Building Bridges: How CMOs Can Elevate C-Suite Synergy

Looking beyond numbers, an organization’s C-suite is a strong indicator of how a business will perform. When the company’s leaders are cohesive, they set the workplace’s tone and determine what success looks like. In fact, high-performing companies are more likely to have a C-suite that spends time building cohesion through team building and developing the unique strengths of each member.

Every member of a high-performing team can make or break an organization’s dynamic. Historically, different roles are deemed to be allies of one another while others typically butt heads. However, it doesn’t need to be this way and to break down organizational silos, reap the benefits of a cohesive team and usher in a new wave of success for the company, it’s time for C-suite leaders to become partners.

Why Alignment In The C-Suite Matters

Too often we see employees falling into the same departmental silos that their leaders adopt. For example, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have historically viewed marketing as a cost-center, looking to marketing’s budget as one of the first items to go during times of crisis. The lack of alignment between CFOs and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) can trickle down into business functions, harming resource allocation and ultimately hurting company success. If marketing is solely viewed as a cost center, CFOs risk cutting a team that’s actively working to drive growth for the company.

Conversely, CFOs are constantly compiling company growth plans. If CMOs never take the time to understand those plans, they can’t ensure their department is focusing on the most impactful contributions, like customer-led marketing.

When organizational silos appear, the lack of alignment creates issues such as:

• Wasted money on unused or improperly leveraged tools;
• Internal lags from a lack of streamlined processes; and
• Content that’s difficult to find and not helpful to the teams who need it.

To better foster a culture of alignment, leaders must start at the top. While this may sound daunting, it can begin with small actions that include seeking to understand fellow leaders and embracing collaborative tools.

Extend An ‘Olive Branch’ To Truly Understand C-Suite Priorities

One of the primary ways leaders can break down silos and extend the theoretical olive branch is through understanding. Leaders should ask themselves if they truly understand the priorities of everyone in the C-suite, and it’s vital for leaders to embrace honesty with this question. If there’s a gap in knowledge on what colleagues are prioritizing, now is the time to address it.

Leaders should ask to sit down with their colleagues, walk through their projects in motion and see where a bridge between two departments may lie. For example, the Chief Technology Officer and CMO both rely on customer feedback: By reaching out to one another and aligning on what the customer wants, they can ensure any promises made to the customer by the marketing team are upheld within the product itself and vice versa. When there’s true understanding of each leader’s focus, there’s also greater synergy in selecting projects that move the needle forward for the business.

Identify Collaboration Opportunities Between Different Departments

Working on projects with other leaders in the C-suite doesn’t have to be a radical development. In fact, there are specific tools designed to unify team workloads — and that initial executive buy-in can be a launching pad for departmental success. Tools like enablement technology are meant to provide multiple departments with unified assets and information that can drive results.

When cross-organizational enablement is deployed, users reported a multitude of benefits, including increased time for high-value activities, greater organization alignment and stronger go-to-market (GTM) strategies. Not only do these tools enhance organizational collaboration but they also allow leaders to go deeper into what each department knows.

Every function of the GTM team can benefit from enablement including sales, marketing and customer success. CMOs should hold regular meetings with the Chief Customer Officer and Chief Revenue Officer to align on who is using collaborative tools and identify any roadblocks to success. If certain teams are lagging, it’s up to leadership to identify processes to get everyone on the same page. Collaborating on what success looks like, what assets can be shared and the project as a whole develops a teamwork-centered culture.

A united team makes or breaks a C-suite. When leaders embrace the need to break down silos and work together, it fosters a mentality of alliance. To truly receive these benefits, the onus lies within the C-suite to strengthen their partnership and align each department to achieve success.

Paige O’Neill is CMO of Seismic where she leads all marketing functions including corporate, product, field, partner and customer marketing. She has more than 25 years in marketing roles with experience leading global marketing teams across product, partner, customer and corporate marketing. Previously, O’Neill served at public and private software companies including Sitecore, SDL, Prysm, Aravo and Aprimo. She also spent nearly a decade at Oracle in product marketing and public relations roles.