To Consult or Not to Consult, that is the Question

Recently I was asked to discuss with a global marketing team what it takes to consult well with their regional field marketing colleagues.

My first reaction was to question whether “consult” was really the right way for them to be thinking at all. Immediately, the idea of being a team of consultants to the regional field marketing team feels a bit insulting to the regional team. I should know, I have led regional marketing teams spanning two decades. We don’t necessarily feel like we need the global (aka “HQ”, “Corporate”) team to provide “consulting services” to us…..in fact, I would argue that it feels like it should be the other way around ! Shouldn’t the global team be seeking the wisdom and expertise coming from the field? Hmmm….in fact, isn’t this more about sharing expertise between us?

All at once, in just this little train of thought there is a problem. And it comes down to the basic question of the purpose of the marketing team as a whole and the purpose of each of the global and regional teams. Without that 100% clear, there is room for interpretation, emotion, ambiguity, confusion and frustration.

Having met many marketing teams, in many different organisations of all different shapes and sizes, I have heard people speak of this as problem. Global vs region, function vs country, solid line vs dotted line …all different flavours of the same basic issue. A lack of homework on why these teams even exist in the first place.

So what is to be done?

Fundamentally it really does start with purpose. Answer the Why?  And here’s the thing - You really mustn’t confuse the Why with the What.

When I asked one particular global marketing team why they exist I immediately received answers on what they do ….

“We provide expertise to the regional team on digital marketing”

“We provide services to help them improve their marketing performance”

“We are a centre of excellence”

Nope, no “why?” in any of these…..and without the “why” we are going to debate each of these sentences ad infinitum on whether that is useful or not….

Taking a look at both the global team and the regional teams working together in this case there is a “Why” here for both. In their words – “To meet customers wherever they are, to attract, inspire and motivate them to purchase and advocate for our company”. Both teams have this common purpose. Now – what’s the purpose of each of them?

Typically, one of the reasons that there is a separation of global/corporate vs regional field teams is that there is need to optimise the amount of people and resources needed. i.e. don’t replicate in each of the field teams something that can be done once on behalf of all of them. Makes perfect sense, although it’s easy to quickly get stuck into the “what” again when this is the starting point. “What” should be centralised? Oops, where’s the purpose gone?

This is where some thorough structured thinking comes in, with your eyes firmly focused on the purpose question.

In short, the purpose investigation can ladder up some interesting and laterally different answers for your teams. The first is that by having a common purpose across both the global and regional field teams, that everyone is truly bought into, you can change the environment you are all working in. The second is that clearly separating the purpose of each team – working towards your shared purpose will bring much needed clarity to the ‘big picture’ for each, and a better win-win feeling for both teams.

In this example, the purpose discussion split nicely into a couple of distinct areas. The first being that the global team could very much focus on the purpose of distilling innovation that works best in front of the customer and enabling all teams to be able to recoup those benefits quickly. The regional teams, in the meantime have the purpose of being close to the customers in their geographic markets to be able to implement and adapt for great customer experiences.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

While this might not be perfect, (in fact I think there is plenty of room to improve these) there is not a need to get this to perfection immediately. Because, in fact there is one more vital ingredient to this that will be more important. It comes in the form of the throw-away phrase that was a few paragraphs back…..a purpose “that everyone is truly bought into”. Get this right, and you are on your way. Hidden agendas, passive aggressive challenges, individual toxic choices and even fear will all destroy this slowly or quickly. You will uncover those as you deepen your understanding of what these statements really mean, and ultimately who needs to do what. And sometimes, along the way you’ll also realise that each team wholly depends on the other to even succeed at all in ‘their own purpose’. And so your work begins – to establish the true foundation for the work ahead. This is true leadership and team work. Individual by individual too, including “who’s “on the bus” and who’s not.

So, back to the consulting question. Should the global team “consult” with the regional team?

Actually, given this purpose it looks like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

However, maybe the approach is one of teamwork and coaching rather than “consulting” when – in the end – you are all part of one team, and one company, with one shared purpose. Coaching, after all, is about meeting your client “where they are”. I love this concept as something that can be applied to all teams. Understanding where the person or team you are meeting is at, what their purpose is, is always the best way to open a trusted, enriching and constructive dialogue.