B2B Reads: Connection, Critical Listening & Community

In addition to our Sunday App of the Week feature, we also summarize some of our favorite B2B sales & marketing posts from around the web each week. We’ll miss a ton of great stuff, so if you found something you think is worth sharing please add it to the comments below.

The Problem With How Our Industry Understands Project Management
While some firms avoid project management completely, others allow their project managers to run the entire company. It’s difficult to find this balance in our industry as there are many problems with how our industry views project management. Project management isn’t traffic and it’s different from account management. We also must understand that the tension between these two roles can sometimes be positive, but it’s important to be aware of the dynamic between them. Thank you, David C. Baker, for this comparison.

Connection: Today’s most essential leadership skill
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workplace within the last few years has challenged leaders to stay connected to their employees in an online environment. As we arrive at this “new normal” for leadership, many can’t help but wonder how to maintain authentic relationships in this newly popular hybrid model. Connection is critical to a leader’s success and this includes connection with yourself, team, and organization. Thank you, Alaina Love, for shedding light on this important topic.

5 Ways Marketing Leaders Can Drive More Value in 2022
As the pandemic is beginning to resist, marketers must act fast to drive change and create value within their organizations. This article elaborates on how marketing leaders can drive more value by highlighting marketing as the company revenue driver, grabbing the end-to-end growth agenda, acknowledging foundational data, prioritizing talent issues, and embracing creativity. Thank you, Janet Balis, for these insights. 

How to Join the Ranks of Best-in-Class Marketing Organizations
Marketers are under constant pressure to deliver best results and this isn’t predicted to go away anytime soon. The importance of proving marketing’s value is another topic widely discussed and is quite a journey through its communication. Value creators, sales enablers, and campaign producers are three of the best contributors in delivering this value through the use of data, performance management, and customer centricity. Thank you, Laura Patterson, for your research and ideas. 

Why we long for leaders who actually care about us
Having the assurance that people genuinely care for you promotes a feeling of connection and is important in all aspects of your life, especially the workplace. Unhealthy work cultures are a primary cause of the Great Resignation and letting people know you are there for them decreases the likelihood of anyone feeling this way. Meeting these seven universal human needs will help employees thrive at work: respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth, meaning, and progress. Thank you, Micheal Lee Stallard, for highlighting these points. 

Delivering Value Through Critical Listening
Listening helps us build relationships with others both in our personal and professional lives. In order to have successful communication, you must learn how to actively and effectively listen. While these forms of listening are often talked about, critical listening is crucial for delivering value through your words as well and is known as the process of understanding what is said and evaluating, judging, and forming an opinion on what you heard. Thank you, Michelle Voznyuk, for this great read.

3 Digital Marketing Trends that I’m Excited About This Very Minute
Digital marketing is changing rapidly with the advancement of technology and evolving digital strategies. As a result, this quick paced industry has trends coming and going in very short time periods. Storytelling through social media, the rise of live streams, and providing audiences with what they want through omnichannel are all examples of these exciting trends. Thank you, Rachel Degginger, for sharing your excitement.  

Seven Deadly Sins of Email
Email is not just a form of communication, but one of the most stressful and frustrating aspects of the workplace. Learning how to better manage our relationship with email can dramatically improve our productivity. Some poor email habits to get over include checking email first thing in the morning, constantly grazing on email, multitasking while emailing, rereading emails, categorizing actionable emails into folders, not trashing enough, and treating your inbox like a storage bin. Thank you, Justin Hale, for this interesting read. 

Employers are overlooking this source of ‘hidden’ talent despite a growing labor shortage

One of the most pressing issues in the industry today is the shortage of hiring workers, especially in the midst of the global pandemic. Employers are looking to expand their organizations in diversity and talent but are overlooking a huge potential group with these qualifications. There are large amounts of low-wage and hourly workers all within these organizations that offer little opportunity for advancement, however if companies were to embrace these individuals and offer training to elevate their skills then this could help solve the growing labor shortage. Thank you, Aman Kidwai, for your insights. 

Where Community Really Matters #HelpUkraine
Heinz Marketing believes that in any community, it’s the “communing” that’s so powerful. The CMO’s give back program was introduced last year and now Heinz has opened up a new campaign that is directly supporting Ukraine humanitarian efforts that has already generated over $8,000 in four days. Support this program to give back and if you’re a CMO, join the CMO Coffee Talk community to contribute your help to this worthy cause. Thank you, Matt Heinz, for bringing us all together.