How to motivate and align your team when everyone feels like they are sprinting a marathon

We’re in a moment right now, and no matter what kind of company you’re in, what industry, where we’re all having to do more with less. How do we bring out the best in teams? How do we get people aligned that maybe it feels like you have different kind of agendas? How to really motivate people when it feels like we’re always sprinting a marathon? Welcome to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where you get a masterclass in managing your team with ease in 15 minutes or less.

I’m Leah Garvin, your host and team operations consultant. Through this show and my programs with small businesses and corporate teams, I condense a decade of experience driving team operations in some of the most influential companies in tech into strategies to save you time, money, and most of all, stress. Doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner who realized that running a team isn’t as easy as you thought it would be. Are a new manager learning the ropes, or a seasoned manager ready to up their game?

Everyone is welcome to hang out with Managing Made Simple. From conflicts, to feedback, to delegating, and more, we leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing, kind of hate it, and everything in between. Let’s go. Welcome back to the show. Today, I am so excited to be doing a different format for Managing Made Simple. I am here on site at Scona, an advertising agency that does a lot of B2B work with clients, and I’m joined by Allison Curtis, who is the head of client services and Janessa Mason, senior creative director.

Hi. Hey. I’m so stoked. Yeah. It’s exciting. The reason I was so excited to come together was, we’re in a moment right now, and no matter what kind of company you’re in, what industry, where we’re all having to do more with less. There’s no company more familiar with tight timelines and really optimizing their teams than an advertising agency. That’s right. We want to talk about all that today. How do we bring out the best in teams?

How do we get people aligned that maybe it feels like you have different kind of agendas? How to really motivate people when it feels like we’re always sprinting a marathon? So that’s what we’re going to dive into. Great. Yeah. Allison, I’d love to kind of start off with, if you each want to share a little bit on your career path and kind of what brought you here. Yeah, definitely. I’ve been working in B2B at multiple agencies over the years, and I am now here at Scona and head up the client service side of things, so making sure everyone in the client service team is being the best client partner possible and, of course, hitting timelines and budgets and really working well with the creative team.

We definitely are, you know, we’re called the client service team, but, you know, being a partner to our creative team is super important too. That’s what we’re here to chat about today because I feel like, like Leah said, there’s kind of two, we feel like sometimes we have two separate goals in mind, but at the end of the day, we really do have the same one, and it’s good to remind ourselves of that. And I’m Janessa Mason.

I’m a senior creative director here at Scona, and yeah, I started in marketing business school, and I actually pivoted to visual arts, so I have a four-year degree in visual arts and kind of always got steeped in that industry because I was way more successful on the design side of things than the business, but what’s kind of beautiful is that my career has kind of gone full circle where now it does feel more natural to support on the client side of things.

Like, I love working with people. I love developing relationships, and so that’s why I think when Allison started at Scona, it was an instant, like, great chemistry because she knew I had her back from the, like, creative point of view, and so we could really work well together. So I’m excited to dig into some of those details, but I have a bigger understanding of the client service challenges mixed with the experience of design, so I feel, like, proud of how far I’ve come.

Yeah. Well, I love that. I think that’s a perfect place to start. Like, you know, how did you, like, build that relationship from the beginning? Like, what were some of the things that you guys talked about or sort of, like, figured out from a working relationship? Well, go ahead, Allison. Yeah, I think that’s a really good point that Janessa made, that she can kind of see both sides. I started doing creative as well really early on in my career, and I saw how difficult it was and, you know, how timelines can be really hard for the creative process, so I understand, you know, budgets and deadlines and client pressure and feedback, and I get it, and so I always want to make sure that we relay that feedback and that message in the right way to the creative team and just, like, keeping them, you know, keeping them on board with everything.

I think that it’s, like, our job in the client service team to make sure that they feel empowered by the feedback, excited about the feedback, that it’s positive, even if the clients say something maybe that’s not so great, like, we have to tell them, we have to be honest with each other, we’re not going to not share, but there’s a way of, you know, pivoting it a little bit to make it more positive. I think that some people get in a cycle of complaining and bitching about different feedback and the timelines, and that’s really not helpful for anybody, although we do our fair share of slack convoys.

