Organizations today are in constant motion. New leadership, evolving strategies, restructures, acquisitions and rebrands can quickly shift priorities and expectations. For many teams, that pace of change creates uncertainty. When change is not led with intention, uncertainty turns into distraction and disengagement.

Rebrands in particular can create confusion and frustration if they are not rolled out with clear direction and supported from the top down with strong communication. Teams are left wondering what is changing, why it matters and what it means for them. When leaders underestimate this moment, trust erodes quietly.

At UpSource, we work with leaders who are navigating exactly this kind of transition. The challenge is rarely the strategy itself. The challenge is leading people through it.

Why Resistance Is Often Misunderstood
Resistance is frequently labeled as negativity. In reality, it is usually uncertainty and nervousness. When priorities shift, teams are asking practical questions:

• What does this change mean for my role
• Are expectations shifting
• Is my performance being evaluated differently
• Is my job secure

These are not unreasonable concerns. They are human reactions to ambiguity. When leaders ignore these questions or dismiss them too quickly, stress increases and trust decreases.

Effective change leadership recognizes that resistance is often a request for clarity.

What Effective Change Leadership Looks Like
Strong leaders understand that change is not a one-time announcement. It is a process that unfolds over time. They focus on communication, consistency and follow-through. They can also:

• Communicate early and often
• Explain what is known and what is still evolving
• Maintain consistency in tone and direction
• Lead by example
• Invite feedback and respond thoughtfully

Leaders do not need to have every answer on day one. What they need is credibility. Credibility is built when actions align with words and when commitments are honored.

Calm, steady communication helps teams regain their footing. When leaders stay composed and transparent, teams are more likely to stay engaged.

Effective change leadership builds trust by communicating clearly, acknowledging uncertainty and staying consistent throughout transitions.

The Role of Clarity
Clarity does not require certainty. It requires honesty about the process and how decisions will be made.

Trust is built through consistency, not perfection. Leaders who are comfortable explaining the why and the why not create a culture where people feel informed rather than sidelined. Even when outcomes are difficult, clarity reduces unnecessary speculation.

Organizations that move through change successfully are guided by leaders who are willing to communicate frequently, acknowledge uncertainty and stay aligned in message and behavior.

Change should not erode trust. When led well, it can strengthen it.
For executives, marketing leaders and HR partners, the question is not whether change will occur. It is how it will be led. Teams take their cue from leadership. When leaders show clarity, consistency and confidence, teams are far more likely to move forward with them.

The post Leading Teams Through Change appeared first on UpSource.

The challenge leaders face
Hiring is underway. The org chart looks fuller. Yet something still feels off. Projects stall. Priorities compete. The same issues resurface. Often, this happens because the team was built before the problem was clearly defined. Leaders respond to pressure by adding roles. They react to workload instead of diagnosing root causes. They replicate structures from previous organizations without confirming those models fit the current business.

Growth continues. Frustration remains.

Where team buildouts fail
Most team failures are not talent failures. They are design failures. Common mistakes include:

• Hiring before defining the business problem
• Replicating past structures without adaptation
• Valuing impressive resumes over contextual fit
• Confusing activity with outcomes

When leaders build teams reactively, they optimize for speed rather than alignment. The result is a group of capable people working hard on the wrong priorities.

A better way to design teams
Strong leaders start somewhere different. Before writing job descriptions, they ask:

• What problem does this team exist to solve
• What outcomes define success
• What capabilities are truly missing today
• How will this team need to evolve in the next two years

This shifts hiring from role-filling to problem-solving. Team design becomes strategic infrastructure rather than a staffing exercise.

Effective team building starts with defining the business problems the team must solve before hiring talent.

Why process matters as much as talent
Even strong hires struggle inside unclear systems. Without defined decision rights, performance metrics and communication norms, talent becomes constrained. High performers may compensate temporarily. They cannot sustain it.

Talent performs best inside structure that supports it. The most effective leaders understand that team design includes:

• Clear accountability
• Defined decision ownership
• Aligned processes
• Coaching and leadership development

The leadership shift
Building the right team requires leaders to slow down and think of a few key areas before jumping in such as:

1. It requires resisting pressure to “just hire someone.”
2. It requires alignment with HR and executive peers.
3. It requires courage to define what success truly looks like.

