Welcome to PM Forum London

Hosted by Dechert LLP at its London Blackfriars office, PM Forum’s November event was a well-attended session, bringing members from a variety of professional services backgrounds together to discuss practical strategies for managing and improving your career, writes Lindsey Irish.

The panel featured four senior industry professionals: Francesca Ayers, Director, Get Serious; Dominic Ayres, Senior Client Development Manager, Eversheds Sutherland; Jeremy Ford, Head of BD & Marketing Europe, Skadden; and Susanne Pugsley, Business Development Consultant, PSBD Pugsley Sidwell, who chaired the discussion.

After a much-welcome opportunity to have a glass of wine and connect with PM Forum members both old and new, panellists kicked off the session by discussing how best to manage your career ‘upwards’.

Managing upwards

Panellists offered the following tips to help you thrive and move up in your organisation:

• Look at and fully understanding the environment you’re in – take time to to know the culture of the business match high-performance habits set key stakeholders.
• Understand who you’re working with and for – specifically, ask them what goals they have been asked to accomplish and see what role you can play in achieving them.
• Build reliability and trust by being consistent and don’t be afraid to ask for projects that will showcase what you do best.
• Try to highlight the value you have added to the organisation, rather than just listing out each project you’ve worked on or completed.

Personal brand and visibility

Panellists considered the importance of building a personal brand and how best to gain visibility within your company, offering the following suggestions:

• Cultivate trust and understand the business as a whole. What do teams outside of your role do? What keeps the lights on? The most successful marketers are ones that know their business inside and out.
• Don’t behave as if you are separate from partners and other senior people at your firm. Present yourself as an expert in your own area and don’t be afraid to interact with everyone at the company.
• Figure out what you want to be known for. Find a topic or area you are passionate about and make yourself an ambassador on it. Sharing articles about the subject on LinkedIn is a great way to show others your interest in the area and can be a catalyst for further discussion.

Building relationships

The panel examined how forming relationships with others post-Covid has evolved due to there being fewer opportunities to catch each other in the office or attend events between working from home.

Guests were reminded to get into the habit of prepping for interactions. Think through what you’re going to say, what you need, and have a few topics on hand to discuss so you can really utilise the time you have with someone.

The importance of maintaining good relationships with secretaries and executive assistants should not be underestimated. You can work with them to find time to speak with key stakeholders since their in-person time is more limited than before.

The event was full of honest and insightful engagement from the speakers and it is unfortunate that at that point we ran out of time. At the conclusion of the panel, attendees gathered to mingle while enjoying a delicious selection of tapas and wine.

Lindsay Irish, Dechert LLP