As we discussed, a flexible structure is critical for long-term success and wellbeing. In addition to a strong structure and a clear statement of purpose, any business’s blueprint for success must account for an efficient production process. World-class design agencies such as Dragon Rouge and Pentagram are fantastic examples of how a Corporate Creative Group (CCG) should approach their procedures. Rather than basing their organizational chart and process off tradition and corporate hierarchy, these agencies setup their teams based understanding the multitude of responsibilities required to operate in today’s economy.

Through my experience with world-class creative teams both in-house and in firms, I found that those that run the most efficiently would insure functions were delegated with purpose and thoughtfulness. I’ve created a functionality model that I use to analysis creative teams of all sizes.

The idea here is that every aspect of creation, production, implementation and business operation is covered by members of the team or outside vendors. An in-depth analysis of “who does what” will quickly reveal gaps, heavily weighted positions and misappropriations.  Most every issue of efficiency, complacency and profitability can be directly linked to a deficiency in the functional model.  In other words, if your organization structure does not support the necessary functions as outlined, your production process will break down.

A word to the wise: should one person have too many functions on their shoulders, everything else falters. This tends to be the case with the majority of in-house teams and agencies we encounter when we’re brought in to help with organizational structure. Whether we see the manager functioning within four categories of the chart above, or the designer being paid for their trade as well as five non-design functions, harmful uneven distribution of responsibilities is far too common and far too taxing on any organization’s potential.

Having that been said, when you’re determining who is responsible for what, try to keep the “functions per person” to a minimum. Once these functions are determined, place the most appropriate people to fulfill those functions. Notice I said fill the position with a person, and not the other way around.

To wrap up, here are the steps when building your in-house team.

1)    draw out the organization

2)    determine the functions that need filling

3)    analyze distribution

4)    review and realign

Of course, it isn’t as easy to do when you’re in the middle of your team. We encourage you to consider reaching out to us if you’re considering re-charting your organization. By bringing in experts like us, you can continue to focus on your core responsibilities while truly solving your problem of process inefficiencies. If we can’t help your specific situation, we’ll send you to someone who can.

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Disclaimer: The information above is a process overview for efficient organizational structure, based off protected consulting resources of THE FULCRUM AGENCY. This method is engineered specifically for creative teams. Any administration of this system outside of THE FULCRUM AGENCY is illegal, and will likely generate poor results without the guidance of a senior strategist from THE FULCRUM AGENCY. If you’d like to improve the functionality of your team (either by implementing a more efficient organizational structure or otherwise) please contact Jeni Herberger directly.

This webinar event, titled “Recharting your Organization”, is a followup to my visit to AIGA Colorado earlier this year. By popular vote from all of you who attended “Building Strategy” last March, the webinar topic focuses on building the most efficient organization structure for creative teams.

Early-bird ticket prices are $10 for AIGA members and $20 for non-members. After May 28^th all ticket prices increase to $25. To register, visit www.efficientorgs.ebrite.com and sign up today.

There will a Q&A at the end of the webinar. Please come prepared with questions for me!

Spots are limited, so if you plan on bringing other members from your team, sign up soon. I’ll be spearheading the webinar on June 4th @ 11:00am PT.

See you all soon!

Jeni

A little more about the event:

“Efficiency should not be defined as simply the least amount of effort for the greatest output but as a tool for sustainable business practices and high quality products and services. The most efficient route to “sustainable efficiency” is threefold: the proper formation of organizational structure (your people), production process (your procedure) and your statement of purpose (your vision).”

 – Jeni Herberger

 

The strategic plans of businesses are typically static therefore lack the ability to flex and grow without a dramatic re-organization annually. This static nature trickles down from overall governing business strategy to the organizational structure of every department. There typically isn’t much room for creative problem solving or innovative contributions from the people within a corporation, which is imperative in today’s new market place.  It’s no wonder why so many organizations lack true efficiency!

