This article originates from a presentation at the Product Marketing Summit in San Francisco, 2022. Catch up on this presentation, and others, using our OnDemand service. For more exclusive content, visit your membership dashboard.
Hey everyone, I’m here today to talk about working with cross-functional teams and how you can help them succeed. I’ve got a few hard-learned lessons to share about how we, as product marketers, can be the glue that holds these groups together.
But first, I want to level set. Right now, I’m running on caffeine and adrenaline. My company, NVIDIA, has a major biannual conference coming up in two weeks, and I’m involved with some of the big announcements and launches that are part of our keynote. No pressure, right?
So why am I writing this instead of frantically dealing with last-minute conference planning? Aside from being a workaholic overachieving perfectionist with impostor syndrome, I’m doing this because I’ve got an amazing cross-functional team.
Our group of product, sales, marketing, creative, campaign, events, and other teams have come together to pull something amazing off. We’re now working on the final details, and I couldn’t be prouder of how it’s all coming together.
I can do this because I know that my team has my back, I know that we’re aligned on our objectives, I know that we all share and understand the same goals and needs, and can trust each other to make those goals happen.
So, how can you get here?
I want to do a quick thought exercise with you. Think of a time when you were in a room with a group of people that didn’t really get along. You’re all working on the same project together, but there’s a bit of tension. Maybe there are some heated discussions; maybe there are some strong debates; maybe there are some outright disagreements.
Are you thinking of a meeting with people outside of your immediate team? Are the people in that meeting from other teams like product or sales? I thought so.
Often, we as product marketers are in these cross-functional meetings. They’re crucial for the work that we do. We can’t go off into a corner and build a marketing strategy or develop messaging and positioning on our own. We’re reliant on sales teams, product teams, and others for that input.
