Are you getting lost in the wrong stuff as an agency owner?

In this episode, Chip and Gini explore some of the things that PR and marketing agency owners focus on that probably aren’t worth the time.

For example, do you fret over fractional days off taken by employees or trading out paid holidays when a new one gets widespread recognition?

Getting lost in the weeds — especially the wrong ones — can really hold back your agency’s growth and negatively impact employee retention, so Chip and Gini offer some advice on how to combat the urge when it arises.

Key takeaways

* Gini Dietrich: “What bothers me is that it doesn’t cost you anything to give people an extra day off. It doesn’t cost you anything to have summer hours.”

* Chip Griffin: “If you have less productivity because their morale is lower, it doesn’t make any sense.”

* Gini Dietrich: “Clients are people too, and they like to have summer Friday afternoons off as well.”

* Chip Griffin: “Fundamentally, if you don’t trust your team to be responsible about these things, then you have a much larger problem than how much time they’re taking off.”

Related

* Setting your agency’s PTO, vacation, and leave policies

* Unlimited PTO policies for agencies

View Transcript

The following is a computer-generated transcript. Please listen to the audio to confirm accuracy.

Chip Griffin: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast. I’m Chip Griffin.

Gini Dietrich: And I’m Gini Dietrich.

Chip Griffin: And Gini, I think that that typewriter behind you is not quite in the right place. I think we’re gonna need to move it just a half an inch to the, maybe not even half inch, quarter of an inch to the left.

Do you think you can do that for me?

Gini Dietrich: Sure, why not?

Chip Griffin: Right, right after this.

Oh, actually, I, I think the typewriter’s in a good place. I, I like it.

Gini Dietrich: I just moved it.

Chip Griffin: It is a nice touch to have it.

Gini Dietrich: You told me to move it. I did.

Chip Griffin: Well, maybe you shouldn’t always listen to me and, and frankly, why would you start now?

Gini Dietrich: Fair. That’s a good point.

Chip Griffin: And, and for those of you in audio land, you, you get a sneak peek at the puppy from, there’s a new puppy.

Gini Dietrich: There’s a new puppy! He’s so cute!

Chip Griffin: So if you hear, if you hear yapping, it’s me. If you hear barking, it’s the puppy.

Gini Dietrich: It’s the new puppy.

Chip Griffin: So, but that’s not what we’re gonna talk about today. We’re going to talk about getting lost in the wrong details. Yes. Which is something that a lot of agency owners, and not just owners, frankly, leaders have a tendency to do from time to time.

Yep. And this exhibits itself in many different ways. It can be what I think is an unhealthy obsession with utilization rates that many agency owners ...