Reflections on the Future

At the end of the year we often look backwards and what we accomplished. For me, in a personal blog that I write, December 31st always has an entry looking back on the year that was, recapping the great and not-so-great times that will define the year for me.

For leaders, this kind of reflection is important, not only for ourselves but for our Creatives. The most obvious example of this is the dreaded performance review (which shouldn't be dreaded if done right). At some point we need to look back at the goals we set for our employees and determine if they met them or not. That sets the stage for the goals we set for their future.

The same goes for us individually. It helps to look back at the goals we set for ourselves, the standards we established for the job we do, and decide if we lived up to all that. If so, fantastic. If not, we need to look at where we fell short. This doesn't have to be something we publicize; it's probably better if we don't, to encourage a little more honesty in our reflecting.

As we look backwards, though, that can't just be an end unto itself. Once you're done looking over your shoulder, turn your head to the front again and see what lies ahead of you. Ask yourself where you want to be at this time next year. What challenges do you see coming up? What opportunities? Are you even close to doing what you want to be doing, or do you need to make a big shift? Or would a little minor tweaking suffice? Or for that matter, should you simply stay on your current course?

This kind of reflection may seem self-indulgent, and for leaders who are facing daily deadlines, or who are still in the mad swirl of the holiday season, it might seem like the time for this just doesn't exist. If that's the case, then make the time.

As leaders we have responsibilities that will only be met by taking the time for careful, honest thought about what we've done, what we're doing, and what we plan to do. We're responsible to the owners of the firm, be they shareholders, or our bosses, or even ourselves, for making this business as profitable as possible. We have a responsibility to our clients and customers, to provide them with the service or product for which they're paying. We have a responsibility to our Creatives, who are looking to us to create an environment in which their contributions will be meaningful. And, we should never forget, we have a responsibility to ourselves, to make sure we're enjoying our professional lives, in part by doing a good job in which we can take a lot of satisfaction, and in part by being honest with ourselves about what job we actually want to be doing in the first place.

You can do this reflection at any time, of course, and it doesn't have to be only on an annual basis, or only at this time of year. But since we often use this time of year as a time for reflecting on what's come before, let's give equal thought to what is yet to come.

Back to Work

With most of the "Capital H" holidays receding behind us, many of your minions have probably returned to work. If you gave your Creatives some time off -- and if you didn't, then "Bah, humbug!" to you -- they'll be floating back to work amid a chorus of "how was your Christmas?" and "I have GOT to get to the gym after all that." It may be a couple days until they return their full focus to the job at hand. And that's OK.

The holidays tend to disrupt your Creatives' work effort. It's a time of distraction, and for folks who've been immersed in a fog of creativity, it can be difficult to step out for some eggnog and then jump right back in. Your Creatives need to be in the right frame of mind in order to produce, so don't be too surprised if it takes them a couple days to get back into it full-force. If you can, try to hold off on the intense demands for now...there's time for that soon enough.

Of course, it's also true that some of your Creatives never really got out of their creative frame of mind even during the maddest of the mad days of December. Every walk through the mall gave them ideas for fashion or hair or advertising, every drive through the neighborhood's ongoing light displays brought to mind images and ideas they can use in their work. Some people never turn off their creative brains. And we love them for it.

So, you'll have some folks who've come up with great ideas and who couldn't wait to get back to work, while others tuned out for a bit and are just now restarting them. There are liable to be a few days where those two groups need to sync up, so don't try to force people back into pre-Christmas productivity...give them a little time to readjust.

That said, don't be afraid to start beating them mercilessly NEXT week. Like usual.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all our readers. Hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday today.

Remember, Leading Creatives resumes its regular schedule on Monday, December 28th. See you then!!

Happy Holidays!!!

The Leading Creatives crew is going to take a little break for the holidays. Between visitors, shopping, party planning, baking, and lots of decorating (this is a creative bunch, after all!) the next couple weeks are going to be insanely busy. So enjoy your Hanukah, your Yule, your Christmas, and we'll see you back here on Monday, December 28th.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Gift Giving

Diversity Magazine recently ran a piece on gift giving in the office that had some very useful advice. Rather than retyping it all here, I'll just send you there.

