Filed under: Comment
One of the best bosses I had was a guy called Chris Jaques.
He was great for a bunch of reasons – his leadership, the faith he put in his people and his overall inspiration.
However one of the other things he did was cultivate an atmosphere of ‘we’re in it together’.
I’m not talking about senior management towing the line and then demanding everyone follows suit … I’m talking about getting everyone from the receptionist up, knowing what the goal and the plan was, and what role they needed to play to make it happen.
[I’m not saying the receptionist is the lowest rung of an agency, it’s just to demonstrate a point so put your knives away]
And here’s the thing, Chris’ skill was appreciating details made success.
Sure the big things mattered … but how people worked together, interacted together, collaborated together was everything to him.
Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t adopt some crowd source, everyone-can-have-a-good-idea type of bullshit – there was definitely someone driving the overall goal and approach – it’s just he understood that when everyone knew what they were doing, why they were doing it and what it was all leading up to, a more seamless process occurred, exemplified by the fact people were encouraged to make slight tweaks to things if they saw the process/goal was either going off course, or able to be improved.
_____________________________________________________________________
“If you think you can do it all on your own, you’re either God or an idiot.”
Roger Campbell.
_____________________________________________________________________
This sort of approach has been well documented in the book ‘Nudge‘ [it’s also one of the key reasons behind Toyota’s meteoric rise, especially given they come from a country whose culture is literally the relentless pursuit of perfection] which is why I am continually surprised when I hear companies mandating a none-negotiable, stringent approach &/or process when there is countless amounts of evidence to suggest effectiveness and efficiency can be dramatically improved when you embrace, inform and empower the actions of the people around the process, not just in it.
Guess what I’m saying is, if you’re in adland and you want to improve your odds of success – you could do a lot worse that just making sure you’re nice to the people throughout the agency – because there’s a shit load of people and steps between writing a great brief and making an awesome ad.
43 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
i am a god.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:23 amYou mean the god?
Comment by Billy Whizz July 20, 2011 @ 6:50 amyes i fucking am. now make a donation to my fund or ill use my powers to make you shit razor blades for a fucking week.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:56 amI gave it to lehman brothers to give to you. Didn’t you get it?
Comment by Billy Whizz July 20, 2011 @ 7:08 amBuddha?
Comment by Rob Mortimer July 20, 2011 @ 6:46 pmthats pretty zen right there rob…
Comment by peggy July 20, 2011 @ 10:48 pmthe other way people can be sure others will be nice to them is to follow katerinas strategy and have a boyfriend who is a russian mafia evil motherfucker. that’s highly fucking effective.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:25 amThe hairy knuckled, square head, vodka breathing dragon called “Sir”? Yes, that works.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 20, 2011 @ 6:51 amYes. That is the alternative methodology. Probably more effective too.
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 7:55 amchris only let you get on with shit because he didnt want to fucking have to deal with you. smart man that jaques bloke. even if he had a french fucking name.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:27 amThat and the fact I made his continuous white shirt and blue jeans choice of outfit look stylish.
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 7:56 amoi campbell. you talk about the shitload of people and steps that go into putting 30″ of wallpaper out but do you even know what the fuck they are?
my guess? do you fuck.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:29 amI remember when he said “what’s a ppm?”
What is a ppm?
Comment by Billy Whizz July 20, 2011 @ 6:52 amproducer justification.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:57 amOf course I do.
1/ I have an idea.
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 7:59 am2/ I give you the idea to “look pretty”.
3/ It gets made.
4/ I take the plaudits from the clients.
5/ I give you a few scraps off the table to keep you happy.
1) youre a twat.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:09 am2) youre a fucking twat.
3) youre a fucking big twat.
4) youre a fucking big stupid twat.
5) youre a fucking big stupid planning twat.
that nudge bollocks only works if you have people with a fucking brain and not ego twats who do shit because “they like it better”.
might work better building a fucking car than putting a fucking pitch deck together but then you always were mr fucking dictator with that shit because you liked seeing how fucking abstract you could make every fucking document each fucking time (1 pic, 3 random fucking words) plus you were the only one who understood your self defined and pretend mandated presentation fucking “style”.
thank fuck for my genius charisma and presentation chops or youd be living in a bus shelter rather than living like a fucking little prince off my fucking effort and cash.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 6:36 amYou complain now, but you were pretty bloody silent when I said I’d pull it all together so you could concentrate on all the other stuff you had to do.
Whatever that was.
