As an executive coach based in Los Angeles, I often work with leaders in creative industries: content creation, entertainment management, marketing services, tech, and consumer products. While each of these fields is unique, they bring together teams of cross-functional leaders from marketing, design, development, finance, and legal, to name a few. Leaders from each of these functions arrive at their work with diverse education, professional experience, personalities, and working styles. Layer in the competing objectives of different functions, and it’s easy to imagine a group that struggles to get much accomplished.

Differences can be most pronounced between business leaders and designers. The formal education needed to secure roles in each of these groups is quite different. Business leaders are assumed to be focused on profit, while the creative process is much more personal for designers. Despite these differences, I’ve been part of many dynamic partnerships between business teams and design teams, and I’ve figured out how they work best.

1. They build on each other’s ideas.

The phrase “good ideas can come from anyone” gets thrown around a lot, but I’ve seen it in practice.

On a 2005 trip to Egypt, I was inspired by the elaborate details of the treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. I returned to my junior position in marketing for a toy company with the belief that this aesthetic — glitter, shine, elaborate jewelry — would appeal to the fashion doll consumer. I shared my idea with my design partners in a brainstorm session.

The design team easily could have rejected my ideas on the basis that creativity is their responsibility (and privilege). Instead, a year later, when they presented their initial concepts for the next season, I was surprised and pleased to see an Egyptian-inspired option.

And what they presented was so much better than I had ever imagined. By running with “yes and,” a key principle of both improv comedy and design thinking, they had opened their minds to an unusual idea and built on it to make it stronger.

The teamwork didn’t stop there. Once the dolls were designed, the packaging team created a logo, structure, and environment that brought the theme to life, and the advertising agency created new animation and music for a commercial that integrated Egyptian elements into a modern and aspirational world for children.

By the time the dolls landed on retail shelves, countless team members on at least three continents had contributed to the brand experience, and all of us could see the value of our contributions in creating something greater.

2. They use curiosity to build trust.

I’ve worked with two different types of creative leaders: ones who want to focus exclusively on being creative and ones who want to better understand the business. The latter use new insights about the consumer, the priorities of key stakeholders, and the state of the business to bring focus to their team’s work. By listening to what’s said and discovering what’s unsaid, they identify opportunities to address problems or build on opportunities.

Similarly, business leaders build trust with their design partners when they listen to those partners’ goals. Whether your partners want to build expertise in a new technology or expand a product segment to support the professional growth of their teams, understanding their goals invites you to help them make those goals a reality. This commitment to better understanding also increases the likelihood that your partners will be receptive to your goals.

I am not advocating for tacitly agreeing with your partners just to build trust. There will be plenty of times when you see a situation differently. That’s when, instead of clashing over who is right, you can listen to one another and work together to find the best way forward. For instance, a few years back, my team was developing an innovation segment for a classic fairytale toy brand. There were a few concepts that I just didn’t get, as well as one that I was far more excited about than the design team was. Rather than narrowing the list of options down to the much smaller list that we all could agree on, we committed to collecting feedback from parents and children through qualitative research.

To our surprise, the concepts that were more polarizing to the team generated the most positive feedback from our audience. The new insights about why customers were drawn to these ideas built support for the ideas throughout team, ultimately allowing us to bring to market a more innovative and successful product line.

3. They build in flexibility.

Any initiative — an advertising campaign, a new vehicle, a new product range — can originate within a variety of functions, often determined by what function is at the hub of the wheel of the cross-functional team. You can find advertising agencies where creative, account service or even account planning (strategy) takes the lead. In automotive, often the engineers have the greatest influence. Within the toy industry, the pendulum will swing back and forth between marketing-led and design-led cultures, often changing when the prior structure stops working.
From my perspective, a team’s success is not dependent on one function taking the lead. I’ve seen product lines grounded in sound strategies fall flat because they fail to inspire. Conversely, a great creative idea without a clear customer or strategy holds little value. In every environment I’ve worked in, the cross-functional team delivered better results when they didn’t cling to one process.

