| A particularly challenging requirement for up-and-coming marketing managers is to lead others who are not under their positional power. It is a challenge that brings many undone.
This is often the case if the marketing manager (usually in their 20s) is leading a cross-functional project team or campaign involving people from various business units, call centres, distribution arms, legal, web and frontline staff. It can also occur if the marketing manager is marketing for just one business unit for the first time and dealing with many people.
Leading without positional power is challenging for veteran managers, let alone young managers who have not been given any guidance on how to approach such situations.
The scenario often runs like this: new 20-something marketing manager is appointed to advise and service the needs of a particular business unit or product range. They have the qualifications. They have the technical knowhow. They look good, smell good, dress well and have a great attitude. They are Gen Y in all their glory, on the fast track and keen to prove what they can do. They have every good intention and are brimming with potential. The future is bright and they are confident and eager. The company will do well to keep them and help them succeed.
The new marketing manager might have a small team and his/her leadership skills with this team, although green, will improve with time. This is not the big challenge; that’s located further down the hall. It’s on the next floor. It’s in the other building. For dispersed companies, it’s often found in other branch or interstate offices.
Soon, to their dismay, the new marketing manager finds that their expertise is not being sought. They are sent abrupt e-mails with often ill-conceived instructions. They are asked to implement the ideas of others without proper planning. They are not invited to meetings that would benefit from their know-how. They are not given the background information they need to think things through or explain to their staff.
The new manager will absorb this for a little while; after all, there is some humility here that recognises that, yes, they may have things to learn and they have to earn credibility. They will be nice and prove their worth. But then it gets worse!
And without too much more consideration, the marketing manager becomes Rambo and fires begin to ignite wherever they go. What is it that threatens to challenge their success? In a nut shell, it is their own unavoidable lack of people skills due to their inexperience in the business world.
We applaud their technical qualifications and then throw them into battle with few people skills to manage up, manage sideways or even manage down.
Perhaps I am being too harsh. There are companies and institutes that do have a range of courses available. However, I wonder if our young, confident Gen Y marketing managers realise they need them until it is too late.
Key skills for our young stars' success
1. Realise that technical skills are only half the requirement. If your marketing manager does not have positional power to do the job, they must be guided by a ‘how to’ road map to manage those stakeholders and suppliers.
2. A ‘how to’ roadmap encourages them to invest the time to:
- Understand the personalities and expectations of the stakeholders for whom they work.
- Understand the personalities and expectations of the suppliers with whom they need to work.
- Understand the personalities of their staff, on whom they rely.
3. Provide the right people skills training:
- How to get appointments to see people when they have no time for you.
- How to ask open-ended questions to solicit what they really think.
- How to listen well to their answers and show empathy for their situation and enthusiasm for their goals.
- How to drill down to explore what they really need, not just what they say.
- How to assertively and comfortably say what they believe is right.
- How to jointly come up with solutions.
- How to ensure that people know what they are signing off so there are no surprises.
These are all skills that can be learnt in a few weeks. We owe it to them to set them up for success.
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