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Building a Strong Creative Culture in an In-House Agency

Seven tips for in-house agency leaders on establishing a sustainable in-house culture

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Building a strong creative culture is a process. As is maintaining it. Culture is a consistent theme connecting the success of an in-house agency and the larger organization. A strong culture is grounded in organizational goals, team alignment, belief, and engagement, but establishing and nurturing that culture within an in-house agency is a unique challenge.

Unlike external agencies, in-house teams must strike a balance between fostering creativity and adhering to broader corporate strategies, values, and brand promises. While some brands, such as Google and Apple, are renowned for their innovative spirit, most large corporations have yet to fully tap into their creativity. This is slowly changing.

While the responsibility of establishing a creative culture starts with leadership, the consistent building, maintenance, and enhancement of the culture requires a team effort grounded in an organization's values and brand. Should the in-house agency's values be a direct duplication of the broader organization's values? No. However, they should complement one another, rather than contradicting or canceling each other out. The success of both the agency and the larger organization is interdependent, so they must work in tandem.

Here are tips for marketing leaders to not only establish a creative culture but ensure that it thrives and drives success for the team, in-house agency, and the broader organization.

1. Identify Values that Support the Organization

Understanding and using one or more of the organization's values builds a strong connection between the in-house agency and the broader organization. Leaders must ensure the entire team is aware of these values, the intentional alignment with those values, and why that matters — and make this a consistent and persistent message across the team.

Values can help drive daily performance and keep agency teams focused on team and organizational goals and objectives.

2. Hire and Retain the Right People

Culture isn't about things, it's about people. Are the right people — including leaders — in place? Do they align with and support the organization's values, goals, and brand? Is the energy infectious in all the right ways, and are they excited about what they do? These are important questions for marketing leaders to ask themselves.

Once leaders have the right players, they must continue to invest in them. They can do so by understanding those players' needs, providing training, celebrating achievements, and offering opportunities for career growth.

3. Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Recognition is crucial. When team members put in the work, deliver results, and are proud of their accomplishments, leaders need to recognize and celebrate them. Since recognition preferences vary, good leaders will make efforts to understand how individual team members prefer to be acknowledged and act accordingly. As workplace consultancy Workhuman points out, a little recognition can go a long way, and no contribution is too small to be celebrated and called out.

4. Create Permission to Push Boundaries

Fear has no place in a creative culture. Leaders must encourage risk-taking with purpose by ensuring no idea is dismissed outright. Drawing solutions from something is far easier than trying to create solutions out of nothing, so teams need to nourish bold thinking, collaboration, sharing, and boundary-pushing.

5. Manage Burnout

Burnout is a creativity killer. One common oversight with in-house agencies is forgetting that everyone is on the same team. Everyone should be working together and toward that same North Star. This means leaders need to help their business partners (sometimes referred to as clients) recognize what it takes to deliver the best outcomes or products.

Upon setting standards, in-house leaders need to document and communicate them clearly, track workloads and trends, and have a pipeline of freelancers or additional support to tap when needed. This ensures everyone is primed to deliver nothing but the best products and results.

6. Bring the Outside In

Following the same path every time will create a rut. The worst thing for creativity is boredom or monotony. Mixing things up can keep that from happening. In-house teams need to bring new perspectives into the creative process. Business partners, clients, or other collaborators often bring valuable insights that can inspire the team. (They are, after all, the subject matter experts and know everything about the product or service.)

Additionally, in-house leaders should seek inspiration from external sources (e.g., other industries, products, and organizations). Not having time to do these things is not acceptable or productive. Leaders need to make the time for ideation and inspiration, whether through group exercises or agency-wide meetings. This will go a long way to feeding a creative culture.

7. Have Fun

Creating should be fun. While there are deadlines and often tight timelines, the process of bouncing ideas around a room full of creatives often leads to great ideas — never mind a little sarcasm, silliness, and great energy. In building a creative culture, teams should enjoy the process and include everyone. Some of the strongest ideas can come from interactive group collaboration and brainstorming.

By implementing these strategies, a leader can build a strong, vibrant creative culture within their in-house agency. With a healthy culture in place, a team can establish strong bonds of professional trust and enterprising innovation. Teams will appreciate a carefully tended culture that not only thrives but also aligns with and elevates the larger organization.

Cella is a partner in the ANA Thought Leadership Program.

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Carey Cockrum

Carey Cockrum, senior director of managed services at Cella by Randstad Digital, has served in leadership roles in the creative agency space for more than 28 years. Over her career, she has supported C-suite stakeholders in developing processes and tools that deliver effective solutions and supply metrics that speak to business needs and demonstrate measurable results. You can connect with Carey on LinkedIn.

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