Remote-first is here to stay. It’s time for the agency culture to adapt.
Hands up who planned on redesigning their agency culture and ways of working this year?
Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things got weird recently and the world as we used to know it, changed overnight. You did? Oh good. This definitely wasn’t on the strategic plan for 2020.
Humans are social creatures, especially us creative agency-types. We thrive in buzzing studios, working alongside like-minded creatives. It feeds our souls. So what happens when the physical reality of that is no more? And the expensive inner-city studio is no longer the hub of agency life?
The new reality every business is facing, at least for the foreseeable future, is that of remote working. Zoom is the new town hall and Friday night drinks are the stuff of fairytales. So how do you maintain a creative agency culture in this new reality?
I asked the founders of seven of the most progressive digital, brand and retail agencies in London to join an experimental zoom call to discuss this topic.
Now I accept this is a counter-intuitive idea; collaboration and sharing amongst agencies. Risky, right? Your culture is your competitive advantage, why the hell would you share your secrets? Turns out sharing at this level is what everyone needed.
Real business concerns were voiced. Personal challenges admitted. Visionary ideas discussed. We only scratched the surface of the subject so we’re doing it again in two weeks’ time.
Chatham House rules applied so the names are confidential but I think it’s worth sharing the five key-takeaways from that discussion to help other creative leaders who might be experiencing the same challenges. You’re not alone.
1. Uncertainty is a killer for new business
The future of the economy is uncertain. It doesn’t take a math degree to work that out, and this it’s having a huge impact on new business. For those agencies working on long-term projects in finance, telco and public services, happy days. There’s a slow down for sure, but their current projects are still rolling out without any change in budget. Clients in these areas still need to invest in digital services, some even more so if they need to create new direct to consumer channels. Busy teams are happy teams.
However it’s not rosy for everyone. One agency specialising in retail design saw 70% of its orders for 2020 cancelled in the space of three days and had to furlough the majority of its 50-strong team back in March. Even with retailers slowly re-opening in June, this is going to take a monumental shift in new business to recover from and even then, clients may not be ready to spend.
Across the board, the biggest common challenge the agencies said they are facing is a lack of pipeline visibility for Q3/Q4. Unsurprisingly, clients have also had to put new projects on the back-burner because when you’re facing a global pandemic, getting BAU functioning is more important than redesigning that payment flow that’s on your backlog. We have to be patient.
“We never have much visibility on pipeline two or three months, max. But right now, we just don’t have a clue. So the uncertainty of that is the most challenging thing.”
We’re starting to see some glimmers of hope, but there’s generally fewer new projects to go around, less new business enquiries and lower budgets. Those people who do have projects ready to go are finding clients slow to sign on the dotted line. With three months of depressed new business, it’s going to be a tough year all round.
2. Client are in the same boat and still need outside help
It’s not all doom and gloom on the client front. Founders reported the quality of their conversations with clients were feeling more human and personal. Something to be expected when you’re peering into someone’s home rather than across a boardroom table.
Some have even found it easier to get new business meetings with busy clients who would normally leave them waiting in reception for half an hour. Not only that, clients are open and hungry for innovative ideas and solutions. With everyone stuck in a bubble, only talking to the people they work or live with, hearing from new voices is a refreshing change, welcomed by the majority. Now could be a really good time to reach out and make new connections as well as doubling down on existing relationships.
We’re also able to prove to clients that we can produce and deliver the same quality of work using remote collaboration tools like Miro, Mural or Figma.
“You know, we used to think that that kind of face-to-face interaction with clients was essential, and you just couldn’t operate without it. I think in the last couple of months, we’ve proven that we can do everything that we can do in a normal working day, or week, or month, remotely.”
Now you can’t beat a face-to-face workshop but we can expect clients to be even more receptive to remote collaboration and workshopping in the future, which will make distributed teams and distance working more of a cost-efficient option for everyone. On site work could be more of a rarity going forward.
3. Maintaining the buzz of agency life is harder
Zoom fatigue is real. The novelty factor has definitely worn off. Not just for teams, but also the leaders who must maintain company morale whilst navigating the unknown every week. That’s a tough gig when you’re struggling with your own motivation demons.
“I don’t know anyone else on here but I’m knackered and trying to be the upbeat one in the business, running virtual company updates and trying to make them fun every week is tiring.”
It’s becoming increasingly harder to maintain the fun factor in Friday afternoon all-hands meetings that worked so brilliantly in the studio. Some are struggling to keep it engaging, but admit that might be down to their own enthusiasm, rather than a flawed format.
However not everyone is experiencing this. Some cultures are thriving and the end of week catch-up is a social highlight everyone looks forward to. Ending the week together has become even more important. There was no secret ingredient shared for this success, but it sounded more fancy dress party than zoom funeral, so that’s a good start.
