Today’s transformation initiatives provide an immense opportunity for CMOs to influence the board and strengthen their leadership position alongside their counterparts. To capitalize on this opportunity, there are a few principles CMOs can follow to succeed as transformation leader.
Brands today not only want to sustain their business operations but also want to thrive and make their mark in the marketplace. As they try to optimize the outcomes of their various transformation initiatives, they want their CMOs to lead or co-lead the brand’s change agenda.
As a member of the C-suite representing the customers’ voice and entrusted with leading cross-functional brand initiatives, CMOs are in a unique position to lead the company-wide transformation programs. But to capitalize on the present opportunities, CMOs should follow a set of principles to have a long-term positive impact on their company’s growth. As per Forrester’s research, here are three principles that can enable CMOs to achieve the brand’s various objectives.
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Being Customer Obsessed
To compete in today’s marketplace, it is important for brands to lead with the voices of their customers instead of their own. They should make it easy for their customers to work with them. Instead of leading with a product-centric approach, they should pivot to an audience-centric one to drive the focus, alignment and to accelerate their growth. Being agile enough to gain meaningful customer insights and responding accordingly determines how their enterprises need to change to become more responsive to the customers.
Change Leadership
Many transformation initiatives have been unsuccessful because brands failed to factor in the human dimension of change in their planning. Though it is crucial to create detailed project plans for all activities- that should occur as a part of change management- they are not the only factors that can have a significant impact on transformation initiatives. According to the Forrester research, transformation leader required at various stages of the change processes to keep the team members inspired and engaged.
CMOs should communicate an exciting and compelling vision in which their team can believe in and support. Furthermore, they should make it a habit to celebrate positive outcomes that strengthen the organizational and personal benefits of the change. Once the initiative begins to take a stronghold, CMOs can sustain the momentum with their transformation leaders approach and enable their team and stakeholders to realize the transformation.
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Having Trust
For an initiative to be successful, trust is a key ingredient. Therefore, CMOs should trust their counterparts and enable them to trust them in shaping the new vision. Furthermore, they should also ensure that their teams have enough faith on them to bear the disruption of change that will be worth it in the long run. By aligning their goals and priorities with their counterparts, being transparent and honest about where they are in the process of change initiatives, CMOs can have a positive influence over the board and the decision-making process.