Attracting and retaining talent is a challenge in any business, but agencies have a particularly tough time because the skills required are so in demand.
In this piece, we share information we’ve gleaned from working with 100s of agencies about how to maximise the resources you already have. How to even out the natural peaks and troughs of agency workloads, so you can get the most from your people without causing burn-out for a calmer and more productive working environment.
Will it be a sudden feast or famine depending on the outcome of a pitch, or have you carefully balanced confirmed work with the possibility of winning new work?
If you want a continual and manageable flow of work through your agency, with people working to capacity on chargeable work, then you need to be able to see how opportunities impact your long-term schedule and capacity. This knowledge will guide you towards the right actions to take to level out workloads and avoid sudden overstretching of specific skills, or having team members suddenly available with no planned work.
Knowing what work is coming in can really help you stagger when projects get the green light, creating a more manageable flow of work.
When the pipeline is looking a little emptier than you’d like, it’s tempting to chase any work so you can just get something in. But if you get work that makes the busy people busier then you’re not solving the problem. You’re overstretching some, while others are stuck with nothing to do.
The ideal scenario is that all team members are working on chargeable work all the time. In order move towards this eutopia, you need to be clear on short and long-term capacity by skill. It could be your developers are booked up for the next two months, but the design team are available. If you know this with notice, then your new business team, Account Managers, and Client Services can look for work to fill these under-utilised skills.
And if you can’t fill the gaps with paid-for client work, then it’s a chance to book these skills on internal work or you can strategically over-service a client. Strategically being key ie your client should know you’re overservicing.
If you’re able to see your capacity in the short and long term, then you’re in the strongest position possible to maximise your resources.
If you’re not able to see your capacity with this clarity, then you might be interested to learn how Synergist can help. We have new features in this area to bring you clarity on where you’ve sold time, and where you have time to sell.