But I'll add something they didn't discuss: I'm not sure giving gifts to your employees is such a good idea anyway. Unless you've got a very small group and you are willing to individualize the gifts, anything you do is likely to be too "one size fits all" when you give it. the article talks about that but then discusses ways around it. But I have to wonder if you really need to be giving gifts in the first place. Exchanging gifts is something that happens between friends and families...why should employers and employees do it? I'm not talking about Christmas bonuses, those are a way for your Creatives to share in the profits that they generated, and they're not exactly a gift...they're earned.

And here's something you want to consider: if you give gifts to your employees, are they going to feel obligated to get you something in return? After all, you're the boss, and they don't want to upset you for no good reason (upsetting you for a GOOD reason s another matter entirely). People already feel enough obligations during the holidays...do you need to add to that?

Do something nice for your employees, like maybe giving them some time off, but perhaps you should leave the gift giving for those who are closer to them.

A Meeting Space That's Right for Your Meeting

Holding a brainstorming session in a room that's set up for an inquisition might not get you the best results. Likewise, giving a formal presentation while everyone's in bean bag chairs isn't going to let you make your point very well. Those things are noisy.

Bottom line: when you set up for a meeting, do it in a way that helps you get the most out of it.

If you've got one or more experts coming in to give a presentation, or someone's providing an update on a project, then put that person somewhere obvious, where they can be the focus of attention. It's OK for the speaker to stand out, since the meeting's about them. Rows of seats with the speaker up front make sense. If people need to bring a lot of material with them, have tables.

If you've got a group giving updates, and it needs to be fairly structured (i.e., we need to know about A, and then B, which explains C, etc.) then putting people around a conference table works. If you've got a creative team that needs to know what other members of the team are doing, this kind of setting can help the conversation flow around the room.

When you're setting up for brainstorming, you might want to keep it casual. For instance, lose the table, but have a dry write board or someone typing on a wall-mounted screen. Non-structured seating arrangements help you avoid a sense of hierarchy, so that junior designer doesn't feel quite as intimidated when he or she has something to offer. Keep the focus off of any one individual so that it stays on the group as a whole.

This might sound like common sense, but we get into habits and it's hard to break out of them no matter how much sense it makes to do so. We have a room set up, and it doesn't occur to us to change it. Ask yourself: when was the last time you took the table out of your conference room? Have you ever purposely created a different seating style? Give it a shot.

You might think this is a pretty minor issue, and maybe it is. But if you're going to bring people together and take up their time, time that could be spent on other things, then you might as well get the most out of it. Something simple like the room where you get together can have a big impact on the usefulness of a meeting.

Of course, all of this presumes you actually NEED a meeting. We all know that sometimes we have too many meetings.

Cut Them Some Holiday Slack

The holidays are here and some stress can come with them. Sure, it's self-induced stress, as we do a lot to make other people happy...buying gifts, throwing parties, meeting for dinner, traveling, whatever. You need to realize that regardless of whether you like this season or not ("paging Mr Scrooge..."), your Creatives have other things on their minds right now. So cut 'em a little slack.

Consider giving your Creatives a little extra time off at this time of year. Give them a chance to buy some gifts, pick out a tree, decorate the house, or go grocery shopping. Ask yourself if there's really any reason people need to be working on Christmas Eve. Or December 31st? This isn't to suggest simply shutting down your firm, but merely giving people a little extra personal time if it doesn't lead to some critical failure on your company's part.

If you think about it, a lot of time spent at work right now might not actually be spent working. So how about making a deal with your Creatives: you'll let them take some extra personal time, and in return, when they're at work they're really working. No more shopping online, no more addressing Christmas cards or working on their holiday newsletter, but doing the job you pay them to do. Sound fair?

You'll often find that if you give people a little extra leeway when they need it, they'll put in some extra effort the rest of the time. They tend to be motivated to work for you if they know you appreciate what they do the other 11 months of the year, and by giving them some freedom now when they can use it, you also let them know you trust their judgement and professionalism.

Or, you could decide to just to stick with the regular workload and expect people to do their own stuff on their own time. But beware...you're likely to be visited by three ghosts...

