Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Human Powered: High-performing agency & consultancy teams
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Human Powered: High-performing agency & consultancy teams
Human Powered: High-performing agency & consultancy teams episodes
- Building a Best Place to Work - with Jessica Hargreaves Paczek
How do you keep culture sharp, standards high and people engaged as an agency grows?
Jessica Hargreaves Paczek is CEO of Pretty Green, the creative comms agency behind global fame-making campaigns. She leads a 70-person team and has helped build an agency that’s been named a Best Place to Work for four years in a row.
In this episode, Jess shares how she:- Uses EOS to give everyone clear accountabilities, quarterly priorities and a strong sense of where they fit
- Treats people, purpose and performance as inseparable (rather than seeing culture as a side project)
- Has turned their values into behaviours, giving teams practical permission to take smart risks and give clearer feedback
- Invests heavily in team feedback, from CEO one-to-ones to internal focus groups that surface issues leadership might otherwise miss
- Brings talent, onboarding, retention and social impact close together through a heavily resourced people function
- Runs the ‘CanCanLion’ Awards, to recognise and reward outstanding ‘less ordinary’ and creative work
Jess offers a thoughtful look at what it takes to build a high-performing agency culture - more clarity, more listening, more repetition and a willingness to keep tightening the system as the business evolves.29 min - Growing fast without losing humility - with Chris Pearce
How do you grow 37% in a tough market without letting culture, trust or performance slip?
Chris Pearce is Managing Director of Greenpark, the global digital content agency. He’s been running the business for the past 18 months, leading a team of 250 people across six countries during a period of rapid growth.
In this episode, Chris shares how he:- Defines high performance using the trust equation - credibility, reliability and intimacy
- Recognises that leaders cast a shadow - and that people copy what you do, not what you say
- Knows that impact intended and impact felt are rarely the same
- Uses multi-channel repetition to keep values front of mind across a remote, global team
- Resists panic hiring during rapid growth, even when teams are stretched and momentum is high
- Invests heavily in operational rigour, recognising that growth can easily mask deeper problems
Chris offers a grounded perspective on scaling at pace - and on why humility and trust matter most when momentum is high.30 min - Transitioning & scaling an employee-owned business - with James Leavesley
How do you take over from agency founders and scale the business without losing trust, culture or momentum?
James Leavesley is CEO of Torchbox, the digital agency for innovative nonprofits. He leads a 110-person team, having taken over as the agency transitioned to employee ownership.
In this episode, James shares how he:- Scaled Torchbox from 50 to 110 people by changing how decisions are made, owned and communicated
- Replaced intuitive founder-style leadership with clear processes, without slowing the business down
- Took over from long-standing founders without trying to replace them or their personalities
- Shifted from protecting people in internal comms to being transparent with context, preventing speculation and unhelpful stories filling the gaps
- Keeps teams aligned using practical frameworks like the SCARF model and the Vital Few, even in a fully remote business
- Protects innovation from BAU through a dedicated innovation lab, close links to delivery teams and a client co-funding model
James offers a candid look at what really changes once an agency moves beyond founder-led scale, and what it takes to keep the business healthy as it grows.32 min - Building an ecosystem of brilliant businesses - with Tina Judic
How do you build an agency group that’s more than the sum of its parts?
Tina Judic is Co-Founder and Chairman of the independent agency network Tomorrow Group. She founded the search agency, Found, 17 years ago and has since built this into a group of five agencies.
In this episode, Tina shares how she:- Stepped aside from running her own agency to lead at group level, overseeing and empowering MDs across the businesses
- Protects the distinct culture of each agency while aligning them to deliver greater group-wide impact
- Spun out the data team into a standalone business with its own brand - and learnt some hard lessons along the way
- Acquired agencies and learned why protecting rhythm and culture matters, deliberately keeping each one independent
- Created group-wide roles across AI, delivery and growth to connect the businesses and drive consistency
- Anchors impact around four core traits across the group - curiosity, drive, honesty and empathy
Tina candidly explains what it really takes to move from running one agency to leading a group of businesses that thrive together.
30 min - Leading by outcomes, not outputs - with Zoë Blogg
How do you align an entire business around a set of outcomes?
Zoë Blogg is Managing Director of the search marketing and digital PR agency Reboot. She took over the business from its founders just six months ago.
In this episode, Zoë shares how she:- Shifted from Operations Director, focused on fixing everything, to leading the entire business
- Runs two weekly sprint cycles with the Senior Leadership Team, focused on outcomes tied to annual OKRs
- Shares weekly OKR progress with the entire team, so everyone understands how the business is performing
- Works to an annual plan - but no longer plans further ahead due to rapid market shifts
- Uses the 9-box grid to track performance and potential, and to monitor people’s progress over time
- Runs a weekly client-skills session for all client-facing team members
Zoë leads Reboot on a 4-day working week, which has driven clear gains in productivity, utilisation, creativity, revenue and profit.35 min - Unleashing the superpower within - with Jon Goulding
How do you get the absolute best out of everyone in your team?
