In what way do you cultivate leadership within the ranks of your team and how successful have you been?
We spend a lot of time focusing on leadership and investing in helping people to become better leaders across the board at all levels. We invest heavily into line manager training at, which you could argue is more management focused but some of the skills are interchangeable. Some examples include giving and receiving feedback, handling courageous conversations and unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. We also have regular coaching specifically around leadership and will continue to do so.
We’ve focussed on improving recruitment too by first making sure people are a cultural fit. Skills are almost less important now. In fact, we believe the mantra: “Hire for cultural fit, train for skills.”
Do you have a formal leadership programme? Either within marketing or the business more generally?
We’re rolling this out across the whole company and working on evolving our structure overall. For example, we’ve adopted some guiding principles including things like small moves over big moves, experimenting over planning, progress over perfection and a key one is consent over consensus. We’ve been spending time working through these with a core team in the agency so we can adopt them fully and be better leaders across the board. I guess a way to look at it is that we will adopt more of a flat structure, where everyone is empowered to make decisions and help define the purpose, values and future of the agency.
Is there a difference between leading and managing? If so, what does it look like?
There’s a huge difference. There are people who are great managers and poor leaders and then vice versa. I’m a great fan of Brené Brown and like her definition that a leader takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, then has the courage to develop that potential.
Leadership is about supporting your teams and allowing them to flex and grow. It’s about building courage and embracing failure. It’s enabling your teams and getting the best out of them.
Business is changing quickly, no less so in B2B marketing. How does that shape the competencies and attributes you look for in future leaders?
Flexibility is massively important. We don’t have a crystal ball to know what the future holds. We need to flex and be open to change. There’s also resilience, which means knowing how to cope in spite of setbacks, or barriers. Having emotional strength is essential as well.
I think it’s also about attitude, approach, chemistry and a thirst for learning. We make sure that candidates meet a range of people across the agency from different departments and levels within the company to get a full sense check on their suitability.
How do you think leadership in B2B marketing is going to change in the near future? How can marketers prepare for this?
I think leadership overall is going to change more than we can imagine. If you haven’t read Frederic Laloux’s book Reinventing Organizations, you should. He argues that as a race, we have gone through organisational changes over time, from basic tribal structures to what we have today. He believes that there is something fundamentally broken in the way we run organisations. He argues that future organisations and leadership structures will be characterised by self-management, wholeness, and a deeper sense of purpose. These organisations – which he describes as “Teal” – operate largely without organisational charts, management hierarchies, quarterly goals or other traditional management strategies. This is why Omobono is making small moves towards helping people bring their whole selves to work. I’m not sure how we can prepare for it other than being open and learning from others.
What non-marketing experiences can potentially contribute towards leadership success?
I think we can be leaders in our day-to-day lives, and there are principles that you can practise and adopt in everyday situations with your family and friends. Giving feedback, coaching people to make decisions and encouraging our kids to have a growth mindset. It’s about being more aware overall really. You can mentor graduates or those starting out in their careers. You can also volunteer and do charity work to understand the challenges that other businesses face.
Is leadership for everyone? If not, why not?
Yes and no. Not everyone is born a leader, but anyone can become one if they want. Anyone can develop their leadership qualities and put them to positive use in life every day, in and out of the workplace.
I would argue there are some people who just don’t want to be a leader, and that’s totally okay. Perhaps some people underestimate their ability because they have never thought of themselves that way.
What’s the best bit of leadership advice you were given?
I still seek advice almost on a daily basis. Quite a few years ago, my boss talked to me about slowing down, listening, pausing and then responding. I remind myself of this all the time at work and in my personal life.
Also don’t be surprised if others who have less information than you don’t like a decision you’ve made. That’s what you get paid for and their reward is being able to say they thought your decision was foolish. This is what I call “the luxury of complaint”. Gather what information you can, engage them as much as you can and in a collegiate way. Make that decision and don’t let their subsequent comments bring you down. Stay flexible, stay open but crack on.
Should people plan their careers, and if so, to what extent?
I think it’s useful to have a rough plan of your ambitions, but it’s impossible to have a defined plan. Opportunities will present themselves, and you really need to think through them hard and work out whether they are a good move or not. Don’t jump for money – I know quite a few examples of people who have done this and regretted it.
I have always believed that your career is an education, and you need to evolve and add more strings to your bow in terms of both depth and scope of knowledge. I started off working in CRM and moved into digital and then social and now B2B. I’ve got a broad spectrum of experience and continue to build my competencies. I think people need to focus on personal growth and the career will follow.