Divide and Conquer

You've got a project coming due. The task requires multiple skills to get it done and numerous eyes to check the different parts and make sure they fit together. Because you're such a great recruiter of talent you've got a collection of Creatives who can tackle any challenge. They're all very talented in their primary skill and they know enough about what others do that they can function very smoothly as a team. With these folks working for you, how could you possibly screw it up?

Well trust me, it's easy. Just because you have the right people doesn't mean they have have the right leader.

When you have multiple people on a project you need to be the traffic cop that keeps them from running into each other. With all these talented people you need to make sure they know who's responsible for what so they put there skills to use in the combination that's best for you. Without a proper division of labor, you'll never accomplish all that you're capable of achieving.

A friend at a graphic design firm offered a good example. Tasked to create a website for an online retailer, a group of Creatives needed to handle background design, product presentation, textual contact, payment systems, and other artistic and practical matters. A good team was in place, but their boss had an unfortunate tendency to go back and forth with people individually, talking to them not only about their specialty, but about other aspects of the project as well. There had never been an effective "kick off" to the project, so nobody was really sure how they should divide up the work. When the boss talked to someone about some aspect of the project, that person figured it meant they were somehow responsible for it. At various times there were different versions of the site floating around as different people thought they were responsible for different things, and no one knew quite what was expected of them. The end result was a missed deadline, a website that required way too much debugging, and a visual experience that was unlikely to draw in new customers or attract repeat business.

How can you avoid this?

First, have a good start to the project by bringing the group together -- whether in person or electronically -- and spelling out the desired result of the project and a clear division of labor. Make sure people understand who's responsible for what. Encourage collaboration, but make it clear who is accountable for different aspects of the work. Get your people off to the right start.

Once the work is underway, make sure you stick to those lanes that you set at first. Don't go running off to Person A to ask about Person B's work, and don't be bouncing ideas off Person B that you should be discussing with Person C. Don't confuse your Creatives...they have enough to worry about.

If you find you need to make a change once the project's underway, then by all means do so. But if you do, you need to make that clear to everyone. Otherwise, you're liable to have multiple versions of a product being created, and the final result won't be as good as what you could have done if you'd kept everyone on their proper path.

You generally have enough work to go around; if you don't, you might have too many people working for you. Divide it up, task it out, then let people do what you've told them to do.

You can still screw up the project, but at least it won't be for this reason.

Give a Little Something Back

If you have your Creatives in one place, rather than scattered around the world, then consider giving a little something back to the community that supports you.

Volunteer work by companies is very helpful because he resources a company brings often exceed those of individuals. This isn't just about money...it's about talented people who can combine their skills into something powerful, something that can really help others.

There are many good ways to volunteer. You might offer your Creatives' services to a non-profit group. Maybe some of your employees could teach at a youth center or mentor students in their field at local high schools. Your hairstylists might do hair once every couple weeks at a battered spouses' shelter. Your opportunities are limited only by your creativity, and when you're leading Creatives, that shouldn't be a problem.

Why should you do volunteer work? Well, for one thing, it's just a nice thing to do. We're all part of a community (however we choose to define that community) and contributing to that is something responsible members of a community tend to do. Just think of it as a way to positively increase social capital where you live.

It's also a good way to build on existing skills or try something new. Your Creatives might hesitate to do something different with a paying customer and could feel more at ease testing it out as part of a volunteer opportunity. That doesn't mean you shouldn't provide bad work for a charity...if you mess something up, be sure to fix it before you leave! It's also a good chance to practice existing skills, especially those they might not use every day.

During the current recession those skills might be getting even less use, and your Creatives might have extra time on their hands. If possible you want to try not to let them go, since ultimately as business picks up you'd just be hiring them back (or, more likely, getting less experienced replacements). Volunteering offers one way for your Creatives to be productive even if they aren't being profitable.

Finally, it can be a good recruiting tool. Actively volunteering in your community suggests a company culture that is attractive to many people. It tells potential employees that there's more to your company than just making a buck, and a lot of people are looking for the opportunity to do more with their talent than simply make money for someone else.

Speaking of recruiting, you never know what the future holds for those people you help. You just might find a great new Creative in that group. Recruiting doesn't get much cheaper than that.

So give it a shot. At this time of year people tend to be filled with lots of good feelings...how about carrying that beyond December????