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.

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I am often surprised to hear that many in-house creative leaders are not running their own budgets for their departments. And because they are not the budget owner, they have very little say into what and how much goes into the budgeting process.
We all know running an in-house creative team is similar to running your own design studio. You have staff costs, hardware and software costs, paper, toner and professional development costs, just to name a few common line items.
Even for small teams under five people, this is a lot to track and manage properly, so why would you want a non-creative leader managing the creative budget for you? Well you don’t, so speak up.
If the creative budget in your organization cannot be broken out separately from the marketing budget, then at least get involved. Let your boss know that you would like to review a line-itemed budget for the following year that you can assist in controlling throughout the year.
For those of you who have trouble getting approval for conferences, membership fees and professional development initiatives, here’s your chance to plan for it, get it in the budget up front and let your boss know what it’s all about way in advance.
Robin Colangelo
I AM IN-HOUSE : White & Case
VP, Board of Directors, InSource
@RobinColangelo4

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I can’t see straight when clutter begins to take over. I can’t think clearly and lose focus. I’m sure I’m not the only one but I may be more sensitive to recognizing this issue within myself.
Even though I’m a constant purger/straightener/cleaner, my work space still becomes cluttered with assets from multiple projects happening simultaneously.
At the beginning of each year I like to do an extra purge to clear the decks and take a moment to think about what’s been bugging me that I can address at my in-house job. Tackle it now before the year takes off faster than you can say Happy New Year!

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It’s ok, you’re not the only one. Here’s some advice from a woman who was in that very same spot. Let’s call it “In hindsight advice”:
Day one
Drink.
Do not pass go!
Do nothing but cry in your beer.
No phone calls, drunk driving or drunk texting.
Tell your spouse and stop right there.
Breathe.
Day two
Wake up hung over and starved.
Make full breakfast.
Whip out the laptop and update your LinkedIn profile, resume, portfolio, and any other bells and whistles that make you sound cool.
Prepare your “out-of-work story” to explain to recruiters and potential hiring managers. Why did you loose your job and how can you put a positive spin on this so you don’t come across as the disgruntled person you really are right now?
Day three
Begin calling everyone and their mother, with confidence. No backstabbing or crying about the company that let you go, just get to it about what you’re looking for.
Keep a list of everyone who even gave you a small ray of light that they can help and follow up within a week.
Day four
Contact every recruiter in the industry. Not just one or two—all of them. Sometimes they have the same clients and sometimes they don’t, so don’t hold back
Day five
Apply to every role online that seems like it could be a possibility, even if there are a few responsibilities that you have not had in the past. Hiring managers are always looking for the “unicorn”. So again, don’t hold back.
Day five and thereafter
Rinse and repeat steps three, four, and five until something sticks. Be patient—the right role will come.

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I can’t think of a better way to sum up an inspirational list than “The Hit List” written by Chase Jarvis, a world-renowned photographer. What I like about it is its brevity, clarity, and boldness. www.Chasejarvis.com
So, taking some insight from Jarvis and mixing it up with my own vision–adding 10+ years of in-house experience—out comes the following in-house tips and tricks:
Prioritize
Prioritize and re-prioritize and then prioritize again—all day, everyday.
Customer service
Loose the ‘tude! Remind yourself to use your inside voice no matter how cockamamie the person in front of you or inside your inbox is.
Get to the point
No one wants to hear you droning on during a presentation and when you do, you’re loosing your audience. Make your point quickly: Objective, Solution, Next Steps and then move on with your life.
Training and explaining
Everyone hits the ground running. Sound familiar? DON’T do this. As the leader, you look terrible when your staff does not know what they are doing. So do what it takes, find the extra time, and get people on-boarded properly so they look good and so do you.
Make it happen
There is an art to cutting through the bullshit to get stuff done. It’s not easy, and like anything else, it takes practice. You and your team need to be seen and respected as trusted partners who can produce. Carefully look for the blockades within your workflow and find a way to release them. We all encounter 50 different roadblocks each day, but as a leader, unclogging blockage is a crucial skill that needs to be honed and mastered.

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When is it ok to say Uncle? When you’ve tried something for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years. So what’s the difference between giving up and moving on with a purpose?
I’ve never been one to give up so I’m always shocked at how often I see others throw their hands up in the air and say they’ve had enough.
In my mind every plan needs a backup and maybe even a third backup. So when I’m planning something big, I know what plan A is for sure, but I generally have a plan B
and sometimes a plan C in my back pocket just in case. Maybe that’s the control freak in me or maybe that’s our reality. Let’s face it: How often does plan A really come together for anyone?
Anything complex takes patience and twice as long as you think it will take to produce or implement. Have patience, and understand there will be road blocks—some of which might make you see red but that’s normal. Think through it, agree on a plan B and move forward.
If you take pride in your work and care about nurturing your reputation and building your in-house career, think twice before throwing your hands up next time.

