Love my team, but they’re kind of on autopilot. Super talented but they’re not fully realizing their potential. What has a senior creative leader done that inspired you to do your best work?

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The folks at WK make it feel ok to fail. They always encourage you to take the brave, less trodden route. Even if it is likely to hit a brick wall. They say things like, “if they don’t buy it then fuck em!”.

likeupliftingsmarthelpful

Super talented creative teams you love don’t just go on autopilot. Something else is up. Office acquired a weird vibe. Account has changed or gone off the rails. Loss of respect for leadership. Something. Unless they’re really junior, they already know they’re competing with the entire creative world on every assignment and (like the rest of us) are already self-motivated enough. Adding new hoops to the dog agility course we’re all already running isn’t the answer. I’d talk to them about it first, like a peer, not a boss. You’ve shared your sincere concern with us. Why not share it with them, then work on fixing it together, as a team? Now that I think about it, that’s exactly how the best bosses I ever had inspired me.

likesmart

I have found that treating them like humans and asking them what they would like to do works. We also do big scrums where we just all jump on one brand and come up with crazy ideas and then present them to all the upper mgmt as a way for them to get seen and be impressive to the top brass.

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I think you know. Push. I have one team on autopilot and as much as I love it, I asked them when’s the last time they scared the client. They didn’t have an answer. Now they’re trying to and I love it.

likeuplifting

Couple things I’ve seen work time and again...

Dial up the competition. Reward the winners. When people feel there’s something on the line, they tend to dig deeper. I’m not saying use fear as a motivator, but use victory as one. Kudos. Recognition. Promotions. More responsibility. More power to the top performers. Coffee is for closers.

Also, there may be a larger issue at play. If the account never results in portfolio-quality work for these talented people, that’s a bigger issue. They may be phoning it in because that’s all it takes. The core issues may be outside your department.

Also, you may simply have some people who should be doing something else for a living. It happens.

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I’m going to add a counterpoint to your last statement: sometimes we go on autopilot when other things move to the front of our thoughts. We don’t take off who we are when we get to work, so if you’re going through something significant - positive or negative - outside of work, that could totally be a reason someone would dial back their engagement. ESPECIALLY if they are super talented and know they can coast because their middle-ground is still better than a lot of people’s A-level.

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Question: how motivated are you? You’re their boss, and motivation and passion usually trickle down. My advice would be, lead with example.

likesmart

Sounds like you need me. DM me?

I’m available and would be super inspired, hire me!

Opportunity usually motivates pretty well. Making decks that go nowhere tend to tire out any team.

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