During the 20+ years I spent in my advertising agency gig, I participated in countless seminars promising the answer to agency and personal success. I completed the multiple-step process required in “Presenters Anonymous.” I was made keenly aware of the details required to craft that perfect creative brief. I was even “Re-engineered” (Yikes!).  

I’ll admit that these programs provided some important learning.  However, what I believe is the most important driver of success (and that often elusive sense of well-being), both agency-wide and within yourself is learning how to build and maintain solid and positive client and internal agency relationships. Yes, relationships are everything.

“Build positive relationships?” Duh, right? Agency and Life 101.  But often a good relationship is a missing element. And lacking this, great work unravels, complications occur, and partnerships snap. And man, it’s tough sometimes. Agency folk are basically in relationships with people often very different from themselves in terms of goals, work styles, methods of interpretation and even basic emotional needs. How can we possibly guarantee great relationships with everyone?  Well, while a “guarantee” can’t be promised, what I found is that if you took the time to understand what is really important to your client and co-workers and empathize, you can then genuinely meet their needs and start developing ongoing positive connections.

A few examples… Let’s say you have a client who is always on your case, on your case, on your case about how a project is going. Rather than getting irritated and wincing whenever your phone rings, ask yourself where she’s coming from. Maybe she needs to be kept in the loop 24/7 because she has a boss who is on her case, on her case, on her case. So make a point to call her and send her a status list daily. She may then see that you “get her” and care about making her life a little easier.  

Or maybe you have clients who, when presented with the agency’s best work, delivered with unbridled enthusiasm, never respond with much more than a “ho-hum.” Think about how involved the clients have been in the creative process. Maybe bringing them in on the idea earlier, giving them a sense of ownership and a feeling of partnership will provide that coveted sparkling reaction.

And internally, perhaps your interactions with other departments are less-than-fulfilling when you approach them with multiple “hot” assignments. If you consider their workload, how often they are hit with “This is HOT,” and let them know that you understand and will do everything you can to help extend the schedule, and physically help, you might both be more pleased overall.

I could go on and on (and begin to tread uncomfortably close to what may sound like Sunday school or Psych 101), but basically I found that good relationships are what keep clients happy, agencies working well, and brains buzzing with cheer. So we if can try to understand each other, and to quote Carl Rogers, develop a “sensitive empathy,” we may be able to move toward this “everything” that relationships are.