Chaos is not a virtue for agencies

Agency leaders need to stop casually discussing the chaotic environment common to so many agencies.

Too often you will hear firm owners and others talk about agencies as hectic and fast-paced environments.

Chip and Gini have had enough of this talk — and they both admit that they, too, used to embrace the idea that it was an unavoidable circumstance for agency life.

Chaos is the sign of a problem that needs to be solved, not an acceptable condition that leaders and their teams should adapt to.

Key takeaways

* Chip Griffin: “Chaos is not something we should be embracing. Chaos is something that we should be solving.”

* Gini Dietrich: “The younger generation is not going to put up with a situation that creates chaos and leads to burnout.”

* Chip Griffin: “Recognize that you have chaos and commit to ending it.”

* Gini Dietrich: “Focus on getting the work done and pricing correctly. And if you do those two things, you will not burn your team out.”

Resources

* Chip’s LinkedIn post

* SAGA Agency Health Assessment

* Get Smart clip – KAOS

* Get Smart clip – shoe phone

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, we, we got to do this and so many things and the to do list is, oh!

Gini Dietrich: Chaos, chaos, chaos.

Chip Griffin: Right after this. I’m just, I’m, I’m all crazy. I don’t even know what to do today. I just. Too much going on. It’s, you know how it is. I mean, it’s, it’s the agency world where it’s got so many things to do busy. I mean, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy.

Gini Dietrich: Lots to do, lots of clients, lots of fires to put out.

Chip Griffin: But it’s just, it’s just the way it is.

I mean, you know, it’s just the way it is. That’s, that’s how agencies are and always have been and always will be.

Gini Dietrich: That’s right. Speaking of chaos,

Chip Griffin: if you’re, if you’re watching on video, you will see a dog, if you’re listening, you have no idea.

Gini Dietrich: Cute puppy. Say, cute puppy alert. Okay.

Chip Griffin: Hi. Okay. Anywho, I think having a dog around my house would be chaos, but so here’s the problem.

You know, agencies seem to wear chaos as a badge of honor. They, they just, they’re almost excited to tell you how chaotic things are and how busy they are. And, you know, and, and we just, we, we very casually in talking with other agency owners or with people outside the agency world, even we just talk about the chaos of agencies.