The document provides guidance on building, developing, and maintaining a successful search team. It discusses three phases: CREATE the team by establishing values and thoughtful interviewing; DEVELOP the team with a 90-day boot camp and clear expectations; and MAINTAIN the team through mutual trust and emotional intelligence. Key recommendations include hiring for character as well as skills, providing ongoing training and feedback, and rewarding performance to foster employee loyalty and productivity. The overall message is that a cohesive, high-performing team can be developed through attention to core values, strong leadership, and an emphasis on personal growth and recognition.
The QSR Media Dispersion: Pre, Mid & Post Pandemic – By the Numbers
Presentation: Building Your In-House Marketing Team
1. BUILDING, DEVELOPING, AND
MAINTAINING YOUR SEARCH TEAM
Jennifer Tan
Online Marketing Director
Experian
12/15/12
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2.
3. Agenda
CREATE with …
Team Values
Thoughtful Interview
Team Involvement
DEVELOP with …
90 Day Boot Camp
Clear expectations
On-going training & reinforcement
MAINTAIN with …
Mutual trust
Emotional intelligence
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4. CREATE
Who belongs in your pack? Who will hunt with you? Who will
share their meal with you? Who will have the team’s backs?
Don’t just hire based on skills, hire based on character too.
CREATE by …
1. Knowing Your Team Values
2. Interviewing Wisely
3. Allowing Team Involvement
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5. CREATE by Knowing Your Team / Wolf Pack Values
Document what you really value on your wolf pack
Pre- interview
Hiring for skill only = potential lone wolf
Research and adopt practices that work
Example: Southwest Airlines “hire for attitude” philosophy
Confirm yours or get inspired
Look for red flags that go against your values
Currently a large pool of qualified candidates
Example: Self proclaimed “SEO guru”
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6. SAMPLE: My Team Values
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7. CREATE by Interviewing Wisely
Ask questions to illicit character
Skills are on LinkedIn and the resume
Look for qualities that can’t be taught overnight
Examples:
Passion
Loyalty
Team player
Big picture thinker
Accountable
Transparent
Open minded
Gratitude
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8. Add Anthony Robbins quote here
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9. CREATE by Allowing Team Involvement
Allow the greater team to interview the candidates
Involvement equals commitment
Value your team’s input
Innuendos you may have missed
Role misconceptions
Look for a consensus
May not be best decision, but they can live with it
Issues fully aired and all have been adequately heard
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10. DEVELOP
Every strong team has a STRONG LEADER. Wolf packs
have a hierarchy and will lean on a leader’s direction.
DEVELOP using 3 steps:
1. Clearly defined Boot Camp
2. Create & communicate clear expectations
3. Provide on-going training & reinforcement
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11. DEVELOP by Using a Clearly Defined Boot Camp
My new hire 90 day Boot Camp
25 pass or fail milestones
Requisite skills and on boarding processes
External training from experts
Build relationships within the organization
Enjoy the benefits!
Provides accountability
Rest of the team getting an A player that will pull his own weight
Another opportunity to identify bad, lone wolf
Invest upfront – step up to Strategic role
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12. SAMPLE: 90 day plan
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13. DEVELOP by Creating & Communicating Expectations
Establish your Ground Rules
Establish upfront vs. damage control
Follow your own rules & lead by example
Communicate expectations
Deliver Ground Rules via a hand-out on day 1
Read and discuss the hand-out to them day 1
Hold them accountable
Issues addressed in 1:1 meetings
A chance to respond
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15. ADD buddhist proverb here
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16. DEVELOP by Providing On-Going Training
Honor 1:1 meetings
Timely on-going feedback, good and bad
Coaching moments, timing is important
Performance reviews
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17. MAINTAIN
Principles to keep them from straying. If you are using your
wolf pack for your own agenda, they will stray. If you are
leading, feeding & nurturing them, they will remain loyal.
MAINTAIN in 2 steps:
1. Earn their trust by trusting them first
2. Demonstrate your emotional intelligence and self control
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18. Add quote from Robert Townsend
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19. MAINTAIN by Earning Their Trust
Invest in career
Conferences, Trainings
Let them shine
Recognition to Executive Management
Individual Personality Styles
Public recognition vs. thank you card
Creative ways to reward them
Peaceful vacations
No copying on emails
Monthly newsletters
MVPs for the month on your team and other teams
Enjoy the BENEFIT - an increase in Trust
5% increase in trust will increase productivity by 50% or more.
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20. MAINTAIN by Demonstrating your Emotional Intelligence
Expected to know your job. Couple your technical skills with EI,
start SHINING!
The most underutilized leadership skill = making an emotional
connection
Give people your undivided attention – easier said than done
Be aware that your emotions are contagious - your influence power
Develop your sense of extraversion
Very little effort to make someone’s day
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22. HIRE FOR CHARACTER, TRAIN FOR
SKILL, NURTURE TO KEEP
1. CREATE the pack. You’ve picked pups you can teach & share
your values.
TAKE AWAYS: Team Values & Interview Questions
2. DEVELOP the pack by rising as the Alpha. The pack doesn’t
succeed without direction.
