Every marketing team has one. It’s the step in the process where everything slows down.
You’re on track with a campaign. The creative is ready, the strategy is sound, the team is excited. But then it hits that one person’s desk, and everything grinds to a halt. Maybe it’s a senior leader who insists on reviewing every asset. Maybe it’s a committee that meets once a month. Whatever the setup, the result is the same: stalled momentum.
It doesn’t get discussed often, but it’s one of the most common reasons marketing work misses deadlines, loses impact, or fails to launch at all.
The Challenge
We disguise bottlenecks as “quality control” or “brand consistency.” But in reality, they’re often about control, and they end up stifling creativity, burning out teams, and frustrating stakeholders.
The biggest issue isn’t just the lost time. It’s the loss of energy. When people know their work will sit in a queue for weeks, they stop bringing their best ideas forward. They disengage, and the spark that drives great marketing fades.
Bottlenecks don’t just slow the process. They weaken the team.
Here’s a Smarter Next Step
Here’s a smarter next step: stop trying to outwork bottlenecks and start fixing the system that creates them.
When approvals or reviews live with one person, the entire team is limited by that one person’s bandwidth. The solution isn’t to push harder or chase faster; it’s to redesign the workflow so accountability is distributed.
One simple shift is creating a tiered approval process. Reserve senior oversight for high-visibility assets, and empower managers to greenlight the day-to-day. Suddenly, timelines collapse, ownership increases, and leaders get to focus on where their input adds the most value.
That’s how you replace bottlenecks with flow.
Reflection
So here’s my question for you:
👉 Where is the hidden bottleneck in your workflow, and what would change if you fixed the system instead of blaming the people?
