Why I’m Staking my Reputation on Potential

Since I founded Divergent Consulting in 2016, I’ve been working with marketing teams across industries to help them make their best impact. To make that happen, I often talk about digital-first thinking, design thinking, reinvention, harnessing technology, and fostering a sense of innovation and experimentation. 

But I’ve realised that all of that comes down to one thing. Potential. 

Teams aren’t working as well as they could because there are so many aspects of their work where talent, time and potential is simply going to waste. There is so much potential sitting in marketing teams, just waiting to be used. 

What kind of potential is going unlocked?

During my time in marketing, I’ve seen potential go to waste all too often in four main areas – leadership, experimentation, alignment, and people (what I like to call LEAP). You might’ve already read my other blog outlining each aspect of LEAP more closely, but you can give it a read if you haven’t already here. 

Businesses are investing in technology without being aligned on what they’re trying to achieve – so the technology isn’t being used to its fullest. 

Marketing teams spend so much time doing busy work or what they think is needed that they’re not spending their time on high impact activities and playing to their strengths.

Marketing leaders struggle to get their teams aligned around a vision, so no-one knows what they’re working towards or how to have the biggest impact. 

Unlocking all that potential will help any marketing team with their pain points, getting them working towards a version of success that matters to them and all working cohesively – and (most importantly) in the same direction!

So now I’ve stopped trying to be all things to all people and I’m going all-in (that’s a lot of alls!) on potential. 

Getting less ‘busy’ and doing more better 

I’m willing to bet that if businesses could just tap into their marketing potential more effectively, all the tactics and technologies would become a whole lot more effective. 

Stopping for a moment and evaluating all the hard work your team is doing can save a whole lot of wasted time, effort, and money. There’s no point in a team working hard towards a vision that isn’t achieving anything valuable for the wider business, or having team members busy working hard when they’re not aligned with their other team members. 

But I know that it’s often hard to see the potential you’re missing out on amongst the hustle and bustle. 

To help teams assess what potential there is going untapped and undervalued, I’ve created the LEAP Assessment – an assessment to unpack and understand potential in leadership, experimentation, alignment and people.

You can do it right now here. 

If you have completed the assessment, I’d love to know if it’s highlighted anything surprising for you. 

And, if you’re wanting to get started in unlocking all that great potential, there are a few different ways to get started. Have a read of my previous blog, in which I outline some of the ways you can get started re-evaluating and improving your efforts.

In my regular emails, I’ll also be sharing tidbits of advice and learnings from articles I’m reading that will help you unlock that potential as well.

Why do I care enough to stake my claim on potential?

Having been in marketing for years, I’ve seen first hand how marketing teams are viewed within their wider organisations. Too often, their work is undervalued and underestimated. Marketing isn’t seen as the true powerhouse it’s capable of. 

But I can understand marketing’s tainted reputation when I see the potential in leadership, experimentation, alignment and people that’s going to waste. That waste means marketing teams are seen as cost centres, rather than hubs that drive business growth and success. I want to see marketing teams be the successes I know that they can be!

I know that there are some great marketers in your team. There are great leaders who have the ability to empower people. There are thinkers who want to innovate and experiment. Let’s start bringing out that potential so that everyone in your team can thrive.

Divergent is on a mission to transform marketing into the powerhouse we know it can be. Too much potential in marketing teams goes to waste – but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Through innovation problem-solving workshops, growth marketing and strategy sprints and consulting, Divergent harnesses a team’s potential to help them innovate and implement solutions that drive business growth.