Is L&D Your Agency’s Next Superpower?

Ever since the darkest days of the pandemic, the topic of agency culture has seldom strayed from the pages and pixels of the industry’s press. Is remote work going to kill collaboration? Do hybrid workers care about company culture? And what does the death of the office mean for the big city sales of overpriced salads?! 

All of these questions and more have been perpetually debated with sincere - and sometimes surprising - passion. But at the same time, we’ve been neglecting much more urgent and fundamental questions. For example, what does it mean to work for an agency in 2023? And what can agencies offer, not just to their clients but also to their own staff, in order to make themselves essential in a modern context? 

After speaking with Annabel Mackie and Robin Bonn - Five by Five UK’s managing director and the CEO of agency transformation consultancy Co:definery respectively - it seems as though Learning and Development (L&D for short) is an essential part of the answer. According to the two leaders, leaning into L&D can offer agencies a suite of benefits akin to a superpower. Fighting back against churn, driving original ideas, and a refreshed approach to the idea of ‘purpose’ are all counted amongst the surprising benefits of instilling L&D as a priority within an agency. 

To find out more - and how agencies can successfully instil an L&D culture within their teams - LBB’s Adam Bennett caught up with Robin and Annabel. 

To Be Great, Differentiate 

“All agencies are in the expertise business”, notes Robin. “So the idea of deepening your knowledge is not just valuable to your people. It’s also a driver of commercial value and differentiation”. 

This kind of differentiation, Robin continues, is essential for agencies in a crowded market. “The agencies that can demonstrate their expertise across their entire customer experience - every touchpoint, for all their audiences, from clients and talent, to press and intermediaries - are invariably the most successful”, he says. 

And, as Annabel explains, L&D can help both staff and agencies grow in their capabilities and re-assert what makes them special to achieve that level of differentiation. 

“I’ve found that it’s important to maintain a broad definition of what L&D is. It’s not just about being in a classroom - it’s going to a talk, taking a course, trying something new, or generally embracing your curiosity by following a new passion”, she says. 

As a result, agencies can expect pleasant surprises. “One recent example from Five by Five is that we’ve picked up a new piece of motion graphics software. So, naturally, our motion designers wanted to dive into it and explore what was possible. So we simply said, ‘okay’”, she recalls. “No specific targets or deliverables - simply take some time and find out what you can do which wasn’t possible before”. 

A couple of weeks later, those motion designers reported some head-turning discoveries. “What we found was that - despite having no bespoke assets to play with - our designers had been able to mock up the most incredible pieces of content for one of our clients as a kind of proof-of-concept”, says Annabel. “We ended up showing the concept to the client, who loved it and it helped to create an entirely new approach to creating this type of content for them. Naturally we didn’t know this would be the direction we ended up taking when we gave our designers the time to explore the software, but what we did know was that their curiosity was going to pay dividends at some point along the line”. 

That word - curiosity - is a term that unites Annabel’s diverse definitions of L&D. By liberating staff to pursue their passions, agencies create cultures of institutionalised curiosity. The specific results may be impossible to predict, but the trend towards original ideas and points of differentiation will be clear. 

And yet, the benefits of L&D run much deeper than that. Utilised properly, that culture of curiosity can be leveraged to re-assert what makes creative agencies wonderful places to work, and transformative partners for their clients. 

Pride in Purpose 

When we talk about ‘purposeful’ work, our minds often turn to advertising which sets out to achieve some kind of common or social good. Diversity, sustainability, and inclusivity are regular watchwords in this space. But what if the term were broadened out? What if ‘purposeful work’ meant work that gave its creators - the staff who worked on it - a meaningful sense of purpose and ownership? 

Again, a focus on L&D can help make that a reality. 

“L&D is a very practical and cost-effective way of addressing churn, because it shows people that they’re being invested in”, says Robin. “It cultivates a sense of shared ownership which is extremely powerful”. 

Striking a note of agreement, Annabel reflects on moments in her own career where embracing L&D has renewed her passion. “There’s always been a direct correlation between my happiness in a given role and how steep the learning curve was”, she says. “Creative people love challenges and we love to discover new things. That is its own purpose - to broaden your own horizons and commit to your professional growth. Why shouldn’t agencies be taking concrete steps to offer that to staff?”. 

And, at Five by Five, that approach is already part of the day-to-day. “Just this week, we’ve identified someone who is a developer by trade and brought them onto one of our creative teams”, Annabel says. “And we know that at some point they are going to provide something exciting and out-of-the-box because they’re coming into that team without any preconceived ideas and a different point of view”. 

At the same time, these innovative ways of promoting growth and ownership can help to inspire staff. “It’s hard to ask staff to go above and beyond if all you’re offering in return is a free pizza”, says Robin. “You need to give them a reason to care. And demonstrating that you’re interested in their growth is a good way to do that”. 

Again, it all comes back to that most human of traits: curiosity. By embracing their own, leaders can fuel that of their staff - and create meaningful points of differentiation for their businesses in the process.

“After all”, Annabel notes, “if we aren’t the most curious people in the room, we’re probably in the wrong job”.