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Green Gordon
Welcome to the 7th in our series portraying different types of internal clients.
The person
Gordon is a new member of the Marketing Strategy team. He’s very bright: although he’s only 26, he’s already completed an MBA. However, he has virtually no business experience – it’s all in his head: it’s all theory. He’s a nice guy when you get to know him but he sometimes seems as if he lives on another planet. Despite this, he is also ambitious – and he may dump on others if one of his projects doesn’t work out.
The problem
Gordon thinks he knows a lot, as he has read all the books and has outstanding qualifications. He tends to forget that there are other people in the team with more experience, or with a different but equally valuable perspective. When he asks for work to be carried out, he will ask for everything that is dictated by the theory, and will suggest many different techniques. Unfortunately, he has absolutely no idea about the practicalities of research or analysis, or the timescales involved. He doesn’t even know the appropriate things to ask of participants in research.
If Gordon had his way, he would design interviews that ask for everything down to the respondent’s inside leg measurement, and which take two hours to complete! If you inform him that his demands or timescales are impractical, there is a danger that he will make you appear obstructive – because he can always produce arguments that seem to support the essential nature of every detail he requires.
Gordon needs to learn to think things through, and to avoid jumping to early conclusions – either about the way that the research should be conducted or about the capabilities of other members of the team. He needs to realise that although he may know a lot about his special areas of interest, you also know a lot about yours!
The solution
The best approach to helping Gordon is to take a firm hand, and take time to explain some of the underlying issues:
- Identify and address his characteristics as soon as possible - ideally at induction. Flatter him by saying you’re impressed by how much he knows. But make it clear to him that effective research also depends upon people who know and understand all of the practicalities involved. Ask him to involve you at an early stage so that you can help him to interpret his great ideas into approaches that will be both clever and practical.
- Take time to teach him about your world. Get him involved in your analysis so that he can see all of the key issues. Invite him to focus groups or to make sales visits – whatever will help him to understand the real issues that matter to customers.
- If he still asks for too much in too little time, help him to prioritise his needs. Get him to see that although some information may be essential, the rest may be less important or even just ‘nice to know’. However, also make it clear that you are not just there to do what he wants. In terms of research, you also have a duty to protect customers and prospects from poorly designed or impractical projects.
Please don’t forget that Gordon’s knowledge and skills can be very positive attributes. His ideas and enthusiasm just need to be harnessed properly and incorporated carefully into projects, rather than being allowed to overpower or even over-ride those team members who have more experience.
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