How do you approach and analyze failures to improve your influencing skills for future endeavors?

Reflect: 

• I reflect on who I would ask to be my peer reviewer probably about once a quarter, even if we only do 360s annually. It’s worth thinking about:

  • “How have I helped this person lately? How have I made their job easier or more impactful?”

  • “What are their impressions of me? How could I show up as more of a leader and helpful peer with them?”

Ask for feedback: 

• You can also ask directly for feedback on what would make your asks easier to say yes to in the future. Especially after you’ve tried and failed to make a dent on the strategy or roadmap, it’s important to get more context.

  • Could you have provided more data and sizing to make your case?

  • Was your idea just too far out of scope for the current resourcing or strategy?

  • Was it bad timing relative to other commitments and plans being made?

  • Was it how you went about it that could have been better?

  • What soft skills could have helped tee things up better?

Brainstorm alternative approaches: 

• Think through the steps you took.

  • When did you start making your case?

  • Who did you start with?

  • What kind of buy in did you have?

  • How might you have better brought others in on your proposal?

  • Did your manager or other leaders support your position? 

• Do you think the issue was more around the quality of your case narrative and data?

  • ...or, more around how you built interest among stakeholders?

• As you reflect on these questions, you can then ideate on ways to do things differently next time!

Consider looking for ways to redefine product marketing at your company:

• After reflecting on what you could do better, you also may need to consider that it could be the company culture and attitudes around the role of product marketing that is a headwind to your efforts. 

• The best way to combat this is to think about how you can work to rebrand and clarify what product marketing does at your company. You’ll need some level of executive buy-in to make a shift, but this doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking.

• I’ve found that even putting together as little as two visual slides can accomplish the goal of laying out the role of PMM. For example, I’ve found it helpful to sketch out a flow chart of your company’s product development stages, and then call out what role PMM should/could play throughout. Make this a discussion with your stakeholders rather than a demand. You might be surprised how many of your peers just don't have a lot of historical background working with product marketers.