Marketing departments need to work with many stakeholders.
As an Associate Director at the Institute of Collaborative Working (ICW), much of my time is spent helping different organisations work together to deliver on joint goals, but they often complain/mention the ‘Internal Terrorists’ within the organisation, who derail projects. Whether it is the NO Police in Regulatory (In reality they are the KNOW Police) or the misaligned priorities of different departments, it is often a bigger barrier to obtaining their goals, than any external forces.
Over the years, I have worked across both sales and marketing and often wondered why they seem to be on different planets. One client’s marketing team’s KPI was to launch at least 3 new SKUs that year, while the sales team was being driven by their customers to reduce the number of SKUs on the shelf. Hardly joined-up thinking. It’s supposed to be Sales AND Marketing, not Sales VERSUS Marketing.ha
A Harvard Business Review study found that collaboration within organizations can lead to improved productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. And a Stanford University study found that just thinking about collaborating can motivate people to work on a task 64% longer than if they were working alone.
Marketers have unique insights into the business and need information from within the business – product and customer sales data, for instance. Sharing fosters collaboration and improves organizational performance. Once you have mastered the competencies of collaborating with internal stakeholders, it makes you much more likely to transfer those skills to external partners.
It is a little-known fact within the Consumer Healthcare Industry, that there is an International Standard Organisation (ISO) standard for collaboration. ISO44001, which shows how a standardised approach to collaboration can pay dividends.
By demonstrating effective collaborative behaviours at work, marketing departments can help overcome many of the traditional barriers to collaboration such as:
- Improper communication
- Lack of vision
- Difficulty in building trust
- Inadequate support of leaders
- Conflicting goals and priorities
- Lack of proper feedback and appreciation
And last but not least, the functional silos that are created within organisations.
By helping to overcome some of these obstacles to collaboration, marketers can create a more connected, engaged, and efficient workplace, where employees feel valued.
- Increased organizational growth.
- Innovation
- Product improvements
- Improved customer satisfaction and support.
The mission statement of the ICW is “Promoting and encouraging collaborative working and its advantages, to address the challenges facing all types of organisations, people and communities”.
Does that sound like something that might help your business? If so feel free to get in touch.
Senior Consultant at The Consumer Healthcare Training Academy