When Resource Management Works, We All Win

I believe that resource management isn't an isolated, stand-alone discipline. Practised with agency-wide support and backed by senior management, it’s the secret weapon that enables and encourages great work – and delivers great profits.

Making it happen, then, means getting everyone on board. We can achieve this by following two strategies simultaneously.

1. Appoint – and support – a strong resource manager

A strong resource manager does far more than simply allocate people to tasks. This is not just about human Tetris. It’s about providing strategic oversight that allows otherwise disparate departments such as finance, new business, account management and HR to work together and at the same time maximise the talent and resources across the agency.

Even better, a resource manager with the full backing of senior management can develop internal processes aligned directly to the agency’s business goals as well as project objectives.

This, of course, means senior management must be committed to resource management as part of the agency’s culture, not just the resource manager as a role and a job description. And they need to invest in, trust and support the person they bring in to lead the function.

2. Involve everyone

Equally important as committing to resource management is ensuring everybody across the agency knows why it exists and values the expertise, advice and guidance the resource manager provides. This makes collaboration between resource management and the rest of the agency productive, profitable and positive for everyone.

To achieve this, you need to raise awareness across your agency about the contribution resource management makes. You could go even further and provide specific training.

It’s important to include those in creative and technical roles in this process, too. In big agencies, people who are not customer facing or who don’t have P&L responsibility are often left out of the loop when it comes to talking about resource management.

By involving everyone in this way, they will make better-informed requests of the resource manager, who in turn will have a better idea of what resources they really need. Furthermore, with their knowledge of what’s happening across the wider agency, they’ll be able to make decisions that benefit both the business as a whole and meet immediate project needs.

Make resource management a crucial function in your agency.

Jo Petroccia is a Resource Management Consultant and Trainer at The Industry Club

The next Resource Management Workshops are in central London on Thursday 30th November 2017 and Monday 22nd January 2018. Click here to find out more.