Tim Brown’s “Change by Design,” an introduction to design thinking, presents the “Ways to Grow” matrix. He organizes the innovation efforts within a team into four categories determined by pursuing existing and new users with existing and new offerings. While most resources should be allocated to support incremental innovations to the core business, this framework is flexible enough to make room for the unexpected and sometimes game-changing innovation that didn’t begin with an ironclad strategic insight.

The opportunity to create something new carries high risks, but you manage that risk by not depending on its success. Exploring fresh initiatives creates a halo of energy across the line and across the team. If one of these ideas sticks, it has the potential to create explosive growth. And even if it doesn’t, the team will appreciate that they had the opportunity to flex their innovation muscles.

Each of these insights on well-functioning teams comes down to communication. Truly listen to your customers and your colleagues to solve problems and build on success. Ensure that your colleagues feel heard, and enjoy the opportunity to talk about different points of view. Listen for opportunity. It may not always arrive the way you expect, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.

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Peter Gandolfo is an executive coach and founder of Gandolfo Group Coaching & Consulting. He’s passionate about helping men achieve professionally while being present fathers and about creating a more diverse workforce by helping leaders develop their authentic leadership styles.

In addition to individual coaching, Peter facilitates team workshops and gives talks on marketing strategy, listening to customers, effective communication and more. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband Andrew and their two sons.

This article was originally published on the Gandolfo Group blog.

When I started in the world of digital media, I assumed that “creative environment,” “casual attire,” “snack room,” and “tech” meant future-forward, progressive, and all-inclusive.

Boy, was I wrong!

Like most industries, companies, and businesses, new media and creative professions operate as any 1960s, Mad Men-esque environment would; often leaving women who seek financial and professional growth up against a virtual glass ceiling shrouded in “Thirsty Thursday” Happy Hours.

As a self-designated Strong Woman in a creative role, I thought I was exempt from gender bias — assuming that other women just weren’t vocal enough or didn’t understand how to “work with men.” However, throughout my tenure at a renowned social publisher, I became #woke and had to remap my own journey toward being heard in a world where my voice was automatically less important prior to even speaking.

Below are some lessons I learned on my road to self-empowerment (and the empowerment of others) in a creative field.

Diction matters

I had been asked to take on a significant amount of responsibility in my role that was going to require double the work. In an effort to stand up for the work I had done, I created a proposal asking for a raise. To my surprise, someone in HR pulled me aside and told me my approach to this “responsibility” was both “hostile and aggressive,” and I was denied the opportunity that had been presented to me.

It’s not news that words like “emotional,” “aggressive,” “hostile,” “shrill,” and “intense,” are disproportionately used to make positive attributes negative as they relate to women in the workplace. I started realizing that I wasn’t hearing the same adjectives being applied toward my male colleagues; instead hearing words like “passionate,” “tough,” and “confident.” The list goes on.

Women are frequently pushed to doubt themselves in their approach to their everyday lives and professions, discouraged from being “too active” or “too participatory” for fear of being seen as “unladylike” or “too much.” When women do speak up during meetings, disagree with colleagues, or simply stand up for themselves or an idea on a professional level, they are often told they need to “tone it down,” “stop getting emotional,” or “reel it in.”

In order to stop the misperception of self, you have to first be aware of it. Oppression doesn’t necessarily happen in loud, poignant moments. It can occur in the small, passing conversations about others or even conversations about you that are playful. Look out for situations where people are unfairly using diction as a weapon for self-doubt.

Equally, consider how our own ingrained speech patterns reify the oppression of women. For example, women tend to apologize before speaking or find themselves needing to justify their reason for asking for something (i.e., “Sorry, I just wanted to …) so as to maintain a polite demeanor. As juvenile as it sounds, work on remapping your speech patterns to be direct, assertive sentences that speak clearly for what you need. More importantly, don’t be afraid to correct others’ speech patterns, as it helps re-wire the thought processes of women and men around you.

