Today we’re tackling the overlooked and occasionally fiery world of resourcing projects.
Now, I am a senior-level strategist who works independently, meaning that when it comes to resourcing I am either doing it for myself in a direct-to-client relationship (fairly straightforward) or I’m being resourced onto an agency team (less straightforward). And while the latter often works brilliantly, there’s been times in my nine years of freelancing where I’ve felt like little more than a line-item in an Excel spreadsheet and, in recent years working remotely, akin to a Strategy Cam Girl – awkwardly performing strategy in front of an unfamiliar and occasionally hostile audience. In these moments, I wish I had a rewind button so we could all return to original the resourcing discussion, get things into better alignment, and set off properly and purposefully. But, in the absence of a rewind button, what can be done? What levers are there to pull?
Before we get into it, let’s start with a quick primer on resourcing. In any agency or studio, there’s a vital job to be done in assigning the right team members onto the right projects at the right moments in that project.
Within resourcing there are three main components:
Experience. First and foremost, who are the best people for the job? Who has the chops to take this on and nail it?
Level. Then, have you got a good mix of people to lead and execute the work?
Availability. And last but also crucially, are the people you need and want for the project free to work on it?
These three items form the basis of a weekly, and often ongoing, conversation in every agency around the world. Big agencies have dedicated resource managers, smaller agencies often figure out between themselves.
I’ve joined a fair few of these meetings in my time and can confirm that they range from cold and transactional, to impassioned and spicy horse-trading. If you ever want the tea on who is MVP and who is “unbillable” in your agency then you need to get a mole in the resource meeting.
So that’s the primer, and that’s the “maths” of resourcing. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the “magic” of resourcing – of the things that make the difference between a good team and a great team. And I wanted to dig into the nuances and subtleties of casting a group of individuals with the intention of bringing them together quickly and efficiently so they can take on an ambitious creative brief and succeed. Because it seems to me that resourcing requires a certain degree of flair and imagination to pull it off – it’s a creative act in and of itself.
“We like to play people to their strengths and areas of interest,” explains Tara Gale (Global Resource Director at Wolff Olins) . Part of that is considering each individual’s personal development plan as well as “the pairing of certain people to enhance their performance”. This approach is especially good for younger team members, as it means they are proactively given a chance to learn and grow. And it goes both ways, as those with more experience can take on the role of mentor or coach, and earn, as Tara puts it, their “director stripes” in the process.
Prashant Yadave (Head of Strategy at Zag) echoes this, describing how enjoyable it is to use his position in resourcing meetings to “ensure we match or exceed what the client is looking for, whilst also being flexible and creative about who works on what so as to offer [my team] new experiences and dynamism in their day-to-day”.
Certainly my most successful agency engagements have been ones where there’s clarity on roles and responsibilities from the off. For example, knowing that a junior strategist is looking to gain confidence presenting to clients makes it a no-brainer for us, as a team, to enable that to happen as much as possible. Equally, I’m the first to admit any gaps in my own toolkit, so that I can draw from others in the team or company with more experience in that particular aspect. And by ‘aspect’, I mean ‘a genuinely coherent grasp on the difference between ‘positioning’ and ‘proposition’.
While playing to strengths is important, there is a tipping point where the same people end up on the same types of projects repeatedly. I've seen how pigeonholing can start a ripple effect of resentment across a studio as one team or individual becomes internally famous for being lucky in pitches, winning awards, or working on high-profile cultural brands. As a result, they are perceived to rise up and be favoured, while other teams work on seemingly less glamorous accounts. The reality is that all brand work is hard work, but even a perception of imbalanced resourcing can cause grumblings. Tara does her best to combat this, “We like for everyone to have a good rotation of all the competencies within a discipline, and also try to avoid the same people working together time after time”.
Of course, the big thing to consider when it comes to resourcing, is personality. On this point, I asked Prash and Tara about resourcing strategists specifically. “Personality fit is important with both the client and internal teams,” says Prash. “It’s my job to understand all the personalities in play and ensure they’re going to work well with account managers, designers, creatives and so on”. Tara also weighs it equally alongside the more practical considerations, “The strategy ‘stack’ in the team needs to look and feel right with regard to chemistry, personalities, skillsets and budget and how this plays out to the wider team”.
This, I believe, is where the line between good and great resourcing is drawn – especially as many of the old agency tropes of egomaniacal creative directors, dusty, bookish strategists and lowly, put upon juniors are replaced by flatter hierarchies and an increased understanding of neurodiversity and mental health at work.
While good resourcing is an exercise in box ticking, great resourcing takes into account what each person on the team needs to do their best work.
Working out the right mix of personalities is complex enough with full-time employees, but when it comes to bringing in freelancers and consultants, it gets even trickier. It’s why people like Prash take the time to get to know who’s out there and what they’re good at, “I always ask freelancers what they enjoy working on, because I want to work with strategists who are doing what they love, whether that’s a client, a sector, or a specific type of challenge”.
For my part, I try my best to find space early on in a new team to chat with each person I’ll be working with. I like to know their background, their working styles and their early thoughts on the work ahead, and to share the same with them. It’s hardly subtle – more like strategy speed-dating – but it builds bridges and sets a tone of collaboration and conversation from the outset. Regrettably, there’s not always the chance for this to happen. A project gets signed off, the resource is arranged in a hurry, and the team must figure out how to work with each other in real time.
In life and branding projects there is no rewind button but careful resourcing can provide a vital pause button. A time to think of the game but look closely at the players too. And while they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road without them is lined with Strategy Cam Girls. Now there’s an image!
With special thanks to Tara and Prash for their time and input.
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