Lean Marketing, the Team Coordinator

In a previous post, Identifying your Lean sales and marketing teams, I discussed the other roles in the Lean Sales and Marketing Process. This is part of the SALES PDCA framework that we use before starting the PDCA IMPROVEMENT LOOP.

The role of Team Coordinator (TC) is the key person in the Lean Sales and Marketing process. They hold the key to a Lean transformation. This individual is not typically a manager but more of a facilitator and coach. The TC role can be looked at similar to a Scrum Master or a Master Black Belt.

The TC helps the team learn and apply PDCA. The TC does whatever is in their power to help the team be successful. The TC is not the manager of the team but instead serves the team, minimizing distractions, educating them on the iterative process of PDCA, knowledge creation and agile methods.

The Team Coordinators role is based on these four things:

Facilitating the team’s progress toward their goal and more specifically the individual iteration they are working on.
Ensures that the work being delivered is in tune with the customer’s needs.
Mentors the team on Lean processes and demonstrates their value. Leading the team’s efforts in continuous improvement: This includes helping the team improve, helping the team take responsibility for their actions, and helping the team become problem solvers for themselves.
Acts as a buffer for outside interruptions and limits team distractions. Many blocking issues will be beyond the team’s authority or will require support from other teams. This role actively addresses these issues so that the team can remain focused on achieving the objectives of the iteration.

Outside the Team, the Team Coordinator facilitates communication flow across the system. The TC is the point of contact for the Value Stream Manager (VSM) and others. The Team Coordinator and the Value Stream Manager should be different people. As the TC runs interference for the team, there may be some priority balancing that is required between the VSM and the TC. The TC protects the Team from outside political noise. This allows the team to remain focused on the job at hand, and if any issue is a priority, the TC and VSM will discuss it and priorities it.

With the Team, the TC validates the project practices, organizes meetings, updates items, and coordinates requirements changes. The TC participates and conducts daily standup meetings used to track the project on a day to day basis. TCs should be trained as team facilitators and should be constantly engaged in challenging the status quo. It is imperative that the TC creates and maintains a manageable flow inside the team. They may help the team break their work into small chunks that can be delivered quickly. The TC will also monitor the team flow through the use of established control points created within the cycle. If the team runs into an impediment it is the TC’s job to find the resources needed to remove it. The Team Coordinator also helps the Team learn and apply Lean.

The Team Coordinator will typically serve several Teams simultaneously. The TC may be organized in a vertical or horizontal fashion in accordance with the pillars of the Lean Marketing House. He could be even part of the team. However, this is the critical role that requires Lean experience in implementing Lean in your sales and marketing.