What a marketing leader should deliver in the first six months after a reorganisation
The short answer
In the first six months after a reorganisation, a marketing leader should deliver four things: clear ownership, a settled team, commercial reporting the business trusts, and at least one visible revenue win. Strategy matters, but nobody will follow a new strategy until people know who does what and can see the numbers.
I joined Airport Dimensions as a company-wide reorganisation was announced, moving marketing from a regional to a global model across 11 brands. This is the approach I took.
1. Make ownership clear, fast
After a reorganisation, the biggest drain on a team is confusion: who owns what, who signs off, who needs to be told. I set up RACI models inside marketing and with cross-functional teams worldwide, and introduced proactive planning. The aim was to cut noise and keep the team focused on business results, not internal questions.
Test: can every person in the team name their three priorities and who approves their work?
2. Settle the team before you change the plan
A reorganisation unsettles people, and new joiners arrive with no history to lean on. In my first months, I onboarded three recent joiners and created mentoring and promotion pathways for two team members. Bringing marketing into cross-functional decisions earlier also gave the team a stronger voice in the business.
Test: do your people know where they are going, not just what they are doing this week?
3. Build commercial reporting the leadership team trusts
Marketing earns its place at the table with numbers. I built an MI/BI dashboard as the first step to a single customer view, with daily tracking and optimisation of performance against budget. Attribution modelling is under way. Tighter cost control also made the reforecast clearer.
Test: could you tell the CEO today what marketing spent yesterday, against budget, and what it returned?
4. Find one revenue win the whole business can see
Early wins buy the time and trust needed for longer-term change. At Airport Dimensions, two stood out:
- A new channel: generative engine optimisation (GEO), which I had proposed in my interview presentation. Revenue from the channel grew fivefold in under six months.
- Cross-brand selling, turning separate brands into a portfolio offer and creating incremental revenue.
5. Start the long-term work in parallel
While the quick wins land, the bigger programmes can begin. For me, that meant leading a global brand summit to set brand standards for the largest proprietary brand, 43 lounges across North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and setting the team's AI agenda.
Questions leaders ask about joining mid-reorganisation
Should a new marketing leader change the strategy straight away?
Rarely. First make ownership clear and the numbers visible. A strategy launched into confusion is unlikely to be delivered.
What should the first report to the CEO include?
Spend against budget, what it returned, the biggest risks and one or two early opportunities with a clear commercial case.
How do you keep delivery on track during the change?
Plan proactively, protect the team from noise, and agree priorities with cross-functional partners before work starts.
About the author. Leilah King-Gotlib is a London-based global growth and marketing leader who builds commercially accountable marketing for premium and travel brands. She has led marketing in more than 20 countries across six regions, delivered over £25m in revenue and rebuilt marketing functions through pivots, reorganisations and restructures.