Growth team

You don’t grow in isolation—you grow through people, and how well those people can execute. When we talk about "team readiness," we’re not assessing individuals—we’re assessing whether the system enables good people to do great work.

I’ve worked with dozens of B2B teams over the years, and I’ve seen this pattern too often: smart, capable marketers and salespeople slowed down by unclear ownership, missing skills, or decisions that get stuck at the top. This chapter is about spotting those patterns early—without blame, without finger-pointing.

This is open source growth. The goal isn’t to ask, “who’s not performing?” It’s to ask, “why can’t this team move faster?”

Start with a simple question: who owns growth? Is there a single point of accountability, or is it spread across roles without clarity? In fast-moving teams, growth is usually cross-functional—but that only works when there’s clear coordination.

The second layer is how marketing and sales work together. Are they collaborating strategically, or just passing leads back and forth? Do they share feedback loops? Do they agree on what a good lead looks like? Alignment isn’t just about meetings—it’s about shared incentives and daily decisions.

One signal I look for is how people talk about each other. If marketing says, "sales never follows up," or sales says, "marketing sends junk leads," there’s deeper friction to solve. But most of the time, it’s not animosity—it’s ambiguity. Fix the structure, not the people.

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Next, do you have the right capabilities in the room? That doesn’t mean full-time specialists on every front, but you need dependable access to design, development, copy, and operations support.

I’ve worked with marketing leads who could write great content—but they couldn’t launch a page without waiting two weeks for a dev. That’s not a performance problem. That’s a system problem.

Ask yourself:

• Can we ship a new page this week?
• Can we test a campaign idea fast?
• Do we have the tools and templates to move without friction?

If the answer is no, the next step is usually small: a design retainer, a no-code tool, or a Zapier automation. These unlock speed without needing to hire a huge team.

Execution lives in rhythm. A high-functioning team has a cadence: stand-ups, check-ins, reviews. These aren’t just meetings—they’re operating structures that keep priorities clear and blockers visible.

But rhythm alone isn’t enough. You also need decision-making speed. I’ve seen growth stall because a landing page headline needed three rounds of sign-off. In some cases, the team is ready—but leadership is the bottleneck.

The most helpful question I ask is: what would it take to launch this campaign in five days? If the answer is five approvals, two extra meetings, and one miracle—then you’ve found your real bottleneck.

This isn’t about going rogue. It’s about enabling autonomy. When teams know the priorities and have permission to act, velocity increases without chaos.

Growth is a team sport. But teams don’t just need talent—they need structure, tools, and trust. If things are moving slowly, resist the urge to point fingers. Instead, ask: what’s getting in the way?

Is ownership clear? Are the right skills available? Can we make decisions quickly? These questions reveal more than any performance review.

This chapter rounds out your assessment. You’ve looked at growth from multiple angles—traffic, funnel, infrastructure—and now, you’re looking at the human system that brings it all to life.

If your team is aligned, supported, and unblocked, everything else moves faster. That’s what readiness really means.