It is nice to just, like, always come with that positive attitude, and I think Janessa does that really well with her team, kind of keeping them on the, like, one team, one dream, like, come on, this is our end goal, like, we can do this, instead of, like, oh, our client, you know, wants it now, because that’s really just not that helpful, so I think that’s kind of where we come together as, like, you know, and the company, we’re kind of the people that are like, we can do it.

Yeah, I mean, I was going to say that, but per your question of, like, how Allison and I started, I feel like just like client relationships, our relationships started with, like, a moment of trust, and that was where, like, I, she was asking about a project that she was managing new to the company, and I was actually new to this process of this project I was taking on, and so she was like, hey, you want to jump on a call to discuss it, and I was like, I’m having a meltdown, and she’s like, cool, yeah, right, and so we hopped on a Zoom, but I was literally crying, and I was like, oh, you were actually having a meltdown, and so, like, we really, it was a moment of, like, vulnerability on my side, but, like, also asking for help, which is, I think, another piece of advice of mine is, like, you have a team, you’re not going to know all the answers, ask for help when you need it, maybe, I was a little postpartum, so, like, that weighed into, like, my being able to handle things.

Second week back to work. But I do feel like that solidified Allison and I’s relationship, like, there was a trust-building moment, and I find that I have those magic moments with clients as well, so, like, to me, there is a vulnerability or a transparency that you can have with people that you don’t want to, like, not know what you’re doing, but you can also ask for help and, like, we figured that out together, and it was one of the more successful projects that we’ve ever done, so I feel like, yeah, there’s a really, that was what, in the beginning, was what built our relationship to be so strong.

Yeah, absolutely. So, a lot of this I want to pause on and kind of dig into because it ties to managing any kind of team, and I think, you know, the first thing that really resonated for me was talking about really not getting into that kind of drama with your team and not getting sucked into, like, talking about the deadlines with your clients or that complaining zone, which, you know, when we’re managers and leaders, we have to stay above that, even if we’re frustrated, even if it sucks, and I think what you two found of, you know, you can relate on a different level as peers than maybe we’re translating to the teams.

Yeah. Because I’ve seen managers make that mistake, especially newer managers, of, in wanting to build camaraderie with their teams and being kind of more on the friend side, they’re all, like, everyone’s just trashing the clients and the teams are unmotivated, and then when you’re, like, well, we still got to get the work done, they’re, like, oh, I thought we all are just against it, you know? Exactly. Right? So, I think that was a really powerful lesson, and for anybody that deals with, you know, clients or if you’re in corporate and you’re dealing with a, you know, a stakeholder or a VP or an executive that’s always demanding, you know, you kind of have to have a little bit of that sort of, like, you’re the manager, you have a different perspective.

Yeah. You can still say, hey, I know this is going to be hard, I know it’s going to be frustrating, but not getting sucked in, I think, is a great example that you shared there. Yeah, definitely. And Janessa and I talk about all the time is, like, pulling each other in early on things, like, you know, the client service team is responsible for building timelines, and we always want to make sure the creative team has seen it, even if it can’t be changed.

Yeah. At least that, like, here it is, here’s some visibility into what’s happening, even if they say this is going to be really tight, at least it’s not, they saw it before it went to client, and we weren’t just like, that’s the timeline, that’s what I gave to client, you know, so we feel like we kind of built it together. Yeah. And having that visibility into things really helps, I think, kind of, like, build our relationships together.

Exactly. But I also had that same experience last week, where more of a junior account person had a timeline, and they’re just guessing, they’ve never ran a project like this, and I was able to hop in and be like, actually, let’s show them something earlier on, they’ll be happy because they get to see something earlier. Yeah. It’s really important to think of the client perspective and emotional well-being. Yeah. Because that’s just as important as sometimes the project output.

Yeah, yeah. So that they are happy that the project is moving, so basically, dovetailing on what you guys were just saying on laying out timelines, working with all levels to show them, you know, when is a good timeline to lay things out, because it’s not always the same. Yeah. And that’s one of the strategies I’ve learned over the years, to show early, but not as much, or what have you. And I know that person came to me later and was like, I really appreciated that point of view, because I wouldn’t have proposed that.

