Tag Archives: career path

A CMMA Leader Requirement: Rely on Your Rookie Smarts!

21 Friday Aug 2015

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While attending a recent leadership conference, I was peppered with numerous helpful and inspiring leadership messages. These were all good, and for the most part, satisfying. I love this stuff, and the more leadership ideas, the better! Thinking back on the two-day conference, I realized that I had heard versions of these subjects before; these were “refresher” lessons in leadership development. I saw some of the brightest minds on the leadership spectrum, and one message delivered by author and consultant, Liz Wiseman, stood out from the others: Apply the skills you came into your career with in everyday interactions, decisions, planning and thinking – apply your “Rookie Smarts”.

Rookie Smarts is a concept of going back to the basics that launched our careers and our passion for learning and leading. The idea is to capture that youthful energy and innovative spirit we all had when we began our careers. Use that energy again to foster a culture of learning and mentoring the workforce that’s creeping up behind us…the future leaders, and future members of CMMA.

Admit it. We’ve seen them; the rookies in our organization who think they know everything about anything, and they aren’t afraid to let you know. Sometimes these rookies fall flat and learn lessons the hard way. These rookies also move quickly through organizations with their new ideas, new energy and relevant skills for today’s workforce, and find success. I’m attracted to the concept of Rookie Smarts, and believe that as CMMA members, and leaders within our own organizations, we have an obligation to continually canvas the talent landscape for those rarest of rare jewels: future leaders with vast potential. Face it; many of us will be hanging up the business suit for a canoe paddle in the next ten years (more or less), and it should be incumbent upon each of us to chart a course for developing these new leaders in our organizations. We were the rookies at one point in our career, and if we look back to the traits we employed to bring us to where we are today, just think how we can inspire the rookies of this day. Why should we look back?

Wiseman says that in a rapidly changing world, experience can be a curse. Careers can stall, innovation pauses or stops and strategies grow tired and stale. The concept of being new, naïve and clueless as being an asset is a hard one to grasp; however, I see this as the perpetual learner. This is the experienced leader who is always looking for the new twist to solving an age-old problem (analog to digital, anyone?).

So, take this advice, and invest in your past success, and embrace being a rookie again. Love learning, and embrace mentoring. And by the way, “Rookie Smarts” is also Wiseman’s new book. Embrace the thinking and behavior of that young, energetic person you were, and ponder hanging up that canoe paddle for a few more years. You’re just getting started!

Article contributed by Warren Harmon, CMMA Board Member

Hanging with “My People”

06 Wednesday May 2015

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I just got back to the office after attending CMMA’s Spring Development Conference at Marriott’s World Headquarters outside of Washington D.C. It was my last conference as CMMA President, and in the couple days since then, I have been in a reflective mood about my tenure in that role – and about CMMA in general.

Bottom line, it’s been a great ride as President and with CMMA. But why exactly?

I’ve been an active member for over 9 years. For me, to put it simply, the essence of CMMA is to learn and share. Looking at the conferences we put on the last couple years, the themes were respectively, “The Innovation Conference,” “Communicating in a Digital World,” “From Hollywood to Topeka: Differentiating our Value through Story and Craft” and “Become a Center of Excellence.” My hope is that the events not only gave us an opportunity to stretch our thinking (maybe even disrupt our thinking) and deepen our knowledge, but also to share and learn from each other’s experiences so that we would be that much more savvy going back to the office.

At its heart, peer to peer learning is arguably the most compelling benefit of CMMA membership. In all the busyness of the D.C. event there were a couple of moments where I took a step back and thought about who I was in the room with, thinking to myself, “These are my people! I’m in a room hanging with my counterparts from Bank of America! Mayo Clinic! Kate Spade! Sandia National Laboratories!” Those guys handle nuclear weapons! What an eclectic bunch!” (Feel free to name any other combination of companies or organizations that attend our meetings).

It’s awesome knowing these folks, all of their experiences and know-how are accessible: across the table from me at breakfast, in the bus on the way to the President’s Dinner, just an email or phone call away. In D.C. I certainly took advantage and engaged with them on a number of topics.

What’s also awesome is that these relationships turn into lasting friendships and can blossom in a myriad of ways as we journey through our careers together. The challenges, the opportunities, the highs and lows. And the same dynamic happens with our Partners too.

I can’t think of any other organization that is so elegant in its simplicity. Professionals getting together, learning, sharing. That’s CMMA.

