Nothing Will Ever Change

I spend a lot of time with folks in agencies who are dealing with their fair share of grief.

Well maybe it isn’t fair. Or are they getting what they deserve?

Things aren’t going well: things are late, over budget or wrong; disagreements, arguments, or the ever-popular passive-aggressive collaboration.

Finger pointing. Blame game. No one accepts responsibility for anything.

Email folders brimming with CYA and little bombs you or a coworker are just waiting for the right moment to drop.

Stop it. What a waste of time.

I will tell you what’s wrong. Lack of leadership. Lack of clear direction. Mixed signals. And a staff that has become so jaded that they. . . Just. Don’t. Care.

My ex used to say, “Not to decide is to decide.” Awesome insight from someone who didn’t have much initiative. And yet, so true. If you don’t make a decision to act, it will be done for you – in one way or another.  

If there’s anything I have learned in all these years is that things will change. If you’re not part of initiating change, then what you are about to experience is a result of it. Then you feel like a victim of it.

You have no room to bitch. Sorry. 

When you sit back and wait for everything to get better, it won’t. Your days at work will remain shitty. And you can just sit there and keep on complainin’.

So, when an opportunity comes along to do something to improve how things work, get off your chair and give it a try.

Do not tell me that it’s too hard, too much work, it’s been tried before, it won’t matter anyway. . .

And tell your manager to get on the stick. They have a job to do too.

Things will never change is a lament for losers.

And truthfully, nothing stays the same way forever. Be a part of making things better. The alternative is that you get fired for being lazy or the agency goes out of business because no one cares.

There, it was decided for you.

Are You Happy At Work?

I’ve been thinking about happiness at work recently. I dwell on this a lot actually. I dwell because I’m usually called upon to work with clients who are experiencing challenges. Projects are late, over budget, clients are beating up the AEs regularly (and the AEs are allowing it), and everyone is generally pissy.

pepsi commercial 1974

So I recalled an article I read a few months back on economywatch.nbcnews.com about Ken Bernanke tracking happiness.

What? He’s tracking happiness? Maybe he should stick to tracking the economy, gifts to banks – and bankers, and well, I don’t have to tell you…

From the article:

"The Federal Reserve chairman said Monday that gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation is low or unemployment high. Economics isn't just about money and material benefits, Bernanke said. It is also about understanding and promoting "the enhancement of well-being."

So the article goes… "The Kingdom of Bhutan has been tracking happiness for four decades. The tiny Himalayan nation stopped tracking gross national product in 1972 and instead switched to measuring Gross National Happiness."

Just like out there in that big old world, when you get really local – like right there, in your office – there are measurements that must be taken and reviewed. It’s how you get the best out of everyone, eliminate (at least reduce) frustration, and just make it a better place to work. 

The article goes on to say:

“Bernanke's own definition of happiness might baffle anyone without an advanced degree. He called it a "short-term state of awareness that depends on a person's perceptions of one's immediate reality, as well as on immediate external circumstances and outcomes."”

Which also in itself a caution: don’t make it complicated. Happiness at work is simple:

Do your employees feel they have some control over the processes and outcome? And if not, perhaps it’s time to fix that.

And maybe start with: is anyone happy?

Of course I had to add kids and puppies. It's so simple.

This Blog Is Not About You - And It Is

Just like they say on Law & Order, ripped from the headlines. Well, not really.

I write about what I have experienced first-hand. Then I put it into the context of a functioning agency or department (actually how they should function if they’d just get with the program); how to make things better; what is unacceptable; and pretty much, what I think.

Basically the joy – and danger of blogging.

Every day, every interaction, every lame-brain thing that happens in an agency or marketing department is actually not about you specifically.

Really?

Well, there truly isn’t anything I haven’t seen - related to the daily trials and tribulations of an agency. So when I write about something, I may have been reminded about it by a recent experience. But I can guarantee, with absolute certainty, that I have personally experienced it. More. Than. Once.

What is utterly remarkable about my experience and what I write about is the fact that everything is unremarkable.

What is utterly remarkable about that, is that I see all this crap everywhere, and one would think we’d all learn from one another and not make the same annoying – and expensive – mistakes. Repeatedly.

So that’s why I write about stuff that you think is about you. Because it is. And it isn’t.

