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How to Get More Ideas From Your Agency Team

Recently I spoke at the Austin CTO Summit about lessons from my article, Why Your Programmers Just Want To Code. I wanted attendees to feel a strong connection between programmer motivation and an environment where everyone’s idea matters. Of course, these ideas don't just apply to programmers, but to any business staff. Let me unpack how the demonstration I used at the conference can help you get more ideas from your agency team. Shall We Play A Game? My talk was only twenty minutes, so I designed a simple ten minute exercise to create an environment for a simulation. To simulate “real life”, I asked each person to write their title and the number of conferences (known as their ConferenceLevel) on a 3x5 card. Titles were given a numeric score from 5 (VP) to 1 (Programmer), and ConferenceLevel was scored from 3 (Expert Attendee) to 1 (Novice Attendee). They were then given two minutes to write their one best idea for improving next year’s conference on a 3x5 card. After they wrote their idea, I presented the rest of the game: 1.The goal of the game is the find the people with the best and worst ideas. 2. People would exchange their card with a stranger, where each scored the other’s idea. 3. The range of scores was -5 (very bad) to +5 (very good). Players were told to defend their idea in hopes their score would be changed. 4. Players were also told to be as objective as possible in scoring, so we could find the best idea. 5. Each person’s score would be calculated with the formula: TotalScore = IdeaScore * ((ConfLevel* 1.4) + (Title * 2.2)) 6. Each person was told they [...]

What is the Purpose of a Leadership Team?

A great leadership team and the right leadership team aren’t always the same thing. Finding what is the purpose of a leadership team and how to fill it is difficult for many agency owners. Often, business leaders think they can fill executive positions with their best employees. Sometimes that works, but most of the time these teams of super-producers fail to replicate their success in the C-suite. Companies do not need their best employees at the top; they need their best leaders running the show. Unfortunately, Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report reveals only seven percent of polled executives put their rising millennial talent through leadership development programs. To build a more successful company, leaders must rethink how they build a leadership team. As You Build a Leadership Team, Who Belongs at the Top? Usually, young companies build a leadership team by developing informally and oftentimes too soon. Someone stands out as the go-to person for solutions, and that person gradually has more say in how the business operates. As the business grows, this informal arrangement becomes insufficient to meet the company’s evolving needs. Although growth necessitates formalized leadership roles, too many leaders get hung up on titles. They default to promoting department heads, elevating everyone without consideration for their circumstances. Does a department head who supervises just one person deserve a spot at the table? Maybe they do, but it depends on the skills and drive of the individual—not his or her current title. Who puts the team first? Which person considers the bigger picture when making decisions? Among the team, who offers innovative solutions and demonstrates personal accountability? What is the purpose of a leadership team head in general? Perhaps department heads [...]