Paula Carneiro Cox

The individuals on my team take turns hosting a monthly contribution meeting where we review the successes of the past month and how we plan to move forward. There is a spontaneous award given each time and celebrations of our milestones at that time. While the whole team marches to a similar beat with me as their leader, it’s only when I help give context to how their work ties back to the larger strategy where they see the TRUE importance of teamwork. I’m very quick to publicly thank my team both in meetings, and on social media when appropriate. It’s a small gesture that yields a huge boost. Our organization also leverages spot bonuses on a monthly basis where we announce a monetary prize for a few humans who go the extra mile.

Every person in my organization selects a continuous improvement plan including a relevant course or conference to educate them and enhance their skills. There isn’t enough time in the day to learn every inch of the new trends or angles emerging in any given as a marketer, so it’s important to delegate learning. It’s a win/win model- employees are empowered and leaders have a synthesized view of what’s new without reading, attending and learning everything. It’s a delegation model that elevates the entire workforce.

Over the last couple of years I’ve refined the feedback model, and it’s important to note that even the refinement being clearly communicated was important. Their annual reviews resulted in an understanding that because we are high-growth, there are times my demand-gen teams needed faster feedback on their work and strategies to keep up with the market. As an AI Automation firm, when Chat GPT blew up, it disrupted our plans and it was important to hear employee perspective on the pivot THEY thought we needed to operationalize a new route to market. By listening, I was able to adjust their KPIs and goals and keep them motivated to hustle. Too often leaders simply “move the goal post,” and without context, employees get fatigued.

Event follow up is the primary way to monetize the money and time put into the event itself. Enrolling someone in a workflow isn’t going to yield the same trust, recognition and brand awareness that a personalized impression will leave. Continuity is crucial here…if someone meets me at a conference, they will remember me when I reach out, but if I have another group or person do the follow-ups, the memorability from my live meeting/meetup is lost. Capturing value from an event is typically done within the first 30 days post event…after that? It’s as good as cold and starting over. You can also probably assume they’ve spoken to competitors along the way if they had been open to engaging with you.

Often industry terms, acronyms and naming conventions become so common internally, it’s easy to forget that buyers, prospects, partners and other external stakeholders might get lost in translation. I coach my BD team and marketing content writers to remember that “plain talk” is what translates in storytelling. Version 2.0 of that statement is giving a plain-talk example of a story they can relate to; conjuring up empathy in a storytelling moment empowers the message to live on past the initial visual or verbal cue.