Author(s) : Patrick Spenner
Needs of companies is always changing. Executives have to be informed, be responsive and have to get a real background in social technologies. As we said in the summary we are going to see the differences between a conventional manager and a new executive. Both of them don’t have the same way of managing and the result is not the same. The economics issues at the end won’t be the same too. First of all, we are going to spotlight on the social technologies. They are "helping and sometimes forcing the brands to form a new type of relationship with customers" as P. Spenner says. Traditional management is designed for an outdated structure and the people which work in this company may have the wrong skill sets. They must have to look the way of management in the company. In a conventional structure every function have its own channel : communicating, branding reputation, customer service, retailing… This type of management is not sufficient because the need is changing. Marketers need an updated model structure and not a conventional outdated management structure. This need creates a new type of executive with is called "Ringmaster". This person have to got a huge skill background. He have to know how customer relation works and be responsiveness.
What is a "Ringmaster" you are going to ask ? This type of executive if like a game leader, an animator, a referee, a negotiator. His role is not formed yet because companies’ needs is always changing.
P. Spenner and his colleagues have developed a composite picture based on 40 midsize and large companies that are leading the charge in social marketing. Patrick shows that Ringmaster have three capabilities that distinguish them from conventional managers.
The first capability is : Integrative thinking. Ringmaster have to be reactive, in fact they are already. They have much knowledge and are evidently at home with social technologies. They are always searching for the latest technologies to achieve the brand’s goals. Obviously this type of social technologies bring a new type of value in a company.
For instance, the company Ford Fiesta is creating communities of enthusiasts who derive on emotional value from connecting with one another. The website Fiestamovement.com encourages enthusiasts to share video, blogs and other original documents to attract new member to create a "buzz" on the net. Enthusiasts can share their common passion. This type of campaign and investment cost less than a traditional media. There is a big gap between both of them. Ringmaster have to create opportunities and have to do it well to create value too.
The second capability is : Lean collaboration skills. Ringmasters always start with a fewer resources. They have to be able to be emotionally intelligent among other attributes. They need to be strong minded because this type of management is always changing, be responsive and reactive is one of the quality of a new executive. Zena Weist is the new hired social media director of H&R Block. Her role is to promote cross-enterprise collaboration. She has acquired a brand experience in a previous job and that is helping her in this new function. When she started on this company she quickly saw that there was a "problem". There was a huge need for the company between the social platforms and the fact that the firm wasn’t equipped. She managed all those tasks and now she has established a very positive social presence.
The last of the three capability is : High speed. When a structure changes everything have to be done well and quickly. In a traditional management the executive have to operate on medium to long decisions cycles over years and years… This type of decision is long and takes a long time. On the other side, we have a new type of management with a new executive which operate on short indeed very short decisions. A traditional management will use monthly or yearly cycles, although, a new type of management with a new executive will use weekly, daily or hourly cycles
Results and conclusion :
This documents raise a point which is really interesting for companies. The type of management is moving on because of the social technologies. New types of managers operates in companies which is called a Ringmaster. His role is well-defined and he is a real point of decisions. Nowadays, a Ringmaster must have three capabilities : Integrative thinking, lean collaboration skills and high speed. They have a tons of work. A Ringmaster needs to be multipurpose because he have to know everything about social technologies.
To conclude, we can say that a new executive is obviously necessary for moving-companies. We can’t forget social technologies and be focused on our work. We have to follow trend to get ready to fight for a better way of management.
Don’t forget to check how Patrick Spenner explains the new media Ringmaster on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuXeQgsAKrI
Bibliography of Patrick Spenner :
Managing director of the Corporate Executive Board’s Marketing Leadership Council.
