Being a better agency
So a friend of mine recently gave me a book on mathematics which has got me thinking about stuff in new ways.
Early on in the book the author introduces the impact of linear relationships on how we reach conclusions about the rights and wrongs of situations.
So here’s a thought: Agencies increasingly understand that accountability is important in winning and retaining customers. Linear reasoning would say that
if a little accountability produced good results, then more accountability would produce even better results.
This is the “more is better”, linear way of thinking.
Now, what happens if you map employee engagement to agency accountability? Imagine a studio at the early stages of a relationship. Leadership is trying to introduce new processes and ways of working that are going to increase customer satisfaction and help grow the business.
Everyone is involved, working and learning together and trying to do a good job. My guess is this would help grow engagement.
The question I had was would employee engagement and agency accountability map in a linear way? If the effort and team-work to start increasing accountability brings about a positive-feeling leading to greater designer engagement then would further accountability initiatives lead to even greater engagement?
My guess is the reality is closer to the curve plotted in the chart above.
At a certain point, the extra effort, speed and transparency would begin to grate. As designers, we would begin to feel like the magic and specialness of what we do was being pushed to the side. Eventually, as the environment became more rigorous, life would begin to feel like being part of a sausage machine. Not what we signed-up for.
But this is just a thought, I could be wrong:-)
Have you experienced a strong design culture that survived growth challenges like this?
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