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What is a Blended Role?
A shout out to all agency employees playing a dual or even multi-titled role! Maybe you are an Account/Project Manager, or an Account Manager actually doing content development for clients, or a project manager doing content development, or maybe you even strategically guide the client, while also being their day to day contact, while also keeping the project on track and even doing some of the content necessary when needed! Is your head spinning yet?
Do you ever feel a bit confused in your job or maybe like you are wearing WAY too many hats? Well, you probably are and this is even more likely in agencies under 10 people. Unfortunately, this type of role blending is absolutely required in small agencies. Have you ever wondered what to do when you play more than one role…
Remember there is always a compromise that can occur when playing more than one roll. It is very important to be aware of the current compromising position you might be in so you can make better decisions for the agency as a whole. Let’s use the account/project manager role as a good example. In this role you are often the day to day contact with the client, the one responsible for up selling and cross selling the client, the one who is creating their project budgets and timelines and often the one resourcing the work in-house or maybe even with outside vendors…
So what is the problem here? An account manager’s role is to be the client’s advocate within the agency, pushing the team for early deliverables and extra work to help up-sell and cross-sell the client on additional initiatives for the quarter. A project manager’s role is to be the agency advocate making sure projects have appropriate margins and get put on the schedule in line with other projects. This dynamic creates a natural tension between the AM and PM, which should if managed properly create a balance leading to high quality timely deliverables at a good profit enabling the agency to grow and offer more service to their client.
Okay, so what happens when all of that is in one person? Besides the fact that they usually feel like some days they have a multiple personality disorder… This dual role often wears the wrong hat at the wrong time. When the person is so excited about up selling and cross selling the client they often say, “sure, we can absolutely do that! Tomorrow? No problem!” while forgetting they have a team to support back home that has 20 other projects to work on. Or, this person can avoid up selling and cross selling because they know production is currently full, therefore losing revenue and profit for the agency.
Dual or compromised roles are absolutely required in smaller agencies, however it is important to know the details of each of the roles you are responsible for playing and when you need to wear each hat. The more effective you can be at switching hats in the moment, the better you will perform in your blended role. Remember to ask yourself, “What role am I in right now? What role should I be in right now?”
Agencies, make sure your employees are aware they are actually IN a blended role. Be clear about the types of tension that naturally occur between the two combined roles and provide examples on how you would like your employees to solve these problems. Last but not least, make sure to have an open door policy so people can seek your advice if they are uncomfortable making a confusing blended role decision.
About: CPI
Creative Performance Inc. (CPI) is a marketing operations consultancy for the marketing services industry (both Agency + In-House). We specialize in improving our client’s Organizational Agility and Operational Resilience, through a seamless integration of industry best practices, mar-tech and business intelligence. CPI is an AgencyStory®, Deltek®, Oracle Agile and Workamajig® partner.
About: Vanessa Vollum Edwards
Hailing from Portland, OR, Vanessa graduated from university with a degree in Philosophy. An amateur helicopter and fixed wing pilot since age sixteen, she began her first career as a pilot for LifeFlight. Upon completing her MBA, Vanessa was recruited by a fellow classmate into becoming the CFO/COO for a digital agency experiencing rapid growth. The agency was acquired in 2010. Over the last decade, Vanessa has built a strategic consultancy focused on empowering agency principals, accelerating growth, increasing profitability and deploying agency management software.