The scene is quite simple and frequent. If you had had a team before and managed a group of varying talented individuals, you knew whom to go to when you needed to assign a task or project. A manager always knows whom to trust and who not, whom you can delegate to without objection and with high hopes that the job will get done on time and quality you want. The people getting the best jobs, with higher exposure and visibility, are the ones who show two fundamental skills in corporate life: reliability and dependability.

In today's fast-paced and competitive business environment, being reliable and dependable are essential for workplace success. Employers seek employees who consistently deliver results, meet deadlines, and follow through on commitments. Those who demonstrate reliability and dependability are highly valued and often seen as the backbone of successful teams and organizations.


But what are the differences between the two?


Reliability and dependability are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference between the two in the work environment:
Reliability refers to consistently delivering results, meeting deadlines, and following through on commitments. Reliability is often associated with task-oriented behavior, such as completing work on time and achieving high-quality results. A reliable employee can be counted on to do what they say they will do, without fail. Dependability, on the other hand, encompasses a broader set of behaviors and traits. Dependability encompasses task-oriented behavior and interpersonal skills, such as punctuality, honesty, and team-orientedness. A dependable employee is not only reliable in terms of completing tasks, but they are also trustworthy, responsible, and accountable. In summary, while reliability mainly focuses on task-oriented behavior, dependability encompasses a broader set of behaviors that include both task-oriented and interpersonal skills. Both are essential qualities in the workplace, as they help build trust and confidence among colleagues and managers.


So what must you do to be perceived as a reliable and dependable team member? 


Being reliable means doing what you say you will do when you say you will do it to the best of your ability. It may seem like a simple concept, but it is often overlooked. Being reliable also means being consistent in your work, meeting deadlines, and producing high-quality results. And it is crucial in today's business world, where deadlines are tight, and mistakes can be costly. Similarly, dependable employees can be trusted to do the right thing, even when no one is watching. They take responsibility for their work, are accountable for their actions, and are honest and trustworthy. Dependable employees are also team players, willing to help their colleagues when needed and ready to go the extra mile to ensure the team's success.

So why are reliability and dependability so important in the workplace? For one, they build trust among colleagues and managers. When others can count on you to deliver results and follow through on commitments, they are more likely to trust you with important tasks and responsibilities. They can lead to greater job satisfaction, increased opportunities for growth and development, and a stronger sense of belonging within the organization. Reliability and dependability are also important for achieving organizational goals. When employees are reliable and dependable, tasks are completed efficiently and effectively, reducing the need for rework or corrections. They save time, reduce costs, and ultimately contribute to the organization's success. Additionally, dependable employees are often seen as role models, setting the standard for others to follow and contributing to a positive and productive workplace culture.

In conclusion, being reliable and dependable are essential qualities for workplace success and life in general. They constitute a solid platform for developing healthier relationships and accelerating professional growth. Through them, you can build trust among colleagues and managers, enhance your professional reputation, and contribute to the success of your team and organization.


But how can you tell whether your boss thinks you are reliable and dependable? 


You can gauge your current perception with those simple hints:

1. Feedback: Ask your boss for feedback on your performance. If they consistently praise your work and trust you with important tasks, they likely see you as reliable and dependable.
2. Assignments: If your boss frequently gives you essential tasks and responsibilities, it indicates that they trust you and view you as reliable.
3. Communication: If your boss frequently communicates with you about projects and deadlines, it shows that they value your input and see you as an important part of the team.
4. Recognition: If your boss recognizes your contributions and publicly acknowledges your hard work, it's a sign that they appreciate your reliability and dependability.
5. Opportunities: If your boss offers you opportunities for growth and development, it suggests they see your potential and believe in your abilities.

The best way to know whether your boss thinks you are reliable and dependable is to communicate openly and honestly with them. Ask for feedback and express your willingness to improve, and your boss will likely give you a clearer idea of how they view your performance. You can always ask your boss for a Certified Executive Mentor to help you master those skills. It will be hard for them to say no.

