"The great resignation" is for more than people walking out on their jobs because of low pay. It's about employers not living up to their word. Employers are not communicating expectations, then somehow being surprised when someone(s) possesses the means to execute on them. "Jocko" Willink, retired Naval officer and former Navy Seal talks of "Extreme Ownership." The sentiment is that any breakdown does not lie within one person in a given situation and that within that, everyone needs to expressively hold themselves accountable for their ownership in the fuck-up. This is great for a self-confident person, but you find creative people in marketing are "special."
Here is a list of things to be aware of when hiring, nurturing, reorging', and just generally co-existing with a creative staff.
1) Positive affirmation is the second most potent dopamine to a creative person, next to #1 being a creative deliverable that they're proud of, which is VERY infrequent.
YES:
Do pepper in sincere, positive feedback with all revisions and "constructive criticism."
NO:
Don't fake enthusiasm to get them to comply. Creatives can smell appeasement like a shark does blood in the water.
2) Work with creative staff in a "we" way, not a "me" way.
YES:
Positive accolades with departments are one thing but ensuring that all members know that their contributions matter is another. Therefore, during pitches and ideations sessions, frame things as how "we."
NO:
Creative and art directors often take ownership of creativity, especially if they think it can win awards. NOTHING creates animosity faster than leaders stealing praise or awareness from the greater whole. Even WORSE is having the same person isolate failure outside of their purview.
3) Ensure that your creatives have an external channel for their creative pursuits.
YES:
Creatives NEED freelance jobs. They need to stretch outside the daily commitments they are engaged in if they are in a full-time employment role. Allowing, advocating, and spotlighting external work will inspire others and allow a stream of 'fresh' thinking to be a natural byproduct.
NO:
Agencies that feel that hiring someone for a job also requires creative servitude of mindshare are both an asshole and shortsighted. To support that further, MOST creatives, if not properly fed and nurtured, will seek a greener pasture.
4) Incentivize creative participation for your agency (or client-side departments) in non-linear ways.
YES:
Advocate that creatives create a list (i.e., an assignment desk) of things they can do to raise the bar on creativity, improve morale, and even something external to their roles and responsibility like "help sales succeed." Creatives WANT to help; they're wired to do so, but only if they feel that the ask was cooperative and not mandated.
NO:
Creating a working environment that establishes boundaries, limitations, and labor-based causality will lead to dissension. And if you want to have any employees hate you fast, tell them, "that's not your department or what you're paid to do."
DUALITY:
Even if a creative may appear to lack confidence in their work, you will find that they will leave if another opportunity arises. Therefore, your best investment in creating a long-term relationship with top talent is listening and thinking about how your directions can/should be taken. These actions will be perceived as being a leader, not just a director.
Understanding Self-imposed doom
We're all getting older, and a fact that must be rapidly faced is that you are going to be subservient to someone younger than you on an org chart. Except this is a future fact. Now I most certainly don't have all the answers. I've been more than culpable of manifesting self-imposed defeatist thinking and crafting drama where there may have been none. Think about that last line before you throw stones in glass houses.
Moreover, "creatives" are almost all wired to have apocalyptic imposter syndrome. Google it. Additionally, creatives are (by their nature) self-critical of their work and, thereby, the output of work they play a role in. This would seem optimistic on the surface, a keen eye for details and all until you must account for the fact that this sets up an unstable sense of "place" for creatives.
TAKEAWAYS:
As much of this article revolves around the care and feeding of creatives, we need to hold these truths to be self-evident within all roles. Every client, brand, or agency will (hopefully) claim to know the items outlined in this article, but for how long? While the money is coming in? Until we bag that next big client? "X" number of years after being in business?
Do yourself a favor and make sure that your leadership peers understand the importance of these facts. Facts? Yes, facts. Feel free to share this article with these folks and let me know if they think I'm off the mark.