Culture (Step 7 to Becoming a “Momentum Agency”)
This is the seventh in a series of nine pieces which share our in-depth thoughts on how your firm can become a Momentum Agency. These are agencies that consistently outpace the industry in terms of revenue growth, profitability and a culture that attracts A-level talent.
Recap to date: Momentum Agencies do an outstanding job in managing the nine variables that drive growth and success over time. In our experience, these growth drivers are:
A compelling mission that attracts talent and clients.
Defined vision with a strategic plan on how to achieve it.
Differentiated and compelling value proposition defined by deep knowledge and expertise.
Strong leadership which extends far beyond the agency owner/CEO.
Organizational structure and talent that effectively and efficiently sell and service the value proposition.
A belief in core methodologies and process. (Note: Growth Drivers #1-6 have been covered in recent Prosper Group mailings. In-depth pieces on each are available in our website’s Resource Library.)
Culture (including formal training around those methodologies). (The subject of this document.)
A dedicated new business development function.
Understanding how to manage an agency for fair profit.
Don’t underestimate the impact of CULTURE. It can be a strategic weapon for your agency.
Culture can be a magnet for the recruitment, growth and retention of your talent if the basics are managed correctly. While culture is often viewed as vague or fuzzy, there is in fact some science on developing and maintaining a healthy culture.
A healthy culture is driven by:
Alignment around a compelling mission and vision. Talent is attracted and motivated by a higher calling, which is embodied in your mission. An inspiring view of the future that provides growth opportunities to all will energize your team.
Values that define inclusive behaviors.
Consistent and predictable decisions based on mission, vision, plan and values.
Consistent and transparent communications.
Recruiting for cultural fit as well as skill level.
Commitment to training and career road-mapping for all staff.
Fair and market competitive compensation and fringe benefit practices.
Without question, culture is a growth driver that promotes staff stability and growing institutional knowledge which leads to greater market competitiveness.
Now let’s look at each important aspect of culture that you can manage for better outcomes.
Alignment = The Power of “We”.
As we’ve discussed in earlier pieces about Momentum Agencies, the first two drivers of long-term success are having a compelling mission and vision for the firm. It’s equally important that the staff (not just the leadership) truly understands and is aligned around these factors. The power of a cohesive group of committed people agreeing on where they’re headed and what they want to become is immense.
Then the vision and strategic plan are connected to the roles of each staff member. Each person on the team should understand and be aligned around his/her particular set of responsibilities including authority, expectations and accountabilities.
Your values and decision-making process will determine your agency’s behavior.
Agency owners should establish a clear set of values that define how team members will treat one another and how the agency wishes to be treated by its clients.
Values are critically important to culture. They are the guidelines for how people are expected to interact with each other both internally and externally. Along with mission, your values define what your agency stands for.
Recognize that the power of values becomes diluted if there are too many of them. To ensure that your values are meaningful and memorable, we recommend having three to five. Values also need to be constantly kept alive, modeled and reinforced by the leadership’s behavior, ongoing communications to staff and creative pieces placed throughout the agency including in the reception area and work stations.
Your agency’s decision making should be consistent and predictable. There should be no confusing or head-scratching decisions which detract from the staff’s confidence in the ownership, leadership team or their commitment to the “agency’s” mission, vision and values.
At Momentum Agencies, all decisions are based on the agency’s mission, vision, strategic growth plan and values. Even the most gut-wrenching decisions about personnel or clients are clarified and easier to make (and for others to understand) if ownership views the issues through this prism.
The CEO is the leader and Communicator-in-Chief for culture.
As the leader of the agency, the CEO should reinforce its culture in every interaction with staff. In attitude, in behavior, in painting a vibrant picture of where the agency is heading, how it will get there and the career growth opportunities for everyone.
People hunger for (and deeply appreciate) truth and transparency. CEOs should share as much information about the agency and decisions as possible but always do so within the context of the mission, vision, strategic plan and values. He or she must also take care to be consistent in all meetings, conversations, e-mails and other messaging to the firm.
Each new investment, new hire and new business win presents an opportunity to demonstrate how it reflects and will now further enhance the agency’s culture and long-term success.
