Five potentially helpful, management concepts for creatives starting out
Tim Huse, ECD of True, an independent creative agency in Auckland, New Zealand.
As is typical of many creative careers in advertising, I started out doing creative and have somehow ended up managing creative. This wasn’t part of the plan but so it goes.
Managing other people’s creativity requires you to begin thinking about creativity in almost uncomfortably practical terms. Which is actually quite useful as it turns out.
Much of the stress in a creative’s world stems from some sort of lack of control.
And if the creative isn’t in control, then someone else is.
So. Here are 5 dubious, airport bookstore-grade management concepts that nevertheless I’ve seen help creatives achieve greater control of the where, when, and how of their creativity.
Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick Two.
It’s a terrible, cringe worthy cliché that is also a fundamental truth. Hence its longevity. Even if you don’t externalise it, being able to look at a project using this construct can help you decide where your creative energy is best spent.
Urgent ≠ Important
These often feel the same - but don’t be fooled.
Often when a creative team becomes overwhelmed it is because they need help separating out the important work from the urgent work. Once sorted, calm conversations can be had. Timelines challenged. Resources redirected. Priorities agreed upon. And the creative team given welcome space to think, instead of panic.
The Law of Diminishing Returns
It is 10pm. You are tired. You are slowing down. Progress is an illusion at this point. What would have taken half an hour this morning, is now taking twice that. In the distance a vacuum cleaner starts up.
Creatives can be dogged in their determination to keep going, but recognising that more input doesn’t always equal more output is important. Go home.
Sharpen Your Axe
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”. Classic Abraham. Now swap out tree for brief and the axe for my brain. Also swap out hours for days. And swap out chop down for work on. Yep. Pretty obvious stuff. Creatives need to nurture their creativity before they can apply it to a brief. This should be encouraged. Also change out sharpening for inspiring.
The 80:20 Rule
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto - smart guy, big beard - observed in a wide range of situations that 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the inputs. Also, you probably wear 20% of your shoes 80% of the time. As creatives much of what we do is time-based. It’s quite revealing to figure out where your time is going, and what it adds up to. Run the numbers and make some decisions.
