As my friend in the financial industry so eloquently said the other day, right now "everything sucks". Just last week, the U.S. GDP sunk 3.8%, the most since 1982. 4,780,000 people in the U.S. are collecting unemployment - the most ever, and everyday it seems like we're hearing about more layoffs.
In hard times client demands come with more weight, thus client service become even more important. Companies are looking to cut budgets, clients are under more pressure to get everything done cheaper and quicker, and agencies need to go the extra mile to fulfill client needs. With all the cutbacks and timeline crunches, how do we inspire our creatives to deliver with the same amount of energy, creativity, and enthusiasm they displayed on the work from a year ago?
As managers of creatives, we can't change the economy, we can't change the power of the client requests, we can't change the budget cuts, so we must make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide support for the creative teams. Here's a list of things we do to help our creatives to maintain their efficiency and energy:
1. Make sure they are fed and caffeinated. If they are busy, offer to take care of lunch or dinner for them, even if it's just sandwiches made in the kitchen. Stopping work to get food or make coffee takes them out of the zone where they are most efficient, which can take hours to find again - tacking hours onto their already late night.
2. Give them space to work. Pool and limit requests to no more than twice a day, first thing in the morning and after lunch. Check ins and requests by a different person every 30 minutes can be distracting, frustrating, and wastes time. Limit requests to things they can actually work on that day.
3. Offer help. Figure out what you can do to take responsibilities off their plate. If you're a creative director, help out by doing design or copywriting. If you're not a creative, see if there's anything else you can do for them, even if it's outside of the office.
4. Make sure your expectations are clear. Package everything they need up for them to get their work done: client logos, style guides, and other resources. Producers, make sure your directions are outlined daily: clearly, briefly, and with documentation. Make sure they know their deadlines, without reminding them of it constantly.
5. Force breaks. Make time to take the team out. Go drinking, have lunch together, good to a pool hall, karaoke. Remember how fun field trips were? Take time out on a morning to go to a museum. Even if it's just going to get coffee, you need to spend time with them outside of the office.
6. Stay positive. Moodiness, gloom, and pessimism can be contagious, especially when it's coming from your creative leader.
7. Change the environment. Change the lighting around a bit, play different music. Change the art on the wall. Post something strange. Do it as often as you can.
8. Never leave creatives alone to work late. It can often be frustrating to watch account and production leave at 6:30 every-night after they spent all day tacking on 3-4 hours to your work day. They could get stuck and have no one to help.
9. Listen. Communication is important talk to them, see how they are doing.
In conclusion, through these hard economic times, it is even more important than ever to ensure your creative work force is running optimally, or risk the compromise of the creative output. A well maintained and nurtured creative culture can give your agency the advantage to emerge from this recession as a creative leader.
