‘Showing up’ is more than being at your desk by 9am every day. It is about, firstly, understanding and, secondly, articulating how you add value. In other words:

This is who I am; this is how I show up; this is why you need me.

Everyone shows up differently. These are some of the ways I do. How do you show up? If you know the answer, then you know your personal brand.

Part 1: The Dept. of Why.

As a service provider (MarComms) the easiest and, often, most politically successful approach to work is to wait for a request to come in and to respond to it – promptly, enthusiastically, with a smile. That is a definition of customer service.

However, equally often, these requests for action are arbitrary, under-thought, responses themselves to some other random set of events. It is just STUFF. There is so much stuff inside organizations, and just as information grows exponentially, so does stuff.

Therefore, to execute requests ad finitum, without question, to whatever standard is deemed appropriate…well, I’m not so sure that is real service to the cause of excellence and business forward momentum.

As MarComms teams are often the producers of content and collateral for the organization i.e. their work is often the way stakeholders see and evaluate the organization, discernment is critical.

So, I like the idea of a Department of Why?

The role of the department is to:

• question the need for stuff;
• think a little deeper about the motives behind the ask;
• determine if there is anything we can develop more generically or sustainably that can give ‘em what they need (rather than what they want).
• be strategic by pausing for reflection and applying input-output processes and ‘if-this-then-that’ thinking.

And, to clarify:

• this is NOT about saying ‘No.” (Although, it sometimes is…)
• there is no real department. The Dept. of Why is a mindset.

←This Much We Know.→