In creative settings around the world, a battle is being waged.
No, it’s not copywriters clashing with designers over space constraints, nor marketing managers quarreling with their directors over budget. These things happen, surely, but the root disconnect we’re talking about runs deeper and is more pervasive.
It is the battle between autonomy and direction. Boosting team productivity in marketing and design is reliant on individual contributors feeling empowered and trusted to do their jobs without interference, while still adhering to a collective strategy and moving in lockstep with their teammates.
This delicate balance is sought by bosses across the business spectrum, but is especially critical in creative fields, where talent is at a premium and working preferences tend to be more unique from person to person. Fostering a culture in which differences are embraced, and various functions collaborate seamlessly, is the ultimate goal for today’s marketing and design teams.
There is no one way to get it right. But opening yourself up to seasoned perspectives and real stories from proven leaders just might help you narrow down the perfect structure for your team.
Follow along for a journey through the pillars of productivity.
What makes marketing and design teams click?
In the quest to power up productivity, creative leaders face a number of complicating variables: the increasing prevalence of remote workers, the exploding number of tools and technologies, the ever-growing levels of competition, and on continues the list..
To learn how actual pros in the wild are grappling with these challenges and still guiding their teams to produce great work, we chatted with a wide range of marketing and design leaders, as well as productivity experts who specialize in these areas.
You can find a wealth of their insights compiled in our new interactive experience, Empower better creative teamwork.
Featured voices include:
- Carla Johnson, Global Keynote Speaker and Author
- Jay Acunzo, Founder of Marketing Showrunners
- Julia McCoy, CEO of Express Writers
- Aaron Orendorff, VP of Marketing at Common Thread Collective
- Angela Tague, Content Marketing Writer & Founder of WebWritingAdvice.com
- Jacob Cass, Founder and Creative Director of JUST Creative
- Lisa Sicard, Owner of Inspire to Thrive
- Shama Hyder, Founder & CEO of Zen Media
- Holly Locastro, B2B Marketing Consultant & Agency Founder
- Deb Lee, Digital Business Coach and Productivity Consultant
- Maura Nevel Thomas, Trainer, Author and Speaker
- Barry Moltz, Small Business Expert
Their advice spans a number of different aspects of the productivity picture, from running distributed teams to employing empathy to managing attention and beyond.
It all comes back to finding that vital sweet spot between autonomy and direction. Tips from these respected influencers and successful practitioners can help you make this crucial connection and elevate creative collaboration for good.
Join us on the path to better creative teamwork.
