Corporate Creative Second Edition (eBook)
252 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-7117-0 (ISBN)
Andy informally: Andy started his career drawing crayon murals on the walls of his parents' apartment (much to their consternation) at the age of three. It was downhill from there as Andy's compulsion to create only intensified, culminating in his attendance at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he started out in fine arts (again a bit to his parent's consternation) but then moved on to the study of illustration and design. For the first ten years of his career, he freelanced, providing design and illustration for a variety of clients, from book publishers and magazines to large corporations, in industries ranging from finance to pharma to consumer goods. At some point in the early 1990s (yep, he's THAT old), Andy was engaging in the freelance worst practice of having almost all of his business eggs in one basket-a private-label toy company. Fortunately, they decided to commit to an in-house model and Andy joined the company and the world of in-house as an employee of that company. From then on Andy established, led, and enhanced in-house agencies as either a direct leader of those teams or as a consultant. If that wasn't keeping him busy enough, Andy took on non-work-related activities, cofounding InSource, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the in-house creative community as well as supporting various in-house initiatives with HOW and AIGA, and speaking and writing extensively on in-house issues. Andy has now established Invangelist LLC to continue his commitment to and passion for the in-house community. It's the exceptional professionals and human beings who make up the in-house community who fuel Andy's commitment to the in-house cohort. Andy formally: Andy Epstein is the principal of Invangelist, an in-house agency consultancy. With over 40 years of experience in the creative services space, 30 of which have been working in, creating, and leading in-house agencies (IHAs) in a variety of industries, Andy has broad and deep IHA expertise and robust contacts in the field. Andy began his career as a freelance illustrator and designer before transitioning to in-house creative services and managing creative teams and business operations. His professional expertise includes the creation, documentation, and delivery of creative services and the implementation of general business best practices. Andy's focus lies in professional development, the optimization of creative team operations and organizational design, leadership and team coaching, and strategic consulting. By leveraging both creative and operational expertise, the teams Andy has led have consistently exceeded established KPIs and outperformed peer groups in the industry. Andy has been a passionate supporter of the in-house community and has written and spoken extensively at numerous industry events partnering with flagship organizations such as HOW and AIGA. In addition, he co-founded InSource, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting in-house creative teams and published 'The Corporate Creative,' one of the few books specifically focused on the in-house professional. Andy firmly believes that in-house creative teams possess the potential to drive substantial positive change within their host organizations, extending beyond the creative they deliver to clients. He is dedicated to advancing this positive impact by consistently establishing and supporting in-house creative agencies. Business can change the world. Creatives can change business.
Thriving as a creative professional in a corporate setting presents unique challenges. It's not just about delivering exceptional work; it's about navigating a business landscape that often undervalues creative execution. This means that whether you're a designer, copywriter, project manager, or any other creative role, your success in a corporate environment hinges on your ability to embrace a range of best business practices not typically taught in school. The Corporate Creative focuses on key strategies and tactics to help you and your team establish yourself and your team as powerful players in your organization. It also acknowledges the cultural dissonance that right-brainers working in a decidedly left-brain environment often encounter and offers inspirational support. Know that you're not alone and that there are ways to adapt to a business environment that doesn't always value the creative mindset and ways of working. Unlike many of their peer departments, which work with fixed inputs and outputs, in-house creative agencies are tasked with executing a wide variety of complex assignments that demand an exceptional degree of collaboration, communication, and processes. These needs necessitate a level of organizational and business expertise and practices that are addressed in detail in the book. Experienced in-house agency leader and veteran of corporate craziness Andy Epstein shows you how to:Communicate clearly and effectively in a way that resonates with the "e;suits."e; Hire and train a winning team that is driven by a healthy, supportive, creative culture. Collaborate powerfully with clients and other departments. Maximize efficiency without sacrificing quality creative. Establish operational and organizational infrastructure and design that sets your team up for success.
