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I needed to be home by 4 pm, so my husband can leave and go to his meeting and I would stay home with our youngest daughter. I was running late, but as Murphy’s Law would have it, the downtown Vancouver traffic was not ideal and by the time I got home and drove into the parkade there was a mini traffic jam there of its own. Two cars were trying to get in, while two other cars were trying to get out. Being late, now I was getting impatient thinking who is it there ahead of me blocking my way. As I moved out of the way, I realized it was my husband trying to get out, as I am trying to get in at the same time…
From the first view, this little parking situation may have nothing to do with business or marketing, but if you think about it, it could be a perfect metaphor for how we work together in a team.
How many times have you felt like you were working hard on your own responsibilities, while the end result was not what your boss or your team were expecting?
Let’s see how we can get out of your boss’s or team’s way by connecting to the main goal of the organization to avoid delays and unnecessary frustrations.
1. The battle never ends – prep for the long haul
Business is a battle. The moment you relax and think that “you’ve got it” – you are setting yourself up for failure. Marketing provides great opportunities to notice the trends and act on them before they negatively affect your organization.
How can you, as a marketing manager, help your team and your organization grow?
Noticing new patterns in marketing data like user behaviour on the website, changes in cost per click in your ads or your overall Google visibility are the red flags that should not be ignored.
- Bring those numbers to the attention of your executive team on a regular basis
- Verify your data with industry or market trends
- Connect your finding to your marketing strategy and see what changes are needed
2. You are as strong as the weakest link – lift each other up
Being a part of a team means that your work is 100% affected by other people in your organization. Sometimes, no matter what you do, if one of the team members is not executing on time, or not listening to the feedback or not noticing what others are trying to tell them – this will delay your work and stall the whole organization in the end.
If you feel that there’s a disconnect in your team, first look at your brand promises as a company. What does your organization stand for? Which unifying brand values do you have to keep everyone on the same page? Is your team adhering to those values? Looking at the brand values first will help you to see the picture clearly, not based on what you feel, but how things actually should be.
| Branding is a set of rules, a discipline and it’s everyone’s job in the company to keep each other accountable to stay on brand. |
Don’t be afraid of confrontation – if you can’t speak up freely with your team, that means your team is that not strong – there’s not much teamwork happening in the team. And whose job is it to make sure that your team is strong? Yes, yours, and every single member’s, too.
- Understand before you seek to be understood. First, try to understand what could be the reason behind the problem
- Have a candid, yet empathetic conversation with another team member, if you feel like their lack of productivity or poor teamwork affects you
- Think about how you can make your team members’ jobs easier and they will reciprocate.
3. Prepare for the victory, but aim for the win-win
Business might be a battle, but there should be no losers there if you strategize and aim for the win-win. This is the only way to do business and to succeed as a team. All parties must work together to achieve the goal.
As a marketing agency, we say that we help cool companies grow, and we make it clear that we do not do it for our customers – we help them – we work together as a team.
If you are looking to hire a marketing agency, don’t look for someone who will come and solve all of your marketing problems. Look for someone who will become a great partner in helping you grow your organization, providing fresh perspectives, strategies and being able to work with your ongoing feedback to tweak execution as needed, depending on your goals.
Did this article provide a fresh perspective?
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Did this article strike a chord with what’s going on in your organization? Do give us a shout 604-559-7509 and set up a discovery meeting, we would love to see if we can help.
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