Kirkbright

The Magic Ingredient:Staff Engagement

How creating high-levels of commitment drives creative business success

Over many years of working with creative business leaders trying to figure out how to create value we have come to realise one thing: for any change in direction to get off the ground you need a magical, intangible ingredient: employee engagement.

Inspiring your people to be bothered to deliver your company vision, pledge themselves to a new strategy or simply improve things is vital. Research shows an engaged employee is 87% less likely to leave a job – and a fully engaged person performs at a 20% higher level* . In creative business performance is so correlated to staff engagement it is in my view a key success factor for long-term sustainability.

So here is a bit of food for thought on how you can improve engagement in your business. Score your company on the following ten questions (you need to answer “yes, absolutely” or “no, but we are working on it as a real priority” to all ten!): 

1. Are your line manager’s real managers? And, just to be clear, we are not talking about skilled programmers, programme-makers, designers, animators or any other creative or technical specialist. That’s how you get promoted to management in the first place. But being an empathetic and skilled manager of teams and people is not something most people are born with. You and your managers need to be clear about the distinction. We have all experienced bad management (and its toxically demotivating effects).
2. Do your people really believe in your company direction? And remember, first they have to understand what direction you are going in before they can get to the stage of believing in it!
3. Are you providing inspiring leadership from the top? This is not easy to do consistently. High-performance leaders provide direction, show respect, inform regularly, live their values, exude energy and are role models.
4. Do you involve people through involvement and consultation? Kirkbright recently facilitated strategy for a large UK business. Over 18 months we involved over 200 staff members (10% of the workforce) directly, and 2,000 indirectly, in an engagement and change management programme. We know this type of exercise can be time consuming for any business large or small but we know it pays dividends in the long-run.
5. Have you got a genuinely “people-centric” culture? We all know the old company mission cliché: “Our people are our biggest asset”. But things become clichés for a reason. And all businesses (ESPECIALLY creative businesses) appear horribly hypocritical if action does not match rhetoric.
6. Do you have perfect internal communications? Don’t answer that one! However much you communicate right now you know the answer is “no” – at least in the minds of some of your staff! When we diagnose problem issues in businesses this is always in the top five staff complaints - normally because there is insufficient consistency, skill and focus from top management in this vital area.
7. Do you offer your people genuine influence over how their job done? This means doing the HR basics rights (e.g. two-way performance reviews) as well as open-minded and empowered line managers who are prepared to innovate to improve. That always flows from top management.
8. Do your people get the “Big Picture”? In other words, do you take the time to explain why “things get done the way they do”. This is especially important for unpopular business practices such as time sheets (which crop up as an issue over and over again).
9. Do you offer opportunities for career development? This is one of the arguments for smaller creative businesses to grow a little as it avoids losing talented staff who get bored waiting to fill “dead man’s shoes”.
10. Do you walk the walk? Are your personal values as an owner/manager and leadership team reflected in the organisation’s values? Any disparity between your leadership behaviour and what you project as “what the company is all about” can be potentially damaging.

 If you want to chat about any of the issues in this blog feel free to call me 0845 658 6855 or drop me an email at greg.orme@kirkbright.com.

*Corporate Leadership Foundation 'Driving Performance and Retention through Employee Engagement', 2004.

©Kirkbright Ltd Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved

 

 

How to create changes that stick in your business

Creating change is often difficult, expensive, and prone to failure. And as a leader when you initiative the “pet project of the month” over and over again but nothing really changes guess what? You start to look a little like a politician: all mouth and no trousers. Change is difficult because it’s about new behaviours. And we all know how difficult it is to alter our own habits (drinking less, exercising more or turning the TV off once in a while!) Imagine how much harder it is when you are trying to modify the attitudes and actions of an entire creative business.

   
Kirkbright is currently involved in the implementation of major change within a large UK business which operates a variety of differently branded operating companies under one umbrella. It has been a huge and challenging project, and along with our other client work and feedback from our management development workshops here are six handy tips to help you to become a Change Maker.

1. Start Shouting Fire - We find many creative businesses are too inward looking. They do not listen enough to their clients or benchmark against competitors. An inward-facing mentality can breed complacency, even arrogance. As a creative leader you need to show your people that the need for change is urgent. If there is not a pressing commercial or operational “fire” in your business (and there normally is) you might need to start it yourself. Careful with this one though!

