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I NTRODUCTION
THE WAY IT WAS
For a long time, culture was a secondary concern for most agencies. More tangible and immediate tasks like winning new business or shoring up the bottom-line took priority over establishing abstract overarching notions of “vision” and “value.” Over the past few years however, things changed. Recent data published by Deloitte showed that culture, engagement, and employee retention are some of the top issues facing modern company leaders. And with more talented job seekers prioritizing culture when contemplating their next career move, the shift in attitude couldn’t come at a better time. Yet, despite this, most agencies are a bit lost. The concept of culture is understandably ambiguous. Is it a ping-pong room? Or unlimited vacation time? Is it written down and codified? Or is it a series of unwritten but innately understood rules? The truth of the matter is, how culture is defined depends on the individual agency. For HubSpot, it is derived by employing people who are dynamic and excited about both the individual work they perform and the direction of the company as a whole. If that involves making the office a little more fun with a ping-pong table or two, so be it. But the important part is about employing the people who align with our vision. And it is paramount to note that no vision is the same, and as such, no culture can ever be one-size fits all. A utopian workplace, where every Glassdoor review is overwhelmingly positive and the most talented clamor for every job opening, just does not exist. Because of this, we cannot dictate what a culture should be — it is subjective — and it’s up to you create it. And then scale it.
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CH A PTER ONE
MISCONCEPTIONS AND REASONS WHY
As we briefly mentioned in the introduction, culture or more correctly, quality culture is often an afterthought for most agencies -- notoriously so. The rigorous, around-the-clock demands of agency work have become something of a cliché, and a quick Google search about the day-to-day life of agency employees still results in numerous sardonic survival guides. It’s a shame. By their very nature, agencies attract people who are passionate about their work. These creatives have forgone safer, more traditional career paths in lieu of pursuing their love of designing, or writing, or advertising, or whathave-you. One would think establishing a positive working environment would be comparatively easier than in other professions, and yet, all too often, creatives burnout, tired of the perceived thanklessness of the daily grind. This, of course, is not intentional. Rather, the reasons for failing to establish a positive culture fall into one of two buckets.
1) Culture Is Secondary to the Bottom Line Agency margins have always been thin, relying on a volume of project-based work to turn a profit. Now, it’s only gotten worse. According to a study by UK-based Kingston Smith W1, operating profits at the top 50 advertising agencies have fallen for seven consecutive years. When the difference between profitability and bankruptcy is that minuscule, it’s not hard to understand why procuring new business and churning out projects
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supersedes nearly everything else. Sure, in a perfect world, most agencies would welcome a positive culture, but if forming committees and instituting change comes at the expense of hitting deadlines, the perception is it’s not worth the effort — a nice-to-have, not a must.
2) They Think They Have It Conversely, many agencies mistakenly think they have established a positive culture without actually doing so. They’ve thrown a few comfortable couches in the office, created Margarita Mondays, and let everyone have their birthday off of work. In these cases, they’ve confused perks with culture, checking off boxes along the way, and have failed to a define a shared set of beliefs, values, and practices besides a communal love of tequila delivered via salted glass. Regardless as to the why, not having a positive culture is one of the most reliable ways to kill a company.
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CH A PTER TWO
CULTURE AS A DIFFERENTIATOR
A quality culture can help differentiate an agency in two distinct ways.
1) Marketability Nowadays, many job-seekers consider culture as important as more “traditional” factors such as location and compensation when it comes to finding a job. As such, numerous sources have cropped up to shed insight on the inner-workings of a given company. Most major city newspapers provide yearly rundowns of the best companies to work for in their geographic area. Industry trade publications get even more specific. And of course, there is Glassdoor, far and away the most prevalent online compendium of employee-written reviews. The thing is, all of these various sources weigh culture heavily into their ratings. And having a quality culture means getting recognized. And getting recognized means free publicity. And free publicity means …
2) Attracting Top Talent … and Clients This is of particular importance for agencies, because when it comes down to it, talent is what they’re selling. Talented writers. Talented designers. Talented web developers. Talented marketers. People that have spent years cultivating a specific creative skillset that cannot be replicated elsewhere. So all things being equal, why would these highly skilled people choose a company devoid of a positive culture over one that has been publicly recognized for it? And then why would a client elect to hire an agency with inferior talent?
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Let’s say, though, an agency without a quality culture still manages to attract top talent. It’s certainly possible. But it’s only a matter of time until the talent runs into the same burnout problems that have been plaguing the agency world for years, where an estimated 70% of employees are job hunting. The bottom line is it’s impossible to encourage the consistent production of quality work within the context of a negative working environment. Of course, all of this then begs the question: How do I build a culture?
