FINDING A BALANCE

Note: this article was originally posted on February 20, 2009 on a now-defunct site I organized called Creative Cohort. A small group of creative directors contributed with the goal of helping ourselves and others learn how to be better creative directors. I recently happened upon the archives and realized much of the content is still relevant, so I’m posting it here for posterity. Without further ado…

If I had to pick the #1 most important thing I have to do as a Creative Director, it’s this:

Create an environment where my creative team can do their very best work.

Sounds simple enough, but it’s a delicate balancing act that demands an ever-changing mix of approaches:

1. Remove distractions (including you). Basically, give your team good direction, fend off unnecessary meetings/clients/questions and let them do what they do best. This approach definitely requires a certain kind of creative team — you need to hire carefully (a post for another day) to build the right mix of talent, attitudes and skills. It’s also important to note that *you* should try to avoid being a distraction (aka, don’t micromanage).

2. Get your hands dirty. Good or bad, this is something I do a lot. On a good day, I can call it servant leadership — I’m striking a balance between my CD responsibilities and creative endeavors (be it designing, coding or writing). On a bad day, the balance tips in favor of the creative endeavors and I spread myself too thin, which is really a disservice to myself and the creative team. Lately, I’ve made a concerted effort to cut back on this side. I just get pulled in too many different directions to give full-blown projects the attention they deserve.

I’m slowly finding my balance between these approaches… I take on some of the smaller projects to keep myself sane and keep my edge while at the same time helping the creative team focus on the big important work.