Some marketing questions need months of research. Many do not. They need the right people in a room, the right evidence on the table and a clear decision at the end. Yet businesses often commission a long consultancy project to answer a question their leadership team could settle in a day, if that day were well designed.
Slow decisions have a real cost. In a McKinsey Global Survey published in 2019, only 20% of respondents said their organisations excelled at decision making. Respondents spent 37% of their working time on decisions on average, and 61% said most of that time was used ineffectively.
This article explains when a focused marketing workshop is the better choice, when it is not, and how to design one that ends in action rather than a wall of sticky notes.
In this article
- Information problems and decision problems
- What research says about workshops that work
- The Cyprus angle: small teams and an AI gap
- A decision framework: workshop or longer project
- How to prepare a workshop that ends in decisions
- When a workshop is not enough
- U Marketing workshops
Information problems and decision problems
A useful test is to ask what is actually missing. If you lack evidence, such as market size, customer needs or competitor positioning, you have an information problem, and research should come first. If the evidence largely exists but the leadership team disagrees about what it means or what to do, you have a decision problem. A long project rarely solves a decision problem, because the final report still has to be agreed.
Alignment is a recognised constraint on growth. In The CMO Survey 2026, 22.3% of US marketing leaders ranked having all stakeholders aligned as the most important factor for future organic growth, second only to having the right talent.
Figure 5. Factors ranked most important for future organic growth, 2026. Global (US) evidence.
Source: The CMO Survey 2026 Topline Report, page 16. Fieldwork 7 to 29 January 2026; 206 respondents to this question.
The same survey asked how marketing copes when it is under pressure to prove its value. Of those who answered, 70.6% said it focuses on short term impact over long run gains. Settling priorities quickly can make room for longer term thinking.
What research says about workshops that work
Workshops are not automatically useful. A UK study by Hodgkinson and colleagues, based on 1,337 survey returns and published in Long Range Planning in 2006, found that strategy workshops play an important part in formal planning, but typically leave out middle managers.
A later analysis of more than 650 workshops by Healey and colleagues, published in the British Journal of Management in 2015, found that four design features shape different outcomes, from organisational results to relationships and thinking. The features are clarity of goals and purpose, routinisation (how far the workshop is built into regular planning), stakeholder involvement and cognitive effort, meaning how hard participants are asked to think.
What this means for you: a workshop works when its purpose is clear, the right people take part, participants do real analytical work and the session connects to how the business normally plans.
The Cyprus angle: small teams and an AI gap
The structure of Cyprus business makes workshops especially practical. With 94.8% of enterprises employing fewer than ten people (CYSTAT, 2023 data), the people who need to agree a marketing direction can often fit around one table.
There is also a skills gap that training can address. People in Cyprus are keen users of generative AI: 44.2% of residents used such tools in 2025, above the EU average of 32.7%. Businesses lag behind: only 9.27% of Cyprus enterprises with ten or more employees used AI technologies, against an EU average of 19.95%. Both figures come from Eurostat data reported by Cyprus Mail in December 2025.
Figure 6. AI use by people and by enterprises, Cyprus and EU, 2025. Cyprus evidence.
Sources: Cyprus Mail, 16 December 2025 and Cyprus Mail, 12 December 2025, reporting Eurostat 2025 data; EU enterprise figure confirmed by Eurostat Statistics Explained. The EU figure for people covers ages 16 to 74.
The gap suggests that many teams are curious about AI but lack agreed ways to use it at work. A practical training session can turn individual experiments into shared, reviewed processes.
A decision framework: workshop or longer project
| Choose a workshop when | Choose a longer project when |
|---|---|
| The evidence exists, but leaders disagree on priorities. | Key evidence is missing, such as market size or customer needs. |
| You need a decision within weeks. | The decision can wait for robust research. |
| A small group holds the decision. | Many stakeholders, sites or markets need to be consulted. |
| The question is clear and bounded, such as positioning or budget priorities. | The question is broad, such as a full rebrand or a new market strategy. |
| Your team needs a practical skill, such as using AI or CRM tools. | You need ongoing delivery, not only a decision. |
Often the best answer combines both: a short session to frame the question, research to fill the gaps and a second session to decide.
How to prepare a workshop that ends in decisions
- Write the question first. 'What should our marketing focus on next year?' is too broad. 'Which two customer segments should we prioritise in Cyprus in 2027, and why?' is workable.
- Invite the decision makers and the people who know customers. The research above suggests that involving people beyond the top team can matter.
- Gather views and evidence beforehand. Short interviews or a survey let quieter voices be heard and save time in the room.
- Design for thinking, not presenting. Use structured exercises that test options against the evidence.
- End with owners and dates. Every decision should leave the room with a person responsible and a deadline.
- Book the review. Agree when and how progress will be checked.
When a workshop is not enough
A workshop cannot replace missing evidence or missing capacity. If the session shows that nobody knows how customers choose between you and a competitor, commission research before deciding. If the team agrees a plan but has no time to deliver it, the plan will stall, so decide in the room who will carry the work and with what support. And if the same decision keeps coming back, look at who holds the authority. A workshop can bring disagreement into the open, but someone still has to decide.
U Marketing workshops
U Marketing runs focused workshops that help leadership teams agree on direction, test a budget decision or prepare a launch, as well as training that helps teams use AI, content, CRM and marketing tools in their daily work. Topics include brand positioning, marketing and commercial planning, Cyprus market entry, customer journeys, social media, AI, CRM and leadership alignment.
Half day, full day and series formats are available, with the format and follow up agreed around the decision you need to make. The process has four steps: prepare the question, gather the evidence, reach the decision and set the action plan. Participants receive the decisions, the reasoning, owners and dates, and an agreed way to review progress.
When a question needs deeper work, the agency's Strategy and consultancy and Market research services cover longer projects.
Final thoughts
Before commissioning a long project, ask whether you are missing information or missing a decision. If it is a decision, a well prepared workshop can save months. If it is information, research first, then decide together.
Facing a decision your team keeps postponing? Plan a workshop with U Marketing and agree the question you need to answer.