When done intentionally, team design creates durable advantage. When done reactively, it creates turnover and frustration.

Practical takeaway
If hiring feels urgent, pause long enough to clarify outcomes. The strongest teams are built intentionally, with clarity about what they exist to deliver and how they will evolve.

The post Building Teams That Solve the Right Problems appeared first on UpSource.

Ah, the excitement of starting a new job! After months of applications and many rounds of interviews, the offer to build, lead and grow a new team finally comes through. You are excited to be moving upward in your career, or maybe just on to a new challenge where all of your best talents and experiences can be put to use every day. 

During your first few days on the job, you spend plenty of time learning. Learning about the business of your new employers, meeting lots of new people, and diving into how things get done currently in your new department. And that’s when you start to learn about how things were before… 

Scenario A: The “what was” problem

At some point within your first two weeks, you start to hear the stories of how things were before you got there. Some of these stories will be positive, even funny, about how great things are due to a team that meshes well. You will hear about happy clients, award-winning work, and the hard road it took to get there. Some of these stories will be less positive. Stories about a team that was not motivated, not collaborative, and not responsive to the needs of internal clients. You might even hear about how high of a turnover there has been in the department. All of these things, both good and bad, happened because of your predecessor. 

Scenario B: You’ve got big shoes to fill

Let’s say your predecessor was the kind of leader who just killed it. He did a great job keeping the team engaged, the work enjoyable, and the clients happy. 

As the new (replacement) leader coming on board, you have big shoes to fill. Chances are your predecessor was not only good at his job, but he was well-liked to boot (pun intended). In this case, you’re coming into a group that – while perhaps excited to see you – might be a bit suspicious of what you’re going to bring to the table. After all, how can things really get any better for this team when It’s already pretty grea?

In other words, once the new guy shine wears off on week 4, everyone will be looking at you like, “so, what can you offer us that the old guy we loved so much didn’t already do?” 

Scenario C: You’ve walked into a minefield

On the other hand, let’s say things were not so great when your predecessor left. Maybe that’s the reason they are no longer here in the first place. 

The team could be any one – or more – of the following: unhappy, unmotivated, uninspired, unruly, uncreative, insubordinate, disorganized, and/or overworked. 

And the clients? They don’t like working with your department because of all these reasons I just listed. 

The team might still be excited to have you come on board, but because of the change, you represent they might be a bit suspicious of what you’re going to bring to the table. After all, how can things get any better for this team?

They can’t see the forest for the trees. In other words, once the new guy shine wears off on week 4, everyone will be looking at you like, “so, how are you going to fix this?. 

You have a long road ahead of you, but you can get to the summit; it’s just going to be a long road to get there, and it will take a lot of hard work. 

What’s a new leader to do?

Of course, you could also be lucky enough to be asked to start an in-house creative team, too, in which case you don’t have any of the histories of a predecessor to worry about. But you still need to take into consideration how the business operated before you came on board. 

No matter what the scenario is for you, below are five suggestions I have for consideration when starting your new leadership gig:

Number 1: Don’t change anything. Things may or may not be working as well as you hoped when you walk in the door on your first day. For better or for worse, your team is still operating like a machine. Throwing a wrench into the works early on could do more harm than you expect. 

Number 2: Be observant, and listen as much as you talk. You’re a leader, so you might be tempted to take charge of the situation to make your mark. Don’t. Instead, learn as much as you can about the business and current state of affairs before discussing potential changes with your boss. 

Number 3: Be patient, and have a plan. Unless extreme circumstances require an immediate change, develop a plan for improving your operations and get buy-in on it from above and below.

Number 4: Stop interviewing for the job. Resist the urge to remind everyone how much you know or what you’ve done before to handle a similar situation. The person who hired you knows that, and they probably told your team and peers already. You don’t have as much to prove as you think you do. Just do what you’ve been hired to do. 

Number 5: Build relationships. A big part of leading a team, and its clients, is knowing who you’re working with. Take time to get to know people and learn what drives them. It will not only help you be successful, but it will help you get buy-in on your improvement plans later on.

