Meet Your MarTech Goals with Effective Project Management
Professional Development & Education | association marketing | project management | goal setting
Every year associations set out to achieve a specified goal: digital transformation, growth, increased membership or personalization to name a few. But how do you achieve these goals successfully? There are countless factors that can contribute to a successful year, but at its core, I believe understanding your team, leading by example, creating a more granular outline and adopting agile marketing are the cornerstones to achieving goals in the arena of digital marketing. In other words to reach the goals you need to adopt effective project management skills!
Consider Generational Differences
Break away from homogeneous routines and goal setting. We must respect where everyone has come from and pull together in diversity. We currently have several generations in the workplace, each with their own unique personality. It is important that we seek to understand the various generations, as this directly correlates to their performance in the workplace.
- Baby-boomers – these individuals grew up in a time where there was funding to educate the workforce on best practices. They believe that showing face means success and that long hours are the building blocks to success.
- Latchkey kids – they entered the workforce during a time where funding was low and budgets didn’t include career enrichment opportunities. They came from a generation of parents that worked and were often left to fend for themselves. For this reason, many are independent thinkers that have no qualms about figuring it out on their own.
- Millennials – this generation came from helicopter parents that were trying to overcompensate for their parents that left them alone. This has lead to a generation of hyper-structured individuals that thrive with deadlines and organized communities.
These generational divides should remain in the back of your mind. As a latchkey kid, you may wonder why the millennial can’t wrap their mind around a broad goal of increasing membership by 20%. This is because "figuring it out" comes naturally to this generation. Whereas millennials need their goals to be broken down into smaller milestones that come together to create the big picture. This leads me to my next point, teach your "children".
Teach Your “Children”
Building off of my last point, I want to establish that everyone comes from a unique background. This means deadlines such as get "it done quickly" are ambiguous and can be interpreted differently from one person to another. Rather than assume that a variety of people from various generations and cultures are in line with your thought process, set out to “teach your children.” Establishing clear and concise expectations is key. Opt to implement training to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Break Down Your Goals
Now that we have sought out to understand our team and respect their individualism, it is time to consider how you can effectively drive these individuals to achieve your association's ultimate goal. Rethink your goals, step away from broad goals such as digital transformation, personalization and/or automation. Be more specific in your goals - be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Focused, Time-Bound.
Adopt Agile Marketing
When you adopt agile marketing you break free of codependencies that can bring you down. Allow your projects to be a melting pot of expertise by uniting subject matter experts from across your departments and teams. By doing this we allow our projects to propel themselves forward without the dependencies of others.
For more on how to meet your MarTech goals with effective project management tune into Suzanne Carawan's webinar, linked below.