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CH A PTER TH REE
STRATEGIES TO GROW AND SCALE 1) Start at the Top Any culture — good or bad — is defined by leadership and disseminates downward. Therefore, to build the right culture, agencies must hire those in leadership positions whose qualities reflect the culture being built. For instance, if a tenet of an agency’s cultural vision is, let’s say, transparency among all employees, a standoffish executive who prefers a closed door and a corner office will probably not jive. To root out leaders that fit, agencies should make sure that all job postings clearly express company values. During the interview process, the interviewer should pose questions about topics such as problem solving, conflict resolution, and approaches for tackling unforeseen challenges and then judge how the candidates’ responses align with the agency’s cultural vision. Personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or DiSC are also a great resource. However, leaders are not there to only prop up cultural standards. As the agency grows, they must also seek to bring in employees and build out teams that not only reflect those same cultural aspirations but also seek to raise or challenge the current standards. That’s because effective cultures are always be malleable, improved upon regularly. That said, though…
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2) Write It Down An agency’s culture code should be a living, breathing document subject to regular reevaluation and improvement, not a set-in-stone document. At the same time, it should still be on record, and its current incarnation should be used to help guide decisions. Take, for instance, the above example of hiring leadership based upon qualities that reflect cultural aspirations. It would be very difficult to dismiss a potential hire because of the inability to fit a culture without having written-down, defined notions of what exactly that culture is. Vague frameworks can only lead to undermining the intent of establishing a culture in the first place. More importantly, written-down culture codes can be distributed to all employees (whether physically displayed around the office, hosted on an internal wiki, or posted on site such as SlideShare) to clearly demonstrate expectations to both employee and employer.
3) Continually Question and Measure Obviously, an iterative culture code implies on-going updates and changes. How it’s achieved can come about in one of two ways. The first is to identify some of your best employees, those leaders that you trust to thoughtfully articulate their thoughts and concerns. Then ask them about what it is that they do and don’t like about the current culture. Make sure to underscore the fact that they are representative of more than themselves (let’s assume they speak for their department) and that their feedback should demonstrate this. Eventually, these types of conversations have the potential to evolve into a permanent cultural committee. The second option is to anonymously poll all employees. The goal here is to take everyone’s feedback, synthesize it, understand the common pain points, and ultimately improve moving forward.
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Sample questions could include: • • • • •
What makes you proud to work here? How do we support your professional development? What’s one thing that you would change about the company? When and how do you prefer to receive feedback? If any, what are the main causes of conflict?
Important to note is that these types of employee feedback actions should always be followed with at least some tangible change or at least the acknowledgment of the issue. There’s no faster way for employees to lose faith in a company’s investment in culture than the perception that their responses have fallen on deaf ears.
4) Strive for Simplicity With such constant change and frequent feedback, a written culture code can eventually devolve into a bloated mess, its effectiveness lost to red tape and bureaucracy. So, it’s important to frequently trim and prune, removing tenets that may have proven beneficial with a smaller number of employees but are no longer relevant as the company grows. The key takeaway here is to not be married to any particular guideline, but rather your vision of what culture should be as a whole. And that’s true for everything in the company. Most employees enjoy the freedom that comes from not being buried under mounds of red tape. Run a Google search on what makes a bad corporate culture and more often than not layers of bureaucracy appears. No one wants to feel like they’re working for Big Brother, marred in verbose document after verbose document, one wrong step away from blunder.
5) Communicate About Culture Often Communicating about culture often helps to underscore the agency’s commitment to it, while also reminding employees of the expectations of both employee and employer. On the other hand, failure to do so can result in a gradual de-emphasizing — or altogether erosion — of a culture
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Additionally, being well-versed in the company’s culture is key when recruiting top talent. Earlier we mentioned how job seekers are emphasizing culture with increasingly regularity, and as such, many job seeking guides are advising candidates to steer clear of companies who don’t make overt mention of their culture. Take this excerpt from a recent article in Forbes by Shane Atchison, the global chief executive of Possible, a digital advertising agency:
“Companies should try to sell you on their culture. If the person interviewing you only wants to talk about your qualifications, ask yourself what she’s not telling you about the work environment.” And finally …
6) Avoid Silos Here’s the thing about instilling a quality culture: It only works if it applies to everyone and everyone is on-board. Cultures with opt-out clauses don’t work. This is best illustrated by our earlier example of an agency that has placed emphasis on transparency and the potential hire of a leader who prefers a (literal) closeddoor policy. Making an exception for that candidate will inevitably breed resentment among established employees, and in a worse case scenario, cause a me-versusthem mentality to form in the workplace. Once any one tenet is ignored, what’s to stop the whole thing from unraveling?
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CONCLU SION
CULTURE MATTERS ... A LOT
Despite the ambiguity in defining it, quality culture is a vital component for any agency’s success. By investing in a vision, one that encompasses a defined set of beliefs, values, and practices, agencies can ensure that they can continue to drive marketability, entice and keep the best talent, attract new clients, and most importantly, bolster the bottom line. Remember: • • • • • •
Start at the top Write it down Continually Question and Measure Strive for Simplicity Communicate Often Avoid Silos
By now (we hope) you’re well aware culture is important, but it’s nevertheless necessary to hammer home the fact it cannot be skimped on in favor of other components of the business. Yes, it is undeniably tempting to forgo investing in culture, especially with razor thin margins and client fires to deal with, but ignoring culture will only serve to undermine an agency’s long-term vitality.
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CREDI TS
CREATED BY
MATT KANE As a staff writer for HubSpot’s Agency Post, Matt creates content and resources to help agencies grow their businesses and become better partners for their clients. INTERACT WITH ME ON TWITTER @Mattk970
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