Here is the challenge. Personal agendas in marketing creates losers. Why is such a statement relevant? The problem lies within companies who unwittingly hire marketing professionals with personal agendas. These are marketers who come into organizations looking to fill the status quo, gain job security, and collect a weekly pay cheque. It includes people who range from complete indifference to megalomania. These are people who want to keep their jobs [they don't rock the boat] or conversely, they will do whatever it takes to advance themselves forward, putting their needs in front of the corporation.
The problem with personal agendas are twofold, 1) it creates a corporate environment that doesn’t take risks and 2) for meglomaniacs, it pushes marketing consistency off the rails for the next great campaign [the next great campaign may see quick results but has a detrimental impact on the corporation in the long-term.]
Putting the needs of the corporation first has tremendous benefits. Energy is refocused on cooperatively working together to achieve extraordinary results. With personal agendas out of the way, marketing leaders can now take the necessary risks to achieve greater results. Marketing leaders need to take risks, and while some of them will fail, mistakes are inevitable. When taking risks are encouraged, great things can happen. By leaving personal agendas at the door, companies foster a creative work environment of collaboration and teamwork.
So, how do you solve the personal agenda problem? Focus on creating a high-trust environment that allows all stakeholders to define their goals and objectives and how to meet them. Empower people and allow them to make mistakes to advance the company forward. While this may take time, it’s empowering impact on business means that teams will increase their collaborative capabilities while increasing the bottom-line.
Posted in Tourism Marketing, Travel/Tourism
