Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast

This episode was originally published privately for Convivio members in July 2020. Find out more about membership, and all the extra content for agency leaders members can access, at https://www.convivio.com/pricing/

The Agency Radar Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker of Convivio. On this episode we're joined by Sue Keogh who leads the communications agency Sookio in the UK and Paul Bellows who leads digital agency Yellow Pencil in Canada.

The theme we explore this month is Renegotiating Normality. As the pandemic and its aftershocks tail off, there will be a renewal. This will be a time when everything is up in the air about how normal life and work will look. It’s a chance to reinvent, and redesign, with real opportunities available. But the flipside of that is a time of uncertainty and risk for those who can’t adapt.

View the latest Agency Radar Report (The full report is only available to premium subscribers).

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On this episode we're joined by Kelly Hunstone, who leads the behavioural science agency Social Change in the UK.

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

On this episode we're joined by Todd Nienkerk founder and CEO of Four Kitchens, a digital agency in the USA.

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

On this episode Steve and Joe are joined by Jim Bowes, founder of Manifesto, a digital agency in London, UK, focused on the not for profit sector.

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

Our guest on this episode is Vicki Young, the founder and CEO of Nalla, a brand consultancy based in London, UK.

She talks about:

• How some early jobs equipped her with some leadership skills, and her first agency jobs gave her some ideas of things she wanted to do differently.
• Having structured quarterly retrospectives to involve everyone in improving the business.
• The book Radical Candour and how it's helping her give clear and direct feedback.
• The struggle of maintaining connection and engagement during the extended remote working in the pandemic.
• How she needed to shape the business up to run effectively without her, as she took maternity leave
• Taking some inspiration from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and the book Traction by Geno Wickman
• Setting up a three year vision, and breaking it down into quarterly goals
• Working towards having a more structured board, with retreats for stepping back and thinking about the longer term

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

The agency business model is to help client organisations interface with the world. Clients present a flat square edge. The world is zig-zag.

Steve and Joe talk through the challenges that agencies have to scout out, navigate and lead clients through in this zig-zag world, and yet still present another edge to clients that is solid and dependable. What challenges does this present for agency leaders?

Many factors are creating the change and causing the zigs and the zags now - technology, society, politics, economics. It's a time of enormous flux in the world.

As leaders we have to take proper time and a mindful approach to stepping back from the day to day of the business to look further ahead.

Our guest on this episode is Paul Bellows, founder and CEO of Yellow Pencil, a public sector digital agency in Edmonton and Vancouver, Canada. Paul talks about:

• Grew ad hoc up to nearly 40 people in the early days of the web, focused on publishing at scale.
• Partnered with one CMS platform in particular, with all the agency's work coming from that partner.
• Suddenly the partner end of life's that platform.
• Paul had to reinvent the business while still paying 37 people. Stopped paying himself and thought about what sort of business they wanted to be, put in place the structure and tools rather than running ad hoc.
• Joined agency community bureau of digital And found like minds and peer mentors.
• Over the years he saw a few key stages of growth, inflection points.
• First the company moved from a small group of people into being a company - and he moved from being one of the team to being the leader of the team.
• At the next inflection point you need a certain amount of overhead, someone looking after hr, finance etc - and he became the leader of the leadership team.
• Around this time what becomes key as a leader is being able to encode your values and the purpose into the business.
• Paul's undergoing his next big inflection point now.
• You need clarity, recipes to get consistent results.
• His role as leader is to give clarity and direction.
• In this growth they grew through crises and Paul realised he needed to reinvent himself as well as the business. You're still yourself, and need to stay true to yourself, but you change how you show up.
• You need external input - an advisory board, a peer group.
• Supporting and mentoring others is also helpful because you hear yourself giving good advice and realising that perhaps you should do that yourself!
• Has a leadership team with key roles.
• Don't have an external board right now. Used to have one but haven't for a few years. Looking to reestablish it.
• Paul's in a peer coaching group with CEO peers.

Steve and Joe discuss some of the insights from Paul's interview, and they mention three agency leaders communities.

• The Bureau of Digital (mainly US/Canada)
• Agency Hackers (UK)
• Agency Collective (UK)

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

Steve and Joe talk through some research we've done with agency leaders about the biggest challenges of the role.

Our guest on this episode is Sue Keogh, founder and CEO of Sookio, a digital marketing agency based in Cambridge, England. She talks about:

• Recessions and crises can be a great time to start a business
• Preparing for one risk can help be ready for a wider range of problems
• Forming, storming, norming and performing: the Tuckman stages of group development
• Being aware of the energy you're giving out into the business as a leader, and balancing that with transparency
• 'Paddle your own canoe' - find your own leadership style and that is fine, you don't need to copy others
• The Eisenhower matrix for focusing on what to work on 
• Working on having a more solid board structure
• The need for looking further ahead, spotting trends, opportunities and risks
• Taking a step back from the business to think more strategically, or even physically getting away from the business for a while

The Convivio Agency Leaders Podcast is presented by Steve Parks and Dr Joe Baker.

Subscribe to the Convivio newsletter for Agency Leaders at Convivio.com

Follow/message us on twitter at @convivio, and on LinkedIn
You can email us at [email protected]

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The Convivio Agency Leaders podcast launches soon.

Agency leaders regularly tell me they feel they never get enough time or brain space to work on the business rather than in it. They feel they are always being reactive rather than proactive.

This podcast is all about fixing that. Sharing ideas and experiences to help agency leaders work on their business as confidently and effectively as they work in it. How to lift yourself out of the day to day and look to the long term. 

Join me and my colleague, Dr Joe Baker who leads our research, for each episode. We'll interview agency leaders about what works for them, and we'll share insights from our research and tips from our own experience.

The first episode will be coming to you soon, so subscribe now to make sure you get to hear it straight away — and do share the link with other agency leaders you think could benefit.

Subscribe to our email newsletter too, at www.convivio.com, for regular bitesize inspiration on leading healthy agencies.

See you soon on Episode 1.