The agency had lost a key account that represented a large percentage of its revenue, and as a result it had been forced to reduce staff.
Tear down the walls – set your staff free.
Within 6 months they had won more new business and had hired more staff, but the agency still sputtered. They were faced with new staff, an unclear direction and negative profit. What was going on?
The agency faced departments that were overstaffed, understaffed, or suffering from a lack of leadership and or direction. We compiled process and activities to gather information on staff productivity and provided accurate forecasting and benchmarks.
We found that the agency had built so many layers, added so many CYA steps, and had lost so much focus on adding value it was amazing that any work was produced. The agency desperately needed to change; they needed to re-energize the staff and find a new direction and purpose. Most importantly they needed to change the way they worked.
Based on the current client workload, number of projects, and type of work, it was decided to move into a client-focused team structure.
By restructuring the staff, streamlining the processes and adding more value throughout (more strategic and creative time) the new teams utilized more time for the critical functions the clients needed and wanted. The perception of the entire staff started to change and hope for a brighter future entered the picture. As a result of the changes the agency went on to win many creative awards, became agency of the year, doubled its size and eventually was acquired by one of the holding companies.
Most agency reorganizing efforts only create an illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and fear.
Here’s the Plan:
You should strive to create a place of work where things happened in a disciplined way. It’s a place where meetings start on time, conference reports go out and estimates are always followed. This is a firm that puts a premium on organization and works to root out areas of confusion and disarray. And a firm clients like to keep. A place like that is a joy to work in. And it’s a place where clients stick. This disciplined style of operating should be a management objective. While it may not be as much fun as a “wild and crazy” place, we find that clients appreciate firms that work this way. It’s much more in sync with today’s buttoned-up world where clients live. Any other way of working seems so 1980s. Your ability to operate this way is a gage of many other strengths within your firm such as management commitment, technology foundation, talent, planning, and strategic orientation.
If you want improvement in these areas including developing a culture where work moves smoothly, clients stick and the discipline to keep things on provides a clear track to run on, then give us a call. This is an area where small and seemingly insignificant changes to your ad agency structure can have a large, positive impact on your firm and the way it operates. And reduce your stress level.
get me out photo by senicar