The scene is commonplace in corporations. You got paired with an Executive Mentor, or you ask someone you admire to mentor you. You schedule the first meeting following the two-pager document with suggestions available on your intranet. You and your mentor have a great first session when you discuss your objectives and the rules of engagement. Then scheduling the second meeting is not as easy, and your mentor disappointingly does not come fully prepared for the session. Usually, one or two more meetings will feel like shoveling dirt on the mentorship coffin. That two-pager will tell you it was your fault (and no worries, about 80% of corporate mentorships end like that). You, the mentee, need to feed the relationship and drive it to successful outcomes. And that is partially true at best. 

It feels great to be an Executive Mentor

Mentorship is a developmental relationship, and both parties must invest in it to make it work. It is easy to blame mentees for failures, but let's face it, if mentors do not duly do their jobs, nothing will happen either. It feels terrific when the invitation comes to mentor someone. It brings prestige, self-realization, and pride. It is the recognition of years of hard work and learning accumulated, the excellent leadership skills you have been developing, and the time invested in your charisma and communication skills. Great feelings, but please remember... "it is not about you." You are there only to help your mentee grow and develop and for you to learn with it. Therefore, great executives are not necessarily great mentors. Selfless executives have better odds. 

Emotional intelligence, life experiences, and intellectual power can transform lives

Thus, becoming a great mentor is primarily a personal development journey where we learn to move our focus from ourselves to helping others. That is the main reason there is a clear correlation between great mentors and the number and breadth of experiences accumulated. In one part, it is essential to have experienced corporate up-climbing, the thrill of managing big teams and budgets and achieving great results. In another, the pain of failure, setbacks, and hardship. Every part of those ego-excruciating moments makes us better people, leaders, and (wait for it...) mentors. Why? Because we stop seeing ourselves as infallible superheroes and start looking at others' shortcomings with empathy and understanding. With those, we have meaningful stories to tell and the ability to work on how people feel about such events, their limitations, and the critical timings of each one. We help build realistic plans and set realistic goals. We come through as real people, and we can win our mentees' trust by showing our vulnerabilities - which is fundamental to creating a safe space and empowering open sharing. And that combination of emotional intelligence, life experiences, and intellectual power will genuinely transform lives when selflessly used at the service of your mentees. 

Effective Executive Mentors are not born

When I achieved that career stage and started mentoring more frequently, I learned the second part of the mentoring definition was also accurate and formidable - mentors learn a lot with their mentees too. The richer the exchange, the stronger the relationship, and therefore the more influential the mentor is. But something else was missing at that phase of my Executive Mentor career. Not every mentee is the same or their challenges. To be effective as a mentor and help my mentees achieve their goals, I needed to be flexible and adaptable and discover the right tools to apply in every situation.
Exchanging with other mentors within Collective Brains, we found out that there was no training or even literature readily available to support mentors' development. So we collaborated with learning experts to create the world's first Executive Mentoring Certification Course. The course is built on the best academic research in the field. Knowledge and technique replaced intuition and conjectures. It helped me realize my personal transformation and acquire a repertoire of skills and strategies to apply at large and every case. I learned how to communicate effectively, listen better and use storytelling effectively, among other skills and tools. Now I plan my mentorships efficiently, get better prepared for each session and create mighty summaries. And as a company, we want to train and certify every mentor out there. I got my badge and you should get yours.

Most Marketing decision-makers have a real challenge today with Digital Marketing. It is becoming growingly challenging to reach positive ROI in digital campaigns, and the number of qualified leads they generate does not please their sales counterparts, raising many eyebrows. If that is your case, you are not alone. It is indeed becoming harder to define success (or at least find consensus) in those days of media saturation, low clicking rates, and blurring clutter. The need for higher ROI is even more critical when 42.3% of CMOs say they will reduce their investments in 2022, even though Marketing budgets are growing as a percentage of the total company budget (The CMO Survey). That combination will put more pressure on CMOs to show results. HBR said, "More than 30% of marketers who participated said that they are experiencing average-to-no returns on their investments, which could create funding difficulties in the future if they are unable to overcome this gap." 

