Co-Founder/CEO of Vujà Dé Digital, on a mission for conscious capitalism and reinventing the media agency model.
What has happened to the agency world and many work environments since early 2020 is unprecedented. We can surmise at this point that agency life as we knew it is over. Working from home, attending virtual meetings and the need to create new ways to engage with team members and clients has become the norm for many agencies.
As we individually and collectively maneuver our way through this disruptive time in society and the world, agencies are experiencing new challenges on multiple fronts. Team interaction, client-agency relationships and individual employee engagement are all shifting. The challenge with agency people is that we’re naturally interested in being around people and collaborating on ideas, which is part of what we get paid for by clients.
As a result of the limitations that were imposed around in-person engagement, agencies seem to be settling into one of three modes or ways of working: Agency models today are either fully work-from-home with no formal brick-and-mortar office space, a hybrid of remote workers and fractional leased space for team members to interact as needed, or a minority that have returned to a traditional in-office brick-and-mortar agency model.
What does this mean for the future of the advertising and marketing industry, how work is done, and how teams and client relationships are managed? Let’s take a look at three areas of leadership that are key to success moving forward.
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Key #1: Understand what’s important to your team members.
Employees are more aware and vocal about what they do and don’t want in terms of how they work, what they’re working on and where they’re doing the work. With the overall turnover rate of employment over 57% across industries in the U.S. in 2020, the ad industry has always been fairly high in comparison.
This means that agency leadership must take the time to understand the needs and wants of their team members in these evolving new agency work models, or risk them walking out the door. However, realize that even if you’re able to accommodate the best and preferred ways of engaging as a team and with clients, recruiters are offering enticements to employees to jump ship using more money, sign-on bonuses and a host of other incentives. Creative and engaged leadership is a requirement now more than ever for any successful agency in this new environment.
Key #2: Make sure communications and expectations are clear and direct.
Ensure you get feedback from individuals on your team. Survey your staff quarterly or biannually to learn what they are interested in, how they are feeling, what they desire and any other feedback they may have.
Many employees have found working from home to be incredibly difficult. The transition from a dedicated in-office workspace to a laptop and working from home with kids, dogs and other potential distractions has been difficult. Many have realized they work even more hours from home, as they roll out of bed and right onto email and instant messaging platforms. Since there was no commute, many found themselves taking that time to work, which meant we all began working longer days. Having the option available for team members to work from alternate office spaces to work or collaborate with other team members is important, even if it’s on an as-needed basis.
Fortunately, when it comes to clients, there’s been no difficulty with agency team members and clients staying connected through this transition to new ways of working. Technology has enabled both the agency and client to connect in real time using video conferencing and instant messaging platforms. While the speed at which work gets done may have increased, a new challenge that has surfaced is the ability for clients to ping their agency team 24/7 through all the available tech platforms. This makes it important for agencies and clients to determine how to work with each other in what feels at times like always-on work environments and ensure clear expectations are agreed upon around availability and response times.
With client relationships, while technology has been helpful, what is lost are things like tone, body language, eye contact and real emotion. These human elements are much harder to read on a laptop video when compared to being in the same room with someone. This change and greater dependency on video technology have also depersonalized relationships. Connecting on video conferencing is not necessarily enough to build relationships or establish a human connection.
Key #3: Offer more than just a paycheck.
Collaboration on a creative brief or whiteboarding and brainstorming sessions were immediately and severely impacted as team members have tried to find ways to adapt to connections on video conferencing software. This has also impacted the natural exposure and opportunities for learning from peers through impromptu meetings and discussions. Employees still need and want opportunities to grow and expand their knowledge.
Ensure that you have opportunities for staff to gain enlightenment and knowledge beyond simply their job description. Consider offering a personal or professional development course, for example, that the company pays for. In other words, deliver more value than just their paycheck.
While the transition to more remote work environments has had its challenges, the majority of employees opt not to return to a traditional office environment when asked. The flexibility, control over how and when they get work done and elimination of commute time are all big pluses. The question remains whether we can truly build and maintain cohesive and enduring team and client relationships with such minimal in-person human interaction. Only time will tell.
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Author: Todd Juneau, Forbes Councils Member