Let your staff have a bit on the side and your business will reap the rewards

26.03.2019

„It’s easy for CEOs, directors, designers to get buried in the day-to-day of creative agency life.”

Most creative workers come into the field devoted to following the beliefs that initially led them toward the area in the first place. However, real life gets in the way; corporate worries take so much space in our mind that we forget those initial beliefs.

That’s why it is necessary for us to make the time often to look around. To stop the hustle for some seconds and remind yourself – and the team – why it is you do what you do.

Mike Foster wrote recently an article that cites the recent report by the Institute of Leadership and Management, which states that 34 percent of ambitious workers were likely to leave their jobs this year to go off in search of new endeavors, invoking a lack of development opportunity as the main reason for the departure.

After spending time, energy and money finding, recruiting and training the right people, what can agencies really do to avoid the trend?

At Mike’s company, Straight Forward Design, it was created a programme called Stretch Projects which “gives everyone the opportunity to have a go at something new and see what happens. It doesn’t matter if it works and gets progressed or not.”

If you aren’t convinced yet of the likely advantages of this approach, you will be surprised to find out that even Google has followed this strategy. It famously encourages staff to devote 20 percent of their time to side projects, and it continues to be one of the most innovative companies around.

“It might feel a little counterintuitive at first, but a few small steps are all it takes to create an environment where creatives want to stay, learn and grow.”

To check Mike’s tips when implementing this methodology, go over to his article Let your staff have a bit on the side and your business will reap the rewards, on Creative Boom.

Stretch Projects