Recruit the right talent that fits your culture, not just the job.
When you’re looking to fill roles throughout the firm, of course you want to attract talented people with the right sets of skills. But never forget they should have the right cultural fit, too.
Momentum Agencies realize this is much easier to accomplish by viewing recruitment as an ongoing process rather than just a series of isolated events around a job opening. This simple but vital difference in perception opens up the universe of candidates far beyond those people who are looking for a job and saw your ad. Here are just three steps agency owners can take to create an ongoing recruitment process:
Regularly conduct informational interviews for candidates at the right level with emphasis on personality and culture fit.
Keep track of candidates you like but can’t hire at the moment.
Engage these candidates until you can hire them by including them in your agency mailing list.
By following a non-stop recruitment process instead of just filling open positions as they sporadically occur, you will drastically reduce the time between when a hire is needed and a hire is made. It will also become far easier to hire the right skills and the right cultural fit because you already know exceptional candidates whom you’ve met over time and would be a great match.
The strongest cultures always embrace training, career development and fair compensation for all.
Momentum Agencies are fully committed to providing the best possible working environment, training, personal growth and potential rewards for all staff members.
They have frequently institutionalized a branded training program centered around building the firm’s next-generation leaders via:
Development of core methodologies combined with the in-depth training required to execute them well.
Methodologies which cover not only the broad area of client service but also specific products or proprietary processes.
Teaching the specific skills needed for each layer of the team
Also teaching the skills required for a person to move from one level to the next.
These agencies understand that training must be both consistent and formalized to have the biggest impact. They reinforce training by having their senior people mentor junior staff members including holding periodic conversations on how the needed skills are progressing.
In particular, they recognize the importance of in-depth and rigorous training in being able to consistently apply client service delivery methodologies and a repeatable, effective new business pitch process.
Advancement and compensation are obviously both highly important in attracting, nurturing and retaining the best people. The keys to cultural excellence in these areas include:
Practices which are formalized and fair.
Regularly communicating how the promotion process works so that it’s understood by all. Too many times, promotions are perceived as being very subjective by staff.
Clearly setting the firm’s expectations for the competencies which must be mastered and the business results to be achieved in order to be considered for promotion. (This will also help the staff understand how raises and bonuses happen.)
Formalizing the career roadmap and typical timing for each role in the firm so that expectations on progression within the agency are clear.
Finally, promotions should always be meaningful beyond the increase in compensation. They should be based squarely on merit as defined by consistently achieving or exceeding the expectations for each role. They should also include a higher level of not only responsibility but also more challenging work. If the levels of responsibility and work aren’t higher than before, such a promotion is a hollow one at best.
Keep your senior team involved and influential in managing the agency.
Your agency will be more successful if the senior team feels vested in its future. This is best accomplished if they feel part of the strategic decision-making process.
To provide the senior team with a forum for regularly and freely expressing their thoughts on major decisions facing the firm, include them in an Executive Committee. However, the CEO still makes the final call. Once the CEO has decided, the decision should be explained to the senior team… and they must then support it.
We encourage agencies to also give the mid-level team the opportunity to weigh in on operational decisions that impact client work and pitching new business. To formalize this process, create an Operational Committee comprised of mid-level staffers combined with senior team members.
Ultimately, your culture can be your agency’s competitive advantage.
Your agency’s culture is fundamental to attracting the right talent and explaining to clients how you’re different from the hungry horde of competitors pursuing the same set of prospects.
Culture is a powerful driver of your firm’s market competitiveness through staff stability and the development of team institutional knowledge that increases client service effectiveness and efficiency.
The good news is that with sufficient commitment from ownership and the senior team, each area we touch upon in this article can be managed.
Prosper Group is here to help you succeed.
We exist to help the owners of independent marketing communications agencies achieve their goals and maximize the value of their life’s work.
We have the people, experience and proven proprietary methodologies to help you develop highly effective growth drivers for your agency including Mission, Vision, Value Proposition, Leadership, Organizational Structure & Talent, Methodologies & Intellectual Property and Culture.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.
