Kim Mickelsen Shares Leadership Strategies To Improve Your Company’s Culture
Recently I had the opportunity to interview Kim Mickelsen from Bozell for the ongoing series: CEOs Share Leadership Strategies To Improve Your Company’s Culture.
Kim Mickelsen is CEO and co-owner of Bozell, a women-owned, full-service advertising and public relations agency located in Omaha, Nebraska. Bozell has increased its employee base by 31% in 2017. The 97-year-old agency has long-standing relationships with clients like First National Bank and the NCAA Men’s College World Series and more recently began working with Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, the Sioux Honey Association and the College Savings Plan Network.
Krish Chopra: What are the 3 most important values that your company’s culture is based on?
Kim Mickelsen:
• Paying rent for the space we occupy on this earth. This philosophy of giving back, articulated by Bozell co-founder Morris Jacobs, plays a vital role in Bozell’s culture — even 97 years later.
• Our “no assholes” policy. This means, quite simply, exactly what it says. We treat everyone at Bozell as equals and with respect; we thrive on ideas and challenging the status quo and expect people to do great work for the agency, but more importantly for the client.
• Have fun. This one is simple, but often overlooked at many places of work. At Bozell, having fun is made a priority, and we celebrate all successes. We work hard, but play hard, too. The bottom line is that at Bozell, people like and respect their co-workers — and it shows.
Krish: Managing millennials can often be a polarizing topic. Can you elaborate on your advice for managing the “millennial mindset?”
Kim: My advice for managing the millennial mindset is to be open and direct but also to harness their inquisitiveness and their fresh, creative outlooks. Our culture provides a collaborative approach and our open work environment fosters communication, input and varying ideas and points of view. We’ve found this open, creative environment provides inclusiveness, understanding and the ability to voice ideas or concerns.
Krish: What are your “5 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Culture” and why.
Kim:
· Give back to the community and encourage pro-bono work. We take our company philosophy to give back to our community seriously. This philosophy inspired us to make Free Ad Day a reality, when we closed the entire office for normal business and opened up to the community, providing pro-bono creative direction and services to more than 100 nonprofits and small businesses. Everyone on staff is encouraged to be involved in professional and charitable work, and Bozell provides the work-day hours to makes this possible.
· Reward the whole office with regular social events that promote teamwork and allow team members to relax and recharge. Bozell has a full-fledged Social Committee that plans and executes amazing summer, holiday and everything in-between events and keeps us on our toes for what to expect next. In addition to pot luck lunches and a full-fledged snack bar, the committee also organizes friendly competitions that promote good health, tracking things like steps in a day and water consumption. Injecting this type of fun into the work environment lightens things up and keeps our teams working hard for their clients during normal business hours.
· We believe in being close to our customers. We hold ongoing internal training sessions that provide insights that benefit our agency and customers. Each employee has their turn to be a teacher, bringing research, understanding and input to all of our employees. Understanding each other’s role is a major key to our success.
· Treat your employees as long-term investments. Send them to conferences so they can expand their knowledge in their industry and bring back that expertise to their work and clients. Presenting opportunities to them to continue their learning pays off in the long run for the agency, the clients and the employee. It’s a win-win-win.
· Honor successes big and small. From recognizing amazing work with our Employee of the Month program to submitting our work for local and national industry awards, taking the time to sit back and recognize everyone’s hard work does wonders for motivation levels in the office. Honoring our own successes is the way our culture works, and it pushes us to deliver even better results for our clients the next time around.
Krish: Strong company culture is something that everyone likes to think they have but very few have it. Why do so many organizations struggle with creating strong, healthy work environments?
Kim: Many companies say they have strong work culture, an open work enviroment and free snacks, but in order to provide a truly unique culture for your employees, you have to take some of the control off of the work environment and allow the culture to think and breathe. Combine that with high expectations, personal responsibility and freedom from being judged for having a differing opinion, and you create a a natural and authentic culture that works.
Krish: What is one mistake you see a young start-up founders make in their culture or leadership practices?
Kim: One mistake I’ve seen young start-up founders make in their leadership practice is implementing a ‘one size fits all’ policy. Developing a flexible work environment where everyone’s needs are heard and taken into account will bring your company success in the long run and will help reduce your employee turnover.
When it comes to culture, don’t force it. Hire people who are inspired and who inspire and motivate others. Allow them to bring their fun ideas to life, and the rest will take care of itself. We really believe the sky is the limit when it comes to our company culture and the work we do for our clients.
Krish: To add to the previous question, young CEOs often have a lot of pressure to perform and often wear many hats. What’s a simple time efficient strategy they can start doing today to improve their company’s culture?
Kim: Delegate, delegate, delegate. Find and hire people who you trust to execute quality work at a high capacity. This is going to be the simplest way for a busy CEO who is just starting out to devote more time to improving their company’s culture and manage their workload. Finding those people who you trust to not only perform great work but also make good decisions is difficult, but once you do it’s well worth the work it took to get there.
Krish: Success leaves clues. What has been your biggest influence in your leadership strategy and company culture?
Kim: I grew up in a small Nebraskan town and I’ve known how to work, live and play independently ever since I was little. As an advertising major in college, a copy professor, Albert C. Book, taught me to stand up to harsh criticism and defend my ideas. This has inspired my leadership strategy even today, because I’ve always tried to do the same and to bolster new, young talent to be the best they can be. Being fearless and decisive have both been big factors in my success.
Krish: What advice do you have for employees that have bad bosses? How can they take control and improve a bad situation?
Kim: If a situation or ongoing circumstances make an employee feel that he or she has a bad boss, often that person can take control by attempting to shift perspective. If you can step into the boss’ shoes and decipher why they make the decisions they make, they can look for actionable steps to take to improve the relationship. Open communication will be key here, and finding a balance for being open and being professional takes practice.
Krish: Okay, we made it! Last question — what’s one unique hack you or your company does that has enhanced your work culture?
Kim: The hack is a combination of all the steps above. There really are no shortcuts, and maybe that’s the hack. However, if you create and cultivate the environment, the culture will evolve and improve on its own with time. It also removes top-down edicts from owners, and provides opportunities to “coach” the team, which allows team members to rationalize why something is or isn’t appropriate to the company culture and work environment.
A note to the readers: Improving company culture happens at any level in an organization. If you learned one thing in this interview, please share this with someone close to you.
A special thanks to Kim Mickelsen again!
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