This article was contributed by Chris Barry, CMMA Board of Directors

The Most Important Person in the Room

06 Monday Apr 2015

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Peter F. Drucker once said that “The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being said.” We have a similar paradox when we’re developing a project or a presentation: the most important person – the audience member, is typically not in the room.

When starting a project it’s easy to not consider the audience. To start, we’re likely in a hurry and are already behind schedule. Then, we’re probably smart enough, have plenty of experience and have done many projects like this before. It’s easy to believe that we know just what to do. Sometimes that may be enough to communicate successfully. But, considering the barriers an audience might have to receiving our message can challenge exactly those preconceived ideas we’re banking on to get the message right.

It’s Communications 101 to remember that communication is a two-way process between sender and receiver. Communication doesn’t happen until the message is received. Understanding the audience perspective can make all the difference in crafting an effective message. Knowing what the audience is willing to receive should shape what message you send and how you send it.

Consider a presentation you’ve made in the past that didn’t go as planned or a project that wasn’t very successful; chances are you learned something during the process that, had you known or considered it earlier, would have changed your approach. That’s a hard way to learn and I know that I’ve had more than one lesson. At the same time I can think of many other successes and I can recount clearly one project where considering the audience was not only effective, it was essential in even continuing the work.

The project was to introduce to a sales force a new line of copiers. Interviews with the sales reps revealed that they were still fuming about the current line which had suffered from a lack of features, a non-competitive price and repair problems. The sales reps were working extraordinarily hard to move these machines. While they were eager for the new equipment, what they also wanted was an apology from Management. This was not on Management’s radar as we started the project. Our interviews with sales reps revealed the true “temperature” of the audience and enabled us to shape the new message in an acceptable way. While Management never apologized, they did acknowledge the problems with the current line and thanked sales reps for their hard work. That was good enough for the audience and they were able to rapidly begin moving the new products.

Having a full understanding of your audience makes a world of difference in your work. This holds true whether you’re creating a presentation to thousands or for a one-on-one budget meeting with your boss.

When you sit around the table to start creating, be sure to leave a seat for someone from your audience.

Article contributed by Jeff Boarini, CMMA Board of Directors

Standards of Quality

06 Friday Mar 2015

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Is your team operating under a well-articulated vision, with an expectation that the quality of work will always be at a certain level – or are they simply responding to customer requests and doing what they think makes sense? A simple but succinct vision for the standard of quality is at the forefront of every project my team produces. This started years ago shortly after my introduction to the business.

My first job as a media manager was at a large pharma company.  After getting my new assignment I decided that in order for my team to support our customers I needed to know everything there was to know about big pharma. It didn’t take long to realize that the pharmaceutical industry was extremely complex and not something this director of Creative Services was going to have to learn in short order. As I looked at our various buckets of work – Training and Development, Marketing, Executive Communications, Public Relations, Research – I saw a consistency in the stakeholders in each of those areas. That thread was a highly educated, highly experienced, passionate workforce. And that’s where I found my answer. I realized, or rationalized perhaps, that I didn’t need to know their business at all. Rather, my team and I would commit to them that we would be as good at what we did as they were at what they did. After all, they own the content; we simply help them communicate it. This thought process has served me and my teams well over the years and through various assignments.

In my current role at Mayo Clinic, this philosophy means that my team doesn’t need to know how to perform open heart surgery in order to support a cardiac surgeon – thankfully. Rather, our commitment to each physician, administrator and public relations professional we support is that we will be as good at our jobs as they are at theirs. It’s really that simple.

Mayo Clinic was recently named the Best Hospital in the Nation for 2014-2015 by US News and World Report. If our hospital is the best, then it follows that our Media Support Services department has to be the best as well. Luckily, one of our guiding principles in Media Support Services in Florida is continuous improvement. Yes, our standards are very high at Mayo Clinic as I’m sure yours are where you work.

Bottom line, it’s critical to have a commitment to quality, regardless of your role or your clientele. If you don’t have an articulated standard of quality, I recommend you establish one, shout it at the top of your lungs and review your teams’ work on a regular basis to make sure it meets the high standards of your customers, the company you support and your personal brand as a leader.

Article contributed by Clifton D. Brewer, CMMA Board Member

The 8 Essential Leadership Skills for Today’s Communications Manager

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

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What does it take to be an effective leader of a corporate communications team? At a time when market forces, globalization, and a new generation of employees are changing the workplace, the old command-and-control approach to management no longer works. Corporate communications managers must engage with employees in a way that leads to their success, the success of the department and the corporation.

Here are eight behaviors central to your success as a corporate communications manager.

