Since then, we have experienced this situation over and over again where corporate cultures value leadership above all else. Most companies are built around a promotion-driven culture, where the only way to get a worthwhile pay raise is to move into a director, manager, or leadership position. 

However, this model is unsustainable. All companies need people in the trenches, doing the daily, often project- or task-driven work. There are indeed many people who embrace this role and thrive in it. These are team members that want just a job, not a career path. That is not to say they do not want to learn, grow, or develop, but that growth often occurs within the same position. But unless they are valued in this role, both financially and culturally, you can easily lose these very important team members – essentially the oil that runs the motor (forgive my poor analogy). 

Come one everyone – let us celebrate and focus on the doers! Every company, team, or department needs them and we should value them more. Failure to do so will create a long-lasting vacuum in your company that will be unsustainable in the long-term.

1. Any team member that interacts with clients should be comfortable talking about budgets and schedules.
2. It is not the client’s fault, stop blaming them. *
3. There will always be hiccups in every relationship — stop expecting everything to be perfect.
4. Stop trying to be everyone’s friend — being nice is not always the right approach. 
5. All team members should be willing to promote themselves, their team, and their team’s value.
6. Honesty and transparency are always the best policy.
7. Whatever you do represents your team, your company, and your industry.
8. There will always be someone that can do it better, faster, or cheaper.
9. Under promise and over deliver.
10. Time tracking is a must — no matter the size or type of in-house team.

* Ok, so it may sometimes be the client’s fault, but they never change, only you can change. Learn from the experience and do something to prevent it from happening again.

These principles are influenced by my individual experience. They are shaped by who I have worked for and consulted with and have been added to or refined over time, but rarely change. They drive my decisions and influence my approach. The above are mine, what are yours?

Many teams attempt to clarify roles by using a RACI or RASCI form but still have trouble deciding who should be Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.

We are big believers in using the tiering system to decide the right roles to be involved in review and approval. If you’re not ready to formally define the tiering system, you may want to set some informal criteria for yourself and note them before you start with your RACI. 

We think 3 important things must be weighed to assign correct RACI roles. 

They are work:

1. Type – (examples: web banner, email, advertisement, etc.)
2. Tier – as described on our site, designation of project tier based on level of strategic importance and complexity
3. Task – specific activities that are required based on scope (ex. writing, design, photography, etc.)

So when you apply to RACI:

• R (responsible) is usually dictated by work type and task – for example, a web page that needs new photography and new copy will dictate the roles that are responsible – writer, designer, photographer, etc. You may add a second filter based on tier and say that a Tier 1 web page requires an art director to be responsible vs. a tier 2/3 that would require a designer to be responsible.
• A (accountable) is usually dictated by tier (particularly the strategic importance level) – for example, you could make a rule that says all projects that are high in strategic importance require approval from the creative director or creative team lead and a VP level or higher outside the team.
• C (consulted) is also based more on type and task because you would want to consult with folks who have expertise to contribute.
• I (informed) should also align with the tier more (ex. Tier 1 projects probably require at least a heads up to more people than Tier 3 projects would).

The R, C, and I can be more than one person, but the A should always be one person within creative and one person outside of creative.

A common misconception about post-mortems is that they are only needed when something goes wrong. Not true. The primary purpose of post-mortems is to gain learnings from past experience in order to identify and promote successes.

Post-mortems can be done internally, within the creative team, and, for select projects, with clients.  A good post-mortem process may be different for different types and tiers of projects. Our recommendations typically include the following:

tier 1 projects: high strategic importance and complexity

• formal project de-brief meeting
• brand compliance audit
• cost and schedule analysis
• brand adherence audit
• report on actual to estimate
• developed/revised standards and guidelines

tier 2 projects: moderate strategic importance and complexity

• project summary report
• report on actual to estimate (formal debrief meeting only if actual to estimate variance of 10%+)
• new templates archived (if needed)

tier 3 projects: low strategic importance and complexity

• project summary memo

The best de-brief process typically begins with circulation of a list of specific questions about the project and time for team members to think about them and prepare their responses individually. The benefit of the first step is that it allows the quieter, more analytical people to develop their responses to the questions without being interrupted by the more outgoing, vocal types who might otherwise dominate in the face-to-face meeting. For Tier 1 projects, a post-mortem meeting is organized to discuss the team’s response to the questions. To make the meeting productive, the meeting organizer should collate all responses, make a list of hot topics, gather and bring any available analytics/data, and develop a meeting agenda.

