One of my jobs had these insane board of directors requirements--every week the entire senior leadership team had to summarize everything their teams had accomplished during the week and send it off to the board for review. It would also be shared across the team as well, although with the combined slide deck often running over 120 slides, no one ever really read the whole thing. One of the board members did.
Aside from the stifling bureaucracy of the task, there was some goodness in that every Friday, the team had to account for what we’d accomplished, as well as take a look ahead at what was on the horizon for the next week.
Knowing we had to report it out, knowing it was going to be scrutinized down to the number of “likes” on our social feeds we reported for the week (a whole other story), it made us dig in and understand what it was we were doing, whether we had surface accomplishments or were making real progress on the team.
Your company might not have this type of requirement, but it’s a great practice to get in anyway. There are dozens of books that talk to the need to plan, review, dream, and strategize already (I just finished the 5 am club by Robin Sharma, who I’ve followed for years, I’m sure you have your leadership guru you follow as well). So try this--take whatever methodology you follow and start to apply it to your work plan.
What really happened on the team this week?
How does what you and your team did contribute to the goals you set, they set, the company set for the week, the month, the quarter, the year?
How does what happened this week fit into the larger marketing plan and strategy? Is it aligned, or were there a bunch of random tasks that diverted attention and resources?
Seeing the results of the week on paper will shine lights in places and on tasks you may not have even known were taking place.
Where is the team flagging, where are they killing it, where are they treading water? Start to get into the rhythm of a weekly report-out by function and team and it will show itself soon enough.
Then hold yourself accountable--while holding your team accountable--for doing the work, reading the report, assessing performance, and importantly, improving and aligning.
The small, repeatable wins you start to rack up will be noticed--on the team, in the org, and likely by your customers.