2. Get the right people on the bus, in the right order – change often starts with one or two people, but making it stick is not a solo sport. To get things going you need to get enough people involved with expertise and credibility. And ensure they are working as a team. Change Management is like getting a car started when it’s bogged down in the mud. You need a coordinated, sustained push with as many people involved as you can rope in!

3. Develop a Clear Vision – if it’s not there already start with a rigorous and collaborative vision development process than add specific objectives. Anything less is a recipe for confusion.

4. Communicate, communicate, and then communicate again. It is amazing how many creative businesses do not communicate effectively. Try this as a test: ask six team members what the business vision is and see how different their replies are. You might be surprised.

5. Empower Your People. Make sure your team can grab the vision and make it happen. Take a look at your systems, structures and skill levels to make sure the sort of behaviour you want is even possible in your business. 

6. Plan for some short term wins. Change is painful and difficult at times and it needs a sustained effort; timelines are normally not weeks but months and even years.

To show your team the late nights are worth it make sure the changes you are bringing about delivers short term wins along the way.

If you have an issue with creating change in your business please feel free to give us a call for an informal chat and some friendly support on 0845 658 6855. Or if you want a good book on the subject we recommend a quick flick through John P. Kotter’s ‘Leading Change’. Good luck!
 
Copyright © 2010 Kirkbright Ltd All Rights Reserved

The Authentic Leader: Bringing your Values to Work

Why personal values lie at the heart of a successful creative business culture

What are the personal beliefs you bring to the running of your business? What drives you? What is your unshakeable core? These are your personal values and they are a patchwork quilt of everything that has happened to you in your life. They include influences from your parents, and family,your friends, your education, reading and lots more.

We raise the issues of how personal values link to business values because our work over many years with creative businesses has shown us that the answer to this question is crucial. It contributes not only to your effectiveness (and happiness) as creative leader - but also to your bottom line as a business.

Hard versus Soft (and soft wins!)

In helping creative businesses to grow faster and more profitably we have a keen eye for the ‘hard factors’ of productivity, processes and profit.  But we also know creative business value starts with the soft stuff. And consciously coming to grips with the vital issue of company culture begins with identifying your personal values as leader.

The reasoning goes like this: the leaders’ personal values create the business values; business values lead to decisions, behaviours and trade-offs; these decisions lead to a company culture. And culture can be a potent source of attraction for staff and customers alike. The bottom line is this: values, whether they are the values of a global creative agency, a small creative production business, a family (or village football team for that matter!) are always used as a basis for the group’s operations: the “way things are done around here”.

Crunch issues for Apple and the BBC

The design-lead electronics company Apple is a good example. The personal values of founder Steve Jobs - beautiful but functional design, clear customer segmentation (and over delivering for those segments), and constant innovation - have become ‘Apple values’ and integral to the company’s culture (and strategy).

The BBC also publish their values: 1. Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest 2.  Audiences are at the heart of everything we do 3. We take pride in delivering quality and value for money 4. Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation 5. We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best and 6. We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together.

These values then build into the vision statement “To be the most creative organisation in the world” and an organisational mission: “To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain”.

Whatever your views on the BBC’s performance in delivering against these value statements you can’t fault them on clarity. So, when important decisions are made they can be checked back against the stated values of the corporation by all stakeholders.

Are you asking for assumptions?

Clarity of understanding and communication is at the heart of getting this right. And the crucial question for the owner/managers of smaller creative businesses is: “are your values implicitly or explicitly understood by your senior management team, your staff, your customers and freelancers?”

Implicitly understood values are much more common in our experience and this can be dangerous. Vague assumptions are often created because the leader’s values are not written down, regularly communicated or obvious through consistent behaviour. And because they are imperfectly understood the interpretation of actions and decisions is left to the perceptions of the team. Within any organisation a communication vacuum is always filled with something, and so the values at play are subject to broad interpretations and — more often than not — misinterpretations.

Even worse confusion can occur when the leader is not clear about personal/business values within his/her own head because they have never taken time to think them through. In this case that leader may unknowingly have two or more dearly held values that are at odds with each other (winning commercial deals at all costs vs. playing fair, for example). This leads to the classic and common gripe among staff that “she says one thing, and then does another”, or “he changes his mind on things from Monday to Tuesday!”

We always advise that business values (derived from the values of the senior management team) are stated and re-stated over and over again. And behaviours back them up. I remember one values-driven MD I worked with who worked on the reception desk for a morning each month. What do you think he was saying about how the company valued democracy among staff roles, client care and “all mucking in”?
 
