You're the centre of a circle, not the top of a triangle

A lot of agency founders think their organisation structure looks like a triangle, with them at the top.

But, in a knowledge-based, people-powered business like an agency, this way of thinking about the organisation can be counter-productive.

It can lead naturally into top down, command and control culture where people at the bottom wait to be told what to do, or for permission. As an agency grows this can make it crawl to a halt and be resistant to change.

Last week I was on a call with an agency owner who had heard the term 'servant leadership' and resonated with the idea (which is an important one).

But often the concept is pictured simply as the same triangle flipped upside down — and that's not right either.

Instead, an agency structure can best be thought of as a series of circles.

You're right in the middle, surrounded by your leadership team, then the agency operations teams, and then the delivery teams.

Things like purpose, strategy and culture (‘intent’) radiate out from the centre — but it's important to note how insulated the centre is from knowledge and experience of the agency's interface with the outside world ('information').

That connection to clients, prospects, recruits and communities happens at the outer edge of your agency.

Your sales and action teams have this information, and you need to consciously work to absorb it deeper into the circle.

That means spending time listening to them, and observing their work (You're not evaluating their work, you're looking for information about the outside world).

It means involving representatives from this outer edge of the organisation to take part in activities with the leadership team.

This week, how can you get creative about ensuring you absorb more information from the outer circle of your agency, right where it connects with the outside world, and how can you better radiate intent to the edges?

Then, how can you embed that behaviour so you and your leadership team are always doing it?