Ultimately the final output of these meetings would be a document summarizing lessons learned (successes and challenges).  One such lesson would include identification of improvements to process, interpersonal relationships (better ways of working together or with a specific person), schedules and budgets. Additionally, information demonstrating the success of the project is documented (preferably through both qualitative assessment and quantitative data).

In this short 20 minute talk, Pink discusses how the old school carrot and stick reward-based system is irrelevant and, instead, he promotes the new school of thought and science-behind intrinsic motivation. Pink talks about how there is mismatch between what science teaches us (through various studies he highlights) and what business does. Ultimately, the pay for performance or reward-based systems no longer work and, in fact, science has proven that, in fact, these systems have a negative impact on performance. 

In particular, what motivation should be based on is autonomy (self-direction), mastery (continual growth, learning and improvement), and purpose (doing something that is larger than ourselves).

He puts the words (and the scientific fact) to a philosophy and approach that is the foundation of what we often advise our clients in areas related to management improvement strategies. Listen and be inspired.

In this post, I want to highlight just a few of the factors that are influencing how we work together, communicate, and manage. Each of the following is clearly a subject for more in-depth discussion and content. In fact, I have presented on several of these already. Nonetheless, it still is a worthwhile effort simply to highlight these influencing factors to understand the broader context. So, here are some factors I think influence the workplace:

1. Left and right brains working together more than ever before (“The MFA Is the new MBA.”)
2. Employees and companies no longer have loyalty for each other; people are hoping from job to job and, even, from career to career (“GenFlux”)
3. For the first time ever, four very different generations are now working together (millennials meet baby boomers!)
4. Agile development methodologies have lead to agile project management styles (moving from a “follow the plan” approach and a “command and control” management model to a “continuous planning” approach and an “empower and inspire” management model)

In future postings, I hope to provide more content around each of these subjects. In the meantime, as managers, we must be aware of these trends and adjust our management styles accordingly.

In many corporate cultures, acceptance and implementation of any change, big or small, often involves a long-drawn out approval process that requires “business cases” that defend the idea (do not forget about those metrics!), lots and lots of meetings, and, often, the monumental task of getting key stakeholders and decision makers to give a damn.

But, what if you instead asked, “What is the worst that can happen if I implement a change without permission?” If you have done your due diligence and fully believe in the future effectiveness of the change, then go for it. Break the rules.

Corporate cultures are full of naysayers making it is often impossible to ask for permission consequently, sometimes you just need to break the rules and ask for forgiveness afterwards. In fact, if you truly are successful (the ultimate goal), you may not even need to ask for forgiveness. Often manager only know what they know and are accustomed to certain ways of working; they have difficulty seeing the value of something that is outside of their comfort zone and knowledge. But, to be an effective leader, you sometimes need to make decisions whether you have permission or not.

One common example I have seen of this thinking is with changes to the physical space of an in-house creative team. Many corporate facilities managers have strict parameters about the color of walls or the organization of the workspaces. But, these facility restrictions often do not consider the unique needs of a creative team. I have even heard of a few in-house teams who took a risk, and asked their teams to work overnight to paint their office space a different color!  As of yet, I haven’t heard of anyone being fired by taking these types of risk. At the worst they simply asked for forgiveness. At the best, the change wasn’t even noticed and, in one situation, it inspired other non-creative teams to do something similar!

Once you have vetted a candidate by their portfolio and resume, then conduct interviews. Do not interview someone until you have fallen in love with their work and are confident that their past experience is best suited to the position, then you can interview them. If you interview candidates first, you may fall in love with their personality and hire them despite concerns about their work or experience level. 

