People and culture fuel growth in a company.
Building a team is one of the most important leadership skills (not to undermine other leadership qualities by any means).
In my experience as a strategic marketing leader, I have observed that so many organizations don’t get this right.
Just talking about having an organizational culture that encourages a collaborative mindset is not enough.
Building a team in the workplace requires an understanding of human psychology, departmental and organizational objectives; and a genuine passion to help others succeed.
In this post, I will talk about marketing team building- right from hiring to incorporating team-building activities.
Understanding Marketing
Marketing demands two kinds of mindset- creative and data-driven.
When creativity marries data, the result is a product/service that is much more appealing to the consumer.
A series of studies performed by McKinsey surveying over 200 CMOs and senior marketing executives revealed that marketing leaders who integrate data and creativity grow their revenues at twice the average rate of S&P 500 businesses.
A good start would be not to see creativity and data as adversaries!
Marketing has witnessed a massive change in the last few years. With several touchpoints in the consumer journey, it has become more difficult than before to stand out.
While data would yield you the areas of opportunity and improvement, creativity will help your business stand out amidst the noise.
I love this quote by Charles Mingus- Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
Marketing Team Structure
Depending on the type and size of the organization, a marketing team comprises a marketing leader, managers, and specialists.
Common marketing team structures include centralized, decentralized, integrated, product-based, market-based, funnel-based, process-based, flexible, and functional.
Most common marketing team roles include (but not limited to) Chief Marketing Officer, VP Marketing, Marketing Director, Marketing Managers, Content Writers, Graphic Designers, Social Media Marketing Specialist, Search Engine Marketing experts, and Data Analysts.
When building a team for marketing, the siloed approach of deciding which channel expert to hire can be counterproductive.
Don’t think channels first; Prioritize the customer journey!
Having led diverse cross-functional teams across the world, I have learned that building channel-oriented teams is not the best approach.
When I am given the responsibility to build a high-performance marketing team, my go-to places are the marketing strategy document and the company’s culture/mission/vision.
It helps me understand what we want to achieve, without treating people as numbers and tools.
At the very least, I look for someone who has a passion and knack for data and numbers. This person serves an important role in helping me analyze data from all channels and sources.
An industry term for this job would be Data Analyst or Business Intelligence Analyst.
Since marketing requires much creativity, I generally have a person on my team who breathes creativity. Content and Graphics are two areas where creativity is needed more than other areas.
Psychology has an important place in marketing. And it goes without saying that marketing tools/platforms have used it cleverly to make businesses believe that those tools are indispensable for success and growth.
Not to dismiss the importance of using tools, but they just “aid” growth; they don’t promise success. And this is the very reason why businesses start looking for talent that has subject matter expertise in those tools.
As for me, I am more people, culture, and process-driven, and less of being a slave to tools.
Hiring Right: How to build and develop a team?
Understanding your strategic marketing objectives is the first step to hiring and building a team.
I have had the most successes in marketing when I have hired awesome people based on what was required of my marketing strategy, as against what all channels make up marketing.
When I am hiring, I want to bring in people who are either creative or data-driven. Having someone who brings in both traits helps me even more.
But then, I don’t press hard for that. Leaders, be realistic in expectations!
Building a team starts with understanding your culture. A little reflection into your leadership style and techniques can help.
Collective Intelligence measures a team’s ability to perform different tasks.
There is enough research that shows that merely having a lot of individually intelligent team members does not necessarily result in a team with high collective intelligence.
Clarity is important in building a team that would last. Have clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Don’t wait to give feedback when you encounter an issue. I believe in proactive and constant feedback.
As human beings, we have an innate desire to be recognized, to be appreciated for what we do.
A leader who thinks, I am going to be hard on you, but deep down inside I praise you, might not be a good leader.
I admire Steve Jobs for his business acumen; not so much for his leadership skills.
An Anecdote
Recently, I was working with a CEO of a startup.
And I found that he almost never complimented or praised employees for a job well done.
There was a Product Manager and a Data Science Analyst who went out of their way to come up with amazing ideas and solutions to a few existing issues.
As a marketing leader, I could immediately see the positive impact of their efforts on the business.
However, when they announced their ideas (multiple times) during a team meeting, not only did the CEO not acknowledge it but interrupted them and continued with his own thoughts.
I could feel and see their disappointment on the face of those young, intelligent employees.
Leadership is a skill and an art one needs to learn and polish. You can be the owner or CEO of a business, but not necessarily a good leader.
It is alright to miss a chance to criticize but never miss an opportunity to encourage your employee- Kind, encouraging words are seldom forgotten.
However, ensure that your recognition is genuine. Finally, celebrate successes- both small and big.
Team Building Activities
Team building activities are useful in improving employee motivation, productivity, creativity, and collaboration. You can have team building exercises at work both indoors or outdoors. A simple game like Office Trivia can help in building teams.
While working with a partner in Europe, we used to have outdoor games such as soccer and golf; or even get together for lunch or dinner.
Those things helped foster trust and communication.
Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors. – Jocko Willink