Yes. It’s a more strategic plan. Yeah. That we’re doing less work up front, but we’re making everybody happy. Yeah. It’s really leaning on each other, so we feel like this is our timeline, not this is the client service timeline. Exactly. Creators gotta do it. Right, exactly. So I think getting people aligned up front and like built, bought in along the way is huge. And then modeling, I think, Janessa, what you’re saying around, as a manager, I often get the question of like, well, if I’ve handed something off or delegated, when should I jump in, right?

And I think that’s the perfect example of how you can show someone and say, hey, this is a great start, here’s some more context, like about this plan, about this project, about the situation, and then they kind of were able to shadow you in doing it. And then now for the next time, you know, They can even borrow that strategy. Yeah, exactly. But they didn’t learn at the client’s expense, you know, because it’s not supposed to be a sink or swim, like just because you handed it off and delegating isn’t like, you know, black and white.

And I think that’s a really awesome example of how you can still teach someone, but you are upholding, like the final goal is like the client, like is satisfying yourself. We want everybody to be happy. Yeah. I mean, that’s all that person was coming to me too. Like, they have demands and they’re heavy. And I’m like, listen, we can split it up. Give them what they need. And everybody wins. Yeah. And that’s the, there’s different ways that I’ve learned how to do that.

So trying to pass, like you said, those cheat ways on. And it actually is just working more efficiently. Yeah, exactly. Everybody’s buying in. It’s the like agile workflow, like bringing the client in sooner. So they’re like, we’re going the right direction. Cool. Yeah. Did you know that I do team workshops on all of the stuff that I talk about on this show with large companies like Google and also with startups and small businesses like marketing agencies, law firms, and med spas?

Whether it’s making those feedback conversations a little less awkward, how to support your team through all of the change and uncertainty making us all, well, a little on edge right now, or delegating to empower your team to step up as owners. I come into your teams and give you the tools you need to wrestle with all this tough stuff and feel like you’ve got it handled. Reach out at hello at leahgarvin.com or pass my info along to the decision maker in your company and let’s make all this team stuff easier and a lot more fun.

Do you want some hands-on support for all of the topics I talk about on this show? Like a team expert who has worked within tech giants like Apple and Google as well as small businesses on hand to help you delegate and get out of the weeds, handle tough conversations with team members, plan your hiring strategy, and get your teams to help bring in more revenue? Then it’s time to sign up for my Team Whisperer Consulting Sprint.

For 90 days, you have me in your back pocket to help you navigate any and every issue happening on your team. DM me the word sprint on Instagram or email me at hello at leahgarvin.com and let’s build your unstoppable team. Another point I know you’ve made a lot, Allison, is around people understanding the why, right? Not just saying, hey, here’s what we’re doing because I said so and the client said so. But like giving people a little bit of the context because that also helps building alignment.

Yeah, absolutely. And we think about it from the client perspective. We have client A who’s like, I need this by Friday. And if I’m telling Janessa, it’s like, why does she need it by Friday? It’s like, well, maybe it’s because she missed the last deadline. So then it’s like she’s a person and we can be like, okay, well, we don’t want her to miss two deadlines. To her boss, maybe she has some challenges that we need to be aware of.

But also it’s good on both sides, right? Like client service will tell creative, hey, this is the why behind what they need and why they need it and when they need it because of X, Y, and Z. But then the creative team can tell us the why behind what they’re doing. Seriously, that takes like 20 more hours to do. Or just like we give the team feedback, the client gives feedback, creative comes back and they did something a little different.

And the first, I think a lot of client service is like, wait, this is different than what they said. And it’s like, no, the team will come back and say, we heard you, but we did this because X, Y, and Z. And I think that’s why the clients really trust us is because we push the boundaries. We’re not just order takers. But it’s important for us all to understand the why. I was going to say that I did have a conversation last week where work went through without explaining that.

And I was like, if we don’t do something, a client is going to think we forgot it. It doesn’t just come across as like, we didn’t do that because this made more sense. So we all have to like waterfall that communication and point of view to set client service up. To then pass on like to the client, I acknowledge I didn’t do X, Y, and Z, but that was because blank. And then they’re, you know, whatever, deescalated.

Deescalated the situation. Otherwise you get the green box and you ask for red. It’s like, what do they not understand? Right. They’re like immediately on the defense. Exactly. So I think that’s a beautiful example of like communication is key as well. I mean, that’s cliche, but it’s so true. No, it is. And I think Allison, you really touched on with the why also on prioritization. I think if you know why something has to be accelerated relative to something else, you can go back to the team and say, hey, I know this person, the client might be the most demanding, but there’s this event coming up, they’re prepping for this launch or something like that.