In 2016 I had the plum assignment (being the operations nerd I am) to support Verizon in the establishment of a new in-house agency. My specific assignment was to capture every activity that would be required to successfully launch an in-house creative team. I dove right in, learning how to use Smartsheet, an online project management tool, and started mining my brain for every tactic I could think of that I and my launch teams at past engagements had leveraged in establishing a new IHA.
After weeks of brain dumps and validation, I had crafted a spreadsheet and Gantt chart that captured literally dozens and dozens of actions that, if followed, would set a newbie creative team up for success. Everything was covered, from operational and physical infrastructure to organizational design. Yet when I took a close-to-final review of this headache-inducing document that, if printed out, would easily cover a thirty-foot-long wall, I realized there was a fundamental missing piece. I had neglected to include any mention whatsoever of the need to establish a healthy, sustainable culture that would ensure the agency’s success. I quickly corrected this gross oversight, and the establishment of a team culture became the very first activity on the plan.
Arguably the topic of team culture should live in the People section of this book, but its importance to the success of an IHA warrants this positioning. Over and over again, business academic studies draw a direct link between good culture and employee well-being and the associated benefit of enhanced productivity. From a moral and ethical perspective alone, we should strive to create working environments that respect and, dare I say, actively care for our fellow team members. Add to this the benefits our companies reap from having a more productive agency that delivers the highest-quality creative, and putting a focus on culture becomes a no-brainer.
Ironically this first and most critical focus creative teams should engage in is often never even acknowledged, let alone started—crafting and embracing a culture that expresses your team’s values and prescribed ways of being. Without a clearly defined system of operational beliefs, regardless of the level of talent, equipment, or process you have in place, your group will seize up and fail as team members either misunderstand your mission or default to counterproductive self-serving behaviors.
Culture is not just a kumbaya exercise that results in ignored bromides that end up on posters in meeting rooms; it is a practice that determines how your team members make decisions and judgment calls that directly impact your team’s performance and provides guidance on how your team collaborates and coexists.
What attitudes, beliefs, values, behaviors, and mindsets are embodied in the cultures of fully evolved in-house teams? At the highest level they include:
- Authenticity as expressed through honesty, integrity, self-expression and transparency
- Respect for all players in the creative process and the organization at large, manifesting as the practices of active listening, consideration, objectivity, and kindness
- Collaboration by truly subjugating ego and actively supporting all members of the group
- Passion embodied in the extreme commitment to innovation, creativity, executional excellence, and entrepreneurial spirit
- And most importantly, Service—to the team, the greater company, peers and colleagues, and the community
Fortunately, as a group, the creatives who typically make up our in-house teams usually innately embrace these pillars of a great creative team culture. Unfortunately, the larger organizations that our groups exist within many times do not. The dissonance between these two cultures can wreak havoc within the creative team. Often members of the team become either disillusioned and act out in anger and frustration or become alienated and withdraw into a shell of apathy and resignation.
There are symptoms of poor culture and signals of a healthy culture that can help you determine where on the good culture/bad culture spectrum your agency falls.
The ADCs of poor culture. Is your team:
- Apathetic, Alienated, and Angry
- Disillusioned, Discouraged, and Defeated
- Comfortable, Complacent, and Careless
Just a note on the last bullet point. It’s easy to default to assuming bad culture embodies maliciousness, backbiting, withdrawal, and other typical negative mindsets and behaviors. Almost more concerning are the seemingly benign behaviors of what is often called “punching the clock” or more recently “quiet quitting.” It’s important to look for those symptoms as well, as they have a real impact on an agency’s ability to produce high-quality work.
ICE makes for good culture. Is your team:
- Inspired, Innovative, and Integrated
- Collaborative, Creative, and Caring
- Engaged, Energized, and Enlightened
Wherever your team lands on the culture continuum, there is always room for improvement and there are real-world practices you can engage in to raise the culture bar for your team. The best path to both establishing and sustaining a creative culture includes some very tactical practices.
