Biggest Challenges Faced By A Partner Manager At Dell Technologies
Matthew's biggest challenge as a Partner Manager at Dell Technologies stems from the inherent limitations of working within a large corporation; the inability to easily implement desired changes or pursue innovative ideas, even when the need is apparent, is frustrating, as Matthew notes, "you're not always capable of rolling that back up and saying, no." This rigid structure contrasts sharply with the flexibility of a startup environment, making innovation and improvements a difficult uphill battle requiring significant upper management buy-in.
Workplace Challenges, Overcoming Challenges, Industry Realities, Corporate Culture, Programmatic Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
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Matthew Ferguson
Partner Manager
Dell Technologies
Loughborough University, 2008
N/A
Criminal Justice
Technology
Business Strategy
Took Out Loans, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. In large corporations, it can be challenging to implement desired changes or improvements due to established structures and processes.
2. Gaining buy-in for new initiatives or projects can be difficult, requiring significant effort to convince leadership.
3. Programmatic aspects, such as roles and duties, might be rigid, limiting flexibility and innovation within one's role.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in this role?
The biggest challenge, I think, has less to do with Dell or leadership and more to do with corporate America in general. Some of the things you want to change or improve, you're simply not given the license to do.
This can be really challenging, especially if you have a strong sense of fairness. It becomes quite difficult if, for example, an aggressive growth number comes down that is unreasonable for very justified reasons. You're not always capable of rolling that back and saying, "No, we're not going to do that."
It's come down, and it's now your job to do it. That can be challenging because while you might understand it, you have to communicate that to your team and get their buy-in for a communal goal. This is hard if you believe the goal is unfair.
Tied into that, given you're working for a mega-global corporation, if you want to improve something programmatically or take a chance building something different, you can do that in a startup. But for a global company with established pillars and structures, you're not given that license.
This can be difficult if you think you have something golden. You have to go very high up to get buy-in and resources, which can be a challenge. This is especially true for programmatic aspects like the roles and specific duties of positions.
Those are really locked in place. If you want to do anything outside of your role and get some leeway, you won't get buy-in. So, some of the most challenging aspects involve building things out programmatically.
To really get buy-in, you'd need to be in an operations role where that's your job. But in a frontline sales manager role, you won't really get that leeway. So, in a big global company, it's probably not so much.
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