Process isn’t sexy, writes Mark Leone, managing partner at Madclarity.
It doesn’t excite people. Most only really think about it when things go wrong… but a little more on this later.
I have noticed when asking people how they are, the most common answer you hear is busy. Particularly if they work in an agency. It has probably been the case for at least a year now, maybe two. I often catch myself saying it too, even when I try not to. But when you have a small business, it can be synonymous with good. You are happy when you are busy; the opposite isn’t much fun.
We all understand good busy, but what about bad busy?
The type of busy that means important things don’t get the attention they deserve. That familiar saying “more haste, less speed”. In marketing, this often shows up as moving ahead in campaign development before you are confident you are on the right path.
Briefing the agency without properly diagnosing the problem.
Moving into execution without interrogating strategy.
Not taking the time to understand what has been learnt, in a rush to create the next one.
“But… we will miss the booking lead time… won’t it cost us more if we are late?”
The sad part is, watching on without any direct control, it typically ends up taking longer. Or worse yet, results in having to start again and do it twice. The issues from short cuts early on rarely get “sorted out” later, despite what anyone suggests.
There is wheel spinning from agencies heading down the wrong path. Back and forth on execution, because no one understands the strategy. Differing opinions, with decision-making relying on gut feel or instinct. It becomes emotional. Yet, there is still time to produce sixty, seventy, eighty-page PowerPoint documents focused on “what” not “why”.
Most of these issues can be traced back to poor process. Yes, boring old process. That’s not why we got into marketing, advertising or media. You don’t win awards for process. No one ever put together a hype reel with highlights of the process. It’s not where your next promotion is coming from… or is it?
Process isn’t what is written in a training document circulated by global teams. It isn’t complex flow charts, templates and structures. It’s what we do. How we work together. What we hold ourselves and each other accountable to. The important milestones and how we navigate them. Providing the time and space for creativity within a structure of diligence.
Good process helps minimise time wasted on unimportant things. It ensures everyone understands what is important, why, and what needs to be agreed before we proceed.
In a recent internal training workshop, we were sharing some of the learnings from past process reviews. Talking about the impact it had on our client’s business. Even I was a little surprised. You can forget the enormity of the changes over time.
One of the team asked a very good question: “Why don’t we do more process reviews?”
I struggled to answer this question at the time. In hindsight, it became clearer.
Process is a little bit like insurance. It reassures us, but we’d prefer not to think about it. Working to improve process doesn’t feel productive, it feels like something that gets in the way of doing “real” work. A grudge resource expense.
In reality, it is often what separates good marketers from the rest. The award-winning secret.
It creates the space, time and focus to do better work. Something we can all do with a little more of… in such a busy world.