To get this idea of explicit and implicit values into perspective let’s imagine two very different creative businesses. In the first Holier-Than-Thou Design Ltd the MD has a clear understanding of his/her value system. We’ve faced some difficult market conditions recently but in this company behaviours during the downturn have been consistent and based on known values - even if difficult decisions have had to be taken.

Now, imagine the second company Management-By-Baseball-Bat Productions where the MD has reacted to the crisis with a total lack of awareness of his own personal value system. His behaviours may have appeared erratic and inconsistent (and they probably were). Creative talent (the value driver of a creative business) may have misunderstood the MD’s intentions in a few big decisions. The result is the culture becomes one of confusion and fear as rumours fly around. And in a fear-based culture, creativity is the first casualty as the organisation’s members become increasingly risk-adverse. Not a good place to be for any business which offers value through creative experimentation.

The values journey starts with - you

So, over the Christmas break do yourself and your business a favour. Sit down quietly as the turkey digests and write down your most dearly held traits or qualities that you consider worthwhile. These are the things that represent your highest priorities and deeply held driving forces: ambition, competency, individuality, creativity, respect to individuals (or the planet), equality, integrity, service, responsibility.....the list is endless. When you’re done ask yourself: would my business partners recognise this list of values? Would my team? Would our customers? Are these values present in our company vision and strategy? Am I really ‘me’ at work – in other words, am I an Authentic Leader?

Copyright © 2009 Kirkbright Ltd All Rights Reserved

Strength In Numbers

Why the numbers are often not given sufficient management focus in creative businesses – and how the first step to using them to your advantage is a change in mindset

By Greg Orme 

On a stiflingly hot summer afternoon in July 1999 I sat in an airless classroom near Regent's Park trying   
to figure out why balance sheets actually balance. I had been advised to enrol for a financial foundation course in preparation for a two-year MBA at London Business School. After ten years as a media luvvie I needed to reach some sort of parity in financial understanding with my prospective MBA classmates - many city whiz kids and qualified accountants.

At the time I was a Channel Five News programme editor entrusted with delivering a chunk of primetime TV every evening. As an operational guy the business of TV production - that dark art which paid my salary each month – was not on the agenda for me or my immediate bosses. The only numbers which concerned us were viewing figures and when our budget got cut.

Ten years later, an important part of Kirkbright’s mission is to help creative business leaders understand the critical importance of financial numbers, and so be able to add significant value to their businesses. Many of our clients come from a distinctly non-numbers/non-business educational background. They gave up maths with a sigh of relief aged sixteen and embarked on a life full of the rewards of metaphor, narrative, and beauty. Because we understand where they are coming from we are able to help them transform their relationship with numbers. The first step in that journey is a change in attitude.

Just to clarify - we’re not talking about a detailed understanding of accounting terminology or grasping the intricacies of double entry book keeping. That technical knowledge can be gleaned from books, a management development course - or simply by asking lots of questions.  This is a change in mindset, to develop a new approach to the role numbers should play in our life as a creative business leader. This first attitudinal step is from fearful disdain to enthusiastic inquiry. If that seems unlikely, or even impossible here are some of the insights which helped me to change my mindset:

1. Measuring won’t kill the magic. All the creative businesses we advise conjure value through the magical process of great people coming up with great ideas. They sometimes fear they will kill this magic if it is sullied by applying a financial view. But measuring the financial inputs and outputs of that process to ensure we are making good margins does not mean we are going over to the dark side of grey suits and bean counters. These things can live very happily together and greatly benefit each other. And if you are a lifestyle business financial awareness will help you ensure you can do what you love next year as well as this. If you have a commercial end goal in mind such as trade sale it’s even more important.

2. Delegate financial management – but don’t abdicate from your role as financial decision-maker. If you are your businesses’ recognised leader you own the numbers – just live with that. That’s still true even if you also play a significant creative role. Accountants can prepare your financials but they are not there to lead strategy which is always underpinned by clear financial goals. Assuming this financial leadership is more important in our tougher economic environment than ever before. It is a tragedy there are creative companies going bust right now that could avoid it if the owner/manager had a better handle on cash flow. That old saying is well known for a reason: revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is reality.

3. Don’t live in the past. A London Business School colleague of mine was fond of saying: “accountants roam the battlefield after the fight is over, counting the dead [and stabbing the wounded – really!]”. The rather graphic point he was making is that accounting statements are essentially backward looking. They record history. As a business manager you need to understand the lessons of the past as a foundation for charting a course to the future using forward-looking forecasts (normally generated by you).

