Good people. Bad operating model. Sometimes the most encouraging finding in an A
By Simon Ellicott · October 1, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Good people. Bad operating model.
Sometimes the most encouraging finding in an Amazon agency capability audit is also the most frustrating.
The team is good.
They understand Amazon.
They care about the clients.
They are capable of doing more sophisticated, commercially valuable work.
But the operating model is getting in the way.
The symptoms are usually predictable:
Nobody is quite sure who owns the final decision
Work is managed through Slack messages and memory
Client expectations vary from one account to the next
Senior people spend too much time correcting avoidable issues
Reporting is manual and inconsistent
The team is constantly reacting instead of planning
Good ideas disappear because nobody owns implementation
The founder is pulled into problems that should have been resolved elsewhere
From the outside, this can look like a capability problem.
It may even lead to the wrong conclusion:
“We need better people.”
Often, the agency needs a better system for the people it already has.
A capable account manager cannot consistently deliver strategic work if the scope is vague.
A strong strategist cannot create leverage if every decision requires founder approval.
A talented operator will struggle if priorities change daily and nobody has the authority to say no.
A good team can still produce inconsistent outcomes when the operating model relies on goodwill, heroics and individual memory.
The fix is rarely glamorous.
It usually involves:
Clear roles and decision rights
Defined scopes of work and account expectations
Consistent ways of working
Better sales-to-delivery handovers
Repeatable reporting and review structures
Time protected for strategic thinking
A clear escalation path
Accountability for outcomes, not just activity
This is why capability audits should assess more than what people know.
They should assess whether the business allows people to use what they know.
There is a big difference between a weak team and a strong team operating inside a weak system.
The first requires replacement.
The second requires leadership.
#AmazonAgency #AgencyLeadership #AgencyGrowth #AgencyOperations #AmazonConsulting #TeamPerformance #EcommerceStrategy #OperationalExcellence
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