Sharpening marketing skills and successfully enabling and developing PEOPLE

The demands on companies as business partners, but also as employers, are becoming increasingly diverse and complex. Above all, digitization and its implications for the world of work are presenting companies with new challenges. A clear and targeted structural and procedural setup of organizations is just as important as the meaningful integration of the relevant stakeholders.

One of the most important stakeholder groups for companies are certainly the employees. This is because they are largely responsible for the success of an organization. However, in our fast-moving society, it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to promote and challenge their employees in a targeted and sustainable manner and to retain them in the long term. Unclear processes as well as historically grown and outdated structures are often reasons for dissatisfaction and the loss of competent employees. In addition, the often inconsistent or not very systematic use and development of competencies and skills as well as non-functional and inspiring work environments play a central role.

The forward-looking planning of scarce and dynamic competencies and the creation of a suitable environment for their optimal use are therefore increasingly becoming success factors for companies. Which competencies do I want to develop internally? Which ones are becoming less important? Which ones will become more important in the medium or long term? Which are best bought in from outside, which should be provided internally? What tools do I need for this? What does an inspiring and functional working environment look like?

We at Batten & Company offer a suitable framework for answering these questions and are happy to support you with our many years of project experience.

OUR APPROACH – TARGETED SELECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MARKETING SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

Within the framework of our “Marketing Operating Model (MOM)”, we deal with precisely these questions, among others. In our PEOPLE module, we look at the core and thus a central success factor of every company: its own employees and decision-makers. Modern marketing and sales units require differentiated skill sets and competencies. For this, however, employees must also be given appropriate opportunities for further training.

The goal should be to take the needs and concerns of employees seriously when developing organizational structures and processes, to take their competencies into account, and at the same time to point out meaningful and realistic career prospects. A systematic assessment of competencies needed in the future within the marketing or sales organization and a comparison with existing skills is a key starting point here.

However, not all skills should be developed in-house. Outsourcing, e.g., to agencies, offers the advantage, especially in the case of strongly developing competencies, that these skills can be used fresh and up to date and scaling is easier. At the same time, especially in the case of scarce and expensive competencies such as digital marketing or data analytics, employee skill sets should be planned holistically. We have summarized a selection of the most important marketing skills as examples (see figure).

FLEXIBLE COLLABORATION MODELS AND AGILE WAYS OF WORKING

In addition to the future-oriented promotion of skill sets and the targeted planning of internal and external competencies, however, an inspiring and functional working environment also plays a decisive role in the ideal use of individual skills.

Thus, as part of our PEOPLE module, we also deal with issues surrounding the provision of a modern and at the same time meaningful working environment. It becomes apparent time and again in the course of our project work that many companies want and need to break new ground, particularly with regard to office and workspace design. Open Spaces, Home-Office, Co-Working Spaces and other possibilities, which originate from the “New Work” thought, should help to promote the efficiency of the employees, to use space potentials optimally and to create an inspiring working atmosphere.

When it comes to creating an inspiring work environment, it also seems essential for companies to open up to the idea of agile working methods and not just see agility as an empty buzzword that is currently in vogue. The establishment of agile methods in collaboration and the simultaneous consolidation of a performance culture that nevertheless allows for mistakes form an essential basis for success and at the same time one of the challenges for companies in this day and age.

If your company is facing similar issues, contact us! We look forward to working with you to further develop your company organizationally and to ensure successful implementation.

Also, read our PEOPLE article on how to form differentiated skillsets and a functional and motivating work environment.