If you’re like most business owners, you focus on your accounts and clients.  The bottom line, after all, is important.  But have you considered the impact your agency’s culture has on that bottom line?  What kind of culture do you think you have?  What would your clients say? Your employees? Entrepreneur asked me to write about agency culture and the things you can do to take charge of your culture and create an employee engagement strategy that will do more than improve the bottom line.  Do you have a strategy to not only improve your culture but that is a continual challenge to keep improving it?  I’d love to hear your stories!

Social media has had a real impact on not only our ability to communicate but how we communicate.  Emoticons, twitter sized 140 character thoughts, tiny urls, etc.  The “ease” of communication has also led to a decline in how to communicate.  How prepared is your team when it comes to sending an email, writing a report, or giving written feedback?  And how often can you lay miscommunication at the feet of just plain bad writing? I wrote the following article for Under 30 CEO about why good writing matters and how to ensure every person on your team is a good writer.  Is this a focus for your team?  Is this something you just assume? Or have you taken steps to incorporate it into your staff training?  Tell me your stories!

Your people are your agency’s largest asset.  They’re also your biggest investment.  Despite that — most agencies do not have an actual plan for attracting, retaining and growing the right people.  And they certainly don’t have guidelines for how to know when someone isn’t making the cut. I wrote an article for the Washington Post to give some guidelines for creating and maintaining a plan for staffing that will allow you to maintain your work flow without putting your business at risk. What about your business?  Do you have a way to keep your staffing needs in line with your business goals?  I’d love to hear your experiences.  

The staffing model for agencies has changed dramatically over the past decade.  It used to be that everyone has to be under one roof, working the same hours and available for face-to-face conversations at all times.  But now with remote employees, flex time and work from home options, how you build your team is very different.  How do you know when you’re ready for another full time team member or if it would be better to go part-time, freelance or partner with someone else? HR.com asked me to walk you through how to build your team in the both the most cost and work load effective ways.  Ultimately there is no one right answer, but developing a strategy for your hiring process can save you and your staff time and your business money. How do you evaluate your team hiring needs?  I’d love for you to read the article and let me know what you think.