Public relations recently ranked eighth out of ten on a list of the most stressful jobs, behind firefighter, police officer and enlisted military personnel. It seems like the stress comes with the title, but does it always have to be this way? Having a well-oiled organization that puts employee well-being first seems like a fantasy for stress-ridden PR professionals, but that’s exactly what Treble aims to establish.
Treble, founded in 2013, believes that quality work happens when people are fulfilled. What differentiates Treble from other PR agencies is the value it places on its team. Each person that joins the Treble team represents the company’s core values: an emphasis on wellness and supportive culture based on positivity and healthy competition. Remaining authentic, transparent and results-driven with the goal of having fun are also company musts.
“I’ve worked for employers with harsh managing styles,” said Olivia Gardner, Treble’s director of operations. “It always felt like I was there to serve managers’ every beck and call. Other executive teams I’ve been a part of say that they help provide for their teams, but when it comes down to it, they don’t follow through.”
Gardner let her past experiences structure how Treble is run: emphasizing personal kindness through management. The culture is simple. Always be in service to employees, invest back into their well-being and draw a line in the sand between work and home life to allow for a work hard, play hard mentality. What seems like a straightforward approach couldn’t be more absent in the lives of most PR professionals.
Ensuring that the company is consistent in its values from the top down (and from the bottom up) is essential in creating a workplace environment where the team feels empowered to constantly improve. Leadership should be a role model in both the management style and the execution of the job; account leads inspect what their teams expect and lead with empathy in every scenario.
When working with highly technical clients, as Treble does, leaders with exceptional industry experience pass down their knowledge and allow their team to thrive in their best learning environment by adapting management styles to individual employees. Gardner shared four management essentials to ensure employee satisfaction, continued learning and career development.
Constant Communication
In successful companies, the boss’s door is always open, and the rest of the team knows that. When employees feel comfortable going to leadership with questions about a project or concerns with a timeline, the entire office can take a breath of relief.
Weekly check-ins are also vital to consistent communication. Having an opportunity to share what tasks are going well, projects that may need additional support or simply life updates creates an open channel of communication that sets every employee up for success. Sometimes you need to vent after a tough client call or busy day, and the authenticity Treble emits allows its team to do so.
Goal Mapping
Mapping goals – whether personal, professional or client-driven – boosts team morale and guarantees employees stay on track for continuous growth. Tangible, individual goals among employees establish meaning in everyday work and let them know if they’re being successful.
This mapping also creates better organizational structures for both employees and the company as a whole. At other agencies, people don’t know what key success factors will set them up for promotion, but organized goal mapping identifies what is needed to advance. With better organization across all parts of the company, employees can focus more on the overall picture, which gives even the simplest task a greater purpose.
Promoting From Within
Instead of looking outward during periods of growth, organizations should conduct an internal evaluation of their current strengths and, from there, restructure roles based on employee improvement, dedication and tenure.
The best leaders are the ones who understand an organization from the ground up. Promoting from within allows loyal employees to grow their skills while growing the company: a win-win for the organization and its members.
Ongoing Education
Continuous learning is imperative in any organization. Attending webinars and conferences allow employees to gain knowledge from various thought leaders and organizations. Businesses should encourage employees to seek out what interests them to bring new, innovative ideas back to the company. Even as it scales, Treble aims to maintain an entrepreneurial mindset to encourage inspiration and education among the team and to better relate to the many startups it supports.
Ongoing education does not only apply to the public relations industry. PR professionals should also immerse themselves in their clients’ respective industries, and companies should support these learning efforts.
These aspects of company culture should always be developing, and the ones listed above are not an exhaustive list. Keeping management essentials in mind helps create an environment where employees and leaders feel empowered, supported and heard. Acknowledging the hard work employees put in, rewarding them justly and having some fun along the way isn’t a complicated formula. This methodology is possible; it just takes a caring, humble team to lead the way.