10 April, 2006
Service auditing - measuring the quality, efficiency and value of creative suppliers.
Individuals or contractorsBroadly speaking there are two groups, those who work for the organisation in-house and those who supply services, either as individuals or contractors.
Taking the latter group first, although they are conveniently grouped as creative suppliers (generally because their costs are paid from the advertising, marketing and promotional spend) they represent a very diverse group. They may range from the mundane number-crunching address list suppliers to high flying marketing gurus or from the local printer to the internet wizard.
There are some common elements that link the way they are employed by the organisation and the work they do. They work under unrealistic time pressure, they are expected to deliver the goods whatever the circumstances and more often than not, they have some specialist knowledge relating to the client.
The close relationship
This is all very admirable and no one wants to lose a good supplier, but this kind of cosy relationship can lead to a great deal of wasted effort and resource. This is due to the working practice that does not allow the client to stand back from panic and deadlines and see where that 50% of the budget is being wasted. The close relationship also inhibits scrutiny of methods and costs; after all, when someone has just dug you out of a hole, you are unlikely to question their invoice. This is best left to someone less involved who will approach it from an unbiased position.
A disinclination to be motivated
Auditing those who work in-house is even more difficult. Employing creative types who, by their own admission, are free spirits, is the first in a sequence of contradictions, alongside their disinclination to be motivated by material rewards and their resistance to disciplined work practices. They enjoy the privileges of specialist knowledge; they know who did what and where things are, and often remind their in-house managers that they are ‘doing them a favour’, just by being there.
Again a dispassionate view needs to be taken. Are they efficient, are they the right people for the job and are they cost effective? An independent and impartial outsider can give you the answer. 
10 April, 2006
Measure results if you want value for money.
Is it possible?
How do you ensure in-house and bought-in services are providing good value when Edward de Bono, the world’s leading authority in the field of creative thinking, states – ‘The true value of a creative is the time spent approaching an idea from every possible angle and widening definition?’ True but products still have to get to market.
Measuring productivity
The method of monitoring and quantifying creativity is a persistent concern for any business. Employees constitute the greatest financial outlay in most cases, followed by their service suppliers. The productivity of more conventional labour is relatively easy to measure, whether dealing with men digging ditches, the length of time a lawyer spends preparing a contract or how long an accountant takes to complete an audit.
Usually a tangible end result over a given period of time enables you to reach a conclusion, separating those who represent good value for money from those who don’t.
The first principle is to establish whether there are any benchmarks to work with. Questions can be asked from, ‘What is a reasonable cost to produce the Annual Report?’ to ‘Why does it take so long to implement minor changes to the website?’ The answers will provide a rough and ready price list that allows the organisation to judge how they are doing against the benchmark.
Using the right people for the job
There are some other important questions to ask. Is the business using the right in-house people to do the work? Tasking creative people with mundane and repetitive tasks inevitably leads to poor productivity. To the unenlightened manager, if the task is done on an Apple Mac, it is a creative one, but that is not necessarily the case.
Teresa Amabile, a Professor at Harvard Business School, has spent thirty years researching creativity and her findings reveal that creatives need to be deeply engaged in their work and want to be challenged. Repetitive work will not do this, so some reorganisation may result in greater job satisfaction and the right person could relish a job unsuitable for the creative temperament. The same is true of employment contracts, as giving creatives some flexibility in the way they work can greatly increase productivity.
Are the right suppliers being used for the task?
They may be loyal, hard working and their profit margin thin but if the cost is increased by their using the wrong or outdated technology there is obviously room for improvement. The structure of the business can erode efficiency if it does not allow time for competitive quotes.
Fit and structure
Is the team a good fit? Costs can spiral where people don’t understand the basic ethos of the business. They may well be experts in their specific field, but the client should not shoulder the financial burden of any learning curve.
What is the relationship with suppliers?
Poor performance can manifest itself in various other ways. For example, the supplier may have been inherited from a previous employee and not be properly understood by the new manager. Connections between the supplier and other parts of the business may not encourage the client to question quality and price, such as in those circumstances where the supplier is also a customer of the business.
Remarkable improvements can be made but time pressure and habitual practice may conceal areas that an impartial observer can quickly identify to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of in-house and bought-in services.
10 April, 2006
Creative People and Services - Value for Money?
How do you ensure service and value?
The method of monitoring and quantifying creativity is a persistent concern for any business. Employees constitute a company’s greatest financial outlay, closely followed by suppliers and in most cases the productivity of labour is relatively easy to measure . Certain indicators can be used to help in assessment whether dealing with men digging ditches, the length of time a lawyer spends preparing a contract or how long an accountant takes to complete an audit. Usually a tangible end result enables you to reach a conclusion separating those who represent good value for money from those who don’t.
