Agency Insider: What it takes to survive

In the second month of publishing for the Agency Influencer Program, I've decided to share a short series of articles about life in the agency. Hopefully along the way, something in my journey resonates with you and adds a little sprinkle of value. Thank you for the opportunity.

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Surviving agency life. It's relentless but impossibly rewarding. My intent is not for you to survive but to win and win big.

Back in 2015, I had a conversation with a friend prior to entering into big agency life. He had quizzically commented that I was joining "the dark-side". After almost ten years on the publisher and technology side, there was some trepidation but the allure of getting closer to the action proved irresistible. 

There are a few over-arching perspectives of agency folks from the other side of the fence, mostly centred around how hard it is to pin people down and build momentum at the pace that one would hope. It's easy to arrive at the assumption that our people don't care or are seeking "control C, control V" solutions to problems.

What I've found is that nothing can be further from the truth. I serve in an agency and what I've experienced is almost exactly the opposite. The agency teams, particularly at an operational level, have a relentless desire to do great and transformative work. It's this underlying desire which leads to long hours, constant tweaking and strategic about-faces. The marketers that the agency works for and with, are usually equally relentless in their pursuit for excellence. And rightly so, there are literally billions of dollars at stake. 

The confluence of all of this can result in a wild oscillation in workload and emotional stress. Yes, we are our own worst enemy. Fast forward to 2017 and in conversations with another friend, I lament that our "burst activity" approach to business means we work like investment bankers at half (or less) of the cost. I'll leave this alone for today but there are broad structural issues plaguing the space that serve to perpetuate this. 

My first 18 months in the business has taught me so much. One key learning is that in order to survive and thrive in this eco-system, we need to be intentional in creating "higher lows and lower highs". But what does this mean? The roller-coaster of new business pitches, the pain of account losses and the need to deliver brilliantly on "business as usual" will always exist. The challenge is how we adjust our mindset and organisational design to create a more sustainable operating model. Let's explore this together with five principles for building a better agency and a better version of ourselves. 

Higher lows and lower highs: it's not a sprint but it's not a marathon either

A couple of years ago, I pretended to be a triathlete. Yes, all four foot three of me I hear you thinking. The analogy is an apt one. A sprint is an unsustainable effort, forcing you to operate at the "redline" for a short period and conversely, a marathon suggests that it's a teeth-gritted grind that never seems to end. It's not quite the right mindset to build the aforementioned sustainability we desire. 

Having a high level of self or organisational awareness (some of my colleagues call it EQ) is critical in ensuring you and I can identify and be aware of the redline. It's not simply a measure of raw time but the emotional burden that's applied to a task or set of tasks. Once we know we're sprinting, we can figure out how to back it off. 

And we're usually sprinting to a complete a project, a reorganisation, a pitch but one thing we can engineer is an even keel approach to winning. Watch the greatest sporting teams in the world. I'm talking Real Madrid, the Golden State Warriors, the mighty Collingwood Magpies*. There is a sense of poise in victory and a sense of belonging. Not be mistaken for entitlement, there is recognition that being in a position to win is almost as important as the win itself.

As we begin to take a more even keel approach, we are freed emotionally to invest in learning from losses. Because the win isn't the be-all and end-all, we are able to convert these learnings into a constant stream of self improvement. In turn, we can truly embrace a culture of change and agility, knowing that set-backs contribute to what we build for the future.

Product development at the heart of the agency

The second point is that agency life will always include the client merry-go-round. You can't win everything and you can't (or shouldn't) lose everything. Invest in product development, always. That includes service, technology and innovation capability but first and foremost, its people. 

Leaders need to reframe the organisational design to put this investment at the heart. As an industry, we are heavily reliant on building "product" off the back of client briefs but let's start co-creating things with our clients. The upside is that we'll be braver in doing things fast, launching MVP's and reshaping the business model for the future. Clients will value our outputs more, our time more, our people more.

A key focus therefore needs to be nurturing the talent that aren't your client spokespeople. Brilliance comes in many forms. The bright, wonderfully articulate planner will always serve as the tip of the spear but it's the strength in the body of the spear that gives it power. To enable us to place product development at the heart, it's the people who don't face the client that we need to nurture. They will provide the fuel for the system and allow for the entire agency to keep momentum regardless of the client merry-go-round.

