We surveyed CMOs and Marketing/BD Directors asking them, “What do your team members do that drives you crazy?” The story behind this exercise is a personal one. Over the past 20 years, Wisnik Career Enterprises has had more than two dozen interns. Some work for a semester, while some have stayed on as permanent employees for years. What I realized in having new interns start almost every semester, is that although we put them through an orientation process and give them a handbook outlining office procedures and technical details, these interns did not always get the “unwritten rules” the way I would have hoped. I finally realized this was my shortcoming in assuming they would automatically know what I did and did not like. So I started writing down what I called “Eva’s Pet Peeves” and sharing the list with new employees on their first day. The result was they got the info from the start, and my frustration level decreased significantly.
My goal in surveying heads of marketing/BD at major law firms is to compile a comprehensive list to share with you about what managers like and what drives them crazy. My hope is that you can either learn from these specific examples to maximize your success, or use these examples as a starting point to educate your team members so they “get it” without having to read your mind.
Here are the top 5 most frequently mentioned Pet Peeves:
- Responsiveness: not acknowledging a request and waiting until the product was complete or promoted again
- Lack of true collaboration: complaining about team members without trying to resolve issues directly with the other person, or taking credit for others’ work
- Not being proactive: bringing up issues or problems without thinking them through and offering possible solutions
- Poor judgment: not adjusting written or oral tone to the person you are communicating with; i.e. answering the phone in with a highly familiar–“hey”
- Focusing on the task and not owning the project: not proofreading a document before handing it to Director/CMO/Partner
What are your pet peeves? Maybe it’s time to compile a list and share it with your team members, so they don’t have to read your mind!