Final thought: Let hindsight truly be 20/20. After taking the leadership reins several times in my career, I have some perspective on this, so my last piece of advice is: Don’t get bogged down by “what was”. 

You have to respect the history of how things were B.Y. (before you), but you can’t let history bog you down. Learn from it, but don’t let anyone dwell on the past. Build your own history and make your own mark.

The post Is Your Predecessor Preventing Your Success? 5 Tips For Leaders Starting A New Job. appeared first on UpSource.

I’ve written about some lessons learned while working in-house that made me a better consultant and business owner. Now, I’m turning the tables and following up with some ideas for what I think helped shape my success when I was an in-house, corporate, creative.

I have been fortunate to work for some name-brand organizations as an in-house creative. But my career didn’t begin in-house. I started freelancing early, before even attending design school, and for a year after graduating from The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. During these formative years of my career, I learned the difference between merely freelancing as a graphic designer and consulting with clients to solve their most significant design challenges.

Design students at SVA learn how to be creative problem-solvers, developing original solutions to communications and design challenges. That meant not just designing something that merely looked good but also solved a strategic need. We learned that you first needed to define the real challenge to be addressed. This often required some digging and prodding from clients who typically ask for what they thought the problem was when what they needed was something else much more specific and measurable.

This consulting mindset is something I brought to every in-house cubicle and office I inhabited. Here are the elements of a consulting mindset that I think will take you and your department from order-takers to creative problem-solving rock-stars!

Does it need to be a light-bulb?

You have undoubtedly heard a few “light bulb” jokes before. If none come to mind, let me entertain you for a moment:

Q: How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change.

And here’s one related to the creative profession that stuck with me:

Q: How many Graphic Designers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Does it need to be a light bulb? 

Sure it’s just a joke, but when you think about it, the best creative work comes out of being curious and not assuming that what the client wants is what they need. And our superpower is seeing things uniquely different from other (dare I say normal) people. 

Don’t accept that the idea (AKA deliverable) the client asked for is the right solution to the problem. Just because someone said, “we need a photo of a sunset,” doesn’t mean that a photo of a sunset will communicate the right message. Maybe an icon would be better because it’s going to be a 2-color print job, or it’s going to be so small that an image would be unrecognizable. Or maybe it’s not even a sunset at all, because what the client wants to convey is “a day at the beach with family.” In which case, you might suggest sandcastles, a beach ball, sunscreen, and a towel, or kids with sunburned shoulders.

Determine a shared measurement of success.

If you don’t want to be treated like an order-taker, then start behaving like a partner in the process. Partners work towards shared goals. Those goals should be discussed, negotiated, and understood by everyone at the onset of the project. The creative solutions your team dreams up should help your client achieve those goals.

I will assume that you use some form of project or creative brief at the onset of any project. If you don’t, you should begin immediately with the very next project request that comes into your department.

A brief is like a roadmap for the project and the solutions your team needs to develop. The client typically provides you with basic project information in a kick-off meeting, and you should follow up with lots of questions to make sure you understand their needs and goals.

Knowing their strategic business goals is essential to know if the resulting deliverable was successful after the project. Include this line in your brief:

“The success of this project will be measured by [insert a non-subjective, qualitative or quantitative, form of measurement that aligns with business goals].”

For example: “The success of this project will be measured by a 15% increase in new subscriptions to our newsletter over a 60-day period.” would be a great goal and measurement metric for a pop-up graphic on a website to get visitors to subscribe. 

It will also affect how your team approaches copywriting, image selection, design, and more. I can almost guarantee that “design something cool that will win an award” isn’t going to be a shared goal. So don’t worry about your department’s creative portfolio, as much as how well you are helping your internal clients to achieve business goals.

Detours, not roadblocks.

In-house teams tend to be very protective of brand assets. Especially when clients make requests that require pushing the limits of what’s acceptable according to the brand guide.

While it’s easy to say “no” to potentially brand-damaging or short-turnaround requests, you need to be mindful of appearing like you’re putting up roadblocks to solving their problem.

