Visit this AdobeConnect link to watch a replay of the Digital Marketing Roundtable webinar, hosted by SoDA, the Society of Digital Agencies, broadcast from Firstborn agency in NYC on Feb 26, 2014.  57 minutes in duration (note: this was a re-recording due to technical problems with the original recording).

SoDA Webinar: Skateboard Culture February 2014

The culture of marketing agencies is often glamorized with images of people skateboarding in the office, bringing their dogs to work, fully-stocked kitchens and game rooms, along with a broad tolerance of different styles of dress and personal grooming.  Yet as an agency grows larger, it often finds its “culture” under siege and shifting away from the close, personal “startup” feel that drew in many of its best people, and helped to retain them.

Culture does matter to your “knowledge workers”, but of the top 10 reasons that they would leave your agency, few are even remotely addressed by adding a foosball table or opening beers on Friday afternoon.  Two out of the top ten factors focus on pay, but the remaining eight focus squarely on core issues such as their career, the type of work they do, and most important, their relationship with agency management.

In this Roundtable, we’ll dig into the oft-misunderstood topic of “Culture,” highlighting key concepts and research from the field of Organizational Development, coupled with real-world stories from agencies we’ve worked with – and discussion from those attending as well.  We’ll also give you some simple tools and frameworks that can help you better guide your agency culture.

Topics include:

  • What is “culture” in an agency?
  • How and why agency culture can matter to your people
  • How growth impacts your agency culture
  • Challenges in creating and maintaining an agency-wide culture

Research and sources:

Books referenced during the webinar include: Tribal Leadership, by Dave Logan et al; War by Sebastian Junger; Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; and The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, please visit our bookshelf.