Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Managing Creative Talent: Horses For Courses

Brainstorm
Horses for courses (British & Australian expression): Choosing suitable people for particular activities, because everyone has different skills. "Ah well, horses for courses. Just because a plumber can mend your washing machine, it doesn't follow that they can mend your car as well."
A small disclaimer before we get into Hurt Feelings. The following is not meant in total seriousness or sincerity, if for no other reason than I have been creative talent myself, and my best friends do this work. I also do not really know all that much about horses, or have any great like, or dislike, for them. Having said that...
If you ever find yourself with the great privilege that is managing a group of copy or design pros, you will find it to be a unique managerial challenge. Personality traits are much more likely to be part of the mix than in any other department, and the product of their professional work is more dependent on their mental state than most. You will also find a great mix of work requests, from template to breakthrough, or tried and true to break the mold. Which means that a good team contains...
1) War horses -- day in, day out workers who are capable of feats of great strength and low glamour.
Advantage: The warhorse stops for nothing. Durable, dogged, able to grind through tedious revisions and multiple executions. If you are running a shop that delivers on deadline and/or does many variations for different markets or seasonality, you might only have these folks on staff. (They also might not be suitable for traditional agencies.)
Disadvantage: A steady diet of tedious tasks will blunt the artistic edge of, well, anyone. Warhorses that are mistreated tend to go into engineering or management. (That is what we call a tell, folks.) In addition, when it comes to pure art or words, the warhorse is at a severe disadvantage against other pros.
How to handle: Do not let your warhorse know that their primary utility is the work ethic, as no one ever got into creative because they dreamed of working crazy hours. Give them low-leverage trick horse or race jobs from time to time to stretch their legs, but do not give them too much slack. Warhorses with time on their hands get excessively nervous about their job security, since it seems like everyone can just soldier on and get through a tough situation. (This is actually Not True At All, especially with creatives. Keep some of the types listed in this article at their desks past 50 hours a week, and all you will get is weak work, worse QA, and fast turnover. Moving on.)
2) Trick horse -- Innovative pros who are only happy when they are overcoming obstacles, through either experiments or moments of genius.
Advantage: Most likely to give you a great idea in a brainstorm, beat a control, or profitably break a template.
Disadvantage: Might need those hurdles to maintain interest in a project, and go off the brief to create the kind of situation where they are most comfortable. Turnover can be quite high if not properly managed.
How to handle: Make it very clear when innovation is, and is not, merited. Make sure to make space in projects to keep them occupied, and also keep a side list of "rainy day" projects (Q4 designs out of season is a good start) to refresh their batteries for when they've had to run in a straight line.
3) Thoroughbred -- high speed, cost and maintenance pros who are part of your biggest wins (and losses). What most people think of as creative.
Advantage: On the right day and track, frankly awesome to watch, and can do the kind of work that breaks down doors and gets people remembered and promoted.
Disadvantage: Can be temperamental, unable or unwilling to adapt to new conditions, and fail to improve the team dynamic and atmosphere. Usually do not do well with a very high workload.
How to handle: With enough deference that shows the talent is recognized, but not so much as to give the rest of the team the sense that they are all secondary players. In my experience, thoroughbreds also react well to light managerial training and responsibilities, as it compliments their method, rather than just their execution.
4) Dressage -- Disciplined high-art / concept folks who bring strict standards and training to their work. Typically bring advanced degrees to the table.
Advantage: Will keep a project on point with a discerning eye that ensures consistent standards. Portfolio level work comes from them routinely.
Disadvantage: Poor flexibility, throughput and speed, and can be a challenge to morale. If v1 never looks different from v2, you are working with dressage.
How to handle: Try to bring their good points to the rest of the team, while limiting the influence that they might have on deadline or low-leverage work. Dressage-style pros tend to gravitate to the same kind of jobs, whether it is branding, public relations releases, or any other single patron position.
So if you find yourself unable to relate to your team, going through a lot of personnel turnover, or on a performance plateau... maybe you just aren’t running them on the right courses.
Oh, and one last thing: do not ever tell them what horse you think they are. Because they will think the whole thing is demeaning, or spend too much time trying to be something they are not…
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Connect with me personally on LinkedIn. You can check out my agency's blog at Marketing and Advertising Direction. The site has a growing number of posts and free content that you can use to improve your campaigns. I am sure that you will find it worth your time.
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