Ghost Coaching
Michelle Tresemer
Fractional marketing leader for B2Bs | Trainer for in-house marketing generalists that wear all the hats
"Ghost Coach" : a secret consultant on-call to make you look awesome to your boss and subordinates; an expert sounding board to help you think through ideas.
I recently learned about something called "ghost coaching."
Here's the gist of it.
If your job title is higher than an entry-level marketer, you have two audiences you're concerned with:
You need to manage up and down at the same time.
The tricky part about digital marketing is that it's highly technical. If a communications major and a computer science major had a love child, that would be digital marketing.
Digital marketing requires some knowledge of web hosting, html, CSS, DNS records, cookies, tracking snippets...and so much more.
It also includes marrying these technical assets in a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
Now that I've set the stage...let's talk about the issue.
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There are people who dedicate their entire careers to ONE digital marketing channel.
As a manager, director, or chief, you need to know a lot about each channel in how they are used as well as deep enough knowledge to direct the more technical projects...
...all while prepping for your next board meeting or skip level, or check-in with your boss.
Finally, to drive it home - you can't look like you don't know what you're talking about with your staff. Your job is to ask leading questions and help them help you. You need to know enough to ask the right questions. If you've asked your staff a basic question and they look confused it's because they are thinking, "how does she not know this?"
So if you can't ask your boss questions as a sounding board...and you can't ask your staff as a sounding board...what are you left with?
A colleague of mine calls it ghost coaching.
A trusted third-party to use as an expert sounding board so you look good to your boss and your staff. Not to mention, it's a safe place to vent and think things through. 'Cause you boss and staff are looking for decisions not months of questions and waffling.
I know in a past job I had two consultants on-call each with a different specialty. It was helpful to have expert insight and a sounding board. I looked pretty baller to my boss as I had already thought through any pushback or questions.
Have you used a ghost coach before?
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4 年Interesting, I like the reference. I would probably just say I have a "Mentor" but I suppose they are also a coach. I think its a wonderful idea.
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4 年Yes I love this Michelle Tresemer. It actually fits nicely into a workforce learning model championed by Charles Jennings. 70/20/10 which maps to the way you learn at work (70% is from experience! The others are informal learning and then formal respectively). The ghost coaching you're talking about is tapping into THEIR experience to cover that 70%. Love it
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4 年Michelle Tresemer I've never heard it put like this before. Interesting idea. I think that I like to follow domain experts since they did all the hard work to figure out whatever it is. As a CEO this is a normal sort of practice, but you are talking about a practitioner doing something like this with a relationship. Good idea.
I'm a sales strategist and content creator who helps businesses drive results with a one-two punch of targeted, customized messaging and proven sales strategies.
4 年Michelle I never heard that phrase before but I do love it. I think that a coach or an expert that can help you see the proverbial forest for the trees is ALWAYS a great idea.