When someone asks for something you know you can’t produce because it’s off-brand, you can’t do it in the time they need it, or it’s just a bad idea, try this approach instead:

“No, we can’t do that. But what if we… [insert a better idea here]”

Then brainstorm an alternate approach with your client. Use their suggestion as a launching point for new ideas and even team building. Strive to make flexibility and creativity the hallmark of your teams’ reputation.

It’s going to take small wins over time.

Working in-house means you don’t get to choose your projects the way an outside agency might. So this shift from order-taker (whether real or perceived) is going to take some time. Look for the small wins with each project, and the big winds will come too. Try following up with your client after a project has been delivered to see how it was received and if they met their business goals. Talk about the positive results and opportunities for improvement next time. You’re going to appear to be a partner, solutions provider, and creative rock-star for it.

The post How A Consulting Mindset Will Take Your Department From Order-Takers To Creative Problem-Solving Rock-Stars! appeared first on UpSource.

The stereotypes associated with in-house creative groups are abundant. Most are more annoying than true. But hold on, there’s one that may have a touch of truth behind it. And some of the most cherished benefits of landing an in-house gig may be the key cause of it.

The one in-house stereotype I hate hearing about is a client not believing
inspirational results are possible from an in-house creative team. This makes the
hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The perception is based on the assumption that the in-house creative path provides
a steady gig, a regular paycheck, health benefits, and regular dinners with the family.
This is what makes in-house careers so attractive to many designers. However, does
that mean it also breeds a complacent stagnation of creativity? Personally, I’ve
experienced many nights of nuked food at the dinner table alone. But honestly, I
have seen complacency and what it can do to the work overtime. Who is
accountable for this?

First, let’s understand the nature of the design industry. Our status as professionals
is based on a combination of innate talent, our specialized education, the
development of our skills and our recognized mindset as a group—not unlike other
professions.

Before working anywhere, it’s the commitment to develop these

attributes that define us personally. And a certain amount of that development is our own
professional responsibility. It drives our personal brand.

A key component of this is inspiration. Creative people know what inspires them.
They should reach for that inspiration at every opportunity.

In hiring us, the employer owns a certain amount of responsibility to develop us as
well. It’s an investment toward better quality, production, and ultimately their
bottom line. Employers want to increase our value, not necessarily personally, but
to the company. If that sounds like making us a commodity, well, we’ll need to get
over it. In fact, take advantage of that.

As creative leaders, part of our job is to inspire our people.
Most creative leaders didn’t become leaders because they suck. We have experience. If you’ve been there–done–that and bought the shirt, share your experiences. It’s a way to give back to the profession and enhance the value of your people to the company. Lead by example. When you’re inspired, spread the love. Create a repository of creative inspiration available to your entire team. Have each of them contribute. Maybe schedule occasional review sessions to talk about the latest additions. Be involved in your team’s work to the point of frequent critique sessions with other teammates—with the intent to review project progress and to gain immediate feedback from other creatives. However, teach others not to rip into what’s wrong with a project right away, like many of our professors did to some of us back in the day. Remember?

We’ve all had those heartbreaking moments when our favorite concepts were
rejected by a client. In fact, easily 65 percent of the best work I’ve done never saw
the light of day. Each of our team members is sure to have experienced that same
heartbreak. Give your creative staff a chance to bring those projects back to life.
Hold scheduled “Living Dead” share sessions with your teams. The team will have an
appreciation for the work well beyond what the client could ever articulate.
Mentoring is another inspiration tickler. Have interns and new hires shadow your
top talent for a time. Don’t rely on them merely observing. The experienced talent
should have the next generation do the work, just under their meticulous eye. That usually makes learnings easier to remember—and in my experience, the mentors learn almost as much as the mentees.

I am a huge fan of road trips. Be involved in the local creative scene. Look for
opportunities (e.g., gallery showings, studio tours, speaker events) that your team
can attend together. In fact, encourage your team to come up with their own road
trip suggestions.

As an attendee of many design conferences, I know how inspiring they can be.
Developing a plan to get your team to design conferences is a huge shot in an
inspirational vein.

These are just a few suggestions to kill complacent stagnation and drive inspired
creativity into your clients’ projects. Kill that stereotype!

