shows that 54% of employees still working for organisations where colleagues had been made redundant experienced negative impacts on their mental health. So if leaders believe they can adopt the approach of “get on the bus or get out” and expect those remaining on the bus to dedicate all their energy credits entirely to peak performance – well – good luck with that.
Our assumptions shape our actions, so it’s hardly surprising that when strategic implementation and performance outcomes aren’t progressing as rapidly as leaders hope, many are left scratching their heads – of course the strategy makes so much sense says the leaders. Remember we are dealing with human brains so some neuroscience is required.
So how do we address this (or any) efficiency challenge?
Well you are already halfway there, you now recognise that doing more with less isn’t simply about your technology stack and process improvements. This goes a long way to understanding that one of the most underutilised resources to help people achieve more with less is their own cognitive capacity.
First, educate people about their mental energy (energy credits) and how to maximise it:
If every person in your organisation gained an additional 1-2 hours of productive time per day – you could boost capacity in your business by around 20-25%. For every 4-5 people you currently employ it would be equivalent to adding an extra team member at no cost. (Yes please!) It’s about equipping people with the frameworks to approach their work in ways that feel more manageable.
Old school approaches of tackling the next most pressing task, or simply grinding through something until completion, and failing to understand how to refresh your cognitive capacity throughout the day, are draining companies millions in reduced productivity and stress-related expenses.
More understanding of how to optimise your four hours a day of heavy cognitive energy, work in the right stress zone, and work with your natural attention span instead of against it, will work wonders to increase efficiencies.
Second, dramatically cut wasteful meeting time and repair decision-making systems:
We are supporting leaders to slash their time in internal meetings by 50% and the effect on their energy and results is remarkable. So many ineffective meetings are driven by unclear ownership, poor decision-making frameworks and processes, and a serious absence of psychological safety.
We observe too much false consensus where people are so concerned with everyone being included and agreeing with each other, that decision making, creativity and breakthrough thinking gets suffocated. Instead we need to make disagreement normal and create opportunities for people to share their genuine thoughts before others in the room have influenced them.
It’s always wise to tackle your meeting habits early on, before productivity becomes a crisis.
So for instance, challenge every regular meeting with this basic question: “What particular decision must be made or result achieved? Who are the essential people required? Could this be a brief communication instead?”
This applies equally to the never-ending consultation processes that many confuse with inclusive leadership. Aargh.
Don’t soften it – be direct that asking everyone’s input on everything isn’t inclusive leadership, it’s paralysis by committee. More accountability and clarity please.
Results-focused frameworks are also an excellent method to ensure people are crystal clear on the deliverables they need to create rather than just appearing productive.
In good news…
The Keegan Adams research supports that more companies are recognising the necessity to develop their leaders through enhanced coaching and development. And we would absolutely support that at NEP. We are thrilled with the number of organisations understanding this requirement has two components…
First they are acknowledging the need to develop their most senior leaders who have been in leadership roles for years, but haven’t updated how they lead for the evolving workplace environment, and to integrate more neuroscience and psychological insights on high performing teams into their leadership methods.
The second aspect we are excited about, is that companies are finally understanding the importance of investing in their emerging leaders. You know – the individuals who got promoted because they excelled at their role, and also because they were possibly more cost-effective than external hires, and received absolutely zero guidance on how to lead people. Just to be crystal clear – that’s not poor leadership from them – that’s inadequate leadership from those above them. (Or worse, senior leaders are trying to coach these people how to lead like it’s still 2010!)
Effective leaders understand that you must develop your own change leadership capabilities, and guide others to do likewise, particularly since the typical human mind wasn’t designed for the pace of change many organisations are demanding.
In many cases, established leaders need to unlearn and relearn.
Why should addressing this be an urgent priority?
The business environment is becoming increasingly demanding of instant results and continuous adaptation, and this is generating unsustainable stress in organisations across all sectors.
The more we can support leaders to unlearn and relearn leadership requirements for today’s workplace the easier it’s going to be to do more with less.
Poor performers are now facing increased scrutiny (Amen to that!). It’s significantly more difficult to retain your top talent if you continue accepting substandard performance. The research confirms what we observe constantly – performance-focused strategies are now more vital than ever. And leadership needs to evolve to make sure clear expectations are set, and held to account. These are not difficult conversations, they are just conversations when leaders do better.
Overall, economic uncertainty, antiquated leadership methods, inefficient meeting practices, and insufficient knowledge about cognitive energy optimisation are just some factors have gotten many organisations into the “we need to do more with less” pickle.
Leadership capabilities must evolve. We now need to ensure we understand how to achieve real productivity improvements without exhausting our best people. What was effective in 2019 is outdated – abandon those approaches asap.
One of the easiest ways to do more with less, is with better leadership to optimise everyone’s cognitive energy for clearer outcomes. We can get so much more efficiency from the brains in the organisation with neuroscience-backed frameworks.
While using more technology and AI is sexy to help us do more with less, getting 20-25% more out of your existing humans is a massive opportunity for doing more with less.
There were so many more valuable insights in the Keegan Adams report referenced throughout this article. If you would like to access a copy (and I strongly recommend you do) reach out to the fabulous Claire Tate, Keegan Adams’ Managing Director & Co-Founder.
If you’re facing challenges with change management mindset and want to learn more about implementing these approaches in your organisation, book a Performance Call.
Of course, if you’d like to find out more about how to improve performance with less effort why not either book a Performance Call or sign up for our next 20/20 session or one of our open workshops here.