5 Lessons: My First Year at Digital Agency Wijs
About a year ago, I decided to tell my boss, Bruno, I was leaving. Although I’ve learned a lot from being Online Marketeer at Acaza, I felt I was stuck.
Joining Wijs seemed the right thing to do for me. They’re a digital agency from Ghent, Belgium. They’re very playful, but damn good at what they do.
I took this step most of all because I wanted to learn. I thought I’d be learning a lot of technical stuff that I wasn’t aware of. The feeling that I was missing out on ‘the big magic’ of digital marketing was the real driver of my move.
Well, ‘the big magic’ was a lie…
… but what I’ve learned in this year was even more intriguing .
- The Essence of Growth
- Decision-making as a Process
- Value is in the Team
- Why Trust is Hard to Earn
- Stress is Real and Personal
1. The Essence of Growth
Starting at Wijs, for me, was like being put in the ball park. I was ready to learn all about the Holy Grail of Digital Marketing. Turns out I didn’t. And I’m glad I didn’t.
What I have been learning this year? How to learn daily. How to actively grow.
I’ve never been the person who enjoyed being told how to approach a certain subject. You know, teachers telling you to keep a broad, critical view and then telling you exactly what you should remember from their course? That’s not the way I learn.
Learning, I’ve learned, has a very distinct three-step process:
- Self-Assessment
- Defining Gaps / Goals
- Hustle
Self-Assessment and being self-aware is one of the basic skills I’ve started developing this year and will be continuing to do so for the following years. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the things you’re good at and the things you really suck at.
If you’re gonna sit in a corner crying because someone points out your weaknesses, it means you were not prepared. If they’re in the wrong, you could tell them so. If they’re right, you’re probably already working on it. Well, you should.
You should define exactly what it is you’re lacking and map the path to the goal you want to reach in this skill. Who will you be watching to learn this? When will you try this out for yourself? What do you expect as a result?
Write this down. Hustle through. Do it.
2. Decision-making as a Process
To be completely fair, this is not a lesson I’ve learned in this year. I’ve always been intrigued by how people make decisions: Evolutionary psychology, biases, consumer behaviour…
Added this year was the practice of using this knowledge in every aspect of life. Keeping in mind how other people make decisions and how I make them myself really got me to optimise this process.
Looking for progress? Influence the decision-making process. Not the decision.
This really starts making sense when you start doing it. Learn what ideas stick with people, what small changes lead yourself and others to consistently make the right decisions.
Once you get you’re eye out for things as error management, associative memory, ego depletion, cognitive ease… decision making gets a clear shape. If you’re interested in this, these are some awesome books:
- Made to Stick — Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- Heart and the Mind — Patrick Vyncke
- Decoded — Phil Barden
- Getting to “yes” — Roger Fisher & William Ury
- Thinking Fast & Slow — Daniel Kahneman
- Influence — Robert B. Cialdini
- Spent — Geoffrey Miller
You know this one:
“Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting tomato in a fruit salad.”
I feel like putting this knowledge to practice is slowly turning it into wisdom. It’s kind of like starting to influence my everyday behaviour, without me thinking about it. Which is exactly how our brain learns.
3. Value is in the Team
As a digital agency, Wijs has a very clear vision on what digital is and how it should be approached. One of the cornerstones of this vision is that we work in integrated teams. To paint the picture, this is what Team Sledgehammer looks like:
- 4 Online Marketing Consultants
- 2 Developers
- 2 Designers
- 1 UX Architect
- 1 UX Architect / Digital Strategist
- 1 Digital Strategist
Working with businesses that are clearly divided in silo’s that most of the time don’t even speak to each other, this is a real breeze. Not only does this help us out in the short term, having a direct line to pose some questions. This also ensures a constant learning curve in the how and why of their decisions. Not only do we learn from their outcomes, we also learn from their process. And that’s just pure gold.
On a regular basis, we get together with the online marketing consultants in the team to check on each others problems, challenges and learnings. This is the most value-packed hour you could imagine.
As our flag says, this team knows what it’s doing. And, most important, it’s a bunch of great, great, great people.
4. Why Trust is Hard to Earn
I found this baffling when I started working for an agency. People hire an agency like us to get something moving in digital marketing. Yet, the first feeling that comes forward first in the journey, is one of distrust.
Clients tend to be very guarded towards agencies. And I get that, because, we get paid for this, so at least they should be sceptical. But I’m a marketing enthousiast and that’s reason #1 why I’m at this table.
Trust is hard to earn because it is a massive driver of speed. It leads to less discussion, less time wasted and more things done. What trust is all about, is alignment in the direction to be followed. Trusting someone you shouldn’t could get you in the wrong place, very fast.
How to earn trust?
I’m deliberately using the word ‘earn’ as there’s a big difference with ‘getting’ someone to trust you. You should be able to proof your trustworthiness.
One thing I learned about trust is that it starts with listening. Cheesy, yes. But mostly we come into these meetings, with our own plan in mind. Our own goals. Trying to get the client onboard in what you want to achieve. Although, your intent might be good, this just doesn’t work out the way you want it, most of the time.
The thing with listening is, that you might just suddenly hear what your client really is looking for. And mostly, what they are afraid of. Most likely, they have a clearer picture in mind of what they don’t want. So while painting your picture, make sure you mention why this is a solution to their concerns.
Address the other party’s concerns. Don’t just consider them. Address them.
This has been a major lesson for me. I used to note down their concerns and think about them while making up plans. As I had sorted everything out, to make it fit in every way possible, I presented what I thought we should do. Getting to present this, I was really proud because I was sure this would help them moving forward.
And then it just didn’t hit the chord.
The client felt a bit dissatisfied. They didn’t feel like this solved their problems. And probably it didn’t. I’m still convinced it was a good plan, but it didn’t address what they think was the problem.
5. Stress is Real and Personal
I’ve always thought stress was about deadlines, about pressure, getting talked down… But it’s not. Stress is something that builds up through a massive variety of factors that is different for everyone.
For me, I mostly got stressed when I don’t have a clear to do. When I don’t feel I’m achieving something.
I don’t like to waste time, so a last minute cancelled meeting really got me stressed out at first.
I love to have my schedule filled with clear and focussed blocks of work on one project. If I had a 30 minute meeting planned that got cancelled last minute, I felt like it was time lost, because I didn’t have any to do’s for that moment.
I have learned to actually use this ‘lost time’ to my advantage. I now have a to do list that is not one on one linked with my agenda. Last minute cancellations are now filled with small to do’s from my list or just getting the list updated and planning my next steps.
I have learned a lot in 2015 and looking forward to get 2016 started. I have some goals of which most are connected to these lessons. What are you up to?
Published in The Agency- curated by Crew. Check us out to get started working with the best designers and developers on the web.
Over 10 million people have used products made on Crew. And over 3 million people have read our blog. Join them here.
