Network of Teams: The Future Agile Marketing Organization
Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 10:45 am
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Leaders call them tiger teams, circles, networks, or squads. Whatever term you use, the objective is the same: remodel the organization to better serve empowered customers and attract new workers who have fresh expectations. Leading companies are progressing towards a “network of teams” approach that is more agile and customer responsive than the traditional hierarchy of functional silos built for the industrial 20th century.
Reach Beyond Silos to Create Agility
In 2015, General Stanley McChrystal published a best-selling book sharing insights components of a job seekers database on how he transformed a cumbersome, conventional, special forces organization into a modern powerhouse able to meet the new challenges it faced in Iraq, titled “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World.” Amazon’s summary description asks, “What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization?” Wouldn’t it be great if marketing organizations could be like this?
Like McChrystal’s military, businesses compete in a fast-paced, complex world where their leaders don’t call most of the shots. For decades, companies succeeded when organized in functional groups where people with similar jobs work closely together. These organizational silos benefit employees with their ease. They can be quite efficient. However, ease and efficiency no longer drive growth. It’s innovation and customer experience that create competitive advantage. Functional silos inhibit speed and creativity. They cause pain for customers. Sequestered in silos, company staff miss or ignore situations where customer-facing processes have gaps or duplications.
Here are signals that your organization is a silo:
Unresolved power struggles: If your team has long-standing conflicts that crop up repeatedly and don’t seem to get resolved, your team might be a silo.
Hoarding information and knowledge: Marketing and other functional specialists require unique terms and distinct information to do their jobs. However, if your team keeps this information for its own benefit or neglects to translate specialized so that others can understand, your team might be a silo.
Metrics that enable your team to win — even if no other team does: If your team can beat your goals and look good, even if others around you are failing, your team might be a silo.
Business process set up with serial handoffs: If your team works in isolation to complete one step of a business process and then passes off the next step to another team (like a production line or a relay race) then your team might be a silo.
Share
Leaders call them tiger teams, circles, networks, or squads. Whatever term you use, the objective is the same: remodel the organization to better serve empowered customers and attract new workers who have fresh expectations. Leading companies are progressing towards a “network of teams” approach that is more agile and customer responsive than the traditional hierarchy of functional silos built for the industrial 20th century.
Reach Beyond Silos to Create Agility
In 2015, General Stanley McChrystal published a best-selling book sharing insights components of a job seekers database on how he transformed a cumbersome, conventional, special forces organization into a modern powerhouse able to meet the new challenges it faced in Iraq, titled “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World.” Amazon’s summary description asks, “What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization?” Wouldn’t it be great if marketing organizations could be like this?
Like McChrystal’s military, businesses compete in a fast-paced, complex world where their leaders don’t call most of the shots. For decades, companies succeeded when organized in functional groups where people with similar jobs work closely together. These organizational silos benefit employees with their ease. They can be quite efficient. However, ease and efficiency no longer drive growth. It’s innovation and customer experience that create competitive advantage. Functional silos inhibit speed and creativity. They cause pain for customers. Sequestered in silos, company staff miss or ignore situations where customer-facing processes have gaps or duplications.
Here are signals that your organization is a silo:
Unresolved power struggles: If your team has long-standing conflicts that crop up repeatedly and don’t seem to get resolved, your team might be a silo.
Hoarding information and knowledge: Marketing and other functional specialists require unique terms and distinct information to do their jobs. However, if your team keeps this information for its own benefit or neglects to translate specialized so that others can understand, your team might be a silo.
Metrics that enable your team to win — even if no other team does: If your team can beat your goals and look good, even if others around you are failing, your team might be a silo.
Business process set up with serial handoffs: If your team works in isolation to complete one step of a business process and then passes off the next step to another team (like a production line or a relay race) then your team might be a silo.