Focus on your marketing team’s development

With the current economic climate and shrinking training budgets, as a team leader, business owner or decision maker, it may seem counterintuitive to invest in your marketing team’s development right now. However, this could be exactly what your business needs to not only stay relevant and effective, but to drive business growth. 

As we continue to face the capability crisis impacting the marketing industry, the need for developing marketing capabilities and bridging the skills gap has become increasingly important. The changing environment, rapid acceleration of AI, evolving customer expectations, and the increasing complexity of marketing roles have called on all marketers to stretch beyond traditional skills. 

The solution, however, is a simple one – investing in training and education. 

That being said, with the pace of change it can be hard to identify where the genuine gaps are in a marketing team’s skill set. Knowing where to dedicate your precious learning and development budget to get the most out of your team can be a minefield. Especially when looking at the existing and required capabilities of each person in the team on an individual level, and the need to align that with business objectives. So, while education may be solution, these layers of complexity mean it is not one-size-fits-all in application. That’s why below we will explore some practical ways you can focus on your marketing team’s development, to become a marketing leader who builds and empowers teams that are ready for the future.

Start the conversation and lead by example

When resources are stretched thin and marketers are constantly being asked to do more with less, it can be all too easy to deprioritise learning and development. But just like team leaders want to continue pursuing their own personal professional development, so too do their team members. Leading by example can be a great way to show that you care and are committed to the development of your team. When it’s seen as a priority for you, other’s feel like they can carve out time to make it a priority for themselves as well. Especially if you make the time and effort to check in with your team to see what areas they might like to develop themselves in, or any gaps in their skill set they would like to focus on to help with their current or future role. 

And while it may feel like this actually adds more onto your workload than less, there is a long game being played here. Providing the opportunity to develop team members demonstrates that they are valued as individuals. That you’re willing to invest in their own personal professional growth. Employees want to feel valued and when a workplace is willing to invest in them, they are more likely to expend discretionary effort and also stay with the company for longer.

An industry buddy / mentorship

An easy and cost-effective way to focus on your marketing team’s development is to encourage an industry buddy or mentorship relationship, and dedicating time to allow those catchups to take place.
An industry buddy relationship outside of the business, and even better yet, outside of your industry vertical can be incredibly beneficial for professional development. Firstly, there is reduced pressure as there is likely an ‘equal playing field’ between buddies in regards to hierarchy. The freedom to be vulnerable and discuss/show weak spots and knowledge gaps without fear of judgement could be the encouragement needed to start an upskilling journey. Secondly, finding an external industry buddy to compare notes with, discuss upcoming tech changes or regulatory reform preparedness with, share case studies with or even complete courses with, makes the daunting task of upskilling easier than doing it alone. It also has the added benefit of avoiding any “groupthink” behaviour that comes with being too internally focussed. Even better still, if buddies can be from differing verticals, like FCMG vs B2B for example. There will still be commonalities that can be discussed and shared, with the added bonus of taking one another’s insights away to innovate and think outside the box of how some of these could apply to their own industry context.

Alternatively, a mentor relationship is also valuable in developing young marketers in numerous ways. An experienced mentor can not only share the expertise gained throughout their own career and provide guidance to improve on existing skills, but they can also help identify any skill gaps that may exist or highlight the most critical future skills needed as the marketing landscape continues to evolve. Mentors are also likely to be well connected with an established industry network. So, where their own experience or skills may be lacking, they would be able to connect a mentoree with another industry professional to assist with development. 

Short courses, certification and self-paced learning

When time is scarce, short courses, certification and self-paced learning can be a great way for marketers to upskill quickly, and repeatedly.  If there are a handful of skills that need addressing, a few short courses can be an easy way to learn the theory needed to put effective strategies into practice. Or when schedules are a little chaotic and/or unpredictable, self-paced learning certification can be a fantastic alternative as these can be worked into a changing weekly routine as best suits the participant. Plus, certification will cover more theory of a capability than a short course will. So, if your wanting to more extensively upskill in a particular capability, for example, digital marketing, as opposed to a specific targeted skill within that capability, like digital marketing analytics, certification would be a more sound investment as there are greater knowledge gains to be achieved. 

In-house training

If there is a particular area for development needed across the team as a whole, considering in-house training could be a practical and efficient solution. While it may demand an overall higher investment, the results of training the whole team at once to streamline skill sets would be rewarding. Depending on the extent and offering of the in-house training you’re able to engage in, you would likely get a bespoke training package tailored to align the upskilling process with business objectives.  With that level of service and knowing the entire team would be upskilled together and ready to hit the ground running, it definitely makes the cost justifiable. 

Understanding skills and capability gaps in your organisation

If pinpointing strengths and areas for development, aligned with your strategic goals, seems like an overwhelming task, there is a solution to help you navigate the next steps. The new ADMA Capability Compass is an extensive marketing skills assessment tool that has been built for industry, by industry, with insight and support from leading marketers like Mark Ritson and other highly regarded industry professionals. It provides a 360-degree view of marketing capabilities and skills as well as actionable dashboards or maps and a training pathway, at both a team and an individual level.

How does it work you may be asking? It starts with the leader signing up, adding their team, and selecting their strategic priorities based on their organisational goals. Each team member is then sent an email to complete the survey. Once completed, each team member receives their personalised report outlining their strengths and opportunities for development with recommendations on how to improve in the highlighted areas. 

When all team members have completed their surveys, the leader receives a comprehensive set of maps highlighting their teams’ overall capabilities, empowering them to make informed decisions about team learning and development. This has also been explained in this short video.

The good news is that the ADMA Capability Compass is accessible to everyone, so even if you’re not an ADMA member, your team can still benefit from this pioneering tool. For non-members, to express your interest in completing the ADMA Capability Compass simply fill out this form and a member of the ADMA team will be in touch with next steps.
 
For ADMA members, the Capability Compass is included as a member benefit. Team limits are aligned to membership levels so to find out more, please contact your ADMA membership manager for details or to register, click here.

The ADMA Capability Compass is without a doubt a game-changer for fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence, and when utilised will have tremendous impact in helping marketers upskill and elevate for the future, as we face the capability crisis together as an industry. 

The outcome 

When it comes to focussing on and investing in your marketing team’s development, the benefits will far outweigh the (literal) costs. As mentioned above, investing in your team will make them feel valued as individuals and in turn likely want to remain loyal and committed to your business. This will lead to strong staff retention rates, reducing turnover, and keeping business knowledge and your investment in-house. In addition, the gaps in skills and capability were likely a contributing factor hindering business growth. By addressing these gaps and upskilling your team for today and for the demands of the future, you will have more well-rounded and multiskilled marketers. These well-equipped marketers will then be best positioned to drive business growth through effective, creative and innovative strategies.

As the old adage goes, you’ve got to spend money to make money. Investing in the learning and development of your marketing team to not only bridge any skills gaps but elevate a skill set so it is future focussed will best set you and your team up for success.