TAKE AWAYS: 90 Day Boot Camp & Ground Rules
3. MAINTAIN the pack by giving them reasons to stay by your
side.
TAKE AWAYS: Rewards, Recognition, & Reviews
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We’re so focused on talking about performance, tactics, and emerging trends – but how about if we spend a few minutes to talk about us – the human aspect? We know about the high turnover in Online Marketing. I was invited here to talk about how I’ve been able to build and maintain my team over the last 5 years. So the wolf pack metaphor…. wolves are extremely loyal and also great hunters – qualities that t we need on a Search Team. The idea here is something nameless I have been practicing and developing over time….and in theme to our venue in Park City, I’d like to present to you how to LEAD YOUR WOLFPACK.
1st we must create the A team wolf pack. I’ve found something unintuitive to work exceptionally well here. That is, hiring based on character. ** Read head line ** Again, don’t hire based on skills – decide adequate experience during resume review, then hire based no character.
When I say write down your values, literally, write them down for yourself and for your team. Here are some examples of my team values. Look at the last one **READ** Why has this become a value? Because I’ve seen the opposite create dysfunction.I learned that 25-40% of our work lives may be wasted or compromised due to an emphasis on competing. Even thinking competitive thoughts interferes with best performance and increases negative stress hormones. I get that this may be debatable, but not creating contentious competition has worked beautifully on my team.
Unlike a real wolf pack, we can’t give physically give birth to our team. But we can come close via strategic questions. Write down the qualities you want, then ask non-obvious questions to help answer them. Who cares if they know how to run pivot tables? Do they know how to influence other departments to help them with projects? That’s more important. Hire for character, train for skill. A manager will have a harder time teaching character qualities like passion and gratitude, than teaching them how to launch an adWords campaign. These are the qualities I look for. The last I highlighted because it’s my most important. Gratitude in an employee means they can say thanks, they can respect the time of others… In my work experience, it’s the entitled personality creates the most unproductivity in an office setting. In my view, entitlement is the opposite of gratitude. How many people have managed someone will an entitled personality in their career? I like to ask “Do you consider yourself a grateful person during interviews, which Janel in the audience taught me. It is a great way to look for the toxic entitlement personality. “I’ve earned everything myself… I’m self taught…” illicits a behavioral style I don’t want on my team.
With that, I take you to this profound quote because it’s so true. **READ** This is my goal objective at work. Be brave & open minded – see the opportunities … and this all starts with the gracious personality.
If involved in choosing the employee, they will help them succeed. You’ll also learn more about your team with their involvement & potentially find some cracks in your foundation, that you can now correct.The beauty of Consensus is that it may not be unanimous, but they can all live with, support, and commit themselves to not undermine. The issues are fully aired, all members feel they have been adequately heard, in which everyone has equal power and responsibility.
Okay next… If you’ve spent the time to find an employee with excellent character and one who has the capacity and personality to learn, you found yourself a good student. It is imperative that you own the fact that you hired based on character & recognize that this person needs training – and you must set up this excellent person to succeed. Do not drop the ball here. It’s time to LEAD…. **READ**
Fortunately, nobody has failed and I partially credit why I haven’t lost any team members to this.
**READ examples** Here is my 90 day plan – easy to make in Excel. Make it official with a commitment blurb at the end & signatures.
One of my pet peeves is when someone sends me a report with a clear outlier and a) doesn’t explain it in the email, or b) made a mistake with a formula. Performing smell checks on everything you send is a great way to deter this. Drinking is a good example. Not everyone is verbal person…I have found that by writing, I can hold them accountable.
**READ** Now they have passed boot camp & they know your expectations, and you have your new wolf in the pack … to really start the teaching.
Post boot camp.**READ 1** Much will be revealed during 1:1s. **READ 2** Sometimes, if you let things bottle up too long, your delivery may come out with too much energy.**READ 3** How many of you have had a manager that blew off your performance review or didn’t give you one? How did that make you feel?
The last part of your A team wolf pack is you gotta keep them around. **READ headline**
**READ** 75% of working adults say the worst aspect of their job – the most stressful – is their immediate boss. Bad managers create enormous health costs and are a major source of misery for most people. Also, you just trained one hell of a Search Marketer – and we know how they are in high demand. Why wouldn’t they go somewhere with more pay, sexier office, and free food?
**READ headline** About emotional intelligence,EI is comprised of the following four skillsets: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. People with high EI are aware of how they are behaving and understand how their behavior affects others. On the other hand, people with low EI tend to have a distorted view of their own behavior and often do not realize or do not care how their actions impact those around them. Extraversion – being extraverted is not easy for everyone – but leaders need it. As an example, it’s hard for me. I was the weird girl in high school with the thick glasses and acne who attracted attention of bullies. But I put myself in discomfort so I can improve myself – I have worked hard to find my own inner alpha wolf.
This is how I have kept a high performing team. I invite you to use this framework and put your own personality into it. Simple but powerful steps that I have refined over the last 4 years are my recipe for a great wolf pack. Wish you well.