How to Level-Up Your Leadership Team For Long-Term Success
A common struggle agency founders often face is the challenge of building a team that truly allows them to step away so they can drive the agency forward. In fact, 84% of employees agree that leadership is essential, yet only 14% of CEOs feel they have the leadership they need to actually grow.
For agencies that have surpassed the point of the 12-15 full-time-equivalent (FTE) employee mark, having an effective leadership team is the difference between failure and success. And this is where leveling up your leadership teams becomes invaluable.
But how do you do that? Well, I'll tell you. I'll also highlight the very purpose and power that a leader holds that, when harnessed, can cultivate real growth in your agency.
So, let’s start by first identifying what makes for effective leadership.
Purpose of Leadership Roles
A strong leadership team is crucial for the success and longevity of any agency or company. Effective leaders have a hand in setting the vision with the founder, set an example of the culture and values, and are accountable for moving the organization toward its goals. They inspire and motivate employees, fostering a productive and innovative work environment.
Strong leadership also drives overall success by making sound strategic decisions, adapting to market changes, and maximizing resource utilization. Leaders also play a vital role in attracting and retaining top talent, which is essential for maintaining a competitive edge.
When leadership is lacking, there can be severe consequences. For example, low employee morale, high turnover rates, and decreased productivity can result from a lack of support and direction. Ineffective leaders may also make poor strategic choices, misallocate resources, or fail to adapt to changing market conditions, resulting in missed opportunities and financial losses.
For these reasons, it's critical that a business establishes its leaders' roles and responsibilities clearly while ensuring they have the tools needed to do the job. Ultimately, they should demonstrate:
An Alignment Toward Company Goals: If someone in leadership doesn’t have this right, they won’t be able to effectively steer their team in the right direction. This is a critical component to nail down so that they have buy-in and understand clearly the direction the agency is headed.
Thought Leadership: Agencies are always having to innovate in order to stay on top of cutting edge technology and services that align with their clients’ needs. Having people who are driven to bring in new knowledge can help steer the vision and also inspire their teams.
Company Values and Culture: The values of a company are the principles and beliefs that guide an agency’s decision-making process. Without them, we don’t have a clear “why” when we are trying to figure out the “how”. Those in leadership can help instill the all important values that are important to the foundation of the agency.
Accountability: An important role of having a leadership team is to create accountability amongst themselves and their teams. This is a crucial piece when trying to drive performance and hit the agency’s goals.
Growth and Drive: Service based businesses are all about providing services through people’s expertise. There are critical financial and performance metrics that help hit revenue goals and drive profit. Part of leadership’s responsibility is being accountable to these numbers and helping drive the numbers in the right direction.
Team Development: Everyone wants to work toward their career goals and be proud of the work they do. Developing their team also allows leaders to focus on improving their departments and the organization as a whole. Managing and developing teams is a critical and all-important role for leadership that have direct reports.
5 Tips For Leveling Up Your Leadership
Ready to get your leadership team to level up? Here are 5 actions you can take right away that will start getting your team to that next threshold:
Tip #1: Define (Or Re-Define) Roles and Responsibilities
Make sure everyone’s roles are clearly outlined so they know what’s expected of them. I recommend creating org charts that also capture the high level responsibilities of each person on the team to ensure all components of workflows are covered. The next step is to keep updated job descriptions of each role on hand and for managers to utilize in their 1:1 meetings.
Tip #2: Encourage Training and Development
If you want to elevate one of your team members to a leadership level and they’re missing one of the abilities that are listed in the above section, think about ways you can bridge their knowledge or skill gap. Wanting to promote someone who’s new to managing people? Plucky is an amazing resource for new managers.
Tip #3: Create Boundaries
Boundaries are necessary in any working relationship. Think about what creates good client relationships…clear boundaries so people know when they’re doing a good job or need to improve. A great way to outline boundaries is through a RACI chart that clearly identifies who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed around each task or step of a process.
Tip #4: Provide Time for Non-Billable Work
Creating leadership teams in agencies can be challenging because it often requires pulling your top performers away from billable work to focus on internal initiatives. While this can be difficult, it is necessary. It's not feasible for someone to be fully engaged in billable work and also take on leadership responsibilities. Therefore, it's important to ensure that there is a plan in place to provide extra time and reduce their client workload.
Tip #5: Create a Centralized Operations System
Finally, having a centralized operations system is key for keeping everything and everyone on track. Ultimately, a centralized OS serves as the backbone of a successful organization, providing a unified infrastructure that aligns team leaders and drives accountability. This company-wide framework also streamlines processes, enhances communication, and ensures consistency across departments. In fact, by implementing a centralized system, your agency will:
Improve efficiency: Standardized procedures reduce redundancies and optimize resource allocation.
Enhance transparency: A single source of truth allows leaders to track progress and identify bottlenecks quickly.
Foster collaboration: Shared tools and data facilitate cross-functional teamwork and knowledge sharing.
Increase accountability: Clear performance metrics and reporting mechanisms keep team leaders responsible for their outcomes.
Enable agility: A unified system allows for faster decision-making and more responsive adaptation to market changes.
By investing in a robust centralized operations system, companies create a solid foundation for growth, empowering their leadership team to drive success across the organization.
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.
When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."
—Jack Welch
Closing Thoughts: Leadership is About Growing Others
As this beautiful quote by Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric exemplifies, growing your leadership team is about growing people. It's about providing mentorship, modeling a leadership mindset, and raising up others to do the same.
And when you build up your leadership team in this way—a task 55% of CEOs recognize as being their top challenge—everything else lands right where it needs to.
