Trust-based marketing leadership: What senior leaders should be focusing on during brand plan reviews

Abstract

Virtually every marketing team, in every company and in every industry, goes through the yearly, if not more frequent, ritual of developing and presenting its business/marketing plans to its executive team. This process can involve considerable time and expenditure. In very many cases, executives’ own blind spots of their role in the process can have a host of negative consequences for the quality of the plans themselves and, just as importantly, for the motivation and engagement of the team. When leaders second-guess the work done by expert and dedicated teams or use the ritual as an opportunity to micromanage or grandstand, there can be many consequences, some of which are outlined in this paper. This paper discusses ways to make it right, and offers a number of tips for leaders to consider as they manage and conduct brand strategy and plan reviews. The current author believes that embracing some or all of these tips will result in not only better plans, but also more engaged and motivated teams.