5 Things Agency Owners Don’t Know About Their Creative Agency Team

1. They are stuck creating the same “old thing”

One of the worst feelings as a creative in the digital or mobile space is when it feels like the industry is just passing you by. In the time it takes to finish one or two of the usual projects the industry takes another leap forward with new software, frameworks, services, devices, APIs, design patterns, and interactions. By branching out and trying new things the creative’s mind stays sharp and allows for better ideas and concepts.

2. They want to be working as well as learning

The place where you spend 8+ hours a day should be teaching you new skills, helping you develop the skills you already harness and giving you hands-on experience and progressing you as a designer. Leonard da Vinci once said “learning never exhausts the mind” and the mind is the soil where creativity grows.

3. It’s many designers’ ultimate goal to become the creative director

Being a creative director may not be for everyone, but for many, it is their ultimate goal. Ensure you consistently feed that desire to grow by allowing them to work on varying projects (changing up who leads) and include them in different HR functions so they can build their confidence and portfolio. As long as there are learning and growing they will do good work and want to stay with your agency.

4. Creatives are cutting corners to deliver what the account executive promised

In this day and age the business of ad agencies is very competitive and thus salespeople are not only motivated but incentivized to win business. This sometimes pushes the sales people to offer solutions that are outside the box of your regular scope for the standard budget puts the pressure on the design team to bridge the gap causing them to cut corners that not only go against their design standards but also undermines their motivation.

5. The team wants to feel appreciated

Creative teams put in significant time to complete projects by a deadline. Without individual recognition, a team member may feel his/her individual contributions are irrelevant, unimportant and invisible. Without team recognition, cohesion is much more difficult to maintain, as the focus is directed away from the team’s accomplishments. Recognize the rockstars on your team and the collective team as a whole to keep them motivated and to celebrate their contributions to your success.

This article was contributed by former Function Point team member, Jeremy Nichvalodof.