Link growth to opportunities
Business growth can be a tricky obstacle to overcome for an
organization looking to improve its company culture. When
you’re encouraging the organization to constantly pursue
growth and new business, after awhile, your employees ask,
“What’s in it for me?”
For the agency’s need for new business to coincide with his
cultural plan, Eiserman had to completely change the way the
company looked at growth. For years, Y&R had wanted growth
simply for the sake of growth, and it was growing at about 30
percent each year.
“The agency continued to get bigger, and all it was, was more
work,” Eiserman says.
Now, all business growth is considered an opportunity to
invest back in the agency — whether the investment is to
expand resources or train employees.
For instance, when Y&R recently picked up Jenny Craig as a
client, Eiserman was already thinking about which employees
would be a good fit on the new account.
“As that win came in the door, the first thing we said was not,
‘These guys are $70 million in billings,’” he says. “We said, ‘OK,
this is going to create incredible opportunities for a lot of people in this room, so let’s start there.’”
Eiserman and his management team got to work mapping out
skill sets for each position they needed to fill on the account.
Then, they put the word out that anyone who was interested in
the open positions should apply.
When the agency’s growth is simply boiled down to a bullet
point on the quarterly report, it’s difficult for employees to fully
invest themselves in it. However, when they see that the
agency’s growth translates into more opportunities for them,
they will be much more motivated and focused. Also, when
they start to see the improvements around them that have
resulted from investing previous growth back into the agency,
it only reinforces their faith in management’s commitment to
building a strong company and culture.
“Suddenly, people start to view growth differently rather
than, ‘Oh, it’s just more work,’” Eiserman says.
HOW TO REACH: Young & Rubicam Brands, Southern California, (949) 754-2000 or
www.yrbsc.com