June 2005 - Posts

• Make the change from manager to coach

  Jun 05 2005

  Struggling with how to transform yourself from a command-and-control supervisor into a coach? Here are four ah-ha moments I've experienced in coaching: Let yourself be coached by the people you are coaching. It's incredibly valuable to have junior-level people coach senior-level people occasionally. Ask their opinion. Ask them to edit something you've written. And take their advice. That sets up the spirit of coaching as asking for and getting advice — outside the world of seniority and titles. Realize that they may not take your advice. This is one of the biggest differences between a manager giving orders and a coach giving advice. It's aggravating when they don't take your advice. But sometimes it works out better their way. Sometimes it's a disaster, but there is no need to say, "I told you so." They know...and they'll probably value your advice even more in the future. Coaching allows others to grow ... and you, too. The idea is to let people be accountable for their own successes and failures. They'll grow faster and they will see the value in seeking advice from a coach. Set an example. If you want your team members to work hard, be proactive and try creative approaches, then you need to model the behavior you wish to see. It's time to end the stereotype that management doesn't work hard, but just barks orders. Let your team members see you hustle, see you creatively solve problems and interact with others. no comments

• Did you hear the one about the marketing guy and the CFO?

  Jun 04 2005

  Increasingly, marketing people are under pressure to prove the absolute ROI on marketing communications outlays. Elements contributing to this pressure include: It's a market-driven economy — so marketing is being forced to become more sophisticated — to move more from the artistic to the scientific. Automation is making it possible to measure activities that were simply too expensive to measure in the past. An increasingly greater percentage of total marketing expenditures are being spent by publicly held companies. The CFO function in public companies most often ranks higher than their counterparts in privately held companies. So the newly titled CMOs (chief marketing officers) and the marketing directors are more often finding themselves justifying their budgets to the CFO. A common problem in all this is that marketing people, too often, do not speak the "finlistic" language of the CFO. My guess is that if you're reading this newsletter, you're living in the marketing world, and you may need to brush up on your finlistics. For example: Can you articulate the difference between an internal rate of return vs. a return on investment? If not, then you might want to sign up for our fall seminar on this subject! (More to come on this in next month's Creative Strategies.) no comments