Over the past couple of years the team here at Fiasco Design has been steadily growing – and more importantly evolving. We started as a partnership back in 2010 and since then we have organically grown into a creative, and passionate, team of like-minded individuals that I’m personally very proud of.
As a creative agency we’ve purposefully kept our growth modest, consciously hiring when we feel the team needs another member with specific skills and experiences – not just because a large client requires extra resource. By expanding slowly we allow for each new team member to truly invest in our creative beliefs and settle into our studio culture.
Below are the fundamental factors that I believe help to maintain a happy and balanced creative agency; that subsequently enables us to produce top notch, innovative work.
Learn from one another
Throw a bunch of talented multi-disciplined individuals in the same room and they will inevitably learn from one another. What’s important is to let people work together who might not usually cross paths. I understand that’s slightly harder for larger agencies to undertake but it’s worth the risk! When it comes to problem solving, each individual will approach the task ahead differently. So whether you’re a developer, illustrator, designer or account manager you’ll be able to continuously evolve and learn something new.
Productivity
Being in a room with like-minded people will really boost productivity. It’s been proven that an individual will always perform better as part of a team; even if the team are undertaking exactly the same task at the same time. Perhaps that’s why collaborative working spaces or hired desk space is such a popular solution for creatives nowadays.
Communication
What better way to improve your communication skills than to have open discussions as part of a team. A successful creative team not only relies on excellent verbal communication but also having the capabilities to listen properly when you really need to, making sure everyone has their time to put their ideas forward. It’s these interpersonal skills that are key to a team that can bounce off each other, especially in the early stages of a creative project. Where those loose initial ideas become jumping off points. Putting these skills into practise in front of your peers will also help boost individual confidence levels away from team tasks.
Competition
It’s always healthy to encourage a little bit of competition from time to time and working in a team will always insight competitive behaviour; even if subconsciously. It’s the want to contribute the best possible solution to a problem you’re trying to solve. It’ll mean pushing yourself that little bit more than if you were working in a solitary environment and even spending your free time in the morning/the evening on the bus doing that extra little bit of research perhaps. It all adds up, it’s only natural to want to succeed when working within a team.
Trust
Without trust you don’t have a team and without a team you haven’t got an agency. It’s a really important aspect to have, especially when towards with fast sprint deadlines. You need to be able to buy into your team mates experience, skill-set whilst fully supporting their ideas; especially if you’re taking a creative risk with a project; which we always champion, of course.
Share the Glory
The sense of achievement is always greater shared. We will always give credit where credit is due and what with being a small agency, it’s likely that everyone would have touched an aspect of a project in some way. Whether it’s sharing feedback, having a wrap party or simply having a few beers down the pub, a team will always perform better if the accomplishments are shared.
Do get in touch and let us know if you agree with our core list. Or perhaps you prefer working alone, we’d love to hear from you!
