Keeping good staff.

Arguably the hardest part of running a design studio is managing other people. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted. On one hand we want creativity and thinking outside the box. On the other we want reliability and consistency. It’s fair to assume that the two are mutually exclusive.

How to retain good staff was the topic of discussion at a regular breakfast meetup I host for Melbourne designers. The experiences and perspectives shared were invaluable.  I think the insights can be catergorised in four ways:

Flexibility

Everyone agreed building job flexibility is paramount to maintaining a designer’s interest. Flexibility needs ranged from the ability to leave early for school pickup to setting up a remote workspace.

Delight turned to dismay for one design studio owner when he realised his senior designer’s pregnancy would have severe ramifications for his studio. Fast forward nine months and the designer now works from home at a time that suits her new lifestyle. It’s a perfect result. Far from being a disadvantage, she’s now the most valuable employee, and it’s fair to assume she feels a greater level of loyalty to the studio.

Another studio gives designers flexibility by delegating responsibility wholeheartedly. They refer to each designer as ‘mini businesses’ within the larger business. As well as design, designers are responsible for all communication, client satisfaction and budgets. Why set up your own studio when you have that flexibility within the safety of a weekly income?

Honesty and transparency

Most would agree the best relationships are based on honesty: there is no reason for the owner/employee relationship to differ.

Early in my career I was taught that a studio is only as good as its suppliers and experience has shown these are wise words indeed. Problem is, in the new disruptive world, you don’t have much time to build loyalty and trust. Sometimes we need immediate access to new skills and that means finding suppliers that can expand our services and support our studio, quickly.

One design studio truncated the process by starting a supplier relationship with an informal get-to-know-you lunch. Being away from the studio made it more personal and a perfect opportunity to understand the other’s culture and values. A great foundation for a strong relationship.

Similarly, the same studio regularly shares the ‘true’ budget when talking to suppliers. Understanding resources means suppliers can tailor their pitch to suit. That saves both a lot of dancing around numbers and means energy can be spent where it matters.

Managing expectations

Everyone thought clarity, and the value of managing expectations was invaluable – what was interesting is how we all approched it differently. For example, one studio has built clarity on a set of honed job descriptions. Defining roles and responsibilities early and revisiting them often, means less chance of anyone ‘assuming’ incorrectly. 

A less positive example was related by a long-term employee of a studio. After taking on a senior management role for a number of years, she assumed her position may lead to part ownership. Unfortunately she was proven incorrect when the studio was merged with another and another designer appeared ‘above’ her in the hierarchy. 

Managing expectations is fundamental to keeping good designers. No-one likes uncertainty and managing expectations means everyone knows what to expect and when to expect it. Many issues can be addressed before they become problems.

Reward people

Sometimes the most obvious answers are ones seen least: keep good staff by rewarding for a job well done.

Reward people for their work, often. Let them know their work is appreciated. Studio owners often gripe that client’s don’t appreciate our efforts but then we perpetuate the problem by not showing our appreciation inhouse.

It doesn’t need to be money, it can be a small gesture or verbal acknowledgement of the effort made. One designer related how she saw the difference first hand working at three different companies. All were about the same size, doing the same type of work for the same sort of clients. Of the three companies, one had a management that focused on people, not just results and that made all the difference. She felt well-rewarded: sometimes it was a note of gratitude, or an invitation to a management meeting as acknowledgement she could add something or simply being included in the team’s celebratory drinks. All had the same result, she felt rewarded.

Take home point

During a 90-minute discussion, money was never was suggested as a way to keep good staff. In the combined experience of 17 creative studio owners, flexibility, honesty, transparency, managing expectations and rewarding accomplishments are proven methods to keep good staff. Purely increasing a salary was not.

Isn’t that interesting?

 

Want to share your point of view? I’m all ears. Please feel free to email me.

Want more information like this? Subscribe to get weekly Design Business Review articles, Australia’s only online design management magazine. It’s professional development information written specifically for Australian designers by Australian designers.

Carol Mackay

Carol’s design expertise is in making the complex simple. Her skill is in packaging complicated content into bite-sized chunks of information to be easily understood and digested. 2018 is a big year for Carol. Thirty-three years after founding Mackay Branson design, she transistioned from client-focused projects to use her skills with the Design Business Council, and The Design Business School.

Bored, disengaged designers.

Sometimes managing a studio is a little like being the entertainment director of the P+O Cruise ship ‘Designer‘. It often falls on the studio manager to keep designers engaged, motivated and focussed. And that’s no mean feat, especially (as a business owner) having a stable of loyal, long-term clients is preferable to a revolving door of new experiences and new briefs.

I think I found a solution…

We all know the 80/20 rule: 80% of our business comes from the top 20% of clients. For a business owner that is gold. It means repeat business from a select group of clients you can get to know well. The studio can form a close relationship with the client, their business and their product. More knowledge makes each design just that little bit easier, which means less time and more profit which equals positive cash flow. All good.

Our industry is obsessed with the shiny over the profound – Tom Goodwin

On the other hand…

Is it unfair to say that designers are often drawn to the new and the shiny? Perhaps. But it’s not unfair to say a designer’s motivation often differs to that of a studio owner. Designers want to try new things, take risks and explore options and that’s not always possible with long-term clients.

The studio self-promotion postcard.

In my former life at Mackay Branson design, we used self-promotion postcards as a bridge between the focus of long-term projects and the need for designers to explore. It worked brilliantly.

Designers (including me) that were often buried in corporate reports (designed to strict branding guidelines) relished the challenge of designing a 10 x 15cm postcard. Similarly, clients who rarely got snail-mail loved receiving a postcard that was often funny and always engaging. It was not unusual to see a year’s worth of postcards pinned to a client’s office wall.

Added bonus: it was the perfect way to demonstrate we had ‘other’ talents clients may not have seen.

Staying top of mind

As a studio owner, I aimed for continual contact with clients, to remain top of their mind. That’s why we designed postcards focussed on specific days that were sprinkled throughout the year. For the cost of a short-print run and a stamp, clients would hear from us around every three months.

Our personalised, printed Christmas card (that had an ROI many, many times over any other promotion – a topic for another article another time) was always followed up with an Australia Day postcard. It did depend who was in the studio, but we often did Valentine’s Day, and always Anzac Day. We sometimes did Queens Birthday, and usually Melbourne Cup.

We did awareness weeks and not-for-profit days. Some were profound, many were obscure and they changed from year to year. May the fourth – Star Wars Day (aaah, suddenly the image makes sense) wasn’t around then but I think it’s a monty for a postcard concept. It would bring a smile to any clients face.

Take away

Ultimately it is each designer’s responsibility to keep themselves motivated, but it can be difficult during an extensive project designed to branding guidelines. We proved promotional postcards are a great way to bring spontaneity into the studio. They’re fun, small side-projects. We often briefed the whole studio, giving them a three hour deadline. After much discussion, the ‘winning’ concept was printed.

It proved a win:win.

Got a question? Want to share your point of view? Please feel free to email me.

Want more information like this? Subscribe to get weekly Design Business Review articles, Australia’s only online design management magazine. It’s professional development information written specifically for Australian designers by Australian designers.

Carol Mackay

Carol’s design expertise is in making the complex simple. Her skill is in packaging complicated content into bite-sized chunks of information to be easily understood and digested. 2018 is a big year for Carol. Thirty-three years after founding Mackay Branson design, she is moving from client-focused projects to use her skills with the Design Business Council, and The Design Business School.