(This article is based on an article about the EMEA Financial Services Marketing Summit 2025 that was first published by CIM's Max Andrews on LinkedIn here)

Max Andrews, Head of Client Solutions at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), shares insights from his panel with Miranda McLean, CMO, Ecommpay and Roberto Napolitano, CMO, Innovate Finance at the EMEA Marketing Leaders’ Financial Services Summit that covered skills, culture, diversity and the essential elements for building high-performing teams.

"Done right, marketing is a key growth driver for any organisation. But to do things properly, you need the right team behind you. During a packed agenda at the EMEA Marketing Leaders’ Financial Services Summit with Financial Marketing Insights and Jacob Howard, FCIM , featuring the likes of Citi, HSBC, IBM, Lloyds, Politico, Reuters, and many others, I sat down with marketing experts Roberto Napolitano, MBA, CMO of Innovate Finance, and Miranda McLean FCIM, CMO of Ecommpay, to explore how they approach the challenge of building the right team, the right way.

This is a topic I feel passionately about. In my role as Head of Client Solutions, I’m always looking to understand the needs of my clients and the challenges they face. Building a team is complex; there are difficult choices that need to be carefully considered, including balancing capability and cultural fit, when and how to bring in additional skill sets, and how an individual’s leadership style affects team performance.

Team Building Challenges

As organisations develop, the requirements placed on their teams will change. McLean illustrated this point brilliantly with her experience working for Banking Circle. In its early days as a start-up, she shared that “it was just me and a couple of agencies.” As the business started to scale, generalists became essential, individuals who could “pivot really quickly to do other things.” Only later, as the company matured, did they start to bring in more “specialised skill sets.”

Building a team isn’t something that happens overnight. It requires planning, investment, and an understanding of an organisation’s ambitions. Napolitano shared that for him, one of the most important characteristics of a high-performing team is agility. Being able to learn different skills, like email marketing, social media marketing, PR, and media relations is critical. As professionals progress into more strategic roles, having that breadth of understanding becomes a key asset.

Diversity

Another key theme that emerged from our discussion was the value diversity brings to business, not just as a nice-to-have, but as a genuine driver of performance. McLean put it well when she shared that “it’s diversity of everything, diversity of thought, diversity of culture and that will emanate through your comms, through the way you interact in your business, through your products and services you deliver.” She continued, “You have to have diversity in every business and every team.”

This is pertinent for those seeking to build high-performing teams as this type of environment broadens perspectives, fosters creativity, and ensures that your organisation reflects the customers and communities that it serves.

Good Culture vs Bad Culture

Another key theme to emerge from our discussion was culture. McLean led the discussion calling out bad culture, stating, “anyone who’s ever worked in a place where the culture is awful knows, you don’t want to be there. Your productivity is low, you know you’re not giving it your all. You […] lose your self-confidence.”

In contrast, she explained, “If the culture is good, you’re in an environment where you’re thriving. You see productivity in your team, people want to work together, […] want to collaborate. So, I think it’s critical to [a] team’s success.”

Napolitano echoed these sentiments, stating: “For me, culture is the most important element of a team and a company in general, because you can teach skills.” He also noted that culture is a key driver amongst the younger generations and if culture doesn’t align with their values, they won’t hesitate to leave.

Cultural Fit vs Skill Set

What should you prioritise when building a team – cultural fit or skill set? According to both CMOs, cultural fit comes out on top every time. Both shared stories about getting the balance wrong. And as McLean put it, getting a cultural fit wrong means “the candidate will suffer, the team will suffer, the results will suffer.” While technical competency is essential, a poor cultural fit will undermine even the most skilled hire.

Napolitano summed this up simply: “I think the first thing is the culture fit, and then after, the skills.”

What Skills Are Businesses Struggling to Find?

Not all skills are created equal. In her experience, McLean noted that creative and campaign skills are relatively easy to find, but data analysts who have a marketing view of things are much rarer, explaining: “you find some skill sets much more easily […] than others.”

In his experience, Napolitano has found that technical skills are easier to come by, particularly amongst younger professionals who are digital natives. “The most challenging roles to recruit for are the ones that are more generalist.”

Despite these challenges, McLean emphasised the opportunity to develop talent from within. “There are a lot of skills that can be trained, so if you find the right people, or if there’s perhaps someone in your team already, you can upskill them and train them.”

From my perspective, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Each business has different requirements and different challenges. As our discussion highlighted, a high-performing team requires a balance of culture, skills, diversity, and leadership, and a focus on the long-term goals of the organisation.

Upskilling and growing talent from within is something that forward-thinking businesses can’t afford to ignore.

If you’re thinking about how you can build capability in your team, whether through upskilling, leadership development, or something else, we’d love to hear from you.

CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing