Chapter 4 – The Gap In Leadership

Get close to your friends…

An organization’s ability to operate efficiently and productively depends on the strengths of the internal relationships between functional leads. How closely are you aligned with your peers across other functions like IT, Operations, Sales, Service and HR? Do they understand what Marketing’s strategy and role is? Do you understand theirs? And more importantly, do you understand the cross-dependencies between all those departments and yours?

Get closer to your enemies…

Critics aren’t usually critical simply because they don’t like you or they have an axe to grind; in my experience, when people are annoyed at you, they usually have a reason. You may not like that reason or agree with it, but you need to pay attention to it and take the time to find a workable solution.

Ultimately, you need to work with your peers in order to be successful, and they need you. Failing to deliver because you’re unwilling to work with a difficult personality is unacceptable.

Build relationships

Invite your peers to become part of creating your marketing strategy; collect internal requirements from them so they can feel engaged and part of what you’re doing. You can build buy-in by leveraging that engagement to find a middle ground that serves their objectives as much as yours. A plan that is inclusive and addresses your peers’ requirements as a means of delivering on yours will help create a more effective marketing strategy and ensure that marketing is part of their planning as well.