A young woman I frequently mentor works in the creative industries making corporate commercials and videos. Last week she experienced something I have experienced scores of times. A problem that occurs when a team feels they have been bypassed.

My mentee had been working directly with the operations team to develop videos for use on social media to promote the company. After recording the first of two, she was asked to have a meeting with the ops person and someone from the communications team. And you guessed it, they were nitpicky. The next day she gets a call to say that the second video was on hold until the first video was “fixed up”. A few days later the entire project was kyboshed.

I explained to her that the comms team was letting the ops team and ‘you know who’ know who is boss. That either the ops team should have sourced a provider through the comms team, or they should have been consulted much earlier.

Whenever I work with a client and there is a potential that we will step on the toes of another team, I always make sure we engage with that team straightaway. In that meeting I explain the benefits to them and ask for their help to make it happen. Works a treat!