Go ahead, toss me a nugget. Tell me about something that is troubling your agency or department, and:
I’ll tell you if [that] I’ve experienced it
I’ll diagnose the cause
I’ll tell you how to fix it

Bet’cha can’t stump me, because after 35 years, there truly are no surprises.

Features Training vs User Training On Software - They Are Not The Same

Let me guess, you just got new software in your agency – to manage your agency. Everything from job forms, SOW, and briefs to project management, collaboration, accounting and billing .You were trained in a two- to five-day session and now you’re LIVE!

Oh, for cripes sakes. More software? Please. Shoot. Me. Now.

Do you remember anything? Was there so much thrown at you that, now that it’s up and running, you don’t even know where to start with that great Agency Management and Productivity Solution?

Maybe you were trained on all the features, but not how you actually should use the software specifically for your workflow.

Way back when, there was someone in your agency who decided it was time to get out of email, Excel, Google Docs, Basecamp, a free timesheet app, and whatever accounting program you were using – and use one comprehensive program – that is more efficient by gathering everything in one database.

But to make the software really work for you, it has to be customized to your needs, and training absolutely must be tailored to your particular workflow.

That’s how training sticks. It needs to be relevant to your needs, the way you do things, and addresses the pain you endured.

In other words, it has to fix stuff. Make life at work better.

Every agency is slightly different, in structure, roles and responsibilities, culture and . . . compliance.

Merely buying, installing, getting an on-site (or online) overview (aka training) of everything the software does is fine – but that brief approach is the path to workarounds, maintaining old systems (just in case), low adoption and worse, software implementation failure.

Change isn’t easy. Giving up old ways is hard if the shiny new thing doesn’t relate in any way to the way you work.

Your workflow may be entirely screwed up, or non-existent – then you need a structured solution to get you on track. But that doesn’t happen via plug ’n play.

The best way to ensure success is to clearly define problems, review roles and responsibilities, map out your current workflow, review current documents, then find a solution that will work for your agency. Some tools are replacements, and some introduce new processes. It’s all designed to get you on track and make you more profitable. At the very least, you should emerge from training with a real sense of which tools to use, and how to use those tools for your specific workflow.

Need help? Contact me. The first call is free.

Quit Your Damn Lying

I can’t even believe I’m saying this. Quit your damn lying. You know who you are – the driven, talented creatives and strategists who offer up to a client – “sure, we'll get that to you today” – and you haven’t checked to see if there is anyone available to get that revision done, and it’s just a quick fix anyway, and you’ll just go to the designer and sit over their shoulder while they ‘knock it out.’

For only $25.95 you can get this shirt from Zazzle to wear to client meetings. 

Or perhaps you go into a client meeting with absolutely no idea how much that awesome creative will cost to produce and say, “sure, we can do that for ten-dollars apiece” – because you’re too arrogant to accept the fact that the client had a ten-dollars-apiece budget, but they should never do anything that cheap because it – in your opinion – doesn’t fit the “brand.” Then you get to do it all over again, and you wasted a big chunk of time chasing your dream to get in CA.

Give me a break. It makes everyone look like idiots. You are not a hero for giving your client something on a RUSH, especially when they didn’t even ask for it right away. You are certainly not a hero for presenting something to a client they cannot – or will not – pay for.

Get the client excited for amazing and fast, then give them mediocrity.

I have seen this happen repeatedly in agencies and marketing departments. There is no excuse for lying… except for the fact that the individuals who lie have no spine, no ability to be creative on a budget, no idea how to work with a client, do not care about the agency as a business, and actually think they know better than everyone else.

Those people are not talented, driven, creative or strategic.

Those people cost your agency tons – in time, money and reputation.

Those people have tiny. little. balls.

The Best Place To Work - Or Is It?

I answered a post in a LinkedIn group about a Fast Company article about companies finally getting into the the Best Places To Work list. 

I was the first to post, and I admit, I'm jaded. So this was my response. (please note that I used Great instead of Best - my bad. I followed with another post to correct it. But it all means the same thing. Or perhaps Great isn't as good as Best. You decide.) 

Here's the post: 

Oh my, I'm going to sound like a kill-joy, but I have to go with what I have experienced... 