I know what you’re thinking … the organization has a budget. Budgets truly can be inspiration killers. Try and work as much of the above ideas into your budget, or at least as much as you can get away with. Argue that the return is the increased value of your team to the company. True, that value is intangible, but the ROI will show when your team’s work directly affects company sales in positive ways—but that’s another story.

The post Lead with inspiration—A few ideas on inspiring creative teams appeared first on UpSource.

Meetings are a necessary evil in our business. Between staff meetings, project planning and review meetings, vendor meetings, and of course client meetings, its any wonder we get real work done at all.
But one thing I have learned in almost 25 years in the creative business is that people don’t like going to meetings. Meetings take time away from doing actual work, and seldom have real purpose or outcome: unless they are planned well and have an actionable outcome.
As a leader, one of your roles is to make sure things are running efficiently and effectively. This short list will help you plan and run better meetings.
#1: Do you really need to have a meeting?
Before you do anything, think hard about this. Could you accomplish what you need to do with an email or a phone call? Don’t waste people’s valuable time if organizing a meeting isn’t necessary.
#2: Prepare ahead of time.
A little prep work ahead of time will make you look like a real pro. Create an agenda that you can follow during the meeting, to keep things on track. Double-check conference room reservations and print out meeting materials. Send a calendar invitation with the time and location of the meeting and include valid dial-in, or video conferencing log in details. Also, pre-write a post-meeting thank-you email to send out when you get back to your desk.
#3: Take notes.
Using the agenda, write notes about each topic to guide conversations or what actions items are afterward. Each person in the meeting should have an action to follow-up on after the meeting. If you are not great at taking notes, assign someone to do it for you. The minutes will remind people what happened at the meeting and will allow you to share with anyone who was not available to attend the meeting.
#4: Follow up
After the meeting, when you get to your desk, send the post-meeting thank-you email. Leave room for the action items from your notes. Let everyone know when the meeting minutes will be available, and how they can access them. Schedule a follow-up meeting, if necessary.
#5: See number one.

The post Plan and run better meetings appeared first on UpSource.

By the end of 2015, after being an in-house creative director for nearly 8 years and working in this field for over 20 years, I found myself self-employed for the second time in my career. Now, as I enter my fourth year as a brand and creative strategy consultant, I attribute some of my success as a business owner to my experiences and the lessons I learned by working in-house. Reflecting on that time being in-house, I can also say that my consulting mindset, and teaching instincts, also attributed to my success leading in-house creative teams.
Whichever side of the fence you find yourself on, leading an in-house team or managing your own business, here are some things that have strikingly similar importance to how successful you will be.

Remember, you are running a business.
As much as being a creative leader is about the creative output of your designers, writers, photographers, videographers, and so on, it’s also about understanding how to run a business. As an in-house leader, you must come to grips that you are running a business unit within a corporation that needs to have procedures, processes, and policies to operate smoothly. Some corporations event document this information to ensure continuity of business. Your job, as the business unit leader, is to continually reassess, reevaluate, and redesign how your business runs to make it the most effective it can be.
This operational rigor comes in handy when you are self-employed so that your own business runs smoothly, plans for the future, and adapts to marketing changes. If you take the time to document how you run everything about your business – from marketing to working on projects, and billing clients – you will absolutely be more mindful about how things get done and where you can make adjustments to be more efficient and profitable.

Your relationships with other people are really, really, important.
I have believed in the power of networking since I was a teenager. I got my first freelance job because of it, got my first job out of college because of it, got my first corporate job at Banana Republic because of it, and quickly transitioned to a position at Gap when Banana Republic decided they were no longer going to be doing graphic tees because of it. I built my freelance business from 1999 to 2007 through networking, and my current consulting firm would not have ramped up so quickly since 2015 if not for my network of professionals that I could reach out to during that time.
So many people get the idea of “networking” wrong. If you’re networking, thinking that good things will come of casting a wide net, you are wasting your time. The key to strategic networking isn’t spending MORE time networking, it’s less time – but with more of the right people. There are two things that I have come to believe are more accurate than anything in business:

