Can agency team members be more strategic?
In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss whether or not employees can be encouraged to be “more strategic”. They explore the definition of being strategic, frequently misunderstood expectations, and the challenges of fostering strategic thinking among team members. Gini shares her personal experiences and frustrations from her early career, emphasizing the importance of proper coaching and mentoring. Chip and Gini conclude that agency owners should define their expectations clearly, consider the individual capabilities of their employees, and re-evaluate their own workload to potentially take on more strategic responsibilities themselves. Key takeaways Chip Griffin: “Anytime you’re providing feedback to an employee, be as specific as possible, both in terms of what your expectations are and what you want them to really work on.” Gini Dietrich: “The only constructive criticism I received on every review was you need to be more strategic. Which is fine, it was true, but nobody told me what that meant.” Chip Griffin: “When I’m coaching people on hiring, my advice is try to find people who are generally good at problem solving, as opposed to someone who has the specific experience that you’re looking for.” Gini Dietrich: “Do you have the room to be strategic? Probably not. Most of us that run agencies don’t. So if you don’t have the time or the space, your team certainly doesn’t.” Related Professional development for agency owners and employees (featuring Mike Rhodes) The role of your team in selling agency services How to get your team the mentorship they need View Transcript The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy. Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin. Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich. Chip Griffin: And Gini, I don’t even remember what we’re talking about today, so I remember that, I remember that you were driving the topic though, so, so, so in the 30 seconds since we end Gini Dietrich: Segue, we’re going to talk about whether or not employees can be strategic. Chip Griffin: Ah, there we go. We should also talk about whether hosts can actually pay attention to their own shows. Do I still have any memory left? Apparently not, but we’re just, it just shows how real we are on this podcast because, Gini Dietrich: but also, to be fair, it was like five minutes ago. Then we had another conversation and now, so I’ll give you a little bit of benefit of it out there. Chip Griffin: Well, thank you. I I, I do, I do appreciate that. But you know, we’re just, we’re just showing you how real we are on this show because most hosts would say, you know what, we’re gonna rerecord this open so that we don’t look dumb. No, I am, I am pleased to look dumb. Absolutely. I should not pleased, but I, I don’t care if I look dumb. I mean, it’s, you know, we all are dumb sometimes, and this is one of those times for me, so Gini Dietrich: I cannot wait for the clip from Jen that says, I am pleased to look dumb. That’s gonna be perfect. Chip Griffin: You’re welcome. Thank you. The two of you can really enjoy that and I’m sure we will. I’ll see it show up up in my texts at some point. Gini Dietrich: Yep. And it’ll show up on social media. It’s fine. Sure. Chip Griffin: There you go. Whatever. I’m fine with that. Gini Dietrich: Ah, I’m pleased to look dumb. Chip Griffin: So can employees be strategic? Gini Dietrich: Maybe? Chip Griffin: It depends? Gini Dietrich: Actually, you know, I was thinking about this because, Drew McClellan did a video on it and I watched it and I was like, this is an interesting topic. And I was making the bed the other day and I was thinking about how when I was in my twenties, I used to get really good reviews. And the only negative thing, or the only thing constructive criticism thing on every review was you need to be more strategic. Which is fine. It was true, but nobody told me what that meant. It just, an