In this episode, Clodagh Higgins, a digital agency director, consultant, coach, and the author of A Happy & Healthy Digital Agency joined us to share her knowledge and experience as an ex-Hubspotter who has worked with 500+ agencies around the world. We get into why agencies must build and scale company culture, useful tips and techniques to hiring the right people, and how to retain talented employees in the long run.
In this episode, Clodagh Higgins, a digital agency director, consultant, coach, and the author of A Happy & Healthy Digital Agency joined us to share her knowledge and experience as an ex-Hubspotter who has worked with 500+ agencies around the world. We get into why agencies must build and scale company culture, useful tips and techniques to hiring the right people, and how to retain talented employees in the long run.
Clodagh S.Higgins is a Digital Agency Director, Consultant & Coach with the Growit Group based in Ireland and works globally. An ex-HubSpotter, she has worked with over 500+ agencies around the world, helping them in the areas of sales, marketing, services, scaling and growth in their businesses so that they can deliver exceptional results for their clients.
From working in Hubspot, she is now an agency coach and Consultant that has owned her own digital agency for 8+ years in Sydney & Dublin. She is also the author of A Happy & Healthy Digital Agency and hosts a weekly podcast, interviewing agency owners about the highs and lows of running a professional services business, Agency Life.
Clodagh believes that agency owners can have a profitable business of their dreams, with an expert team that is happy, while getting great results for their clients.
When Clodagh is not helping agencies you will find her training for Powerlifting competitions and she has a World Record in Strict Curl and a National Record in Bench Press. She lives in the West of Ireland in her retreat in progress called Isleen Cottage.
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Running a profitable agency is no easy task. There are no shortage of challenges when it comes to managing projects, maintaining profitability, getting results for clients, closing deals and managing clients.
But one challenge shared by all agencies is the complexity of managing their team. As my friend Rob likes to say “The best part about our businesses is that they’re made up of people. The worst part about our businesses, is that they’re made up of people”
Why? Because people are unpredictable. Each person has their needs, wants, and capabilities. Let’s dive in and learn about the biggest challenges agencies face. How to scale company culture, how to hire, empower and retain employees in the long run.
Now, I’m not going to take sides or tell you that the other one’s better than the other. The truth is, entrepreneurs and their talents have a different way of thinking. This causes struggles for the agency.
Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. They work day in and day out, they’re usually not concerned with having a future nor structure. When entrepreneurs see that their idea isn’t working for their favor or they lose interest in a project, they often ditch the project and move on to the next one.
The same cannot be said about employees. They often want to know details about their job. From their job description, company culture, and compensation. With that being said, employees prefer to have a structure. Why? It reassures their stability, they want to know whether they can take vacations or work from home. Employees want to start a project, work on it, and finish it.
Entrepreneurs need employees to have a successful business. While employees do not need entrepreneurs since they can go get a job at the bank.
According to Clodagh, when an employee decides to work for you they’re eager to learn more about you and your company. They believe in your vision and mission. And they find your company’s dynamic exciting because it's different. Without a proper business structure, policies, or training, you’ll run into scaling and retention problems over time.
This is why it’s best to communicate both you and your employees’ needs, ideas, and expectations. To be able to move forward, collaborate, and work on your common goals.
Idea fatigue? Is that even a thing? Well, yes. I’m looking at you, Mr./Mrs. CEO! As entrepreneurs we’re often ready to move on to the next big idea before the last one has been fully implemented. Often, our team has a lot more trouble reconciling enthusiasm for new ideas against the need to tie up loose ends and complete the last big initiative we put on their plate.
Avoiding this scenario can be easy, and if you’re suffering from it, act on it, ASAP! First, talk to your employees about the changes which you want to implement in your business. If you have new ideas and want to start new projects, collaborate with your employees to figure out what to prioritize and keep expectations clear and simple. they'll be more than happy to help to make sure what’s truly important gets done, and more importantly; gets completed.
This will not only help your company’s profitability. But it will be a great foundation to build a good relationship with your employees as they can feel a sense of accomplishment in being a part of successful initiatives that drive the business forward.
Company culture starts with the agency’s owner. Clodagh advises business owners to grab and read the book written by Geno Wickman called Traction. The book will help you implement the fundamental systems in your business to build high performing teams and retain great talent.
