Marketing Your Team: Moving from Helpless to Helpful
One of the biggest reasons I’ve been a successful manager is because I have successfully marketed my team to the rest of the organization as a helpful team full of professionals who excel at what they do. As a manager, I take my responsibility of marketing my team VERY seriously, and do it every chance I get. If folks don’t know what your team does, you stand a chance of getting your staffing levels cut, of folks not respecting what your team does, or worst of all, of getting outsourced because folks think you offer a commodity service instead of an invaluable service.
One of the trends in the late 90s and early 00s was outsourced Help Desks. Now, many other jobs are getting outsourced because of cost conscious folks who only look at the hard costs of staffing instead of the total cost of service. Sure, anyone can answer the other end of the Help Desk phone, but if someone doesn’t know your business, will they make the best decisions for your organization about importance, priority, and impact to the business? I doubt it, but this article is not meant to bash outsourcing. Instead, it’s meant to empower YOU the manager with the tools you need to market your team, and move from helpLESS to helpFUL!
- First, get out from behind your desk. Take a few minutes every week to spend time with other managers in other areas, not just in your department, to find out what they are focusing on, and how your team might be able to add value to the process. Don’t worry about sharing solutions, just listen and pay attention to what your peers say, and think about what you might be able to do later on. Ask questions, take notes, and learn something.
If you’re not physically close to your peers, then pick up the phone and call folks to ask them how your team is doing. I leave it very open ended. When I call branch managers, I ask if we (IT) can do anything to make their lives more productive, or to help them become more profitable. I do this instead of surveys because it’s less formal than a survey and gives me an opportunity to tune into the other manager’s moods, needs, and ways we can improve to provide them even better service in the future.
- Second, invite others into your department to observe what your team does day-to-day. If folks don’t know what you do, then how can they value it? I bring new folks from various departments in to sit with my team for 30-60 minute periods whenever they want to come visit. If we’re busy, then I ask them to just sit and observe what we do. It gives them a greater appreciation for what my team does, and gives my team a better appreciation for who the other is and what they might need when they call up asking for assistance in the future.
- Last but not least, get involved in whatever you can outside of your department and find ways to relate it back to your team. I sit on committees, do speaking engagements, and write articles for any department in the company that needs me to do so. Sure, this means I have to work longer hours some days, but the rewards are invaluable. I sit on the customer service week committee to network with other front line managers to understand the customer service they provide, and how I might incorporate that into my team’s customer service offerings. I’ve spoken about technology, career mapping, and management to various groups in the organization, and tie that back to how my team does things. Folks are always amazed that an IT organization can be so forward thinking, but it’s easy to tie back into the business if you stay in touch with the business.
Now it’s your turn:
What are some better ways you market your team?
Do you have any stories to share about great marketing, or marketing gone wrong, of your team?
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POSTED IN: Phil Gerbyshak, management hack
1 opinion for Marketing Your Team: Moving from Helpless to Helpful
CK
Aug 11, 2008 at 9:15 am
Get out from behind your desk (aka - walk-around management)
invite others into your department to observe what your team does day-to-day (This is called comminication but should also include your department members so that they have a larger view of the whole picture and how they fit into the picture.
Get involved in whatever you can outside of your department and find ways to relate it back to your team - In management terms this could be called Vision, being prepared to direct or re-direct your team as needed.
Much of what you are talking about is covered by Ken Blanchard’s book “Leading at a Higher Level.” It’s a GREAT book. I had just finished reading it. I borrowed it from the public library and ended up purchasing the book anyway! That sould tell you something in itself!
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