By Noor Naseer, VP of media innovations and technology, Basis Technologies
The talent roller coaster in 2024 has many advertising executives thinking about talent management. With big tech layoffs, return-to-work policies, the Great Resignation slow burn, quiet vacationing behavior, and the struggles with finding and keeping talent, agency leaders have a lot to reconcile to end the year strong.
A core part of my role is engaging and consulting clients and peers. So far this year, I connected with over 100 agency C-suite leaders across the U.S. to hear about their priorities, what’s been challenging them and their outlooks for the future.
A recurring thread in conversations has been about talent and leadership. Even with 2020 and staying-at-home in the rearview, the ‘forever changed’ nature of how we work has transformed the expectations of talent and how to best motivate them. Here are observations from agencies today.
Inauthentic communication kills company morale.
Without authentic threads of communication, trust breaks down between executive leaders and their teams.
“If you get in the habit of saying what you want employees to believe without addressing observable challenges that exist in an organization, employees will notice that quick,” said one media agency leader.
Canned statements or an inability to keep a pulse of the talent base won’t bode well when trying to connect with employees or showcase trustworthy leadership.
“Delivering the message that you want people to believe doesn’t mean they’ll believe it,” said another agency executive.
Leadership is under monumental pressure to deliver messages of change management. That may require addressing bubbling misconceptions that could be nipped in the bud if not left neglected.
Smart leaders don’t pretend to know-it-all.
It’s common for leaders to avoid tough questions they don’t want to address — true even in forums like Ask Me Anything town halls.
When pressing questions are met with unclear or evasive responses, teams are left worse off, feeling disrespected or ignored. A byproduct of those feelings can be demotivation, gossip and approaching work with low interest.
If leaders pretend to have insight into market or competitive dynamics that they can’t possibly have perspective on, they lose trust and respect.
Know-it-all leaders are both ineffective and toxic.
An agency president said: “When there’s company-wide calls, there’s the meeting itself, and then the meeting after-the-meeting where employees share their thoughts with candor. Executive leaders aren’t invited to those.”
Leaders can create trust by sharing why an answer can’t be provided at the moment, other variables that are being factored that employees don’t have visibility into, or what the timeline looks like to sharing more information.
Transparency around purpose of policy
Every company has its own workplace needs and must find a way to explain why it’s enforcing its slate of policies. Are you 100% remote, 100% in office, hybrid? Why so? And when can employees work from home? Hiding the truth can backfire.
What does enforcing a policy enable? How does it benefit the company? How does it benefit and impact employees? These are questions that both executive leaders and managers need to administer.
Messaging needs to trickle down to front line and operational teams, but the C-suite are not the ones that typically assess the impact and receptivity to policy.
As one agency leader points out: “If there’s upside for them, make it abundantly clear what that is.”
Make space for growth of top talent
There’s a massive gap between how companies view their talent and how the talent views themselves.
Over 60% of employers believe their companies offer ample growth opportunities, while only a third of workers agree that they do.
Commitment to ensuring the learning and growth of people at work can better position organizations to face marketplace shifts and advancements that will demand more skilled talent.
“Top talent want to maximize their potential. They won’t stick around if the opportunities that align with development and growth aren’t happening organically or being created,” says an agency CEO with whom I spoke. “Both their future and the future of the workplace need to be minded simultaneously.”
Utilizing AI’s for efficiency
Despite all the fear, uncertainty and doubt, AI is not going to completely replace humans at agencies.
The main benefit agency leaders want from AI is efficiency. Many professionals working in these spaces consistently state that they and their teams are inundated with repetitive, simple, low-value labor. This type of work, while necessary for the media and creative process, does not truly showcase the value that agencies bring.
Competing in the market means less time on low-value tasks and more time on strategy, critical thinking and impactful decision-making. It can lead to more time for teams to flex their talent and value.
Utilizing AI to automate portions of the agency’s workflow impacts scale and capacity, but not in a way that reduces headcount – or so agency leaders tell me. They see it as a solution for growth and keeping their teams stimulated and excited, rather than just trying to keep up in the market and reduce costs.
Leadership teams feel it’s critical to spend time strengthening and growing talent. This is the base from which their organizations can thrive. As much as they want to learn and better understand the minutiae of industry issues and problems, the number one problem to solve for is how to better partner with their own talent with shared goals in mind. In a people-driven business such as advertising and media, talent is the differentiator.