How badly are reflective thinkers overlooked in marketing?

This is not new, it's however not changed. We continue to work in increasingly fast-paced work environments, where reflective personalities often feel pressured to abandon their thoughtful nature or risk being undermined.

Many workplaces cater primarily to the fast and hurried pace of the direct, decisive "red personalities". In the past week only, I've talked to 3 marketers (global and local teams) who have mentioned similar challenges of not having the right environment to think. Simply seeing that their leaders reward quick reactions and snap judgments. Even their agencies put pressure on them for getting feedback on the crea proposals straight off the bat. Fair enough, these marketers said, they realise and understand the need for rapid thoughts and exchanges. However, the same pressure is experienced for topics that would benefit from more thinking time. This lighting-speed rate of decision making fails to tap into the immense potential of reflective personalities. These guys are connecting many, many dots when given the space to do so, ideating and creating value you simply can't have in a fire-it type discussion. 

What is a reflector, Mags? 

Reflective marketers are essentially analytical, philosophical and introspective. They prefer to thoroughly weigh options before reaching conclusions. These marketers consider all angles of complex business and brand problems and thoughtfully assess interpersonal dynamics before responding. One of their biggest strengths lies in their depth of reflection, allowing them to get to the heart of issues and avoid rushed choices. They are critical in a team, as much as the other personalities are.

Their work habitat isn't suited to their style

However, the rapid pace expected in most modern offices leaves little room (let alone if we're taling FMCG business) for extended contemplation. Reflectors feel stressed when asked to give instant feedback in meetings or rapidly weigh in on complex strategic decisions. Their natural hesitation before responding gets perceived as indecision or disinterest by their more impatient colleagues and leaders (especially if they tend to have a natural red profile - DISC). Over time, the pressure to keep up with the hustle and bustle causes reflectors to mask their reflective tendencies, and what we see is that they override their need for thoughtful analysis in order to blend in and not feel left out or isolated. 

Through my coaching sessions I have come across their imposter syndrome flaring in these situations, numerous times, when they recalled them. 

Stifling their needs has disastrous consequences

When marketing reflectors feel forced to respond in haste, both them and their organisations suffer the consequences:

• Burnout: repeatedly denying their natural need for reflection exhausts their mental energy over time, leading to emotional exhaustion.
• Poorer decision making: rushing responses disturbs their analytical approach, resulting in solutions not fully thought through. This may leave them feeling unfulfilled and unmotivated as they know they could have brought in more value with the right thinking space/time. 
• Conforming, not contributing: what you'll see is them starting relying more on snap, emotion-based judgments like their “red” peers rather than applying their strengths. Becoming someone you're not, is sacrificing who you are, and it's not only exhausting, but it really makes you feel incompetent. 
• Less workplace diversity: we talk a lot about D&I, how to make our colleagues dealing with ADHD understood and giving them the right space. We need to extend it to other thinking styles. If not, they simply quit their job, feeling inadedquate, thinking they can't deal with fast-paced roles assuming it's their inability to do so, which in turns shrinks the variety of thinking styles in the workplace.
• Loss of key competencies: if you lose them, you lose strategic thinking, creativity, diplomacy and fairness. You also lose their natural ability to analyse current approaches to recognize where innovation opportunities lie. 

How to make space for marketing reflectors?

Unless you're a reflector yourself, this reflective approach to things gets frequently misunderstood. It's a shame as these guys shine when given room for deep analysis on complex problems.

Some of their strengths include: 

• Step-by-step thinking that allows to design executable roadmaps (Brand plan anyone?!
• Careful risk-analysis that prevents too-quick a move that seems exciting rather than careful (especially when brand equity and the long term impact of a decision is involved, in our marketing world!)
• They take a bird’s eye view that can bring out-of-the-box solutions, they're great creative thinkers
• They're awesome at building team and ensuring team cohesion by being thoughtful, patient and intently listening which defuses conflicts. That's especially crucial with the sales team (marketing v sales tension) and global vs local teams.
• They're super able to question the status quo to uncover game-changing ideas
• They can break-down issues and really look closely at assumptions, which all leads to constructive critiques rather than criticism.

When an organisation adapts to support both fast-paced and reflective work styles, they gain far more than just faster output. They create room for innovation. And this is a critical foundation for any brand.  They improve team synergy, naturally using their strengths, they feel empowered to be able to think creatively in line with their natural talents. The entire company wins when all temperaments expand possibilities rather than conform to constraints.

How can your organisation support marketing reflectors?

1. Set reasonable turnaround time expectations. Make it clear they have full license to take 48 hours or more to formulate responses. Build in flexible deadlines into the process. Remember they're understanding humans and are not expecting for this to be a rule for everything. They will need sometimes to make quick decisions or give feedbacks on the spot. Simply be reasonable in the way the business is run to allow space to think, especially for critical strategic pieces.
2. Provide private spaces for reflection at work to offer a breathing area of calm for uninterrupted thinking. The little booths work well, working from home does magic too.
3. If you are to run a open group dialogue, gather feedback from everyone (meaning including the marketing reflectors) using anonymous individual survey responses. This will allow them to share deeper insights only once they have formulated their thoughts independently. You'll get so much more insights and value-added ones that way. I can promise that, hands down. 
4. What about meetings - marketers and their back-to-back meeting days. Could you consider shortening 1h meetings ot 50min to allow for a cuppa tea, but also to reflect and recap what's been done during that meeting, and prepare for the next one?

If you're a marketing reflector, here are a few tips: 

1. Have a few ready-to-say's to get yoruself the time and space to think, if this is appropriate (eg. creative agencies, colleagues asking for feedbacks on the spot): "I'm happy to give you my first impressions now, but I'd like to take the time to think about it properly. I'll share then with you my consolidated views. How does that sound?"
2. You can block some time at the end of the day for 20 minutes to recap all the key take-aways from today, things you want to find time and space to think about, and prepare for the following day's discussion points. I know how tiring it is to jump from one topic to another without breaks between meetings.
3. If you are asked to give your opinion, a decision, and cannot afford to ask that you get back to them the next day or a few hours, simply just say you want to take 5 minutes, excuse yourself and go walk outside the building, in the corridor, get what you need to have the SPACE and TIME to think. Sometimes, 5 minutes in a room on your own at work is all your need to have NO distractions or mind stimuli from other discussions, to make up your mind.
4. For tricky requests, or if it comes from a person with a more impatient style, acknowledge their expectations for a quick response, and tell them you'd like to take [appropriate amount of time] to think things through to come back with a firm answer. Finish with a "How does that sound", which is hard to disregard, usually...

I'm really calling all reflectors and leaders of reflectors to make SPACE and TIME (both are two dimensions that are key, here) for those who use it to bring great value. Sometimes 5 minutes away from a room is much more powerful for a reflector than 30minutes extra surround by other meeting attendees chatting. Quick decision makers are no better than reflectors. Both of these styles present positives and negatives depending on the situation. What I'm asking here is for everyone to understand, respect and allow.

Let me know how it goes !

Speak soon,

Mags