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In the recently launched book, Leadership Vol. Two, From the Trenches, I had the opportunity to speak with a few seasoned leaders to gain perspective on in-house management challenges.
I see and hear time-and-time again how frustrated managers lead teams that severely lack interpersonal skills. Now us older dogs can all sit here and blame the Millennials until we are blue in the face, or we can start mentoring on self awareness and willingness to improve.
Having previously worked in an agency environment where things were more relaxed, it was a bit of culture shock to flip over to the client side on an in-house team. I’ve seen and heard some cockamamie behavior that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. One of the skills I personally had to begin working on, and quickly, was my interpersonal skills.
In my mind, these are the top-three, crucial interpersonal skills that we need to hone for our own growth and the growth of our teams:

1. Communication style
   Tolerance. Professionalism.

Think about how and when you are communicating with your team, peers and clients. Where are the pain points and what is going well that you can do more of? Consider making adjustments on your end to improve those pains and see what happens. Remember, it’s generally not just the other guy that is at fault for misunderstandings.

2. Collaboration
   Share ideas. Don’t take all of the credit. Don’t talk over each other.

To me, the meaning of collaboration is interacting with others. This often translates to geting off your tush and asking your peers their opinion so you can brainstorm new ways of approaching a challenge together. Ask your network to help you look at an issue from a different angle or simply share a well designed piece that makes you happy and explain why. The bottom line is, you have to take the initiative to talk to one another.

3. Temperament: Oh sorry, I really meant “tude.”

Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t judge. Don’t throw people under the bus.
We all know how it feels to be judged by someone who knows nothing about your day-to-day and it’s a sucky feeling. So as a first step, lead by example and don’t do it to others. We all get treated badly from time-to-time and in my experience, when you react just as poorly as the offender you create a domino effect of nasty that never really goes away. My advice is take the high road and lead by example. Be the grown-up.
And for the love of Pete, please take the “tude” out of everything you say and do. It’s not professional and you are not in your own living room while at work. You’ll see when you remove the “tude,” others will follow.

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Employee evaluations are no easy task for busy managers, are they? Well, here’s how to simplify this process and come out with great results.

A seasoned manager meets with their staff on a one-on- one basis weekly or bi-weekly to review how they are doing on top-tier projects as well as how things are going with their professional development. This is the time to correct unfavorable behavior and make recommendations for improvements.

Having these conversations frequently makes it much easier to talk through sticky situations because it’s like anything else, practice makes it easier. Back up your conversations in writing and hang onto them, so when it comes time for evaluations you’ve already had the discussions, and have it in writing to pull from to make future recommendations.

Nothing in an evaluation show be a surprise. It’s the year end recap of what you’ve already covered.

Be brave and cover it all year long–you’ll have stronger players and make your life easier.

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Having built out many teams over the years I do notice that with experience certain things do come easier and quicker and certain tasks do not.
What I know for sure is this: You can not spend enough time training and communicating at the beginning of the process. People are generally in a state of confusion until they “get it”.
My best practice is to spend as much time as I can explaining, reviewing, setting the tone and explaining again.
How do you fit all of this into your day job? You just do. There’s always a 10-15 minute window you can find in your day to squeeze more into. And in the end it’s so worth it.
I find myself maxing out my day with lunches and dinners just to make it all work. Hey, if it doesn’t work it’s my butt, so I better get savvy with my time.
The part for me that seems to never get easier is finding great people. I’m talking about the kind of people that are such pros and an amazing pleasure to work with. I’m talking about grown ups that know how to get it done and not get stuck in the mud. They’re out there and I’m proud to say I have many on my team after years of searching but it never gets easier finding new ones.
I would love to hear about everyone’s tricks for weeding out the B team when interviewing for freelance and full time employees.
Robin Colangelo
I AM IN-HOUSE : White & Case
VP, Board of Directors, InSource

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Interviewing can be a chore for many hiring managers. Usually it’s because the vetting process hasn’t given you concrete information, and hasn’t properly prepared you to meet a candidate. In addition, the candidate has been asked the same set of questions over and over, which can make the conversation stale.
Here are eight questions to include in your interview that should spark life into the process and get you the information you need to conduct a revealing interview.

1. I am assuming, you’ve been given a lot of information about our organization and role. Given what you’ve learned, why are you interested in working here?
2. Why are you a pleasure to work with?
3. Why are you a challenge to work with?
4. What do you hope to accomplish in the first six months in this role?
5. Give me an example of a mistake you made and how you rectified it.
6. What is your strategy on the first day of work?
7. How did you get to know the people in your current or last role?
8. What type of feedback will you need from me as your manager?

The answers to the questions will reveal lots of information about your potential employee. For example:
Question 1 tells you if they did their research and prepared for the meeting. It will also tell you a bit about how they approach work.
Questions 2 & 3 identify how much they know themselves and if they are secure in their skills.
Questions 4 & 5 let you know if they plan well, how they think, and what they will contribute.
Questions 6 & 7 reveal how they work with a team and what their leadership qualities are
Question 8 reveals how they will work with you.
Nathalie Heywood-Smith
Nathalie Heywood Smith has created and executed thought leadership, reputation management and social media programs. She has helped professionals transition into new careers, graduates embark on their career journey and executives position
themselves for emerging growth. Former Vice President at Update Inc., she started the division Update Creative and directed all business development and strategy for the recruiting firm.
Come see Nathalie moderate our speaker panel on their career journeys on Sept 29 in NYC at In-House Perspectives 2.

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