Jon Goulding is Founder & CEO of the creative agency Atomic. He runs a group of four agencies united by one mission: to unleash the superpower in brands.
In this episode, Jon shares how he:- Grounds the agency’s work in four principles - being unmistakable, unmissable, unforgettable, and unlimited - to unleash the superpower in brands
- Believes every person has a superpower, and that his job is to identify, describe and nurture it
- Focuses on amplifying people’s superpowers (rather than fixing their weaknesses)
- Builds teams around complementary superpowers
- Encourages healthy collisions, bringing together different people and skills to create something new and exciting
- Inspires everyone in the team to have an unhealthy need for responsibility
Jon fundamentally believes in the power of the superpower - and that each one is shaped by three major life events, all experienced before the age of 25.28 min - Using personality profiling to drive business success - with Victoria Usher
How do you build a thriving team and happy clients using DISC personality profiling?
Victoria Usher is CEO and Founder of the multi-award-winning B2B tech PR consultancy Gingermay. She’s been running the global consultancy for 16 years.
In this episode, Victoria shares how she:- Has a senior team member meet 1-to-1 with each client every month, contributing to impressive long-term client retention
- Uses seven core competencies that all team members self-score against every three months
- Sent her team to acting lessons to help them put on a professional mask, set their body language and use the correct micro-expressions
- Coaches the team on DISC profiling so everyone understands each other’s personality types and communication styles
- Profiles clients’ DISC profiles, matches them with similar team profiles and tailors communications accordingly
- Uses DISC to put people into roles that align with their strengths and core motivations
Victoria is a passionate advocate for boosting emotional intelligence and self-awareness across her team - and it’s working, with client NPS scores at their highest ever levels.26 min - Encouraging everyone to think and act differently - with Mike Craddock
How do you transition from a full-time YouTuber to running a 100-person agency?
Mike Craddock is Co-Founder & CEO of the social creative agency NewGen. He’s been running the business for 10 years and leads a team of 100 people across the UK, New York, and Paris.
In this episode, Mike shares how he:- Instils the mantra “Slow down to speed up”, after growing the agency too quickly at the expense of quality in the early days
- Has a ‘F**K It Bucket,’ a monthly pot of money the team can spend however they want to support current or new clients
- Pushes responsibility down by creating multi-disciplinary teams to solve business problems and drive initiatives
- Challenges account teams to take a new initiative to a client at least once every 3 months, and share what they’ve done differently every 2 weeks
- Ensures senior people have 10–20% free capacity to think and bring proactive ideas to clients
- Runs a GG NewGen Slack channel where people praise each other and react using custom emojis representing their values
More recently, Mike has made a number of senior hires to take the business to the next level, engaging the wider team throughout the hiring process so everyone understands the new roles.29 min - Flexing a business with 400 global specialists - with Samppa Vilkuna
How do you reinvent the traditional agency model?
Samppa Vilkuna is Founder & CEO of the creative company, Superson. He leads a small in-house team alongside more than 400 specialists worldwide.
In this episode, Samppa shares how he:- Set up the business to be the Airbnb of the agency world - the world’s best creative agency without a single creative person
- Resources from a massive pool of freelancers, so there’s never a conflict of interest in having to sell his team’s skills to clients
- Hires freelancers based on skillset, location, and personal interests - so he can always provide the best possible team for clients
- Has processes to ensure newly formed teams rapidly become high-performing
- Creates a sense of belonging for freelancers so they feel part of the Superson community
- Truly collaborates with clients, co-creating work alongside them and eliminating the need to sell it in
Samppa used to work in-house. Frustrated by his suppliers, he set up his own agency with a flexible talent pool - so the team is always the best possible fit for clients’ needs.26 min - Hands-on people-centred leadership - with Victoria Sugg
How do you help 300 people understand their impact on the business?
Victoria Sugg is CEO of the creative comms agency, Emperor. She’s been leading a team of over 300 people across the UK and UAE for the past 3 years.
In this episode, Victoria shares how she:- Regularly explains what’s happening with the business and its strategy, then translates this into what it means for everyone day-to-day
- Sits down with all new joiners to explain the history, culture, ambition, and their role in achieving it
- Maintains channels to stay connected to the team, understanding what they think and want from the business
- Has a Partner Board of diverse team members, acting as a bridge between the wider team and leadership
- Is hyper-transparent about business performance and how everyone can influence it
- Observes the five B Corp buckets - governance, clients, environment, community, people
With a strong background in new business, Victoria has a people-centred leadership style and encourages her team to be proactive, interested, and interesting.25 min
About Human Powered: High-performing agency & consultancy teams
From the publisher's feed
Ready to build an agency or consultancy you’re proud of?
You’re in the right place.
In each episode, you’ll hear exclusive insights from agency and consultancy leaders who’ve built thriving businesses.
Discover how they create high-performing teams and build high-performing and sustainable businesses. You can implement their suggestions in your business and see real results.
Hosted by Trenton Moss, leadership coach, exited agency founder and author of the bestselling book, Human Powered.