The next step of Digital Transformations: Setting up the “Entente Cordiale” between the Marketing and Technology departments

“Entente Cordiale” is a term often used in relation to multiple agreements signed between the United-Kingdom and France in 1904, settling some disputes, ending almost a millennium of conflicts between the two nations, and establishing a strong relationship for the difficulties that were about to come their way. We are not seeking historical accuracy, but using it as a metaphor to turn around the enduring strenuous relationship between Marketing and Digital & Technology departments in organisations.?

After decades of considerables investments in digital, it is interesting that the relationship is still one where, as Gene Kim so elegantly puts it describing such a dysfunctional relationship in the Phoenix Project, “each party feels powerless and taken hostage by the other”.?

"Each party feels powerless and taken hostage by the other" (Gene Kim, The Phoenix Project)

If you sit in a technology department in many businesses, the marketing colleagues are often referred to with some colourful language. Likewise, marketing people feel continually done over by technology. Whilst battling it out, most of the attention is consumed by battling the internal systems rather than aligning to win in the market.?

Worse, CEOs and COOs often have to tip-toe around this minefield to avoid any bomb going off in the leadership team. Conflict is always percolating and never addressed with intention. Much leadership energy and time is expended maintaining a truce yet never progressing to an “Entente Cordiale”.?

So, we have joined up our own “Entente Cordiale” with our very British Pam, who is a marketer by trade and has considerable experience in the Agile space, and the very French Philippe, who works with Technology & Digital as a coach, and who was actually a Business graduate.?

Could we replace working from briefs with working collaboratively? What can happen when we do?

As you can tell, we will bring humour and playfulness to explore this very serious topic and explore if being intentional about the collaboration of the Marketing and Digital Technology departments is effectively the next meaningful step of Digital Transformations. We’ll explore with you how this might be achieved and how to get intentionally and meaningfully started with it.?

So, join us on the 3rd of December 2024 to open this great topic as a collaboration between the Digital Leadership Network and the Marketing Agility Community. Please register from this registration link.