- Create a unique mission and vision specifically for your team, separate from the greater organizational mission and vision. The entire team should participate in this at various phases of development.
- Acknowledge the disconnect between your internal and external cultures with your team; praise and support the internal culture and shield your team from the external culture as much as possible.
- Hire and fire team members with culture as your priority. It should trump skills every time.
- Embody the culture you wish to achieve in your actions and behaviors and make especially sure that your leadership team does the same.
- Showcase examples of the culture you wish to create, and sustain it by referencing movies, music, books, and other groups and organizations that embody that culture.
- Publicly acknowledge team members who exhibit good culture behaviors.
- Include reference to culture in job descriptions, performance reviews, and one-on-ones.
Building and nurturing a team that knows what to do when executing on a creative deliverable or service is the easy part. Creating an environment and dynamic where they embrace how they go about doing it is driven by culture, and that culture should be consciously and carefully driven by you.
When at Cella, we researched and developed a methodology for deconstructing and then creating practices to guide an in-house agency’s culture. A critical exercise is the creation of three components that support this—a mission statement, a vision statement, and a value proposition. To dig into this a bit deeper, let’s look at what makes up these three components and some other exercises that will help define your culture.
The Vision Statement should be a description of what your team aspires to be. The Mission statement is a declaration of how, at a high level, your team will get there.
Definition of the Vision Statement:
A bold and ambitious statement of the organization’s desired future state:
“What is our destination?”
Components of the Vision Statement:
time frame + desired future state + how we achieve it
Example of a Vision Statement:
Within three years, Creative Services will be the creative source of choice to all BUs, helping to exceed business goals through industry-leading marketing solutions that differentiate the “company name” brand and deeply engage our target audiences.
Definition of a Mission Statement:
A brief statement of the organization’s fundamental purpose and how the organization’s vision will be achieved:
“Why do we exist?”
Components of a Mission Statement:
Functional purpose + why we exist + how we achieve it
Example of a Mission Statement:
The “company name” In-house Agency provides high-quality, on-brand digital tier two and three creative more quickly and cost effectively than external resources in support of our clients’ efforts to drive business growth through the establishment of operational and organizational best practices, a supportive entrepreneurial culture of continuous improvement, and the hiring and retention of superior talent.
And a final note; while your mission and vision need to be unique to your team’s intentions and ways of working, it’s important to ensure they align to some degree with your company’s mission and vision.
The Promises Paradigm:
This is an exercise you and...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 11.9.2024 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management |
| ISBN-13 | 979-8-3509-7117-0 / 9798350971170 |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
EPUB (Ohne DRM)Größe: 1,8 MB
Digital Rights Management: ohne DRM
Dieses eBook enthält kein DRM oder Kopierschutz. Eine Weitergabe an Dritte ist jedoch rechtlich nicht zulässig, weil Sie beim Kauf nur die Rechte an der persönlichen Nutzung erwerben.
Dateiformat: EPUB (Electronic Publication)
EPUB ist ein offener Standard für eBooks und eignet sich besonders zur Darstellung von Belletristik und Sachbüchern. Der Fließtext wird dynamisch an die Display- und Schriftgröße angepasst. Auch für mobile Lesegeräte ist EPUB daher gut geeignet.
Systemvoraussetzungen:
PC/Mac: Mit einem PC oder Mac können Sie dieses eBook lesen. Sie benötigen dafür die kostenlose Software Adobe Digital Editions.
eReader: Dieses eBook kann mit (fast) allen eBook-Readern gelesen werden. Mit dem amazon-Kindle ist es aber nicht kompatibel.
Smartphone/Tablet: Egal ob Apple oder Android, dieses eBook können Sie lesen. Sie benötigen dafür eine kostenlose App.
Geräteliste und zusätzliche Hinweise
Buying eBooks from abroad
For tax law reasons we can sell eBooks just within Germany and Switzerland. Regrettably we cannot fulfill eBook-orders from other countries.
aus dem Bereich
