The Gap In Leadership

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?

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?

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.