April 28, 2008 | Author: Tim Williams
There are plenty of tools for tracking an agency's success – income statements, balance sheets, billing reports, ad infinitum. No doubt you use these tools in meetings with agency management teams to assess how the agency is doing.
Most of these financial reports are merely a summary of lagging indicators; they are like looking in the rear view mirror. They give you an understanding only of what has happened, but very little understanding of what is likely to happen in the months and years to come.
What's your canary in...
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February 22, 2008 | Author: Ron Baker
In countless Ignition surveys of agencies across the country, you will read the response "people are our greatest asset" (or "resource"). The problem is, thinking of workers as "resources" is demeaning, implying people are no different from, say, timber, to be harvested when you run out.
Perhaps one of the reasons for the use of these demeaning words is agency managers do not understand the worth of their people because they cannot be measured as exactly as accountants record assets and other tangible resources.
Human capital, not human resources
Humans deserve more respect...
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November 15, 2007 | Author: Tim Williams
While the agency community explores the concept of value-based compensation, there's another important dimension of value that agency managers should consider: the value created by their employees.
Just as with current agency compensation models, the compensation model we use with our people measures the wrong things. That's one of the major reasons performance reviews are chronically neglected in most agencies. In numerous agency surveys conducted by Ignition, employee performance planning...
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October 15, 2007 | Author: Tim Williams
In the hustle and bustle of servicing demanding clients, many agency professionals have lost their bearings. They no longer distinguish between what is urgent and what is important; everything is urgent – or at least it appears to be.
Account executives spend their day in a reactive mode, waiting for the next e-mail or voice mail to tell them what to do. They often end their work day feeling that they kept up with their inbox but didn't accomplish anything important. It's no wonder that many talented people are simply leaving...
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March 15, 2007 | Author: Tim Williams
Profit is not at the center of your business. People are not at the center of your business. Not even the client is at the center of your business. Your purpose is — or should be — at the center of your business.
Your purpose is the agency's reason for being. Don't confuse purpose with the typical weak, soggy "mission statements" that hang unnoticed in the lobbies of countless companies across America. Most mission statements are a mélange of hyperbole that is neither unique nor motivating. How motivated...
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