 

A new webinar series aims to change how we approach this platform. To kick off the series, corporate guru Jeni Herberger focuses on the organizational structure of Corporate Creative Groups (CCGs) at the first webinar on June 4th, 2013 from 11:00am – 12:00pm. Jeni will focus on how to develop an organizational structure to succeed in the rapidly changing corporate walls which in-house teams operate within.

 

There will a Q&A at the end of the webinar. Please come prepared with questions for Jeni!

 

As always, everyone is encouraged to bring friends and co-workers.

To register, visit www.efficientorgs.ebrite.com and sign up today.

The same can be said for any business, organization, or department such as a Corporate Creative Group (CCG). Sure, any team can experience short-term success without the aforementioned criteria, but for how long?

For any CCG to truly thrive in the long-run, in order to genuinely sustain successful business, they need an efficient and measurable plan.

Efficiency should not be defined as simply the least amount of effort for the greatest output but as a tool for sustainable business practices and high quality products and services. The most efficient route to “sustainable efficiency” is threefold: the proper formation of organizational structure (your people), production process (your procedure) and statement of purpose (your vision).

Let’s start with structure.

CCGs are responsible for a varying degree of visual communications within the greater organization. We see a rising trend amongst CCGs to become a strategic partner within their corporations and being increasingly closer to the process of the larger business strategy. The most forward-thinking groups are looking to become innovators for the organization not just visual communicators. CCG’s are moving away from merely being service providers with little input on the forefront of a project and increasingly becoming strategic partners involved in the earliest steps of company-wide initiatives. This allows CCG’s to be more than service providers (money-saving groups) and become profit centers (money-generating groups) significantly increasing their value to the company.

Taking into consideration your company’s greater goals, your organizational structure must be built to allow for controlled art direction, process management, and team member empowerment. There are three key figures within a sustainable organizational structure; creative manager, account manager and the production manager. The latter being the central figure for process success. Although, often called by different names, the “production manager” has a primary role of delegation, organization, and quality control.

The organizational structure of a CCG is based on the volume and type of work, the department’s growth vision, and the level of strategic partnership required. If you look to the corporate pillars, you will find more often than not, the pillars speak directly to the necessity of a highly strategic communications platform and absolutely must put the CCG at the center of the communications initiatives.

The roles and responsibilities of each position must be purposeful and deliberate. Teams must be built around these positions and not around the skills of the people that fill them. The development of the organizational structure will affect the efficiency of the process and requires a constant review and connection to the strategic pillars of the organization.

______________________

Disclaimer: The information above is a process overview for efficient organizational structure, based off protected consulting resources of THE FULCRUM AGENCY. This method is engineered specifically for creative teams. Any administration of this system outside of THE FULCRUM AGENCY is illegal, and will likely generate poor results without the guidance of a senior strategist from THE FULCRUM AGENCY. If you’d like to improve the functionality of your team (either by implementing a more efficient organizational structure or otherwise) please contact Jeni Herberger directly.

“Any consumer brand today–whether Starbucks or a product like Tide–it is incumbent upon the company to create relevancy in all aspects of your customers’ lives,” he says. “The price of admission is not good enough if your relevancy and market position is only where the product is sold. We said to ourselves that we have to be as relevant socially and digitally as we are when the customer is inside our four walls as when they’re outside–and we want to thread the equity of the brand and the Starbucks experience to multiple platforms–digital, social, mobile–that encompass all aspects of customers’ lives. This is a big thing we’ve learned for 2012, and I think companies that don’t understand it are going to left behind.”

-          Howard Schultz , Starbucks CEO

Don’t get left behind like WALL E

As market position becomes harder to obtain, the focus on relevancy becomes more important. With increasing fluctuation in consumer trends, some brands find it tough to set up a “sustainable business model” when they’re constantly fighting to stay relevant. Who is better poised to create a communication platform that is relevant and authentic, other than the creative entities residing within the corporate walls?

“Creative Services” is a thing of the past (or so it should be). Although the members of these teams indeed serve the brand just as the brand is required to serve the consumer, “serving” is simply a necessary component of expressing the core mission and value of the company.

