Can a great creative also be a good people manager? As in many professions, the skills and talents that make you shine as a digital marketer may not be the same as those needed to manage a digital marketing team. In fact, in some ways they can seem diametrically opposed.
In our recent article Are You Still a Good Fit for Digital Marketing? we explored some of the skills needed to succeed in digital marketing. These included both technical knowledge – AI, analytics, SEO and SEM, social media marketing – and softer skills such as empathy with clients and customers. And, whilst you do need well-honed technical skills to be able to understand and manage a digital marketing team effectively, as you move from totally hands-on to managing the people that are totally hands-on, the dynamic shifts.
In any profession it can be a very hard transition from specialist to manager. Your reputation and validation to date has been based on your technical and creative prowess, and now you will in many ways be taking a slight step back from that and letting others take the glory. Meanwhile you are frantically busy in the background, oiling the wheels so that they can happily continue their journeys of creative genius.
So how do you do it? How can you be as brilliant at people management as you have been so far at digital marketing?
Here are seven strategies to try.
Make sure everyone knows what they have to do
Sounds a bit obvious, but leaving a marketing team to their own devices can soon become like herding cats. So as well as your longer term goals for the company or team, it’s a great idea to break these down into smaller goals and targets on either a monthly or weekly basis. And also have named people responsible for each goal.
When allocating goals and responsibilities, make sure these are consistent with the job descriptions of the individuals concerned. Perhaps it’s time to review these job descriptions so that they are relevant and up to date.
Also be mindful and realistic of the time needed for each individual task. Time goals need to be challenging but not overwhelming. You need to have the confidence that tasks can be completed to a high standard without either having people at a loose end or burning them out.
Whatever format you choose to communicate these goals – whether it’s project management software, a team spreadsheet or whiteboards round the room – make sure that they are always very visible. This way, everyone knows and can keep focused on their priorities with no excuses.
Keep communication channels open at all times
Communication is a key factor in effective people management. You need to keep communication channels open at all times without overwhelming people.
It’s a great idea to start the week with a brief planning meeting, either face to face or online. A chance to catch up with how everyone is, resolve any issues from the previous week, confirm goals and priorities for the week, and ensure that everyone’s time is allocated to where it is most needed.
Then keep up to date with everyone throughout the course of the week. This doesn’t mean micromanaging them. Just let them know you are there to support as needed, and ensure they stay on track.
Find the sweet spot between not swamping them with emails, chats etc, but also being responsive to communications they may send you. Sometimes just a quick call or email to a team member can help them to become unstuck and keep things moving forward.
Review and reward performance regularly
One of your roles as team manager is to review performance regularly. You need to do this for the team – both in terms of overall KPIs and specific project-based targets – and also for each individual team member.
Every member of your team needs to know how they are doing and where they can improve. Also make sure you give positive feedback whenever relevant, as it can be all too easy to focus on the improvements that individual and the team need to make.
Why not introduce some kind of reward system for your team? So every time particular goals have been met, or there is some outstanding client feedback, there is a physical reward for the team member(s) involved. This doesn’t have to be hugely expensive. Just a round of drinks, a gift voucher, or a half day off can work wonders.
Continually update skills and fill gaps
We’ve just referred to feedback sometimes leading to improvements being needed. As team manager, it’s your job to make this happen. If team member(s) are lacking in the type or level of skills needed to do a job well, you have various alternative options:
- Arrange professional training for the team member(s) involved;
- Set up an internal skills buddy system for team members to learn from each other;
- Reshuffle the team to ensure that individuals are in the roles to which they are most suited;
- Recruit one or more new team members to fill the gaps.
Also begin to build a team culture of continuous learning, so that team members expect not to know everything and can use company time to learn new things. You could also set up a series of informal workshops on specialist skills run by team members for anyone else in the team who wants to learn.
Ensure your team are fully resourced
As well as keeping on top of your team’s training needs and skills development, it’s important to ensure that they all have the resources they need to do their jobs well. This applies whether team members work in the office or remotely, or a combination of both.
Whatever software is used for project management, digital marketing (eg CRM, SEO), content creation, analytics, team communication it’s important for every team member to have the latest version of those tools so that they can do their very best work with them.
Also don’t overlook the infrastructure behind the software. Everything from computers, laptops, graphic design tools, reliable printers, adequate and secure storage facilities needs to be as reliable and hassle-free as possible. This frees up your team from the types of daily glitches that waste time and cause endless frustration.
Give them wings and let them fly
Your overarching job as a team manager is to give your team wings and let them fly. If you are doing the best you can do to enable them to be the best they can be, you will have a winning team.
So get to know their individual skills and talents, and give them roles, tasks and challenges to help them learn, grow and shine. You will benefit from this every day for as long as they are with you.
Of course, the risk is that the better they become, the more opportunities there are out there for them. And if they choose to leave and move on, send them with your blessing. Let it end well. But you will often find that happy team members will choose to stay with you even if there are other opportunities beckoning to them. If you’re treating them right this is a massive incentive to stay.
Have fun together
Last but not least, build a team culture that involves fun. That doesn’t have to mean away days or team building activities that can often be cringeworthy. It’s more effective to incorporate fun into the daily working life of the team whenever possible.
If this sounds a bit indulgent just bear in mind that a team that can laugh together develop a reserve of inner strength for those tough days when everything is going wrong. So find ways to bring laughter into the regular MO of the team. The specifics will need to be tailored to your team and the people in it, but a few ideas to get you started are:
- Cake breaks;
- After work drinks;
- Weekly awards for silly things eg loudest knitwear, most creative lunches;
- Ongoing office trivia games such as Two Truths and a Lie, or Guess Who?;
- Monthly raffle or secret gift exchange;
- Games table with ongoing chess or other board games;
- Floor-based games such as table football, office golf or boules.
We hope that this article has given you a few tips as to how to become the best people manager you can be. Your team will thank you!
For more tips about the whole world of digital marketing, check back soon here with us at Xcite Digital.