10 pots and 7 lids: managing expectations

Taking the concept of co-creation to the next level. There is nothing more crushing in an agency than having to deliver a substandard piece of work or one that we know could have been better. Coming back to my opening point, it's not due to lack of desire, the barrier is usually time. 

Junior staff look to account leaders to provide prioritisation support, account leaders look to executives to provide air cover. And every client wants everything good, fast and cheap, right? You've probably experienced that in most cases, you can have two of the three but not all three simultaneously. 

Guess who's responsible? Well, everyone, including the client. The truth is almost always that you and I only have seven lids. So which three pots will we not cover? It also helps for everyone to understand how an agency makes money. I noted in my earlier article, it always comes back to value. Transparency and support needs to flow in all directions.

Link here: Confessions of an intrapraneur

Doing these things effectively will fundamentally change the shape of an agency. And somewhat counter-intuitively, it leads to happier clients and customers as well.

Succession planning is key

As we adjust the agency mindset, invest in ongoing development and align expectations, there will still be churn. We will have colleagues and friends around us depart for all sorts of reasons. This is another causal factor, perhaps the greatest, to the lowest of lows. It's a self fulfilling prophecy as the best and brightest wash out, we pick up the slack, in turn burning ourselves out on the redline and leave, thinking that the grass is greener (tip, the grass isn't greener, it's just grass). 

Ask yourself this question, irrespective of level, who will do your job tomorrow? I'll bet that most of us are unable to answer the question with true clarity. To engineer a more sustainable environment, we must make succession planning a top priority. But not in a "disaster recovery plan" sort of way. Looking at the challenge this way encourages you and I to hold on for as long as we can, fuelled by fear. It requires a mindset shift for the agency. What if every promotion was tied to an individual having clearly demonstrated that another had been appropriately developed and was ready to take over. Can you imagine how much "teaching and coaching" would happen in the agency? Wow.

And if we can do it at an individual level, we can do it at a team level. Whether it be a pitch, a key client launch project or an internal initiative, have you got your second "A" team? Importantly, it's not a B team. Again, not a redundancy plan. Modern businesses, true meritocracies, don't build their structures based on tenure as the key selection criteria for who joins the A team. One way of staving off disruption is to create an environment that rewards the energy, curiosity and achievement of those who demonstrate the bravery to challenge the status quo. In doing so, our second, third and fourth A teams can then be assembled to revolve through key projects, meaning less operational strain for all.

Forgive and forget

By now, you know that I have a love of stating the obvious. Sometimes, it's simple but it's never simplistic. This is an important ingredient to building a sustainable working culture. Do the job with joy. Most folks I have met across the industry are highly intelligent, articulate and curious. These same folks could be working in any company, anywhere they like, but somehow we're blessed to have them around us. Everyone is seeking a sense of purpose but we will all achieve better results if we have an expectation that everyone does it with a sense of joy. If the agency is inspired by the A team and at the heart of that team is peace and joy, it also means that we will weed out those who are toxic. They simply wont want to play with us. It's a mindset.

Another thing that has struck me about the agency environment is how emotional it is. In conversations with leaders across the industry, I commonly hear that it's because we are full of passionate folks, people who care. For years, in my dealings with professional services firms, lawyers, bankers, accountants, etc., I've worked with people who really really give a shit. And yet my observation is that they are far more advanced in developing an "even keel" approach to business. In fact they make a living on being the calmest in the room. We should be taking notes.

The emotional aspect of the culture within the agency is a key contributor to the unsustainable "ups and downs" we discussed above. It also leads to resentment and bitterness, not traits that are conducive to scenario analysis, rational decision making or an ability to build long term relationships. So I would counsel that forgiveness become part of the winning mindset. In and of itself, it also helps to create the sense of joy we are seeking. Less anger, more joy.

My agency is on this journey. By no means have we perfected it but we are trying to take some of these lessons to heart. People first, better results.

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Thank you for taking the time to read my stuff. I hope you enjoy it as much I enjoy creating it. Feel free to ping me direct or challenge me in the comments.