1. Determine your core values
Clodagh says the foundation of your culture is the values to set within the company. Values act as both guiding principles for the trajectory of your company, as well as a filter for the employees and clients that come along for the ride.
Clodagh recommends going through an exercise to determine your company values and to make them a central part of your hiring process to ensure the right people “get on the bus.”
2. Organize your company’s culture committee
Organizing a small culture committee in your company will be a great start to not only make your team feel valued and welcomed. This will also help them to push their limits and be better team members.
From knowing all your employees’ birthdays, organizing the end of the month celebration, company outings, Friendsgiving, Halloween/Christmas parties, to set aside a budget to decorate the office, will make a huge difference in boosting your employees’ morale.
These company perks, will not only boost your employees’ morale but it's also a way for them to take responsibility. And that, they will be merited for all the good things they do for the company from hitting the sales target or helping the team produce awesome content.
3. Do not punish your employees
However, never punish your employees as well. Even if your team did not hit the month’s targeted sale. You should still acknowledge their hard work by ordering free lunch or snacks for everyone. As a business owner, you must always show your employees that you care and appreciate them.
4. Send care packages to your remote team members
Distance will never be a problem and it will be nice to send your remote team members gift cards, company merch, books/ebooks, Netflix/Hulu/HBO/Spotify/Amazon Prime subscriptions, and even give them free paid training to show them that you care.
5. Hire People who are Hungry To Grow
One important interview question Clodagh highlights is about extracurriculars. What are you doing outside of work? What kind of thought leaders are you following? Figuring out if people have the initiative to grow themselves and their skills on their own time is an important factor in building a team of superstars that can grow with your business.
Now that we've got a great culture. And we're selling lots of stuff. We're making loads of money. And we've got to attract more talents. We've got to attract amazing people to come work at our agency. Which is something that I hear lots of people struggling with all the time! Here are some useful tips and strategies which you can try when hiring talents, as told by Clodagh.
Let's assume now that you've got lots of great people that are willing to be a part of your team or work with your team. And now the question is how do we figure out who is the best fit? How do we make sure that they're successful in our organization?
Interview Techniques and Strategy
In 2019, It’s an employee market out there. Talent that doesn’t feel excited in the first 3 months of starting a new job will almost certainly continue looking elsewhere. Planning their onboarding with your team is important. There’s nothing worse than showing up on your first day of work and feeling like the team forgot you were starting today.
Clodagh recommends clearly communicating to everyone on your team about new hires and making sure that their workstation is set up with a care package to make that first experience a memorable one. With your 90 day onboarding plan, you’ll have meetings and activities to introduce them to the team planned weeks ahead of time, so nobody is caught off guard.
Prepare a list of FAQs about the company and their tasks. To help her navigate the company with ease. Instruct their team leaders and set up a mentorship cadence to help them feel supported.
Get them to create a Google document with the list of questions that they want to ask you. Which you or their team lead can answer at the end of each day.
These tips will help you pre-plan your employee’s onboarding process and make sure their transition to your company is successful.
As agencies, we’re often talent creator (not consumers) and we invest a lot into growing our teams and building their skillsets. So how do you make sure that your team isn’t constantly turning over?
How do you as an agency owner, get better at giving up control and empowering leaders and building that trust inside your team?
Clodagh recommends reading Traction and looking at the Entrepreneurial Operating System for guidance on building out a structure, meeting cadence and metrics to build a foundation for scale in your agency.
Having systems in place to ensure the right people are doing the right things, and metrics in place to hold them accountable to performance will give you the confidence to start letting go of responsibilities and empowering your team with them instead.
She recommends meeting with your team once a month to implement accountability tasks to the entrepreneurial operating system and determine the right business structure and initiatives to fit your goals.
Then, decide on what you want to do, whether you want to work and go to the office five or two days a week. Write about the assets and liabilities to understand the ins and outs of your business even if you are not as hands-on as you used to be.
Designate tasks in accordance to your team’s expertise. Empower and motivate leaders and top performers to push their limits.
Now that you are armed with knowledge and techniques on how to manage and build your agency's culture. And you've learned how to nurture a long lasting relationship with your employees, you're all set to start and build your empire.