Marketing Is a Contact Sport. Here are 5 Ways to Play It Safe

Marketing is best when it is a contact sport. By this, I mean we need a lot of collisions in our work where our ideas, concepts, and creativity come together. No matter your role, everyone in marketing can bring something of great value to push innovation forward in what we do and how we do it.

Finding every opportunity to grow participation and collaboration for the best results makes sense. But it does not just happen. It's the responsibility of each individual, the collective team, and leaders, and there are some surefire techniques to get it going in the right direction.

Greater Participation When Marketing Is A Safety Zone

In a recent article, I touched on psychological safety as a foundation for teams to embrace, practice, and evolve. A telltale sign for teams that operate with a high degree of safety is the level of consistent participation they exhibit, but it is not always there at the start.

From experience, I typically encounter agile marketing teams getting out of the gates with an imbalance regarding who's participating. It is typical group dynamics at work, but everyone must step up for agile marketing teams to perform at the highest level.

But what happens when they aren't?

1. Make Everyone Comfortable By Understanding Why They're Not

People are people. Some are shy or quiet, or anxious. In contrast, others can be loud, brash, or obnoxious. Work in marketing for five minutes, and you know there's no lack of diversity in personalities and egos.

Additionally, more than ever, individuals today hold specialized marketing skills and may need a more profound and broader knowledge of all that marketing has to offer. The marketing spectrum can be intimidating, and many teams have less seasoned marketers than others.

Conversely, a generalist might avoid going deeper into details for fear of revealing that they don't know the intricate process or understand the technology as well as others. Equally intimidating.

With that in mind, teams must first address everyone's comfort and remove obstacles for individuals making it easier to find the courage to elevate themselves. From a coaching POV, it comes down to observing and initial steps to remove blockers and create a safe space for the team to learn from each other.

2. Properly Preparing to Participate

Agile marketing cycles orient around recurring meetings and ceremonies, each with purpose and significance. I've found the cadence and repetition to be of extreme value as it alleviates a lot of mental preparation as everyone understands the context, flow, and purpose.

It will be a few cycles before everyone gets comfortable with the order of operations and the nature of all activities. This comes with experience. So, be patient.

Still, we can always prepare by bringing awareness, energy, and respect for the team and processes to each session.

When it takes hold, we've seen teams ignite simply because, by default, they are properly prepared to participate at their fullest.

3. Resolve Conflicts Quickly

Conflict happens. We've all seen situations where heels dig in or things build up, and we all know that it’s best to deal with it quickly before it gets worse, becomes unpredictable, and potentially blows up.

The strength of a marriage or other significant relationships rests on resolving early - it is an indicator of health and maturity. We care more about the bigger picture than any one thing that disrupts it - even if it means agreeing to disagree.

4. Resolve Conflicts Respectfully

Sometimes you can't squash conflict early. I've been in many pitched battles and remember them because some people are unpleasant to deal with. Some were simply a nightmare.

No matter, as long as you behave correctly and respectfully. Maintain composure, and thicken your skin. Don't be a jerk because of the jerk. (If you watch The Crown, I'm talking about channeling the Queen here.)

Respect the other party (even if you don't want to). That is also showing respect for others in the room and yourself.

At the core, agile marketing teams tackle potential issues and, more importantly, embrace the principle of respect for full engagement without hesitation.

5. Participate Fully In Team Improvement Sessions

The last point is to practice psychological safety at every opportunity. It makes a world of difference when continually and purposefully demonstrated, and Team Improvement (also called Retrospectives) is the best opportunity to make participation count with consistency.

I'll leave you with this quick story on power participation, safety, and why Team Improvement sessions are game-changers for marketing teams.

A recent client had a team member who seemed uninterested in Team Improvement. This was an above-average and talented marketer who was not speaking up or pushing ideas further. Punching the clock and it showed.

To get to the root of it, we asked what might be holding them back. It came to light that they didn't see value in the ceremony.

Why? Agile marketing had introduced many new meetings, and this was at the end, so they felt they could disengage. They made a significant effort during the cycle, so they'd stay quiet if they had to attend.

As we spoke more, it became evident that the things discussed were ideal for raising in Team Improvement. We asked a simple question: Have you ever had a dedicated opportunity every two weeks to transparently change things for the better - without fear and with trust it will be reviewed as a team and resolved?

Within the next cycle, they engaged in Team Improvement and drove great ideas understanding it was not about compliance; it was all about commitment.

Play it Safe

There are always hurdles to overcome, learning curves to flatten, and team harmony to maintain. So, remember to play it safe and unleash the power of participation, collaboration, and effectiveness to new levels.

By: Michael Seaton

Partner at NavigateAgile, Michael Seaton leads marketing executives and teams through marketing transformation, building cultures of collaboration from new ways of thinking, working, and sharing for modern marketing through business agility applied within the marketing domain.