The Marketing Residency
Helping CMOs and Heads of Marketing build more capable, commercially minded and independent teams through coaching, mentoring and leadership development.
Most in-house marketing teams are full of capable people. But capability gaps rarely happen because marketers aren’t smart or driven enough.
They happen because the people best placed to develop the next layer of leadership – the CMO or Head of Marketing – are also the ones under the greatest pressure.
They’re leading strategy, managing stakeholders, overseeing agencies, managing budgets and delivering commercial outcomes. Team development becomes important, but rarely urgent enough to prioritise consistently.
The Marketing Residency is designed to strengthen capability where it matters most – helping emerging or experienced marketing leaders become more strategic, commercially aware and confident inside complex organisations.
The Marketing Residency is designed to support your team’s development without adding another major responsibility to your workload.
Kirsten is fully briefed by the CMO or Head of Marketing on the organisation, team structure, business priorities and capability gaps before working directly with participants in the context of their actual roles and responsibilities.
Rather than expecting already-stretched senior marketing leaders to personally coach and mentor every team member, Kirsten steps in as a trusted strategic partner working alongside your leadership.
She becomes an extension of the CMO or Head of Marketing – coaching the team through the lens of your business, your strategy, your standards and your expectations.
This contextual approach is what makes The Marketing Residency fundamentally different from generic professional development or external coaching programs.
The focus is not simply on building confidence. It’s on developing stronger judgement, better strategic thinking and more commercially capable marketers who can operate more independently within the business.
For CMOs and Heads of Marketing, the outcome is a stronger, more commercially mature marketing function – and less pressure sitting solely at the top.
Senior Marketing Partner
Kirsten Craven is the founder of Flock Effect and a senior marketing leader with
extensive experience across strategy, leadership, brand, agency management and commercial marketing advisory.
Known for her switched-on, commercially grounded approach, Kirsten works closely with businesses and marketing leaders to strengthen marketing capability, build confidence and create teams that operate more strategically and independently.
Residency Different
001
Every engagement begins with detailed briefing and alignment sessions with the CMO or Head of Marketing. Kirsten takes the time to understand the organisation, the team structure, the commercial environment and the leadership challenges sitting behind the business.
That means the program is never delivered as a fixed or generic curriculum. The mentoring, conversations and development support are shaped by the organisation’s realities and the capability required within the team.
002
The Marketing Residency is designed to support marketers as they navigate the pressures of their roles.
Participants bring real stakeholder situations, agency challenges, prioritisation pressures and leadership conversations into the program. Coaching and support are grounded in practical application, not hypothetical scenarios.
003
The program focuses on the broader skills many marketers are expected to develop on the job but rarely receive formal support in.
That includes strategic thinking, stakeholder management, commercial awareness, prioritisation, communication, leadership confidence and navigating organisational complexity.
004
CMOs and Heads of Marketing remain closely connected to the team’s progress through regular reporting and strategic check-ins.
This ensures development remains aligned to business priorities while also giving senior leaders visibility over capability growth, behavioural shifts and emerging leadership potential within the team.
The Marketing Residency
The program is then tailored accordingly.
The intensive delivery phase focused on capability uplift, strategic thinking and practical leadership development.
For organisations wanting longer-term behavioural change and reinforcement.
This phase is designed to help teams apply what they’ve learned consistently over time – not just during structured sessions.
The Marketing Residency
CMOs and Heads of Marketing at mid-to-large organisations who:
While often suited to Marketing Managers and Senior Marketing Managers, the program can be tailored to support marketers at different stages of their leadership journey.
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The Marketing Residency helps marketing teams become more strategic, commercially capable and confident – while giving senior marketing leaders the support they need to build stronger teams without carrying the entire development load themselves.
FAQs
The Marketing Residency for Teams is a structured coaching, mentoring and capability development program designed to strengthen the strategic, commercial and leadership capability of in-house marketing teams. It helps marketers develop the skills needed to operate more independently, think more strategically and contribute at a higher level.
Most training programs focus on knowledge transfer. The Marketing Residency focuses on application. Participants receive coaching and guidance in the context of their actual roles, business challenges and stakeholder environments, helping them apply new thinking directly to their day-to-day work.
No. The Marketing Residency is designed as an extension of the CMO/HOM’s leadership, tailored to the specific business context, strategy and team dynamics of each organisation.
High-performing marketing teams don’t just execute well – they think strategically, communicate effectively and make strong commercial decisions. The Marketing Residency helps marketers build these capabilities, creating more confident, independent and effective teams that contribute at a higher level.
Yes. Every engagement begins with briefing and alignment sessions to understand your business, team structure, strategic priorities and capability goals. While the program is built around core capability pillars, delivery is tailored to the needs of your team.
The Marketing Residency can be delivered as either a six-month Core Program or a 12-month engagement that includes ongoing embedding support.
The program is designed for cohorts of up to 12 participants from a single organisation.
The Marketing Residency can be delivered online, in person or through a hybrid approach, depending on the organisation’s needs and location.
Senior leadership involvement is intentionally lightweight. Kirsten conducts briefing sessions upfront, monthly reporting and regular check-ins to ensure the program remains aligned to business goals.
Progress is measured through regular check-ins, observations, participant engagement and discussions with senior leadership. The focus is on capability growth, behavioural change and increased confidence, independence and effectiveness over time.
