Avoid Chaos & Frustration! Respect Swimlanes!

For maximum performance, an effective go-to-market (GTM) motion requires easy orchestration - within and across disparate functions. ?Surprise! This can be a complex challenge as many buyer/customer journey milestones and outcomes involve many tasks and several roles.

Regardless of org design, the use of swimlane guidelines can improve GTM performance by providing clarity of responsibilities, streamlining workflows, and establishing accountability & ownership. For high-conflict swimlanes, employing a DACI-type decision framework can leave no room for ambiguity and ensure proper collaboration.

When leaders and individuals disregard the importance of a coordinated go-to-market motion, it inevitably leads to poor performance, as the overall environment becomes chaotic and filled with frustration.

?DoDo Swimlane Behavior to Avoid:

• Free-For-All Leadership. Leaders who create disunity by either ignoring role responsibilities or encouraging conflict to increase perceived authority. Imagine a GTM Thunderdome.
• Blatant Violation. Intentional disregard for established role definitions, whether due to ignorance or self-promotion. Playing another’s position without any awareness of the cascading negative impact.
• Process Undermining. Actively sabotaging collaboration efforts by withholding information, manipulating situations, neglecting tasks, or purposely using poor communication.
• Fabricated Justification. Creating or exaggerating customer situations to justify violating a swimlane, while portraying teammates in a negative light. Narcissism.

Star Swimlane Behavior to Follow:

• Servant Leadership. Leaders who provide responsibility guidance to create an environment for team success and career development. Proactively recognizing when a swimlane definition is necessary.
• Playing Your Position. Being a great teammate and succeeding at your primary role within the process or project. Supporting other roles to achieve desired GTM outcomes in a positive, respectful manner.
• Process Support. Actively participating within the defined guidelines, handoffs, and processes. ?Delivering tasks on-time, practicing proactive communication, and producing high-quality output. Do your job!
• Customer & Team Passion. Recognizing rare situations where it may be necessary to step outside of boundaries to address a customer's priority. However, ensuring that the designated teammate’s role is preserved and protected. Compassion.

?Example Swimlane Pitfalls:

• Sales. Refusing to properly transition post-sales/renewal ownership to Customer Success. Trying to get customers to only work with you.
• Customer Success. Not bringing Sales back into agreed-upon expansion efforts (e.g. new division pursuits). Trying to be the hero.
• Marketing. Using advisory board or case study assignments to establish a separate voice that challenges and confuses the primary relationship ownership of Customer Success/Sales. Trying to get in the way.

?Be a Star! Don’t be a DoDo!

#sales #customersuccess #marketing #gtm #orchestration

About Go-To-Market Life

As a Go-To-Market (GTM) Leader, I have maintained a journal to document
common skills and behaviors that lead to top performance in Go-To-Market
roles. To deliver performance across the buyer-customer journey, I have
used my journal for team culture, staff enablement and role orchestration.
?
In order to build fun into business life, I always imagined a cartoon
for this resource. That's why I am thrilled to present Go-To-Market Life, 
a passion project that aims to teach and entertain.
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My audience for Go-To-Market Life is Sales, Customer Success, & Marketing 
professionals – with application to RevOps, Enablement, & Partnerships.
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Please enjoy!
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Jim