How Marketing and Development Teams Can Work Together

The communications challenge existed long before technology was birthed. People who are creative and visionary are just wired differently from people who focus on operational details.

Some lucky few have totally balanced brains and can switch easily between imagination and reality. But most people choose careers that play to their interests and strengths, which can ultimately be a source of conflict in work and in life. So, fast-forward to today’s marketing reality.

Marketing and IT Functions Must Work Together to Deliver Great Results

In small organizations, those functions may exist in one job. But in most companies today digital marketing and web development may be separate roles. Here are four keys to living in peace and harmony and delivering the best possible output:

Get to Know Your Co-Workers as Humans

Yeah, that sounds a little woo-woo, but it’s a principle of collaboration that transcends industry and media. Without stalking your colleagues on social media or interrogating them about their life outside of work, you can make an effort to find the common areas that will enable you to co-exist and collaborate well in the working world. Muse offers up these 70 questions. (Caution: Do not ask them all at once. That definitely teeters on the edge of weirdness.) Working with remote colleagues has its challenges, but if you make a commitment and focus on commonalities rather than differences, you’re off to a great start.

Set Mutual Goals

When you’re starting a new project, work closely with your team members to agree on objectives, delivery dates, and resources. Collaboration tools are critical in this step. If conflict arises, enlist the help of an objective third party in mediating. Try not to go running to your supervisor every time a disagreement arises. You will be perceived as a “snitch” and that could result in long-term distrust by your co-worker.

Above all, accept the fact that creative and operational people may think and process information differently. Neither way is wrong. By focusing on the end goal rather than the work style, you’ll avoid interpersonal conflict.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate...and Then Do it Some More

Agree to the frequency and content of ongoing meetings. What types of communications should be e-mails versus chats or phone calls? Make sure that the media you’re using to relay information is easy and comfortable for everyone to use. If you don’t understand the terminology your co-worker is using, ask questions but do not put them on the defensive. Rather than asking, “Why is the font so small?” ask, “Does the platform allow you to increase the size of the font?” The more interest you express in what your co-worker is doing, the more they’ll view you as a trusted ally rather than a taskmaster.‍

Use a Collaborative Platform That Makes Everyone’s Life Better

Technology cannot change someone’s personality (yet), but the right type of automation tool can ensure that everyone on a team, regardless of function, is working from the same timeline, information, and assets and can easily contribute, chat, and interact. Working on multiple platforms and not being able to stay informed or find what you’re looking for wastes time and leads to stress and sometimes even missed deadlines.

Think of SmartSuite as the one place where you and all your colleagues -- regardless of personality and job function -- can come together to collaborate, share, and contribute.