4. Make your financial dashboard as unique as the rest of your business. Be proactive about what you want to see in your monthly financials – don’t just settle for what your accountant or Financial Director serves up. To do this you need to go beyond the normal Holy Trinity of the profit & loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement to other KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for your business which will be both financial and operational.

5. Transform fear into respect. Financial numbers are not 100% truth and scientific “fact”. The selection and presentation of them is subjective and as much art as science. Digging down to the important “facts” is your job as business manager. When you are presented with a set of accounts (especially your own!) you should assume the persona of a sharp-witted detective sniffing out the unstated assumptions.

6. Numbers are your friend. At a basic level profit figures help you “keep score” on the effectiveness of your creative business aside from other factors like client satisfaction, the size of your team and industry awards. Used in the right way financial information is also a powerful tool. It can help you to understand your business better, become more profitable, better manage your people and raise money when you need to – what’s not to like!

Copyright © 2009 Kirkbright Ltd All Rights Reserved

 

Selling is not a dirty word

Why digital companies need to refocus on marketing their unique value

By Greg Orme

Times are tough. You can’t turn on the TV without Robert Peston assaulting your senses with dire  warnings about the economy. And for a lot of the creative digital businesses Kikrbright supports – interactive and online marketing and design, digital education, entertainment and games production – the change in business environment has been a bit of a shock.

Management have never needed to try so hard to get revenue through the door. Whether the buyer is a marketing director, commissioning editor, agency creative director, or a consumer clicking on a website, these bytes of creative value are generally discretionary purchases in a time when discretion often means ‘doing less, or doing nothing for now’. 

The Golden Years

Between the dotcom bust of late 2001 and the onset of this recession in autumn 2008 demand was high for digital services and content pushed along by mega-trends such as channel fragmentation, social acceptance of all things online and household broadband penetration. This was the proverbial rising tide that floats all boats. A time when orders for all sorts of things – websites, banner ads, interactive online productions, mobile content, TV, games, design, and animation – just “arrived” out of the ether.  For the founders of some lucky companies a sales and marketing strategy just meant having a warm body in the office to answer the phone when it inevitably rang. The challenge was not how to get work, but how to get it all done – and retain a consistent level of quality and creativity.

New Challenge, New Approach

Times have changed. And the difference between those who emerge from this downturn stronger, and those who come out weaker (or, sadly, not at all), will be management teams that realise they need to adapt their style and change their focus to survive. So, if you are reading this and you manage a digital agency or multi-platform production company you might want to sit somewhere quietly and ponder this question:  "do we have sufficient focus on our market position, business development and sales to match these tough economic times?"

To help you dig into that big issue here is a handy list of sub-questions to sanity check if your marketing strategy is suited to our times or just, erm, a bit of a non-starter:

• Is our USP (Unique Selling Proposition) genuinely unique?  Or is actually all but identical to the other players in my creative industry segment? (This one is a bit of a can of worms because the answer has direct implications for your overall company strategy – but it is the question to start with!)
• Have we asked our customers recently why they find us valuable to work with - and crucially what our relative advantage is over the competition?
• Are we ever so excited about acquiring new customers - and completely forget to call our old ones?
• Does the messaging on our marketing collateral mostly talk about what we do, and how creative and brilliant we are – rather than the value we offer to our customers?
• Are the marketing channels we use (website, social networking, speaking at conferences, emails, client visits etc) the most effective mix for our market and what we do?
• Do we have productive internal processes and systems to estimate the size of our forward-looking order book - and to make sure one key ‘marketing’ person is not acting as a bottleneck?

If the answers to the above are less than reassuring you are doubtless missing out on business that could help you through these bleak times. What’s ironic is we find a lot of creative businesses – even those who work in marketing fields – have not applied the same discipline to branding for their own business that they offer to clients or their own creative products!

Why bother?

There is no doubt this recession will start to recede in the next 12 months or so and digital industries supplying creative content and creative services  will again start to grow - and grow faster than the UK economy. So, if the good times will inevitably roll again, why worry about sales, marketing and business development?

For two good reasons: firstly, what a sad waste it would be if great management teams, and otherwise sustainable business models, fail because of a short-term cash flow issue bought on by falling sales. Secondly, this is a perfect time to get this right and get a jump on the competition. While times are a bit slack operationally it’s a great opportunity to put your house in order to be ready to grab as much business as we can when the economy picks up.  

© Copyright Kirkbright 2009