And you can give people a better sense as opposed to like, I think it’s a natural tendency just to respond to the person that’s coming to you the most or the most kind of demanding. And then I think I’m guessing you both can go back to clients and sort of context set some of that too. Yeah, absolutely. And then I think the other big thing is building the relationships on all sides. We have a relationship inside Scona, which is great.

Client service obviously has to have a relationship with the client because that’s key. But the creatives too. And the senior creatives like Janessa will always build those relationships because they’ve done that over time. But Janessa really motivates her team, the more junior team, to try and build those relationships too. So the client can be like, I want this person and that’s a win for you. You built this person up to do that. So that’s a good point on the managing too, is that make them be the face and speak and build those.

Just like you said, I feel like it comes back to understanding that person’s point of view or where they’re coming from. And then to me, it’s communicating to anyone that that trust portion because I remember there was a situation where someone, a designer was going client facing and they had not had a lot of experience with that. And I was like, they’re just trying to do their jobs as best as they can. And you’re going to be a huge help to that.

So just listen, ask questions. Don’t be scared to clarify. And then I watched that relationship flourish. And now I see even when there’s a few layers from that designer to the client, they’re already knowing why or how empathy approach any of those projects. So I just think it’s the more exposed you are to the client and their challenges, the more forgiving you’re going to be in those situations. But I do think it all comes back down to trust and caring for the person.

And it’s not just a project we’re delivering. We’re helping people accelerate their careers and do well. And I think the point you both made around amplifying your own team members is such a big one, especially for business owners that are listening or folks that feel like they’re the one that’s always being asked for. And how do they get out from under that? Because then you can’t really scale. And I think by doing what you talked about, which is like putting your team members at the face of it, getting them talking to clients, showing that they really, you know, they are the person behind it, really coaching them on how to advocate for the work.

That is how you scale as a leader. You’re saying like when the person’s asking for that person, OK, now your freedom. And it’s a big shift. And I think, you know, by really leaning into people’s skill sets, understanding what those are, by, you know, highlighting, hey, I’ve put this person on this project because they are the best at this thing. You know, that kind of stuff can really breed that confidence that can free you up. Yeah.

And if you think about being a client, if you had one contact at the agency that you love and you trust in their running, it’s just one, right? Like what if they leave or what if they’re sick or what if they can’t be on the project because they’re busy. And so for us, it’s like we want the clients to want the whole team. I want Janessa and this person and this person. Like that’s successful for us.

So we need to build up our junior team to be that person that the client wants to work with. I’ve watched that grow slowly, though, because I remember doing new business pitches with Jenny, who’s the founder of Skona. And it used to be this expectation that they’d get Jenny. And it was a little disheartening when they didn’t get Jenny. But it’s like you mentioned about scaling and introducing other strong team members. But then that waterfall where I picture the clients being like, we don’t get Allison.

And I think it’s again like slowly introducing people and empowering these teams and building relationships that that’s the way you’re going to grow and scale. But it is sometimes slow and you have to make people feel safe. Totally. And not forgotten. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like they got the V Team or something. Exactly. Because I think we had to start to be really up front in our new business pitches where it’s like so Jenny wouldn’t be running your project.

Allison would be running your project. And they’re already their expectations are set. They know that you’re… So it’s not like a flip when they start. Exactly. Because that was growing pain where there was some disappointment when they didn’t get Jenny. When they got me. I just want to clarify that. Never a disappointment. Never. So one last thing I want to touch on I think is the pace. I mean I’m guessing because even working in big tech where it was like flip was so much slower.

You throw in a couple extra deliverables and they’re like, whoa. Five more weeks. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Like something that you think should take an hour. It’s like weeks and weeks. So I guess I want to ask both of you how do you help people better estimate how long things should take? And then really when it’s like, hey, we just have to put our pedal to the metal or whatever and it’s going to be hard for a few weeks.

How do you get people to work through that without feeling resentful? Yeah. That’s a tough one. We always want to make sure people feel like they have the space for their creativity and they have, you know, it’s not just get it done tomorrow night. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. But also knowing that we do have a certain timeline to do it in. There needs to be some flexibility and it’s something that we need to talk about.

