What are the best ways to develop resilience in your CRM career?

In the ever-evolving landscape of the IT industry, cultivating a growth mindset is not just beneficial – it's imperative. This sector moves at a rapid pace, and without a growth mindset, the risk of becoming obsolete is ever-present. Adapting to change, embracing new technologies, and continuously improving skills are not just valuable attributes; they are the lifeline for success in the dynamic space of the IT industry. In this realm, a growth mindset isn't just an advantage; it's the compass that guides continual relevance and success.

Resilience is the ability to adapt and bounce back in the face of adversity, challenges, or difficult situations. It's a valuable trait that helps individuals overcome obstacles and continue moving forward. Building resilience often involves developing coping skills, a positive mindset, support network, continuous learning, embrace change, effective communication and a resilient mindset . Resilience is something that can be cultivated over time.Developing resilience is a continuous process. By incorporating these practices into your CRM career, you'll be better equipped to handle challenges and thrive in your role.

Viewing feedback as a tool for personal and professional development can be transformative. When you receive feedback, try to extract constructive insights, identify areas for improvement, and use it as a roadmap for growth. It's not just about learning what you can do better; it's about evolving into a more skilled and resilient professional.

Develop emotional intelligence to handle stress, conflicts, and difficult situations effectively, This skill is crucial in managing relationships, both with clients and within your team.

Adding to the idea of the Growth mindset is to explore outside your box (make friends with Data insights, Tech engineers, Product managers, media managers etc) in your organisation and consistently ask them about what/how they do their job. Hence expand your breath of knowledge (not just depth in the CRM space).

More than most careers, being in charge of CRM can be very stressful because you're typically managing outbound communications to potentially millions of consumers. This means one small mistake is seen by a mass audience, putting you under a mountain of criticism. As a CRM lead, have a routine for double/triple checking work, having a workflow of other eyeballs reviewing copy and creative. If something still happens, keep things in perspective. Mistakes happen and learn from it. Find ways to continue to build an air tight process.

Planning your time and tasks can't be underscored enough! If you don't protect your time and energy, you will burn out - fast. Work with your manager to set realistic expectations on deadlines, acknowledging that customers often don't work within the same timelines that you do. Create guardrails so that you can support your customers as equally as you can.

I think managing stress is an end goal but it isn't the root cause you should seek to cure. The way you will manage stress is by managing stakeholder expectations. The largest contributing factor to stress will be working with stakeholders who are not valuing your time and who do not have clear timelines they have agreed to at the beginning of each project.

In my experience one of the best ways to be resilient is to find purpose. You can find purpose by aligning your work with your values, setting meaningful goals, and contributing to a larger cause. Having a clear sense of purpose can motivate you to persist in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles.

Perhaps one of the worst aspects of heading up CRM is your massive exposure to an error in an email when you're sending a campaign to 1000's if not millions of users. It can be very stressful when you hit the send button and you miss something. To reduce this risk AND eliminate stress, always have a second set of eyeballs, perhaps even a 3rd person review the email. Also, before sending the email, review it a minimum of 3 times and separate the review by several hours to always get the most fresh perspective.

Even when you know that the frustrations customers share with you are not a reflection of you personally, they can begin to weigh on you over time. Find or create a safe, supportive space with other professionals in customer success where you can vent, ask for advice, and celebrate your wins together. Having that network of individuals who can sympathize and empathize with what you're going through will help immensely.

- Learn from your mistakes and setbacks, rather than dwelling on them. - Maintain a positive attitude and look for opportunities to improve. - Be open to feedback and constructive criticism. - Take care of your physical and mental health. - Set realistic goals and take small steps toward achieving them. - Surround yourself with a supportive network of colleagues, friends, and family.

Perhaps one of the most challenging parts of not just your career but being a human being, is to be reflective of your mistakes and where you might be off. I'm no expert at this, because I'm just not great at this. Most of us aren't, but I recognize those who do it and are beyond inspired by it. That being said, if you can do it, even sometimes, the little nuggets of failures and mistakes that you can correct will payoff. How about both of us do this today - let's see how we could have taken our emails, our push copy, any marketing messaging to the next level. ????