If you are a B2B marketer and have an active profile on LinkedIn, you are probably overwhelmed and maybe even irritated by the number of "experts" unwelcomingly reaching out to sell their silver bullet that will multiply overnight your lead generation. Those "experts" pitch successful models applied in previous clients that will bring a similar ROI to you - as if it could work like a formula. And let's face it, sometimes the lack of clarity from companies regarding their marketing plans helps to feed that buzz. 

I mentor many marketers. And when Digital Marketing is the topic, I always ask - "Do you have the right GTM (go-to-market) Strategy and an always-on, highly-skilled analytics team? A team crossing information from multiple channels, platforms, and tools and creating true insight from them?" So far, all replies assumed a "yes - but" structure. Truthfully, it would be best not to start pouring money into your Digital Marketing Engines and Campaigns if you answered "no" or "yes-but" to the previous question. 

And if you did answer "yes-but," start by (re)defining your GTM Marketing Strategy and shedding light on your marketing plans consistently around it. Believe me when I say that your team needs it. As a Marketing Executive, I have had the opportunity to witness many heated discussions about activities where the real issue was a strategic misalignment in the first place. Needless to say, a B2C strategy is different from a B2B one and distinct from a B2B2C. For the luck of B2C marketers, consumers find traditional advertisements more reliable than their digital counterparts, and social media marketing can make it more personal and fun for them, reaching better engagement levels. Combining properly online and offline activities will boost results from Digital. The B2B funnels usually require more robust analytics and dedication to determine what is working, to whom, and why. Each case is unique and has its differences and nuances. Finding the ideal dashboard to monitor and improve performance requires knowledge, a consistent approach, and an exploratory mindset that will push the analytics team into new territories. 

I recommend CMOs and Marketing Leaders, regardless of their experience level, to work with Certified Mentors who "have been there and done that." Certified Mentors can help you navigate your specific case by asking the right questions, bringing fresh perspectives, and sharing models and research to support your ideas or not. There are many nuances impacting how effective your marketing strategy will be in execution. Differences in marketing products, services, or solutions. If there is already a demand for your offers or you need to create one. Acting upon the complete cycle from customer acquisition through pipeline acceleration and lead conversion. The different targeted customers and personas. The many customer journeys. The brand experience. The sales channels. The commerce play. The mobility play. What parts must your team handle, and what will you outsource? This list is endless. And yet how to mix and prioritize all that. A mentor will raise your confidence in writing and driving the right strategy, articulate the messages and present it in the best way, and increase the chances of a better ROI. You will not get this level of candid and expert feedback anywhere else, as mentors are entirely devoted to your success only. 

Once you have a clear GTM Marketing Strategy and a definition of the roles Digital Marketing will play in your marketing mix, focus on creating a solid Digital Analytics muscle. That is your digital marketing optimization engine. No digital campaign, content, or activity will be correctly designed to reach its full potential without being adjusted a few times. Analytics needs to inform us in numbers what profile of customers we have reached, who reacted, how, when, and where. Where those prospects come from and where they go next. And all information about their behavior in our digital properties and, for the more advanced, on the internet. Digital Analytics is not new or rocket science, but the number of companies claiming to have built that muscle correctly and put it to use systematically is a small fraction of the total - only 7%! Every Digital execution must have a marketing analytics capability to measure performance. You will probably start with your content, SEO, and SEM execution. Then build the outbound and display ads with the correspondent analytics. You will add social marketing, integrating every handle into your engines and ensuring that its flow of potential leads can be redirected, identified, and measured. Every part may feed to a central dashboard where you have a real-time pulse of your execution and so what is working and what is not. When and only when you know the accurate insights behind the statistics of your activities, you can start to raise your investments to production levels.
​
 At this point, you can forecast your ROI with decent precision. Digital Marketing is not about finding the silver bullet but building the right strategy and engines that will empower you to optimize your play and find answers to most of the questions. With those basics in place, a clear GTM Strategy, and a powerful analytics team, you can now talk about ROI and effectiveness, how to help sales with more leads, pipeline acceleration, reaching higher conversion rates, and everything results. And if you don't know the answer to a question, you can quickly put new concepts to the test and make up your mind about the possible paths. The next step will be building your marketing automation and elevating your ROI to new levels. And that is the topic for a future article. ​