Blair Mlotek, Co-founder of Cleo Social.
getty
If your agency is anything like mine, it’s probably packed with ambitious folks who want to learn. (Even outside of the agency world, skill development is a priority for the vast majority of employees.)
So to build the best team and keep them engaged, leaders need to create opportunities for employees to grow and develop their skills. But as the founder of a boutique agency, with a fully-remote team, I’ve learned that we need to get a bit creative with it.
Here are a few ways we’ve been able to effectively create growth opportunities for our staff and help them thrive in their careers.
1. Go beyond your internal resources.
Just because I lead our agency doesn’t mean I’m an expert in everything—and I don’t have to be. But that does mean there are areas where I can’t always provide the guidance my staff needs to upskill.
Case in point? Graphic design. I come from a journalism and social media background. While social and design often go hand in hand, my expertise in executing design is limited. But I don’t want my lack of experience to be the ceiling for my team. It limits their growth and our ability as an agency to deliver quality work for our clients.
Instead, we brought in an external senior graphic designer—a seasoned freelancer. Here was the ask: Audit all our accounts, and provide us with some key takeaways and a plan to upgrade our work.
In this process, they could sit with each of our designers to provide individualized feedback and identify areas of growth. It also helped me better understand how we can provide better social media design services for our clients.
Our designers had great feedback on this opportunity, and it worked so well that we’re planning on repeating this process regularly. This kind of feedback loop makes external experts feel like an extension of our team and makes skill development a part of our workflows.
On the flip side, I was recently chatting with a fellow agency owner who had the same dilemma—except for them, it was social media. I saw this as an opportunity for me to leverage my expertise and step in to mentor or support their team the way that our external experts do for us.
2. Offer fast feedback.
There’s often a perception that opportunities for growth have to be provided on a massive scale.
And it’s great when you can do that. But it’s also worth recognizing how much learning and development happens in the day-to-day. Providing those "little" opportunities for growth matters and can be just as effective in leveling up your team. It also makes learning and growth a part of your team culture.
So whether you're helping your team with copy edits or sitting in on client calls, it's valuable to offer feedback in real time. Feedback doesn’t need to be held for performance reviews or 1:1 meetings.
A great example is client management calls. I’ll often try to provide fast feedback around ways my team could have approached a conversation differently, while it’s still top of mind.
That being said, I think it’s important to be flexible with how and when people get feedback. Particularly when it doesn’t directly impact clients.
When we hop off those client calls, I’ll usually ask my team, “Hey, can I give you some quick feedback to help you improve your client management skills?” Offering the option to get feedback or not helps ensure that the feedback is both well-received and internalized. The feedback on our feedback? Our team says that they really appreciate the flexibility and how it's delivered.
3. Find your own mentor.
As a manager or founder, it’s easy to neglect your own development. But if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that my team can’t grow if I’m not providing the same opportunities for myself. For me, it often comes down to mentorship.
I’ve found that having mentors in my corner has been invaluable in providing the insights, resources and opportunities I need to become a stronger leader. (It’s also been shown to benefit employee career growth.)
I know for many people, finding a mentor can feel overwhelming, but there are a ton of great programs out there that can help you build those connections. As a female founder, I’m a big fan (and member) of The Forum and Monday Girl, both of which provide thoughtful, educational and networking opportunities for professionals. And even LinkedIn can be a valuable resource for finding mentors for yourself and for your team.
Ultimately, there’s no right or wrong way to go about career and skill development for your agency staff. But one thing’s for certain: As a leader or founder—especially of a smaller team—you need to prioritize creating growth opportunities so that your team and your business can succeed.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
