Why headcount is no longer a success metric for businesses

Organisations that will thrive in the coming years are those that consolidate, prioritise a culture of deep documentation, and build the foundational systems that allow their teams to scale without the noise, writes Andrew McCarthy.

In the traditional corporate playbook, the formula for growth was simple: more people equals more output. For decades, a large workforce was the ultimate status symbol of a thriving business. However, in today’s landscape, which is characterised by lean teams and ambitious goals, that playbook is not only outdated but a liability.

Start-ups are now successfully competing with businesses 10 times their size, and regional offices are matching the pace of global HQs without the same budget. The shift we are witnessing is fundamental – success is no longer about the quantity of people you manage, but the quality of the systems they use.

Why more isn’t always better

When teams struggle to scale, the reflex is often to “add more’. More tools, more subscriptions, more AI. However, the average company now uses 87 different tools, creating a “multi-tool trap’ where information is splintered, and teams feel more overwhelmed than ever.

The missing piece isn’t a lack of tools; it’s a lack of context. Current AI adoption is rapidly increasing, with investments in APAC expected to reach $175 billion by 2028, yet many companies are failing to see the expected returns. As we move from most AI solutions that are on-demand to those that can be scheduled or triggered, a strong contextual foundation will become even more vital.

Notion’s recent research found that while 84 per cent of Australian white-collar workers are optimistic about AI, 69 per cent report daily frustrations with the technology. The reason? A severe outcomes gap. AI tools often lack localised, company-specific context, leading to generic outputs that require 84 per cent of workers to significantly edit or fact-check the results.

So, what actually works?

The blueprint for AI leadership

The organisations that are currently leading the AI transition aren’t simply adding new tools to old, fragmented workflows. Instead, they are rebuilding their operations from the ground up. I recently spoke to founders and business leaders, and three key patterns continue to appear around scaling efficiently with less.

Build systems rather than collections

Rather than managing a fragmented tech stack, leaders are consolidating work into a single, connected platform. When your work, communication, and knowledge live in one place, AI gains the situational awareness it needs to be effective. Without this centralised foundation, AI is just a generic engine, but with it, it becomes a specialised partner that understands your teams’ unique context and objectives.

Documentation as decision-making infrastructure

For high-performing teams, documentation is no longer viewed as “reactive busywork” or a post-project chore. Instead, it is treated as the essential infrastructure that enables speed. By fostering a strong writing culture, leaders create a “second brain” for the organisation. This allows teams to synthesise complex business insights in real time and move towards decisions faster, grounded in shared context rather than endless alignment meetings.

Infrastructure over headcount

Every business leader eventually reaches a critical fork in the road: do you solve a bottleneck by hiring more people, or by building better systems? Choosing the latter and investing in infrastructure can often be invisible and unglamorous compared to the prestige of a growing headcount. Yet, the alternative is a “human glue” model that becomes increasingly fragmented as it scales.

The future of the Australian workforce will be defined by those who have the courage to “redo the plumbing” before the house gets too big. When your underlying systems are robust and context-aware, you shift the role of the employee, where now one person can achieve what previously required a team of three. This helps to create a high-leverage environment where one person builds an agent, and the entire team benefits from the shared resource. This allows every hire to have a massive, disproportionate impact because they aren’t bogged down by the 28 per cent of manual “copy-paste” work that currently plagues the average worker.

We’ve seen the power of this infrastructure in practice with companies like Qwilr, a sales-automation platform. By centralising knowledge and reducing the need for constant alignment, they managed to reduce internal meetings by over 10 hours a week.

What separates leaders from laggards

Over the next two years, the organisations that thrive won’t be those with the largest payrolls or the highest volume of AI subscriptions. The winners will be the leaders who consolidate, prioritise a culture of deep documentation, and build the foundational systems that allow their teams to scale without the noise. The competitive advantage has shifted; it’s no longer measured by the size of your workforce, but by the strength and resilience of the digital infrastructure supporting them.

Andrew McCarthy is the general manager of Notion in ANZ, SEA, and India.