1. It’s not what you know, but who you know
2. Building strong relationships is more important than having a big network

Any self-employed creative professional, agency owner or consultant knows the power of networking. It’s how you grow awareness about your business, build a reliable source of referrals, and find strategic partners you can do business with. But for the corporate leader, this is even more so important. You can’t operate in a bubble within the corporate environment. You need to get out there and meet your internal clients, peers, and the (appropriate) higher-ups in the business. Having good relationships with all of these people will make it easier to sell creative ideas, educate them on how your department does things, and frankly make it easier to ask for more resources. Additionally, it’s one of the ways you will build credibility within the company because – if you do it right – your network will be advocates of your department and of you.
Manage your time like it is a precious, rare, commodity. Because it is.
I’ll be blunt here  and tell you the one skill you need to master no matter whether you are in-house or on your own: Say “no” to meetings or anything that is not worth your time, as much as possible.
There are two reasons for this, and they should be kind of obvious – but the more I talk to other creative leaders, the more I realize it is not as apparent as I thought it was.

1. You have too much work to do to spend so much time in unnecessary meetings.
2. Being too available sends the wrong message to everyone.

Creative leaders get invited to a lot of meetings about projects. We also get invited to business meetings related to the company, as befitting our roles in the corporate structure. Those of us who have worked corporate jobs know how many companies have developed a “meeting culture” (I actually attended a meeting where we planned other meetings) that becomes detrimental to both productivity and morale. What’s more, the nature of our role invites people to drop by our offices for an impromptu brainstorming session, status update, or worse to complain about a new corporate policy that will inevitably create more work for everyone. These interruptions not only break your concentration and the flow of creative ideas, but they suck up your time that you will need to earn back by staying late at the office or working over the weekend.
Guess what? Most meetings are unnecessary. Much of what someone called a meeting for could be achieved on a quick phone call or email. And if a meeting is essential, you need to ask yourself: Do I need to be there? Maybe this is an opportunity to delegate a direct report to go to the meeting and report back to you with a brief email.

As a consultant, you need to be discerning about how you spend your time. Not only do you need to leave time to do the work clients hired you to do, but you need to give yourself time for business development, marketing, finance, etc. Yes, networking is vital to growing your business, but you don’t need to do more of it. Be strategic about who you meet with and how. Can it be done with a phone call? Is this networking meeting or event going to result in a referral, business partner, or client? If it’s not a “heck yes,” then it’s a “heck no”!

The post Lessons learned working in-house that helped me be a better consultant appeared first on UpSource.

There has been a shift of power – creatively speaking – regarding to who “owns” brand and creative in corporate America. There was a time when anyone but the internal creative teams did new creative work or managed the outside creative agencies. However, for many years now some of the best creative work has come from in-house creative teams. And over the last 20 years or so, we have seen our creative industry disrupted by the growth of both in-house teams and the “gig” economy. The truth is, that whether you work in-house, for an outside agency, or as a freelancer this is a great time to be in the creative field.
It wasn’t too long ago that being an in-house creative meant you were considered a second-class citizen. Most “real creative pros” aspired to work for (or own) agencies, or so we assumed. Then a few years ago AIGA produced a report from a survey that showed 60% of designers in the U.S. actually considered themselves to be in-house. If this was true, then it demonstrated that the shift in our field had tipped the balance in favor of working in-house. At the same time, we’ve seen the so-called “gig” economy emerge with a growth of freelance, consulting and the re-emergence of practice specialization in smaller agencies.
So, with some of the best creative work in design, advertising, photography, and video coming from in-house teams the shift to corporations leveraging their in-house talent is happening more than ever. Since InSource was founded in 2003 we’ve been watching the trends and seeing how in-house has been growing. When we say “in-house is growing”, we don’t just mean that in-house teams are growing per-se. In fact, many teams are about the same size now as they have been for the last few years. No, when we say in-house is growing we mean to say that our accountability to the companies we work for, and the responsibility to the brands we serve, is greater now – and increasing – more than ever before.
From my perspective, in-house is really just coming of age. We’re finding our stride, and the rest of the industry is settling into a new operating model. With more accountability naturally means more projects of all kinds are coming our way, but without increased headcount how is it going to get done? We’re going to have to send it out.
That’s not really new information. Work has been sent out for ages in our field. However outside agencies were once managed without the involvement of in-house creative counterparts. Now in-house creative groups are tasked with managing those same outside agency relationships. The very same agencies we used to view as our competitors are now under our management and oversight. In this new era we see the in-house creative leader partnering with the outside agency creative leader more often than we ever did in the past.
This shift in accountability to in-house teams also brings a shift in the division of labor too. As more in-house teams increase their creative operations – capabilities, they find that if is often more effective (and less costly) to assign work out to smaller, specialized, and more nimble studios and freelance resources. As such, large agencies are finding the need to change their models too, in order to better support and partner with their in-house counterpart/clients. Any agency – in-house or outside – that isn’t adapting to the new model our industry appears to be settling into is going to find themselves facing greater challenges. It’s no longer us vs. them, in-house vs. outside agencies. The brands that win will have strong partnerships between in-house and outside creative teams.
So look at your model and ask yourself, is this working? Are we partnering with outside the right resources – creative or production – effectively to do the best work possible on behalf of the business? Is our operating model right? Are we managing the relationship to our best advantage?