Those who have been experimenting have seen a positive response to shorter, more frequent, team meets focusing on different areas: lunch time project shares, focused company updates, and Friday social time. And the shorter, pointier structure also spreads the ‘buzz man’ load amongst the team which everyone can appreciate.
4. The role of the studio space is changing
With lockdown easing, return to work plans were a hot topic. Mid-June was the general consensus but only for those who can walk or cycle to work and want to return to the office. Lots of people are waiting to see what happens with public transport and work health and safety regulations before making a move to re-open. If you’re in an office on the 25th floor with a lift, how does social distancing work? There’s still many unknowns.
Allowing each project or team to book studio space 2–3 days a week for face-to-face meetings was floated, but what if the whole team is not onboard? Half remote, half in person doesn’t work. It’s all or nothing.
“I don’t think we’re ever going back,” was one of the bolder answers to the question of an anticipated return to work date. “I think we can do something different”. Now here’s some radical thinking.
“We don’t have the answer yet but we’re thinking about shifting to a creative space…connecting and collaborating would be the kind of mindset. If you want to spend a day a month in the office, or a day a week, you work it out. But it’s not like an office. It’s like just a space for creation. And if you want to work there, you can work there, but it’s really not the focus.”
That’s a massive shift away from where we were three months ago.
The role of the studio space is changing and this presents exciting opportunities. Firstly, you don’t need as big an office as before. A space that would once have served 20 people could now be used for 40 people so scaling headcount becomes cheaper and office costs could be reduced.
And if the studio isn’t the hub of agency life anymore, that opens up opportunities to hire talent outside of London, which has benefits for both the bottom line and employee satisfaction. One founder shared a story about a single mum-of-two who recently relocated to Brighton and is elated with the new enforced remote working as she can go paddle boarding at lunch times.
“Work is working for her because we were gonna do full remote with her anyway, but this has just removed all of that bias that other people in the studio might have had about it.”
This isn’t new thinking for outfits like Basecamp that have always had distributed teams, but for creative agencies that like to have bums on seats and cultivate a culture of ‘togetherness’, it’s revolutionary. The talent pool just got much, much bigger.
5. Remote-first is here to stay, but one size does not fit all
Some people are thriving with remote working. Less distractions, more deep working time, less commuting, more time with the family firmly in the pro remote working camp.
“Our strategy director is absolutely loving it and never wants to come back to the studio. She’s delivering incredibly good quality work because she’s getting those points of reflection between the meetings. When you actually think about it eight hours in an office every day for some roles is just incredibly distracting”
Another agency survey their staff and found 100% of their team wanted to keep some aspect of remote working going forward. Five days a week in the office could now be a thing of the past.
But not everyone is enjoying this enforced separation and remote working. If your job involves downloading large files, VPN problems are rife. Productivity aside, it’s especially hard on younger members of teams who are more likely to live in house-shares with less private space to go around.
“I’ve had zoom calls with people sitting in their baths as that’s the only private space they had left in their house. We can’t ask them to stay remote-first if that’s their working situation.”
Under 30s also gain the most from social connections in the office — for those of us who’ve been around a while, we still have friends from the agencies we worked with in our twenties. Those social bonds are important.
One agency noted that their programme of workshops for Mental Health Week received 50% more sign ups than previous years. Remote working and a lack of social contact is having an impact on mental health and that has to be taken into account as part of how we redesign work going forwards.
While some flourish, others flounder. It’s clear that one model of working will not suit everyone. Perhaps the only way to keep everyone happy is to put the choice in the hands of the employee? Let them design their own way of working.
“A personalised work experience that makes work, work for that individual rather than the only thinking about the collective.”
Now there’s an idea.
We have an opportunity to do better
Lockdown has accelerated the future of work massively. We have a unique opportunity to redesign how we work to make things better for everyone. And though it’s hard to be visionary when we’re suffering from creative fatigue, now is the time to experiment and dream bigger. We don’t have to go back to what it was. We can do better than that.
“It’s really about striking a blend about what you liked before and what you would like to do moving forward, given the fact that things have changed. I think that’s massively exciting.”
The way we think about company culture and our leadership behaviours also have to change. It’s not about free booze fridges, Friday night socials, summer parties and doing everything together. We have to become more trusting, more emotionally connected and find new ways of creating social ties.
“It used to be about doing things together. But it’s not necessarily about that. What if it’s about creating workplaces that work for individuals? And maybe that’s more important than doing everything together all the time.”
We don’t have all the answers. What works tomorrow might not work in 6 months time, but if we have a vision of what we want work and culture to feel like in 2 years time, then at least we’re consciously heading towards a better place.
As creative people leaders, that’s exciting as hell.
If you’re an agency founder and would like to be part of this community, join the waiting list here. There’s good things happening.
