Why your company need a “Spellcaster”…
American Superhero’s comics and fantasy novels are definitely among the great passions of my life.
It will sound strange to talk about comics and fantasy novels to match the work of a company, but if you follow me I will explain why I think the example fits perfectly.
In comics and literature a close-knit group of heroes must have different and complementary characteristics to be effective.
From The Avengers to The Fellowship of the Ring passing through the rest a winning team shall be composed of members who hold some key roles:
– the Tank. The strong man of action, often rude manner as generous in giving himself to the cause. In a company normally the tank is represented by the seller. He is the one who is first in line, he fights with all the weapons at his disposal, performs a huge amount of work and no company can do without him. If a company has a product or service that has a market, the tank is the one who must patrol the threatening streets of the city to deal with the demand, with villains (who knows how happy your customers will be feeling that in this game of roles I compare them to the bad guys). Its main qualities are tenacity, knowledge of the group, adaptability but also endurance. Typically, the tank is the first contact element. “Go ahead that you’re strong, we’ll follow.“
– the Chief. I put him in second place but it is obvious that hierarchically comes before all others. There is no group if there are not one or more charismatic people able to keep it together. In a company there are often many chiefs… everyone manages at least one product or service, determines the overall strategies on them, coordinates them, puts him in the shoes of the customer thus placing requests, claims, review. The Chief is everything. His words and his actions drive the tank to take the field and give all he has.
– The engineer (or the thief in fantasy novels). A service and a product requires insight, research, stealth, high problem solving skills. If we do not offer new services and products we are not going anywhere. The Engineer often has the ability to learn from other realities, add differentiation factors, propose new products – sometimes too much – steer the company in certain directions with their own ideas. The Engineer usually does not go directly into the field, lives in the darkness of the laboratories, warehouses, cantankerous most of the time, sure of his own ideas. He would work in anarchy but a good Chief brings him back down to earth. In any case you can not do without his support at a distance. He gives the company and then to the tank the tools to attack the market, ideas and innovation that make the group unique and recognizable.
– The Healer. Every action causes a reaction, nothing to invent in this regard. No company lacks to make mistakes in its way. Having someone with the appropriate skills to intervene in order to reassure the customer, interfacing with engineers, tanks and especially the Chief to propose solutions is crucial. The Healer is normally responsible of everything that is called customer satisfaction.
– Archers or heroes with ranged weapons. They are the workers who arrive en masse on the site of crisis. They do a great job following specific strategies. They are the soldiers, pawns … the brutal labor force without which you could not finish a job. They have sense of duty, they can not do their jobs if not effectively planned under coordination. They are the first to sense when a campaign is going wrong. Their tireless group work offer is also the first to succumb if the chiefs, tank and the absence of good healers does perceive that we are working in vain. They should be handled with care and love or they will desert changing team very soon.
Then … finally The Spellcaster or at least a hero with an area working power. In this fiction I’m drawing _ not without running into an exaggeration that fans of the genre would dispute, the Spellcaster is, in the world of Web 2.0, the editor of content, second generation marketing: the Social Media Soldier.
He works behind everyone, his power alone could not possibly direct the battle in a specific direction, but in team with others is actually decisive.
His powers allow to a lesser degree to cover the area of all the heroes mentioned above. By their action on several levels of intervention Spellcaster are able to get the ability of a direct attack playing a role similar to that of the tank though with a distribuited strenght and not concentrated in one shot; they are also certainly healers, having the reins of the large-scale communication and having often to interface with customers both to promote that to remove. A good Spellcaster should be able to attract people interested in the corporate services and products offered, but must also know how to answer the problems that these direct contacts highlight.
His powers allow the Spellcaster to expand the horizon of the group. As Gandalf or Dr.Strange their will provide everyone a broader view of things, but also a greater range to give effect to active engagement of all.
In small proportion Spellcaster will also be chiefs. Although it is not proper to entrust to them the fate of the entire battle they will still need to have a freedom enabling to act autonomously in the short term, if you do not want to waste their effectiveness.
In the age of Web 2.0 a content editor is able to raise awareness of the group in market areas that were previously precluded, increase reputation, allow more people to become attached to the brand, are in continuous relationship with the demand, anticipate trends and dangers and warn of what to do to suddenly turns in the slimy field of business.
Today it is inconceivable to send in jeopardy a huge number of tanks before the name of the company is known.
Having one or more Spellcaster in your group can really make a difference today.
Customers, instead of wondering who the hell you are, should not yell running jubilant towards you, “Here we have The Avengers”?
If you want to fly high in the empyrean of Super-Heroes don’t ask yourself if you need to hire a Web Spellcaster but why you didn’t before.
Ah … hurry up because they are particularly susceptible to the demands of competitors that understand their abilities. You could find them against in a team of supervillains … and at that point it might be too late.
post by Leonardo Vannucci (lioklingo@gmail.com)