As an organization development consultant, the “problem” my clients bring for resolution are sometimes only the visible consequence of a deeper or more complex problem. Merely addressing the symptom–however painful–would only obscure the root cause and postpone a full resolution. 

Case in Point

As an internal practitioner and program director at a large nonprofit serving one of California’s largest counties, I tackled a critical challenge: low community awareness of our diverse services. 

The organization’s fragmented departments were struggling to effectively communicate their offerings, resulting in underutilization of vital programs. Spearheading a cross-departmental marketing initiative to boost visibility and engagement, I fostered collaboration between our various teams and leveraged their collective expertise. 

With a comprehensive and consistent brand identity designed, my team and I partnered with Program directors and all team members to socialize the new artifacts and enance understanding of the value of new materials. 

We then developed and implemented a comprehensive, county-wide outreach strategy that significantly increased awareness and utilization of our services.

Yet, this wasn’t the organization’s initial solution. In fact, they had first invested $50,000 in brand development with an external marketing group.

CLIENT PROBLEM: lacks community awareness of its services due to inconsistent branding and implementation, hindering its ability to effectively reach and engage its target audience.

ACTUAL PROBLEM: Shared mental models around expectations and interdependency among the separate services and to the parent brand as well as structured processes regarding branding, marketing planning, and communication hinders the effectiveness of any marketing team (in-house or externally contracted) to build or boost community awareness, evidenced by:

• An absence of documented marketing materials and schedules  
• A history of strained collaboration in marketing communications within the organization
• A need for clarifying how each service related to the parent brand

ACTUAL GOAL: Create a unified brand identity among all staff that positions the Parent Brand as the primary hub for all community support and services, ensuring residents in the service area recognize and connect with the overarching mission across all programs. 

This would be implemented in a multi-phased and multi-year approach to convert an established team from primary Entry Point for Clients to also be a single-entry, in-house Marketing and Communications team to support all in-house programs. 

Considerations

• This in-house team of contributors was:
  • already operating as the client entry point for access to community services.
  • not yet highly skilled in the domain of marketing.
• Involved Client Parties: 9 Program Directors, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. 

Anticipated Benefits

Directly addressing the organization’s concern about community awareness, these benefits were expected:

• Enhanced Brand Consistency: Centralized marketing ensures a unified brand message across all touchpoints, strengthening the Parent Brand’s identity as the primary community support hub.
• Improved Customer Experience: A single-entry team creates a seamless journey for residents, tailoring communications based on first-hand knowledge of client needs.
• Enhanced Community Engagement: Direct client connection allows for more targeted engagement strategies, potentially increasing community participation and brand awareness.

These high-value additional benefits would strengthen the organization for years to come:

• Increased Operational Efficiency: Consolidating functions leads to streamlined processes and better resource allocation, enabling faster, more informed decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Experience: Combines client services with marketing functions, preparing team members for potential leadership roles and improving strategic contributions.
• Increased Employee Engagement: Offers new challenges and learning opportunities, demonstrating commitment to employee growth and fostering a culture of continuous learning.
• Enhanced Skill Development: Expands team’s expertise to include marketing and communications, increasing versatility and creating diverse career paths within the organization.
• Structured Succession Planning: Allows for intentional grooming of high-potential employees, creating clear career progression paths and mentorship opportunities.

ACTIONS

To transform an existing team into a comprehensive marketing and communications unit, I implemented a multi-faceted approach. 

Team members’ skills, motivations, and career goals were thoroughly assessed, which informed the creation of tailored job descriptions and a leadership development program. 

To foster continuous learning and collaboration, multiple touchpoints were established, including daily stand-ups, comprehensive close reports, and knowledge distribution. 

This strategy was complemented by the introduction of a digital collaborative work management system, enhancing cross-functional coordination and transparency across the organization.

At the team level: First, we assessed the existing team members and the organizational needs. 

Understanding skill sets, individual motivations and career goals of each individual helped us create a talent inventory and then map what was available to the needs of the new marketing directive. This process also highlighted skills and domain expertise gaps.

We then designed job descriptions and discussed the description with team members to ensure alignment, clarity, and to surface concerns and potential roadblocks.

A leadership development program was created and rolled out to support the growth of each team member. The program included ongoing and immediate feedback both to celebrate and course-correct with a special focus on the domains of marketing and project management.

Group knowledge sharing and documentation was critical to the success of the team’s learning and development. Knowledge leadership and the development of a transactive memory system are key factors in leveraging knowledge diversity for team success (Zhang and Guo, 2019 as cited in Ayodeji et al. 2024).

Multiple touch points were inserted into team activities to increase opportunities to share and learn together.

1. 10 MINUTES: Daily stand-up meetings dedicated the final 10 minutes to debriefing the usefulness and opportunities for evolution in future daily stand-ups.
2. PROJECT TASK CARDS–common in Digital Collaborative Work Management systems–provided a space to a) celebrate wins; b) share opportunities for future iterations; and c) describe a lesson learned.
3. PROJECT CLOSE REPORTS required all team members reflect on their experience collaborating as well as the work or tasks completed. They each provided a synopsis of wins; opportunities; and lessons learned. Everything was documented in the final report.
4. FINAL REPORT DISTRIBUTION: Close Reports were shared with all project stakeholders and filed into an organization-wide digital system for future reference as needed.

Learning from individual and team challenges or failures was key to improving the team’s performance.

At a project level, we considered all stakeholders’ involved. 

Acting as the program director for the new marketing team, I led 60 minute individual consultative conversations with my peers–program directors–and other program staff, with one of my team members present for learning.  The conversations helped us learn of their needs, educate on options, and clarify our roles.

Getting clear on decision-making (Who would review it? How many times? Who would give the final green light to ship their product? What touchpoints were included to incorporate their feedback?) and providing transparency into our design process boosted the directors’ trust and willingness to engage proactively with the team.

To continuously educate and celebrate small and large wins, we shared frequently across the organization artifacts we were able to deliver to support program needs. The goal was to have the program directors we supported to communicate the work completed–across multiple channels: email; in-person meetings; and 1:1.

RESOURCES

For enhanced collaboration, we introduced a Digital Collaborative Work Management system using Kanban for project and portfolio management (Asana) for both the MarComms team and their liaisons, as willing. 

Introducing a new tool required intentional support of both the tool and facilitation of team agreements on how to best use it. Support looked like:

• Trained & implemented team on daily standups, kanban, and the digital tool, Asana.
• Created and implemented a monthly project pipeline team review
• Created and implemented a digital documentation system with instructions

OUTCOMES

Program Directors began sharing their needs with advance notice, allowing me to gain clarity before assigning a Project Lead from within my team.

After a few months, team members began stepping into leading consultative conversations with program directors or their liaisons to learn and guide toward potential marketing activities.

Program liaisons were established across all departments for a regular cadence of check-ins on needs, delivery and general coordination.

The team of 6 was at times running 10-20 separate projects (from as small as “refresh this flyer;” to “design and host a large in-person event”).

We decreased the time required on repetitive projects by investing in creating, organizing, and making accessible Project Close Reports.

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REFERENCES

Ayodeji Enoch Adegbola, Mayokun Daniel Adegbola, Prisca Amajuoyi, Lucky Bamidele Benjamin, & Kudirat Bukola Adeusi. (2024). Fostering product development efficiency through cross-functional team leadership: Insights and strategies from industry experts. International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research, 6(5), 1733–1753. https://doi.org/10.51594/ijmer.v6i5.1144