And do not fall for the brand-name trap where you are impressed by where they worked (Google! Pentagram!) and not always by their role within that company. Just because they worked at a place you admire, does not necessarily mean they bring the experience or talent you require.

Before interviewing I highly recommend you provide potential candidates with a detailed job description or role requirement prior to the interview. This will give them a better understanding of the position and can be used by those interviewing as a reference point.

The following are some questions I like to ask potential candidates:

• What previous experiences have you had that may be relevant to this position and why?
  Depending on the position, you want to look for: 

> corporate in-house experience (working in an agency is a very different experience and many have difficulties moving from one environment to the next)
> team-work
> organizational and project management skills, understanding of budgetary and schedule parameters
> leadership and/or managerial experience
> experience working within brand standards
> experience navigating corporate hierarchy, politics and approvals

• Restate your understanding of the position.
  This is an important question to see how they interpret the role that they are interviewing for.

• Which responsibilities of this new position appeal to you and which do not and why?
  Look for authentic answers. If they respond with “politically” neutral answers or turn weaknesses into strengths, they are not always being honest. No one is perfect and you really want to understand areas that may excite, inspire, or challenge them and why. This avoids the more cliché question of asking for their strengths and weaknesses.

• Tell me what you think of our website and our company and what do you like or see that can be improved?
  This vets the candidate to see if they did the necessary due diligence and research prior to interviewing for the position; you will be surprised by how many do not even look at the company’s website before being interviewed.

• Describe real-life work experience that can testify to your problem solving and conceptual abilities?
  The answer to this should demonstrate past accomplishments and see how the candidate connects them to the position he/she is applying for.

• What is your passion, what drives you?
  Creative professionals are driven by passion, yet so many corporate creatives lack overall passion for what they do. Look for passion that relates to the company, product/service, or position overall.

• What are you currently reading? What is your favorite cultural activity?
  Candidates should be aware of current culture and trends. This is what often inspires creative; look for candidates that are avid readers and cultural enthusiasts. 

Some other more self-explanatory questions:

• Describe your definition of working too hard?
• Who has been your best and worst boss and why? If hiring for a managerial position, ask: Who has been your best and worst employee?
• How do you manage stress?
• If you were a new employee, what would you do to gain respect from peers and clients in the first 3 months?
• Describe a particularly tough client and how you worked with that person.

However, I soon became aware of how in control of the situation the bus driver was. Throughout the ride, the driver was having ongoing communications with other drivers, sharing road conditions and strategies. In this way he was able to see the path, challenges, and solutions that lay ahead of him thus allowing him to continuously adapt and problem solve throughout the whole route. We ultimately arrived on time and all the passengers (at least those that were awake during the experience) were extremely grateful.

This was a great demonstration regarding the strength of communication, sharing resources, and adaptability! By having open access to the knowledge and real-time experiences of other bus drivers, trusting their guidance and being flexible about taking a route he was far less familiar with, the bus driver was able to succeed in his mission, getting his passengers to New York City on time.

Yet another lesson learned. This just proves there are best practice strategies across all types of work experiences that we all can learn from and share. If we only can stay awake for the ride!

Based on this small but powerful lesson, my son now tells me when he sees an upcoming red light, so I know he is going to slow down. If he is about to merge, he tells me that what he sees and when he will be merging. As a result of being more informed, my panic subsides. I, in turn, have built more trust in his driving abilities. This alleviates my back-seat (or front-seat) driving. I feel confident that he is aware of his responsibilities, is on top of it, and will act accordingly.

What a great lesson to translate when dealing with micromanagers or managers that have trust issues!

If you keep your managers informed of what you are working on, what problems you are currently solving, how you are prioritizing your work, and even when you need help, your manager will feel more comfortable with your ability to multi-task and manage your own time. Many staff often do the opposite. They act independently in an effort to demonstrate their value. However, for those managers where control is an issue, this independence can make the manager uncomfortable. Without being kept informed and given the comfort that everything is under control, managers will often question their employee’s abilities.

Just like a neurotic parent, a manager wants to feel that those under his guidance are in control, learning and, ultimately are making smart decisions.