Engaging remote marketing teams—how common goals and collaboration can help retain talent

Despite headlines about major layoffs in the tech world, retaining key staffers remains a top priority for chief marketing officers who recognize that they are only as effective as the team that supports them. With unemployment at its lowest level in 54 years, it’s also hard to recruit replacements quickly or cost-effectively. And with so much of the workforce virtual, it takes longer to acculturate and bond with new hires. Among marketers prioritizing retention is James B. Stanton, VP of marketing for Empyrean, a human resources software provider. Stanton has built a microculture within marketing whose team members feel connected to Empyrean’s overall brand strategy: Build a better culture through benefits. “It’s not coincidental that Empyrean has enjoyed its two strongest years of growth as employees have aligned behind our purpose,” said Stanton. How did you build the marketing team? My goal is to create one that’s highly energized, very collaborative and that can create and do amazing things together. Marketing was a misunderstood function when I joined, and we’ve worked hard to create what we call a marketing microculture. We’ve even defined something that we call the “Empyrean Marketing Way.” How do you bring the “Empyrean Marketing Way” to life? A theme that runs across everything is accountability. Accountability to each other, to the organization and to ourselves. What’s been important for all of us on the team is to create clear roles and common goals. I like it because it rhymes, but it really works well when thinking about how to set up a team and an organization. You have 7 direct reports; how do you manage them all? When I put out org charts and use them in a strategic way, I tend to put out a circle, and my role is the line in between everybody; holding folks together, creating direction, and reducing and removing friction. Yes, I do have a lot of one-on-ones every week, but I’ve found that keeping a flatter organization allows me to be more effective. I have a team of experts. My direct reports are all able to accomplish what they need largely on their own. I’m not an expert at everything, so I see my role in working with all these folks to make sure that we’re orchestrated. We also use OKRs (objectives and key results) so that we all are aligned on our objectives. How do you manage the remote team? When I joined in the thick of COVID, I joined remotely. What was important for me was to create a team of the best people that I could find no matter where they were. That meant that I had to be geographically unbounded regardless of the pandemic. My manager, our chief strategy officer, was very supportive of that, so we’ve got a remote team of folks all over the country. Being remote means that we had to implement a very structured way of working together. We’ve adapted an Agile methodology using a Trello, Kanban-style board. We meet on Mondays and do our commits; we meet on Fridays and do our completes. For our commit meeting, it’s all about getting aligned and making sure that we each understand what we need from each other to accomplish our projects. In our complete meeting, we celebrate our wins and raise any roadblocks encountered. This process has been a fantastic way to keep everybody on the same page and get to the finished project in manageable chunks. Do you meet in person? We do. We’ve been calling these our “marketing residency.” We come together for a week; we have some fun. We also use that time to think way more expansively and really let the creative juices flow. We have a residency two to three times a year. One of my team members said recently: “I think getting together at this rate is enough because if we got together more often, we wouldn’t have enough time to get done the things we actually come up with.” What’s working from a retention standpoint? For me, it’s about making sure that everyone has the clarity they need to do their job and to make sure everyone appreciates each other. As a leader, it’s also important for me to have a very open and candid relationship with the folks on my team. Work can get emotional, and we marketers are passionate people. So, I want to have those candid conversations, and I make it known that I do. If you’re feeling that you’re not connected, you’re not getting the growth that you need, or if you’re under-compensated or not being recognized, that will impact your desire to stay on the team. So, I try to give space for these conversations in one-on-ones. Not every one-on-one, but I pick one on a month-ish cadence to just ask. What’s your No. 1 tip for building stronger marketing teams? Let each of your team members—especially your directs—drive their own destiny. Help them to create and define what that journey is, but make sure that you’re giving them the support that they need. Let them sometimes make mistakes, but make sure everybody on your team feels that they are running their show. When you have that kind of attitude as a manager, you’ll find that your team always steps up and is grateful for the chance to thrive on their own. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Engaging remote marketing teams—how common goals and collaboration can help retain talent

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