Brad Zeifman, Co-Founder, SHADOW
getty
The laws of attraction apply at the organizational level, too. In order to draw in the kind of brand partners you are most compatible with for the long term, you first must have a clear sense of your own core values, strengths, improvement areas and goals as an agency. Establish your identity confidently and concretely, and not only will you attract the right collaborators, but you will always feel at home in your work. Ignore this essential, formative exercise, and you will likely find yourself mismatched and out of alignment with your clients, grasping for the latest industry trend and losing your industry authority.
So, how does one do this? I see three crucial checkpoints: Define your agency’s core values at the outset (and revisit them routinely!); be thoughtful in choosing your partners (saying “no” is an option!); and look inward—not outward—when the landscape shifts (and it will!).
Shortcut: If you’re really inhabiting those core values, they’ll serve as your guide while navigating the rest.
Establish your core values.
Fair warning that this is not a one-time exercise or a list that only lives on a wall and says what you believe in. (If it is, fine, but it won’t serve you very well.) This is an ongoing process for agency executives and one of the more difficult exercises you’ll tackle as a leader. The challenge is both in editing down the list (they call them “core” values for a reason) and bringing them into your work in a way that actually informs and supports the company’s direction.
MORE FOR YOU
The process begins with leadership but will require buy-in from the whole organization. Everyone should be prepared to be honest with themselves and each other about what matters most to the company. If your experience is anything like ours, you’ll come up with an initial list of at least 20. After all, there’s a lot to care about in both work and life. But edit, edit, edit until you feel like you’ve distilled your company’s very nature onto the page. At SHADOW, that meant a value set that centered around putting the client first, striving for excellence and approaching work with integrity. It will look different for every company, but you should be able to feel when it’s reflective and resonating.
There is always an opportunity to grow and revisit your core values. We review our list annually to ensure two things: that our core values reflect the agency’s natural evolution, and that the agency is evolving in harmony with our core values. If both those things remain true, it’s time to put them into practice.
The next step is to present them to the company. Bring them into the review process and into routine 1-to-1 meetings. Let them serve as the basis for your feedback. Everyone in the company should understand how and where they fit into the everyday because you should be able to feel the presence of these values in your organization. Again, this is not just a list on the wall.
Align with like-minded partners with long-term potential.
Once your core values are clearly defined, utilize them to analyze client relationships, evaluate new opportunities and steer your business development process. Being a professional in this particular industry can feel very personal. It’s important that you do not ignore the fact that you are entering into a relationship with these people. You’ll be spending a considerable amount of time together—therefore, your values should be in alignment.
To get a true sense of the synchronicity between your value systems, ask the hard questions of prospective clients: What is their vision? How do they define success? What is their leadership style? How do they relate to competitors? What didn’t work with previous partners? If their answers are in line with your agency’s ethics, strengths and goals, you may just have a match.
And, of course, there’s always the vibe. The people behind the brands we partner with must be like-minded, invested, passionate and good people. They should have the capacity and desire to show up as day-to-day partners and embrace our active participation in their brand. We will push and challenge when we feel it’s right; we will look to collaborate and ideate routinely. That approach isn’t for everyone, and we are more than fine with that.
Stay true to yourself.
This is where your core values really become a tool at your disposal—they help you navigate your way through an industry that’s ever-shifting and quick to embrace the latest trend. In this kind of landscape, the “how” in our work is always changing. How we approach a campaign will look different next year than it does this year. How we measure our success will look different next year than it does this year. But if you’re adhering to those core values, the “why” behind your work should remain the same.
As long as you can see them in whatever it is you’re doing, you know inherently that there is value there. You become your own touchstone; you establish your own constitution, and it makes it very hard to get lost or deviate from what makes you, you.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Brad Zeifman, Forbes Councils Member