  1. Vision/Purpose: As the leader of an organization you need set a clear, compelling vision for your team and the work they deliver. A well-reasoned vision for the work of your team is critical in uniting your people behind a purpose they can feel confident in supporting.
  1. Character: People follow those they can believe in – leaders who demonstrate integrity, honesty, determination, and respect for others. There are times you should take the project lead. Not to show you are “part of the team,” but to stay grounded in the understanding of their needs and to earn their trust and loyalty.
  1. Listen Courageously: It’s important to be a good listener, remain open to input from all stakeholders and respectful of their ideas. A successful leader must develop the ability to listen carefully and act courageously when called upon to do so.
  1. Communicate Clearly: Interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate people has become a core competency of leadership. Be transparent – those around you will respond positively if your decision-making process is viewed as open, fair, and consistent.
  1. Demonstrate Flexibility: The speed of business requires constant monitoring of business trends, directions, and opportunities. However, being flexible does not mean constantly changing direction. Your credibility as a leader requires focus and directing the effort of your team on the most promising opportunities.
  1. Embrace Risk: Guardians of the status quo can never be leaders. It takes courage to seek new and better ways your team can contribute value back to the corporation. Be prepared for change and when the opportunity is right, pursue it.
  1. Technical Competence: As a member of the management team you’re accountable to the organization for delivering business results, not demonstrating technical prowess. You do not need to be a technical expert in all aspects of communication, but you must stay informed about the forces shaping our industry.
  1. Build Your Team: A leader is only as effective as the team they build. Be passionate. Inspire others to dream and provide them the opportunity to achieve. Recognize and reward their efforts and that of others to reinforce those actions. As a leader your success will be measured by the success of others.

Leadership Journey
If you truly aspire to a leadership position, or want to make the most of your opportunity, work hard at these eight skills. It promises to be a rewarding journey.

Article Contributed by Tom Morse, Principal Multimedia Project Manager, SAS

Advice for College Graduates

06 Thursday Nov 2014

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LeAndra Martinez is an aspiring producer living in Los Angeles. She graduated from college in 2011 with a degree in film production and has since shuttled through low-paying jobs, burdened by massive student debt. She told The Huffington Post that she does not want to accept government assistance even if she qualifies.

As we look this month to bridge the chasm between LA and Topeka, we need also to consider how we raise awareness in the viability of the latter as a possible future, for many talented graduates entering the job market. Ask yourself, where does your succession and sustainability plan fit into your corporate culture and its future? What happens after you leave? As an association, are we here solely to acknowledge and celebrate our presence in the current circumstance, or, are we here to plant the seeds, and nourish the future of Enterprise Media Communications for generations to come?

The above article highlights the predicament with colleges and universities in which, they tend to hype the “Go to Hollywood, NYC, Vancouver or Toronto and make movies and television productions” ideal as the only alternative for people pursuing a career in media. We know this is a very hard world to break into and maintain. Your success relying as much on luck and the whims of those established, as it does on your ability and expertise in any given position. It sometimes takes years to generate a consistent living. None of these institutes, it seems advises, “Go, and fulfill your dreams in Topeka!”

Rarely do any of these centers of higher learning acknowledge the existence of the Enterprise Media Communications world, which thrives in places like Topeka and Jacksonville, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas. They don’t recognize these opportunities, which pay for the cars, the kids, and the house; and offer the 401k, the vacations, and other ‘perks’ from which, a financial or technical degree would result. Media is a business, and so many outside this community, do not appreciate the amount of business acumen involved in media production. Average people don’t realize a producer’s degree emphasizes the business of media, rather than the actual creation of films and videos.

We know that, many Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, have some form of Enterprise Media Department; and many companies across the country engage with their employees, clients and customers via video. The Board of CMMA has often talked of how to reach out to this talent pool and begin to nurture among them, the prospect of a vocation in Enterprise Media Communications. It’s unfortunate that so many grads in this field are not made aware of the opportunities it offers.

Is it the choice of educational degree, or lack of known opportunities, which hinders the successful transition to the working world for graduates possessing a media degree? I assert it is part of our legacy as members of CMMA, to develop a form of outreach to educational institutions across America, raising awareness among those who endeavor to create great stories, to this profession we hold so dear. I realize in the face of corporate layoffs and fewer resources, it is difficult to look beyond our own set of circumstances to what the future brings. However, we need to be the standard bearers for the future, along the road to Topeka and the opportunities available there in which, a new generation of enterprise communicators could put their skills to good use; or, we are not great communicators at all.

Article contributed by Gerry Harris, CMMA Eastern Regional Director