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AMA: Shopify Director (Head of) Global GTM & Demand Generation, Tamara Niesen on Influencing without Authority
December 6 @ 9:00AM PST
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Shopify Director (Head of) Global GTM & Demand Generation, Tamara Niesen on Influencing without Authority
Top Questions
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
This is a bit tricky, especially if the feedback provider is an exec. One of the tactics that has helped me in the past is to outline what is in scope versus what is not. Be clear on this and have your approvers align to it. When suggestions that are out of scope and could impact your timelines, ......Read More
922 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
Understand how each of you are wired. Personality tests are helpful here, especially as it relates to how someone makes decisions, and how they like to receive or give feedback. And then, I prefer to rip off the bandaid, meet face to face (screens are okay too) and share objective feedback. If yo......Read More
606 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
There are more of them! Identified stakeholders, approvers, owners need to be clear, and having a consistent framework to work allows for better documentation, tracking, alignment which in turn would ideally ensure projects are aligned to greater company goals and priorities. Identifying who shou......Read More
495 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
Empathy, humility, data that supports greater business goals: * Empathy: Giving feedback, especially to those who don’t report to you should be done objectively, but with tact and respect, make suggestions, use clear, simple language, data and insights where possible. * Humility: Help al......Read More
513 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
The [long] answer to this is part art, part science. Whether you are in a product led growth role, or creating demand for a sales led go to market organization, knowing your customer (KYC), developing compelling narratives and messaging, and leading with data are essential. But HOW you lead with ......Read More
679 Views
2 requests
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
Escalate. Do not hesitate to escalate. I know this can be uncomfortable, and you don’t want to throw any team members under the bus. Something I learned from one of my leaders is “clean escalation”. You identify the problem, document the problem statement and possible paths forward with all t......Read More
642 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
See response re: becoming more influential for more details. In addition to those hard skills and tactics, I would say the soft skill side of this is crucial: I establish trust by being authentic, real, vulnerable, delivering on my word, being transparent and taking stakeholders along for the pro......Read More
675 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
1. Build relationships and build trust- get to know the people you want to influence- we are all human and want to do great work with people we know, like and trust- invest in this. 2. Listen- you may not agree with your stakeholders, but understand their perspectives, what drives t......Read More
609 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
Last year I led a mission that was outside of my discipline. The greatest challenge of leading without authority in my career: * I was successful because we had alignment at the exec level that ‘it’ was [one of] the most important things we needed to accomplish. * When we asked leaders and......Read More
352 Views
1 request
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
Context: I work in a relatively matrixed organization and see a lot of stakeholders across the organization come together to deliver on a shared goal, mission, or solve a problem. See below for my lengthy, tactical response. In short- the key to successfully navigating the pivot from collabor......Read More
429 Views
3 requests
Tamara Niesen
WooCommerce CMO • December 5
I am focused on B2B marketing to create, drive and capture demand with the end goal of creating a pipeline for sales teams (well, ultimately to acquire customers!). From my perspective, the pillars that feed into the strategy for driving pipeline include: * Knowing our target audience * Creati......Read More
839 Views
2 requests
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