As for the ‘nudge bollocks’ only working when you’re building a car, we both know that’s not true – however I do get what you’re saying and it probably has more value and success when there is a definitive and tangible goal to be achieved … otherwise it’s more about tangent creation than effectiveness and efficiency development.
As the comments on this blog demonstrates.
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 8:03 amno one reads that bollocks, they just want the cool shit so it stopped you fucking whining and didnt cause too much fucking damage. now thats fucking strategy campbell.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:10 amIt’s sad you have to write this post because more than common sense, it’s basic politeness.
I’ll go and buy a house in the home counties of England now and subscribe to the daily mail.
Comment by Pete July 20, 2011 @ 7:10 amwhat about a piece of expensive shit in vanfuckingcouver? buy that and all your fucking planning sins are wiped. dont and ill fucking with your life.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 7:20 amfucking even more with your life.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 7:20 amand you sound like a old age christian fucking spinster.
stop it or sarah will leave you and ill fucking hit you.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 7:22 amGay.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 20, 2011 @ 7:50 amIt is common sense Pete … but as we’ve said many times, that doesn’t always mean its widely adopted.
And yes, you do sound like a middle-England, Daily Mail reader which is why I am siding with Andy on this one. Sorry.
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 8:04 amOne possible example of this whole ‘keep the troops in the loops’ [or not, depending on your legal standing] is the whole News Limited debacle.
While there is a lot of debate as to how many people were – or were not – involved, the systematic and consistent way NoTW [and god knows who else] went about getting their ‘stories’ implies there was definitely clarity of the objective passed throughout the organisation with the mandate to find ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness, even if it crossed into the dark areas of illegal activity.
As an aside, am I the only one that thought yesterday’s Murdoch Vs Government televised event was basically a posh version of Jerry Springer?
Comment by Rob July 20, 2011 @ 8:08 amnice the old wrinkled devious evil fuckers wife stepped up to make sure the next days fucking headlines were of her karate chopping some speccy twat with a custard pie rather than her husband looking like an out of fucking date victor fucking meldrew.
what are the odds the whole thing was a murdoch, max clifford staged event?
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:13 am+1
Comment by Pete July 20, 2011 @ 9:51 amSo you’re saying agencies should be run like the NOTW?
Comment by John July 20, 2011 @ 8:21 amwhat the fuck are you banging on about doddsy?
and how come i cant take a fucking bottle of water on a plane and some bastard can take a foam cake in a highly fucking protected courtroom?
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:34 amre jerry springer: no. but as with jerry springer, i would have preferred a 20 sec cut down.
wendi being kicked over followed by a still of burns and smithers subtitled we didnt know and are sorry.
great minds john…
efficient and effective way to disaster. the journey is the reward. which in a way does highligt the importance of a being nice approach.
Comment by peggy July 20, 2011 @ 8:56 amCan someone please explain why clicking on a tweet that promises “Why politeness & clarity drives efficiency & effectiveness” leads me to this post? I’m guessing this is because the creative department hasn’t had the opportunity to make it “look pretty” and the planning department are reverse engineering everything.
Anyway, if people aren’t polite and clear you shouldn’t give them the time of day, let alone work with them.
Comment by John July 20, 2011 @ 8:16 amanyone that fucking tweets gets all they fucking deserve and what they deserve is being mentally raped by the bollocks campbell churns out every fucking day.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:36 ampoliteness is is the ear of the beholder.
or the threat of the speaker.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 8:37 amThe tweeter was one Robert Campbell – he promotes this blog on twitter,
Comment by John July 20, 2011 @ 3:07 pmI’m ready rob
do you want to be my boss?
politeness & clarity efficiency = effectiveness
Comment by tevez July 20, 2011 @ 10:18 amno tevez, the question is would you want that fucker campbell to be your boss.
clue.
no.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 11:19 am+1
Comment by lauren July 20, 2011 @ 12:25 pmof course there’s always that fine line betweeen ‘we’re all on the same page’ and ‘indoctrination’ right? 🙂
Comment by lauren July 20, 2011 @ 10:30 amand “were on the same page” and “ill ruin your fucking miserable life if you fuck with me”.
Comment by andy@cynic July 20, 2011 @ 11:20 amhello. good morning.
Comment by Marcus July 20, 2011 @ 4:39 pmyou as shit bored as the rest of us?
hows the post printing life going?
Comment by andy@cynic July 21, 2011 @ 12:05 amgood afternoon marcus.
Comment by peggy July 20, 2011 @ 10:41 pm