Tango is a partner dance that's breathtaking when both performers are accomplished in their roles.

The role of the male* dancer is to be solid on the ground, taking firm steps repeatedly and predictably. The woman then uses the man as an anchoring support around which she is able to dance with wild abandon. If she trusts he knows the steps, is stable, and will be ready with a hand at just the right moment, she can focus on dancing her heart out instead of avoiding falling.

So the creative freedom and energy increases when there is solidity and dependability.

As agency owners, it's easy to fall into focusing only on the outwardly creative side of our businesses.

But great agencies know that both parts of the dance are equally important. So they also focus on building a solid foundation of good leadership, clear strategy, smart thinking, solid processes, and consistent repeatable growth.

If you have this solid foundation in place in the agency then you can all dance your creative hearts out around it, without worrying about taking a tumble. Having that anchor for the business to lean on will free up your time and brain space as CEO, and you'll be more proud of your agency's performance.

So, this week, reflect on the balance of your agency's tango. Have you got that strong foundation in place to free up your creative work, or do you wing it a bit and worry about falling over? What first steps could you take this week to redress or further improve that balance?

* Traditionally the roles were split male/female in this way but, hey, anything goes.

Get your Agency Espresso every Monday

A shot of inspiration for agency leaders, direct to your inbox

We will never share your details with anyone else

Agency Advisory Boards

I'm on a mission to help agency owners fall in love with leading their agencies again.

The first step is having an effective agency advisory board, to support the founder-CEO in having those solid foundations in place that I wrote about above.

We do this at three levels, depending on the stage the agency is at:

  • Virtual advisory board — with guidance, workshops and briefings to help you do it yourself. Great if you already have an advisory board, or are a small agency wanting to start one. This is a low monthly fee to be accessible to all agencies.
  • Shared advisory board — getting a group of agencies together to share the costs of a fully-facilitated advisory board.
  • Dedicated advisory board — a fully-facilitated advisory board just for your agency.

Find out more, and get started with a highly effective advisory board.