Keeping Your Team in shape

Some people think that creative culture is all about the hustle. Shows like Mad Men—where you see the creative teams working late into the night, fine-tuning designs and copy for client presentations—have probably provided this perception. But the truth is, creative culture is all about your people—both the people in the Win-Win-House and the people in the rest of the marketing organization.

In fact, the aspects that make up your company culture are probably more about how those people cooperate and work together, how you treat your employees, and the relationship and integration of the Win-Win-House. And while all companies should care about creativity, if you’re in a creative industry, guaranteeing that your people have all they need to be their most innovative and creative selves is also a crucial part of nurturing a healthy corporate culture. 

But why is company culture important? Well, ask yourself this question: Would you rather work for a business that cares about its employees and invests in their success and wellbeing, or one that treats its employees like crap? Easy choice, right? When employees trust their managers, feel satisfied with what they do, and get along with their coworkers, they’re happier, more productive and engaged, and much more likely to stick around for the long haul.

An independent study of the 100 Best Companies found that the workplaces with the best company culture experienced a higher operating income per employee, operating margin, growth rate, and return on assets.

So, how do you create a culture of creativity and innovation? Here are a few tips on how you can build a great one.

Stop micromanaging

If you feel the need to micromanage your Win-Win-House, it means you either need to brush up on your leadership skills or your Win-Win-House isn’t very good at their jobs. Either way, something’s not working. The idea is to hire great people with an experienced agency manager (or operating officer as we prefer to call them) and mentor them. And then, at some point, you let them do their jobs. Grant autonomy and inspire responsibility from your Win-Win-House.

Even at a small creative team with a big vision, the most junior employees bear many burdens. Hold people accountable to enormous expectations, plus give them the autonomy to make their own decisions (maybe with a bit of guidance). That way, you create an atmosphere of resourcefulness that strongly supports creativity.

Remember the fun factor

The expression “work hard, play hard” may be cliche, but it’s vital to building a great creative culture. A playful work environment creates a level of trust where creativity flows more freely. How you integrate fun into your culture can look different for different companies. For instance, some creative teams or organizations participate in a recreational soccer league for advertising agencies. If your Win-Win-House and the rest of the marketing organization in your company has a shared passion, such as a favorite sports team, video games, or TV show, this could be a good starting point for making your workplace a little more fun.

Forget all the rules. Host fun happy hours, give thoughtful gifts and experiences, and pull office pranks. A playful work environment between the Win-Win-House and the rest of the marketing organization creates a level of trust where creativity flows more freely. Plus, a fun job gives your employees immense bragging rights. And lo and behold, you may attract more great talent to join your team.

Give credit where credit is due

Always give credit where credit is due and, wherever possible, integrate your marketing organization and the Win-Win-House in co-creating during the creative process, rather than waiting until the end of the job to bring them together just for judging the output of the process.

To have a genuinely creative company culture, the creative working relationship between the marketing organization and your Win-Win-House must be your biggest priority. While you may think that your customers should always come first, take a cue from powerful CEOs like Virgin Group’s Richard Branson and Zappos’ Tony Hsieh. They have proved that putting the team first makes customers, and even shareholders, happy.

Discourage the need for diplomacy. Let people voice what they feel.

Encourage your marketing organization and the Win-Win-House team members to talk openly rather than worrying about being “nice” or whether they hurt each other’s feelings. Create a culture where all the employees from both parties can be asked hard questions without being defensive. This ensures that people don’t fall into complacency and constantly think and talk about only the most relevant issues and instead, ask the most thoughtful questions. Allow for mistakes and let the parties learn from them.

Don’t let anyone be an asshole

There will always be times where your Win-Win-House may need to work a little harder to get a project over the finish line. However, if your marketing organization consistently exceeds the reasonable limits of requirements for the completion of a task or the outcome of an activity, you must step in and stop it. Or it could negatively impact your culture and relationship between the parties. 

Celebrate success

Celebrating successes is a form of respect for your employees in the marketing organization and the Win-Win-House. We often experience it as a critical part of building a creative organizational culture. So, whether it’s winning new business or a successful digital advertising campaign, your organization should always aim to celebrate wins no matter how big or small!

Reward risk-taking

Now that you’ve created time and space for creativity, take things further by encouraging and rewarding a little risk-taking. Think of the companies that inspire you: How many of them achieved success by following tradition and sticking to the norms? Building your own creative organization was a considerable risk. So, why not surround yourself with people who can take risks to help further your vision? Companies like Google, which famously mandated that employees dedicate a percentage of their work hours to developing their own side projects, are dedicated to encouraging risk-taking behavior within a controlled environment. Genuinely disruptive ideas or creative campaigns that move business and people don’t arise out of stability.

Try group problem-solving

As a creative organization, people mostly depend on one another and must look at completing big projects like a team sport. Someone from the design team might find themselves working with someone from tech support. Utilize this team sport thinking as much as possible. Creating a situation where people with entirely different skill sets and perspectives must work together can stimulate the best type of creativity and bring unexpected breakthroughs in thinking.

What do companies with great creative cultures have in common?

From your overarching values to virtual happy hour events, many factors can make (or break) your company’s creative culture. But if you were to only take away one lesson from this chapter, this is it: “Work hard on bringing your marketing.