As the field of Design develops, creative departments are evolving to become strategic partners within their organization.  This requires team members of creative departments to embrace extrinsic ideas and trends that can only be discovered by looking outside of their walls, yet, commit to the intrinsic brand attributes and corporate beliefs.

The opportunity to influence from within is greater than ever before. Consumers want to believe in “what” they buy and are demanding to know more about the companies behind the products they consume. With the internet at their fingertips, they’re only recently able to explore this. More and more people examine the authenticity of the brands they consume from by simply Goggling questions like:  ”How does this company offset their carbon emissions? What causes does this business support? Are employees happy working there? What are their ethics and how much do I agree with them?”

Here lies the opportunity for creatives.

We have an uncanny ability to communicate and solve problems. Designers can infuse “design strategy” into a company’s overall business plan and impact the brand for the better.  Design strategy is a critical component to obtaining a strong market position and innovative processes. This means innovative products, possibilities and new revenue streams for any brand leveraging their creative departments. Corporate design teams willing to demand a place at the table and deliver a higher level of strategy will be key players in ensuring that their companies are not left behind. They are the opportunity to be on the forefront of an emerging method that is redefining how business gets done.

Will you be left behind?

Join us Tuesday, March 26 at 5:45pm at the Seattle Arts M useum to hear Jeni Herberger (www.jeniherberger.com) lead a conversation with top corporate creative leaders.

The next #INLunch season will kick off near the end of summer. We’re looking for guests to interview! Send us an email if you’d like to nominate someone (yes, you can nominate yourself) to discuss in-house tips and trends.

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Summary from our last #INLunch: “Driving the ‘why’ through design strategy”

“Driving the ‘why’ through design strategy” – Summary

More and more brands are looking to their creative departments for innovative ideas to grow the larger company. We’ll be having a discussion with creative leaders from major brands on the cusp of this trend – these are folks that have already successfully faced this challenge. The livechat will focus around preparing designers for when these opportunities present themselves.

This Livechat precludes a panel discussion the night of March 26th with AIGA Seattle: “INsights”

PANELISTS

Diane Christensen, Costco
Jeff Boettcher, Microsoft
Pia Hunter, Nordstrom
Kevin Schroer, Seattle Art Museum
Steve Murray, Starbucks
Marcus Pape, Amazon

 

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Become part of the conversation @ http://tweetchat.com/room/inlunch

pro•duc•tiv•i•ty – “having the power to produce”

Why attend them? I lay down the bottom-line advantage in a previous posting:

“the general idea behind attending an industry conference is two-fold: to stay plugged in and to recharge. Industry conferences offer an element of newness and insight into what’s current in the industry and where the industry is going in the future. Besides, you’ve got to get out of the office and see what is going on outside of your cubicle walls.”                        

Although conferences can be highly beneficial for you, your team, and your brand, it can be difficult to choose the best one to attend. For that matter, it can be a pain to find a comprehensive list of your options.

Graphic designers take note of these colors coming from our design cousins in fashion. Take a moment to think about how these colors are impacting the way our customers feel and react.

Read more about the inspiration behind each color within the palette at: Pantone Color Report Spring 2013

This season’s palette reflects an over all desire for a “sense of balance”. We seek balance in so many areas of our life, work and home. It seems to be a current theme for people of all walks of life so why would it not be revealed in the colors we see on the runway? “We don’t often think about color as an expression of balance. For Spring/Summer 2013 we have a wonderful balancing of colors,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute^®.

Inspired by the 50’s and 60’s, black and white photographs as well as the dusty, muted hues of vintage color photography, the colors of nature and the emergence of the cultural influences of Asia, this season’s palette reminds us that color and clothing is a means of self-expression.  And for the gents, let’s hear it for soothing neutrals and energizing brights!

Thank you to Pantone Color Institute^® for supplying this information – http://www.pantone.com

The details aren’t important and probably not much different than so many others out there that have experienced hurt, betrayal and despairing sadness. What is different is that I’m making my way back. It was so very slow at first with so many of my friends and colleagues asking where I had gone and if I was well. My closest friends told others that I was fine and would reach out when I needed to; when I came to understand it was all right for me to need the care of wonderful people. After months of balancing a family in need and licking my own wounds of shame and disbelief, I found myself ready to take my life back but I wasn’t sure what my life would look like moving forward. Thus began the process of redesigning my own reality.