The post The Changing Relationship Between In-House and Outside Agencies appeared first on UpSource.

“Don’t be a boss, be a coach” is one of the best pieces of advice I ever received about managing people. I took that advice to heart when I was leading in-house teams, and it has always paid off in regards to loyalty, team cohesiveness, and performance. I’ve got proof to show it too in my 360 reviews, upward feedback, and enterprise-wide client satisfaction surveys (tools that I’m sure only in-house leaders have even heard of, let alone been lucky enough to take part of).
I have worked with many creatives who have no desire to lead teams and plenty who do want that responsibility but don’t realize that being “The Boss” requires more than just having experience as a practitioner at your craft. Being the boss means balancing the fine line between representing the best interests of the organization, and getting the best performance from your people. It is about knowing the difference between managing and leading (you manage information, budgets, and systems, you lead people). As any people-manager knows; leading people is not easy. Leading creative people can be like herding kittens chasing butterflies on a windy day.
Be happy when they leave.
One of the great things about in-house creative teams is the longevity and relatively low attrition rates of staff, compared to agencies. The benefit of having people around that have a long memory of what campaigns ran when, or what collateral printed and when, is immeasurable. And it always seems that just when you’re team was finally getting to the “performing” stage that Bruce Tuckman described in his forming–storming–norming–performing model of group development… one of your top people decides to leave.
Staff turnover can be a problem for some managers, but not me. I’ve had good creatives leave, and I’m OK with that. It means they have grown as a professional while working on my team, and have skills another employer needs or that they can use to do something else like go out on their own. After all, part of my job was to help them learn and grow and stretch some new muscles. Personal and professional development will keep people interested in their work of course, but it also provides them with the necessary skills and experience to move up – or to move on.
See the opportunity for what it’s worth.
When someone moves on, you as a leader now have a great opportunity ahead of you. You can bring in someone who has the skills that are needed to balance out current needs of your workflow. You could promote a junior person to a senior role, and then hire for the junior position. And then train both people in any skills lacking to get the job done.
You could also evaluate your department processes, and change things in a way that will best serve the organization. For example; maybe you need more project management expertise because you are outsourcing so much overflow work. You also need to keep headcount flat, so instead of hiring for the same creative role that was vacated you instead develop a new position and hire for that role.
Learning vs. Training.
Coaching is about developing people to perform at their best, and there are two ways as a department leader that you can do this for yourself and others; training and learning.
Training activities are instructor/facilitator-led classes, seminars, and conferences where there is a specific learning objective or outcome. In other words, a course on HOW U, going to HOW Design Live, or taking a class with a live instructor is all training. If you don’t have a budget set aside for training, then you should consider some learning activities that will help you develop your staff.
Learning activities do not have an instructor or specific learning objective per se. But the outcome can still be as valuable. For example; have a junior designer shadow a senior designer on a press check to learn how to do it. You could also give someone a project they have never tried before, but they would enjoy working on something new. At the end of the project, they’ll have a new bonafide skill and demonstrated experience that you’ll benefit from by being able to say your department can do that kind of work.
So if you want your team to say “I’ve got a great boss,” then make sure you’ve got these developmental activities in your managerial and leadership toolbox. Take it from me; your staff will thank you for it.