Measuring the performance of creative people and creative services is a different matter. Take the author Harper Lee, who’s novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has been translated into over thirty languages with in excess of fifteen million copies in print. Since publication in 1960, she has never written anything else but her publishers are surely satisfied with the return on their investment. The task of measurement is so arbitrary and the parameters so random that the majority of businesses determine a marketing budget and then close their eyes and cross their fingers. This approach frequently works - however the adage that 50% of the marketing budget is wasted, people just can’t work out which 50%, holds true.
This doesn’t have to be the case. While it is up to the advertising and marketing gurus to deliver the creative gems there remains plenty of scope to increase efficiency with the possibility of lowering costs. There are a number of areas worth looking at -
Evaluating what constitutes value
The first principle is to establish whether there are any benchmarks to work with. These may range from asking questions such as, ‘what is a reasonable cost to produce the Annual Report?’ or ‘why does it take so long to implement minor changes?’ to asking whether the 15% discount on offer still leaves the company paying more than anyone else. Starting with a generic price list allows the client to judge how they are doing. Clearly these vary from business to business but the philosophy remains the same. What are the benchmarks of the business?
What quantifies as a creative task?
It is prudent to review whether the right people are occupying the right jobs. It isn’t uncommon to find within any organisation creative people employed in mundane and repetitive tasks which inevitably leads to poor productivity. This reinforces the idea that creatives are lazy when providing motivation and stimulation could be the key to their success.
Despite this perception serious research has gone into ascertaining the validity of this myth. Edward de Bono, the world’s leading authority in the field of creative thinking, says that the true value of a creative is the time spent approaching an idea from every possible angle and widening definition. Milhaly Csikszentmihalyi, Psychology Professor, previous ‘Thinker of the Year’ and author of ‘Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention,’ states that the benefit of creatives within the business environment is their ability to see a problem as more complex with deeper layers than other people and a desire to reach a new solution rather than follow the tried and tested.
Teresa Amabile, a Professor at Harvard Business School has spent thirty years researching creativity and her findings reveal that creatives need to be deeply engaged in their work and want to be challenged. Some reorganisation within the organisation may result in greater job satisfaction and the right person could relish a job evidently unsuitable for the creative temperament. The solution is to recognise the problem but how can you spot the warning signs?
Are the right suppliers being used for the task?
They may be loyal, hard working and their profit margin thin but if the cost is increased by their using the wrong or outdated technology there is obviously room for improvement. How could your clients identify this?
Are the team a good fit?
Costs can spiral where people don’t understand the basic ethos of the business. They may well be experts in their field but the client should not shoulder the financial burden of any learning curve. Basic and expensive mistakes are all too common so how can they be avoided?
What is the relationship with suppliers?
Finally, the structure of the relationship with the suppliers can erode efficiency. This can manifest itself in various ways. The relationship may have been inherited from a previous employee and not be properly understood. Relationships between the supplier and other parts of the business may not encourage the client to question quality and price.
The same is true of employment contracts, giving creatives some flexibility in the way they work can greatly increase productivity. How do you know what the relationship could be with creatives? Often an external auditor can best find these answers through objective consideration of the working mechanism of the business. Close involvement and habitual practice may conceal areas that an impartial observer quickly appreciates require modification to increase efficiency of operation.
The most important thing I have learnt as a practitioner is that the creative process can be much more effective and productive if it is well managed. I asked myself if this experience could be put to use to help others, and the answer has been most emphatically yes.
My experience tells me that in the right environment, managed sensitively, creatives can achieve amazing things but managed poorly they can be a disaster.
Those commissioning work also need help to interact in the right way with their creative partners.
Measuring & Auditing
Service auditing - measuring the quality, efficiency and
value of creative suppliers.
Measure results if you want value for money.
Creative People and Services - Value for Money?
Click on the titles to find out more or on 
to see a short slide show.
Mentoring & Motivating
Improving the return on creative resource investment.
It takes more than financial incentives.
Motivating and encouraging creativity.
Click on the titles to find out more or on to see a short slide show.
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking – providing synaesthetic solutions to complex challenges.
‘A problem is the difference between what we have and what we want.’ - Edward de Bono
A good problem solver will quickly understand your business and provide impartial and refreshingly different solutions.
Click on the titles to find out more or on to see a short slide show.
Speaking Creative
Speaking Creative – how it improves results through clearer, better focused better communication.
It is all about what you say and how you say it.
A creative speaker acts as an intermediary andprovides a clear channel of communication, avoiding costly misunderstandings.
Click on the titles to find out more or on to see a short slide show.
Each Case History is a précis of projects undertaken by Town Group and marketing managers will find the scenarios familiar. If you have a particular situation which requires some outside help, or would like to know more about a particular project then please contact me for further information.