For years, I have taught others how to analysis the status of their businesses, careers and personal lives. I’ve built creative departments and small businesses promoting best practices and infusing the process with an understanding of what makes their culture unique. I have encouraged individuals to build their careers around their families, their passions and their limitations. Now, with the encouragement of so many amazing people whose lives I was blessed enough to touch, I am reaching out beyond my past and pushing towards a future that frankly freaks the hell out of me but also is beginning to fill me with hope.

Many of the people that I have had the privilege of working with have become the dearest of my friends; Steve ,Jeff, ricardo, Michael, Justin, Jamie, Heather, Peleg, Pash, Adam, Matt and many more. You have told me over and over how much I have given to you over the years and now it is my turn to say thank you and tell you all that you have given to me:

“I am indebted to each of you for the manner in which you have encouraged me and proven that the connections we make in our lives surpass anything else we can accomplish. It truly is because of those connections that we find our definition of success and share it with the world.  I cried, I’ve laughed, I’ve learned and mostly I have lived. I’m eternally grateful that my friends have been beside me the whole way.”

Our panel on In-House Design aims to shed light on how designers within organizations should shape the perception of the design function as strategic advisor to the company leadership, its brands and its innovation ambitions. Participants should walk away from the conversation with the ideas and means with which to further integrate the in-house function to the overall business it serves.

The Professional Series is a program of conversations about today’s business of design. Professionals and entrepreneurs from a range of design enterprises will gather to discuss how each are growing their businesses through financial modeling, business development, recruitment and retention, innovation practices and, above all, great design.

Moderated by Michael Lejeune, Creative Director at Metro. Michael Lejeune is Creative Director for Metro (the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro’s 30-person Creative Services group creates all things visual for the nation’s third-largest transit agency, and the in-house group’s design work is in the permanent collection of AIGA’s National Design Archives and has received some 100 awards to date, including ReBrand 100’s Global “Best Of” award and recognition from AIA, SEGD, NEA, Harvard University, EMBARQ/World Research Institute and the World Bank. Metro’s design program has been included in American, European and Japanese design books, and also in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Communication Arts, Creative Review, Print, Fast Company, HOW, and STEP Inside Design magazines. Michael is a past president of AIGA’s Los Angeles chapter. He lives with his wife and two children in South Pasadena.

Agenda
6:30 – Drink and Hors d’oeuvre
7:00pm – Panelist Discussion
8:30pm – Q&A

Panelists
Pash, VP of Brand and Design at ABC
Pash is a renowned design strategist, author, and educator with more than 20 years of experience in the field of design.  He has designed the official logo for Miles Davis, brand extensions for Playboy, products for John Varvatos, retail product strategy for Motown Records, and advertising for Perrier.  His book, Inspirability, was published in 2005 and features personal interviews with 40 of the world’s most prominent and interesting graphic designers.  Pash is currently VP of Brand & Design at ABC.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jessica and his daughters, Mirabelle and Juliette.

riCardo Crespo, svp, global creative chief, f/c/p for Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
riCardo crespo, is an ambassador of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and serves as svp, global creative chief, f/c/p. Prior to joining 20th Century Fox, crespo held several leadership positions including executive creative posts at Mattel Inc. and notable advertising icons such as McCANN ERICKSON, Saatchi & Saatchi and Bozell Worldwide. crespo is a frequent contributor on design methodologies and the strategic value of creative+design in the branding development process. A sought-after keynote speaker at major events, conferences and universities, riCardo also serves on the advisory board of the AC Collective at accidentalcreative.com.

Michael Hathaway, VP/Creative Director at NBC
Michael Hathaway is VP/Creative Director at NBC’s in-house agency where he oversees the print design team. Newly transplanted from NYC, he spent 14 years at Showtime’s in-house agency – developing award-winning creative for the promotion of Showtime’s original series such as Dexter, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, etc.