I truly believe in a great place to work. I have worked in great firms, and then I worked in firms listed as “great places to work.” The two are not the same.

There is a significant leap made by the author equating a rise in stock price of a firm to that firm being “a great place to work.” There’s correlation but not necessarily causation.

I have no doubt that a great place to work does in fact nurture employees who then turn out amazing products and services. But what is the definition of “a great place to work”?

It can be an awesome brand with high visibility and employees are driven to innovate. The leaders of those companies can be relentless in their pursuit of perfection. Excellent ideas, lead the marketplace, cool place to work, awesome on the resume – and can lead to serious burnout.

Something that isn’t mentioned at all is the process for becoming “a great place to work.” I do take issue with that. It is documentation driven by management and/or the HR department, and doesn’t always completely reflect the sentiments of the majority of employees. I have worked in firms that have been “great places to work” at the state and the Fortune 500 arenas. I witnessed the process of documentation. Therefore I am a skeptic of the accolades. It does give a lift to the firm, it also puts them on notice when they drop in rank – or off the list.

It takes a lot of resources to do the paperwork to get on the list, and a lot of great companies simply choose to put those resources into their employees directly.

So for every firm on the Fortune 500, there are hundreds more that are even better. I say, leave a bad firm – if you can, and if the place you’re currently working in is good, help to make it great. 

So have you worked in a Great or Best place? Was it on the Fortune 500© list? Perhaps your local Business Journal?

Thesaurus dot Com Got Dumbed Down

Just a disclaimer before you read on: although I call myself a writer, I’m not actually a writer. I’m a blogger. Which is a way for me to publish my guidance and opinion to a limited audience who may, someday, become a vast audience. But since blogging is a form of writing, I guess I do, in fact, write. And occasionally, I need assistance from thesaurus.com.

Yeah, I know, that’s where losers turn to when they don’t have an expansive vocabulary. But I work in advertising, so unless you work in digital advertising, where obfuscation is the name of the game (and they make up their words anyway), our vocabulary is limited. Because advertising is now all about Big Data and Infographics.

Headline schmedline.

Anyway, this is about going to thesaurus.com today to get a different word for ‘dichotomy’. And since I was out really late last night, I couldn’t come up with a good alternative. Hence my visit to that site.

Holy cow, I found that they’ve changed it up (Okay, my fault, it has been a month since I blogged and I’m now redeeming myself). And I don’t like the change. Who the heck wants to do all this visual tuning-in nonsense to get a word? So it starts out with Synonyms for Dummies and you can ramp it up to Full Literacy?

I was so taken aback that I didn’t realize at the top there was the “show me the old Thesaurus.com” link.

Instead, I did what any early adopter would do. I clicked on the Tell us what you think! link.

Guess what I clicked? Correct – thumbs-down. I took the survey (which for the record was more than a minute), and the last item was an open-ended “Tell us your thoughts on our new site”. So I did.

Here it is.

I guess this is the wave of the 'future' to make everything graphical. But when you've spent at least (we'd hope) 12 years in school, then another 4 or more, we're all pretty used to using words. So I'd think that for the next 20 years or so, we should have the 'old' thesaurus. Perhaps the generation that is now being created (I'm sure that's still going on and will continue long beyond the many iterations of thesaurus.com) that pictures will serve them just fine. Because they won't write or speak in full sentences anyway. And hieroglyphs will come back in style and be all the rage. Yep. I should be super old by then and as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Then thesaurus.com can become a one-page site. With a picture or two. Awesome. I'm getting off track here, but I think you guys are probably pretty smart, since you still have all the words in there *somewhere* and know that I like words. Because I write. And I like to write. But sometimes when I've used a word seventeen times in my blog, and I'm ready to post and I realize, "oh, crap! I need to beef-up my vocabulary”, so I go to thesaurus.com and I get completely usable, awesome alternatives to my drab speech patterns. So I'd like to say thank you in advance for returning to - or perhaps giving me an alternative to - this really stupid idea to give me a graph of my word rather than a list of words. Okay. I'm done. I'm sure you'll take my advice. Now go fix it. Again, thanks.

And it only gets better. So I put dumbed down into thesaurus.com. Check it out.

Then clicked on dictionary.com.

I rest my case.