Leadership skills in any career or field are important as leaders need to direct, coach, and lead their teams effectively. Besides this, having the necessary leadership skills in marketing will allow you to empower your team and colleagues, have the knowledge of how to take ownership of job responsibilities, and communicate effectively. If becoming a marketing leader is one of your goals, or if you are a current marketing leader and want to improve your skills, here is a list of the leadership capabilities every marketing leader should have and master:
Being able to communicate
This is the most important leadership skill, no matter the industry or field, and is the difference between a good and bad leader. Leaders in marketing need to communicate their job expectations, job responsibilities, and necessary feedback. This would require the leader to understand their team and colleagues, the processes within the job, and the technologies used. If you, as a marketing leader, are able to communicate effectively, your team will listen, understand the message or instruction, and willingly act on it.
Being reliable
To be respected by your team, colleagues, and superiors, leaders in marketing need to be reliable. A reputation of reliability is earned and should be proven by showing that you can provide what is needed, are supportive, and are loyal to your colleagues and team. As a leader, you should avoid backing out of promises made and be trustworthy.
Problem-solving
This skill is one that needs to be developed and crafted. Being a good problem solver requires you to have a positive mindset while being calm and dependable. The best problem solvers are known to be curious, would welcome ambiguity, views the issue from a range of different angles, and takes the advice of others. If you as a leader do not have these qualities, you should focus on practicing them when faced with problems in the future. This would lead to developing and mastering this skill.
Being strategic
This is a very important factor in being a good leader in marketing. To have a business succeed, there needs to be a strategy that has been well-thought-out and communicated to all parties involved. To create a strategy like this, leaders in marketing would need to be able to think strategically, understand the specific business goals, and steer their team in the right direction to achieve and complete these goals. Strategic thinking is also necessary to make well-informed decisions.
Being decisive
One of the most important functions of being a leader is being decisive. To do so, a leader would first need to collect information regarding the decision and then use it to decide what is needed to move forward. In the marketing field, decisions often need to be made under pressure and within short time periods. Leaders would need to be able to work under pressure while still considering all the necessary factors when making decisions.
Giving and getting feedback
Feedback is an important component of being a good leader. Good leaders need to know how to deliver feedback effectively and also need to be able to receive feedback. To ensure this, marketing leaders need to craft a space that welcomes and promotes an open dialogue where healthy and necessary feedback is encouraged. This would allow their team to grow and succeed, and would also allow them to grow as a leader.
If you as a marketing leader would like to learn new leadership skills or master your existing ones, we would recommend taking “The Brand of You” short course. This short course, offered by the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM), focuses on offering the tools needed to conduct yourself, as a marketing leader, appropriately with presence, professionalism, and confidence. This short course would take 10 weeks to complete.
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