Gary Jenkins, Managing Director at digital PR, SEO and content agency No Brainer, shares his thoughts on why he believes “people are everything” and why agencies should “build a culture they’re happy working in”.
There’s no doubt that despite the challenges of the pandemic, all of us learned something valuable; something that has stuck with us and changed who we are, how we do things or how we work today.
Among the lessons I and many other creative agency owners have learned over this time, one of the most important is to have a relentless focus on people.
Whether it’s better communication, building and maintaining a culture of openness, ensuring our recruitment and retention is strong, or just maintaining the general happiness of the team, this focus must be consistent, and it must be a priority.
Because after all, our businesses are our people. And if you don’t think that, and your key metrics are around the bottom line and profitability, then you’ll find it impossible to find and keep the very best.
After almost seven years of running an agency, I know that people are everything.
Find them, invest in their professional growth and happiness, do what you can to build a culture they’re happy working in, trust them and just let them get on with their jobs.
How the pandemic changed agency life
The pandemic brought us more access to our teams’ and clients’ lives outside of work than ever before.
It showed we’re all human beings, who have to do their big shop after a long day at work, forget what time to pick the kids up from after-school clubs and spend their weekends in front of the telly with a share bag of Walker’s Sensations for themselves.
That access and openness to each other’s lives enabled creative agencies to fine tune not only what they do, but how they do it. I mean everything, from working models to technologies, meeting routines to communications, and – more broadly – the relationships we have with each other as a team and with clients.
And as a business where relationships are so crucial, that’s got to be a change for the better.
But I still see many agencies doing things the same way they always have – and I wonder, how long can that go on for?
Recruitment and retention have changed forever
When it comes to job-hunting, why do creative agencies continue to hide behind job descriptions like “work in a fast-paced environment” and perks like “free office fruit”? Is that really what people want these days?