Just being open about it and saying that this may not be all the hours that you want to give to it, but that’s okay. They need it by this time. Let’s do our best. But I think giving our creative team some knowledge that we do have a trustee network of freelancers. If you ever do feel like you’re underwater, you can put your hand up and say, I need support. And we do that. We have that. We bring them in to have that support.

I think it helps them know that it’s not just on all of them all the time. Yeah. And I agree. I think we’ve gotten really good about having open kickoffs to projects and if there’s even a challenge of a smaller budget and a small timeline that we just sit down and say, what do we think we can get? Where’s the best product in these constraints? And I kind of liken it to the top chef of agency life.

This is our challenge if you choose to accept it. And then we find strategic ways where we were going to present three directions. Let’s just do two solid ones and let’s not execute as many deliverables because we really want to get the ones that we show right and we want to be able to focus on those two. It’s not always the same solution, but we want to give really great work at the end of the day and we just have to figure out strategically how to best do that.

And I think sometimes you might feel like the client might be not getting as much as they thought they were going to, but that’s part of the constraints of budget and time. I think quality is what we strive for at the end of the day with that. And then coming back to just the managing part is we have a very strict process. We have one-on-ones with everybody. It’s a time to check in not just on projects, but on how’s your capacity?

How are you doing? We have a time workload resourcing the hell of every agency is that we look at it as a group. We look, okay, this person looks like they have too many hours. We all estimate together. So it’s really open so that someone can say, hey, I think this is too much. Or someone can say for somebody else, maybe not even on the team, wow, this person looks like they have too much stuff. Is that true?

So we all kind of have each other’s back in that sense. And then we also have things like quarterly conversations where we check in on that. And that’s good for career growth, too. Some people want to start presenting or being more client-facing then we figure out ways to empower that and give them those chances. And again, it’s beneficiary because it’s back to that delegating conversation. We want everybody to grow. We want to support everybody in their career goals.

It’s been a really nice thing to see everybody feel supported and have those check-ins. I’m so glad you called out the tie between the career conversation and delegating because that’s one of the best strategies I’ve seen to be able to delegate even a little bit more than someone’s bandwidth is like, hey, I know this is extra, but it’s directly in line with this goal that you have. So it’s worth kind of taking on a little bit more for and so you have that whole framework set up for that.

And Janessa and I actually share our team’s goals with each other, too. She’ll say this person’s goal is to be a better public speaker as I can’t even say that word. So that I can help with, too. I can look out for it. I can help with it. This is an opportunity for them even if Janessa’s not there, so that we can help our teams grow together as a company and not just being us. And that’s so awesome because you’re showing team members they’re supported holistically across the company.

All of the leadership in the company understands your goals. We’re all looking out for you. So that really removes silos also and any sort of us versus them with the accounts and the creative. When someone sees, oh, I’m a designer but Allison tapped me to do this thing because she knows that. That’s such trust. I love that. And our own goals with each other. Personal and professional. Well, thank you so much. This was just such a fun conversation.

Any other things that you would share with folks in agencies, managing teams? I think it goes back to Skona’s values to me. One of them is fun to work with on embracing discomfort. And I find that both of those tend to be really big hitters lately. In our Slack thread we have nominations for team members of our values. So it’s beautiful to watch that we actually live them and people see that in other people. But I think at the end of the day luckily we’re not saving lives most of the time.

So it’s nice to remember that and have a little fun. And I think Allison and I try and bring that to our calls because things do get tense when timelines get tight and demands are high. Totally get that. And I don’t devalue that but also let’s talk a little golf stuff. Day in and day out the biggest thing you do, the most hours you spend. So let’s have a little fun. Like you said, growing your career.

Sometimes it’s going to be uncomfortable to do that presentation or that thing that you’ve never done or that presentation that you’ve never done. But it’s good to grow and it feels good in the end. I don’t know. You can go to bed proud. That’s what I feel like. That’s it. Let’s decide it all. Alright, well thank you both so much for joining me. It was just fun. I really enjoyed it. Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple Podcast where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive.

With that said, let’s spread the word. If you loved this episode, please pass it along to someone who might benefit from it. See you next time.