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When teams survive layoffs, morale rarely rebounds by memo. CMOs need practical ways to rebuild energy, trust, recognition, and connection. This Wimbledon-inspired piece turns Huddler examples into six low-cost team moves: Fun leadership, peer recognition, celebrating small wins, lateral mobility, personal check-ins, and intentional in-person gatherings that help teams rally without a giant budget or another speech.
After layoffs, the people who remain are often called “survivors,” which is accurate and also a little chilling. They may be grateful to still have jobs, but gratitude rarely erases uncertainty, exhaustion, or the nagging question: Am I next?
When Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2023, he reminded the world that even individual champions are never solo acts. Coaches, trainers, family, and mental anchors all helped him stay in the match. The same is true for CMOs leading after cuts: Behind every champion is a support team. Behind every CMO trying to lead after cuts is a marketing team that needs care, clarity, and enough energy to keep playing.
One Huddler said it plainly:
“We had our RIF late last year and some survivors were demotivated and left as soon as they could - the good news is that those that stayed really rallied.”
That is the work. Help the team rally without pretending the hard thing did not happen. Here are six low-cost ways to rebuild energy.
Yes, “Chief Fun Officer” risks sounding like a laminated HR initiative. But the idea is solid: Give someone ownership for creating connection, levity, and moments that are not purely about output.
One Huddler described the role this way:
“This person is responsible for bringing people together...Everybody gets a bit of money to buy a little surprise gift now and then…You meet a couple of times a month to do something outside of work.”
The point is not forced fun. Nobody needs mandatory merriment on top of a difficult quarter. The point is to rebuild human connection in small, repeatable ways.
The CMO move: Assign ownership, provide a modest budget, and let the team create rituals that fit the culture.
Recognition means more when it does not only come from the top. Peer recognition gives people a way to notice effort, collaboration, and extra care that executives may never see.
One Huddler shared a points-based system:
“So I could say, Dave, thank you for doing a great job on this project, here's 100 points, or 500 points…Employees really like the points system because not only it gives them recognition, but also they can redeem these points for Amazon gift cards or something else.”
It is not about the gift card. It is about being seen. After layoffs, people often wonder whether their work matters. Recognition answers that question in a way another “thanks everyone” email cannot.
The CMO move: Make recognition easy, frequent, and specific enough to feel real.
After a difficult period, teams need proof that progress is still possible. Big wins may take months. Small wins are available now.
One Huddler shared a simple example:
“We just came off this big show, so I had our event manager share the results at our team meeting and give them a moment to shine...That was the only topic for the meeting and it gave the team something to celebrate!”
That is smart leadership. Do not bury the win in a 17-item agenda. Let the person who did the work explain the impact. Give the team a moment to feel momentum.
The CMO move: Turn small wins into shared evidence that the team still has game.
When hiring and promotion budgets are tight, lateral moves can keep good people engaged. A sideways move can still mean new skills, broader visibility, and renewed motivation.
One CMO explained:
“When we have openings, especially at the junior level, we’ve seen success moving people from the field team and then move them into specialized roles. There's been a lot of excitement when an internal shift happens, even a sideways one.”
This is especially useful after cuts, when employees may assume their growth has stalled. Lateral mobility says the company still sees a future for them.
The CMO move: Make internal movement visible and legitimate, not a consolation prize.
Marketing teams are made of humans, a fact that becomes inconvenient only when leaders are pretending capacity is infinite.
One Huddler shared:
“I’ve got team members who are young and first parents dealing with things like kids and nannies getting sick which I might have just ignored but we’ve decided not to as a team...We are fully remote so it’s important to bring back the personal element of just checking in – as a team.”
Personal check-ins do not mean becoming everyone’s therapist. They mean noticing life context, asking better questions, and making sure remote work does not turn colleagues into task-delivery avatars.
The CMO move: Build check-ins into the management rhythm so care is practiced, not performed.
In-person time is expensive, so it needs to count. The best offsites are not just agenda marathons with pastries. They create connection, shared problem-solving, and a reminder that the team is more than its project management tool.
One CMO recalled:
“We get the whole team together twice a year for a fun offsite…We got paired up and got to brainstorm ideas together...The games were tied back to our company values.”
That last part matters. Games for the sake of games can feel thin. Activities tied to values, collaboration, and real work can rebuild trust while still giving people room to breathe.
The CMO move: Use in-person gatherings to strengthen relationships and reinforce what the team is becoming.
Re-energizing a marketing team after cuts is not about motivational theater. It is about rebuilding trust through small, concrete acts: Connection, recognition, celebration, growth, personal care, and purposeful gathering.
Behind every high-performing CMO is a team that still believes its effort matters. Help them see it, feel it, and say it out loud again.
Start with honest acknowledgement, then rebuild connection through recognition, small wins, check-ins, growth opportunities, and visible care from managers.
Create a rotating team-connection role with a small budget and permission to organize informal moments that help people reconnect.
Small wins restore momentum. They show the team that progress is still happening and that individual effort is noticed.
Lateral moves give employees new skills, fresh motivation, and a future inside the company when promotions or hiring budgets are limited.