“We’ve got great talent within our team – some of which we’ve bred, some of which we’ve hired in. But if you want to keep that talent, you’ve got to treat it well, because there are opportunities everywhere.”

Finding great talent is still a mammoth task for a lot of agencies. Especially when you’ve created a culture that you’re proud of – it takes time to find the right fit.

So instead of focusing your efforts on finding new people, perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at the ones you’ve already got?

At AMBITIOUS, people are paramount. 

“If you have good team retention, you lose fewer clients at the bottom,” says director Sarah Woodhouse. “If a client has a stable team, and that team stays in place, you keep that business. It’s as simple as that.”

But how can you convince team members to stick with you in the long term?

Sarah and co-director Lis Anderson have a few tricks up their sleeve, including:

• Personality profiling for all staff 
• 121 personal performance coaching 
• Quarterly employee feedback surveys
• A quarterly employee forum 
• Personal and team targets based on business goals 

However, Lis and Sarah cite their new head of people and culture role as the biggest catalyst for change. The sole purpose of the role is to oversee employee happiness and wellbeing, and shape the business around their needs.

“Our benefits package is really good, and it’s something we developed together with the team by listening to what they valued most.”

“The past three years has seen us invest in personal performance coaching for the whole team, which has made a significant difference – introducing a specific role dedicated to culture and team development means we’re now building on strong foundations.”

By investing in their people, Lis and Sarah have enriched their employer brand tenfold. Doing so has meant they haven’t experienced any staff attrition in four years – and the agency has doubled in size. It’s been so successful, they now coach their clients on employer branding too!

In this session, director Lis Anderson will explore how their agency has fostered a positive employer brand, and will delve into the positive impact this has had on their team, their clients, and their ability to grow the agency.