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In my last piece I discussed the traditional path of a creative career that we learn in school of first being an apprentice to a master to learn your craft, mastering your skills on your own, and finally becoming a master in your own right which often includes taking on apprentices of your own (typically in the form of staff, but you could do so by teaching a class too).
But it is what comes after managing people (being a Master) that has occupied my thoughts for a few years now. I always thought that being the boss was the golden ring. That having a team to manage, coach, and mentor was the pinnacle, or end goal, of a career. But having managed several teams, I’ve realized that that is not necessarily true. Yes, managing people does come with perks such as better compensation and even training. But in terms of the career path, that role is really about training the next generation of Masters. You’re a coach, not a boss, and you are guiding the team for great work and the next big “win”.
What’s next? Influencing others, not managing them.
As a manager, you need to split your time between managing and doing creative work. I can tell you from experience, that managing is hard work. Really hard, time-consuming work. And to do it right you need to give up a lot of the doing creative work in lieu of managing the process of how the work gets done, and ensuring a high level of quality. It’s not just “move it up, move it over, and change the color” of art direction. It’s performance reviews, budget allocation, air traffic control, meetings…lots of meetings.
But at some point, you can choose to pass the torch of management to someone else (perhaps even your own apprentice). remember, no-one is suggesting this means hanging up your coat and hat or throwing in the towel. What I’m talking about is taking back the reins and doing creative work of some kind. Now it’s time to lead, without managing.
Consider a path where you’re taking all of your experience and expertise and using them in the most influential ways possible, without necessarily managing a team. You get to do what you really do well, which is to be creative. You get to influence others (people, business, clients) through your creativity and passion for your craft, using all of the expertise and knowledge accumulated over the course of your career.
What’s Next for Creative Leaders
In my role as President of InSource, I have had the opportunity to speak with several in-house creative leaders about the “what’s next” question. While there is a lot more to still be discovered, here are some of the big ideas I’ve learned so far from experiences of in-house leaders who have found their own version of what’s next.
Hang out your shingle. For many in-house (and agency) creative leaders the next step is going out on their own as a consultant or starting your own agency. You’re ready to give up the stability of a paycheck and benefits for the exhilaration of serving your own clients, and working on a diverse variety of projects.
Teaching, full-time. What better way to influence others, than by doing it full-time as a college professor? When you teach full-time you often are required to perform some kind of work that maintains your status as an industry expert. This includes limited client work, writing, speaking, etc.
Change your corporate role. For some in-house leaders staying in-house is preferred, and in fact, the loyalty and desire to influence the brand is still very high. Those of us who have seen the corporate role and pay range sheets know that high-level individual contributor positions can earn as much as department leaders. So instead of leaving, maybe there is a way to influence from within. Consider becoming an individual contributor again, performing at a very high level as a creative strategist or similar role.
One industry leader I know even switched departments altogether to Human Resources of all places. Vanessa Dewey was recently profiled by InSource where she described how she has shifted her career within Mattel:
“Until recently, I was an art director for Packaging and Branding. I’ve transitioned into a new role. where I inspire, educate, connect, and celebrate creative at Mattel. Overall, I’m supporting a creations company that instills the wonder of childhood. One project that I’m working on right now is a podcast based on the idea that, everyone at Mattel can be a creative. Ultimately, I want to connect with these inspiring peers and to celebrate them.”
Vanessa’s story is a great example of someone who has found a way to utilize her passion, experience, and expertise in a way that continues to be valuable for Mattel. She’s done that within the company she’s been working at for a number of years already as well.
So when it comes to creative leadership, your “what’s next” is really limited only by your own imagination. Take some time to develop your own ideas of what that might look like, and start planning for the day when you’re ready to take that big leap.

The post What’s Next For In-House Leaders? Part two: Influence without management. appeared first on UpSource.