I’m in the middle of a really fun project right now. Uh it’s with a design firm and the marketing leader from this design firm reached out to us several months ago looking for an interview skill building program for the firm because the leadership team across the board recognized that they want their win rate to be higher. So um we had a very robust conversation. I asked this leader, “So, what’s what all are you looking for? We can help your presenters present better um and we can help them communicate more effectively, speak more concisely, make their points more compelling.” And she said, “Yes and yes.” And I said, “Well, what about the people leading the interview prep? Are they strategizing? Is there a consistent strategy process?” And she said, “No, there isn’t a consistent strategy. we we need that. And I said, “Do they need to get better at leading the prep process?” And she said, “Yes, yes.” And I said, “Okay, well, there’s a lot that we can do for you. We’ve got workshops for all of these things. We can follow it up with coaching. Do you need like an in-house way to make sure that this learning gets fulfilled, that the people who go through the workshops actually do that?” And she said, “Yes, absolutely.” So, we talked about our presence champion program, which would have her and the other marketing person on her team be inhouse champions for the training that we’re talking about doing together so that they can learn the training along with the leaders and with the presenters, the interview presenters, and they can be the backs stop. you know, they can always be in the room during an interview prep and make sure that the leaders are leading the way that they should and the presenters are presenting the way that they should. And then I asked, “Well, is there is there anything else? Is there is there anything that you think is getting in the way of the win rate?” And she said, “You know, to be honest, I think we’re just doing too many interviews.” And I said, “Oh, uh, tell me more about that.” She said, “Well, we’re an ESOP. Um, so we’re owned by the employees and as a result there are a lot of people who are seller doers. Um, and everybody kind of does it their own way. She said the senior level people just pursue every project that they come across and as a result a whole lot of people are getting pulled into interviews that aren’t really a perfect fit for the firm or the team even when things are really busy. So, as a result, a lot of team members are getting pulled into a lot of different directions, getting involved in a lot of different projects and a lot of different pursuits and a lot of interviews and they’re just not able to do the interviews terribly well. So, what happened was we got picked to do this training with this company and we set up a bunch of workshops. We started with everybody who presents in interviews and we proceeded to work with all of the leaders. So, when we worked with the presenters, we had a couple of conversations about what gets in your way. What gets in your way in terms of designing the right message and delivering it well? And very consistently, people in the room said, “There’s just not enough time.” And when we worked with the leaders, we had the same conversation. So, when it comes to strategizing, what’s getting in your way? And when it comes to leading interview prep, well, what’s getting in your way? And very consistently the leaders said, “Well, there just isn’t enough time to do it, right?” So I kind of interrupted the conversation at that point when I was talking with the leaders and I asked, “So tell me about your go no-go process. Do you have a consistent process for determining what projects you should pursue and which ones you shouldn’t?” And they all confessed, “No, not really. we don’t really have one. So I said, “Listen, this isn’t what I’m here for, but this does seem to be an ongoing theme.” So I’d like to suggest that you do something about this. And the leaders kind of took me on and talked to me about the process that they do go through on a regular basis. The marketing leader, the person who hired me, the person who said, “We do too many interviews.” She leads a conversation about the projects that people are exploring and they all agreed that that process was less than ideal because basically she was just listing the projects and one of the senior most leaders said, “Yeah, maybe that’s not the best process. Maybe we should take a little bit more time and vet the projects in those meetings.” And I tell you, this was my favorite moment of the whole training. the marketing leader sat up and said, “Oh, you think so?” As in, “Yes, this is exactly what I was hoping for.” So, the reason I tell this whole tale is to celebrate your marketing leader. Your marketing leader probably knows what’s best for you in your firm and quite possibly isn’t being listened to nearly as much as she or he could be. I would like to suggest that you reach out to your marketing leader and get into their head. Ask them, “What do you think we could and should be doing better?” And whatever they come up with is probably a fantastic suggestion.
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