For example, most recently, I was referred to as “she” in a meeting when I was sitting right next to the person addressing me in the third person, and I stopped them afterward to say, “You can just call me Annie. You may not be aware of it, but ‘she’ is dismissive and dehumanizing.” Although it was an uncomfortable process (and I don’t know if this person understood what I was saying right away), it reminded me of my own power in the situation and that I always get to show up in the room.

Make your worth tangible

During review periods where people asked for raises, I saw many colleagues of mine confused as to why they weren’t getting an increase in their salary even though they said, “But I did all this work and I deserve it!” It was especially hard on a creative team, as the work was not directly (or obviously) tied to sales.

Even if you deserve a salary hike, with women making 78 cents for every dollar a man makes for the same work, you have to run that much harder just to get to the starting line.

Consistently manage a document that tracks your tangible projects and achievements in your job, whether it be business you’ve worked on, initiatives you’ve started, or client meetings you’ve attended. I always found value in taking screenshots of positive feedback that had been sent in any fashion, explaining why my work had been successful.

Most importantly, tie it back to the dollar amount. Even if your work is not directly related to revenue, it doesn’t mean that you are not engaged in the sales cycle. I started to inquire with our sales team about the size of the deals I worked on (pitched or won business) to highlight that my work was, in fact, tied to a certain amount of money that had benefitted the company.

And lastly, express the measurable things you seek to accomplish in either your current or desired future role to show that you are thinking long-term about the company’s goals and an action plan on how to execute these ideas.

At the end of the day, no matter how great your work may be, it must always benefit your manager, your team, and/or the company.

Talk about it

We are living in a causal time where gender, race, sexuality, politics, etc., are all on the table and constantly discussed. However, even with this new sense of openness and dialogue, talking about gender (and racial) politics in the workplace still feels like an unwelcome discussion. I learned quickly the awkwardness that ensued when I had to address inequalities at work with my male managers who took what I was saying personally or didn’t know how to respond tactically or empathetically.

In order to make the latent manifest, it is important to push past this discomfort and continue to educate your male and female colleagues. Building empathy, learning any new language, or developing a new way of thought are arduous processes, but they can occur through consistency and a desire to reach mutual understanding.

If you hear someone say something inappropriate or simply unhelpful about you or your colleagues, don’t be afraid to thoughtfully speak up to create awareness. Remember to praise yourself and your fellow female colleagues in situations where your/their work might be getting overlooked or spoken for.

With that said, men are not the only culprits in the gender struggle in the workplace — women can bring each other down as well. Using your best judgment (and trust) and being open with female colleagues about your experiences in the workplace not only allows for unification and camaraderie, but it also sets the stage for creating a collective set of solutions and advocacy in dealing with tricky dynamics.

As Lady Gaga recently sang on the track “Hey Girl,” “We can make it easy if we lift each other.”

If you have any advice on how we, as women, can continue to grow together as we grow ourselves in our careers, please let us know in the comments below!

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Annie is a Creative Circle candidate and freelance creative strategist/copywriter working and living in Los Angeles. She knows digital media as well as she knows her own horoscope (she’s a Virgo), having worked at the likes of BuzzFeed and Mashable. She has created branded content strategies for the top Fortune 500 brands, which means she knows the true meaning of “going native.” If you want to work with Annie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

Pencils down! It’s time to start thinking beyond the classroom with Creative Circle’s College Resource Guides.
It’s no secret that finding a job after college is hard — really hard. As a recruiter for creative and digital talent, I can tell you that the competition is tough even at entry level, which is exactly why I’m a huge fangirl of our College Resource Guides. They offer a simple, pointed timeline for every stage of your college career — freshman to senior — helping you to stay clear on what you need to do to land that dream job upon graduation. (And bonus: You might even be able to avoid moving back in with mom and dad for another year.)

Freshman year might seem awfully early to start considering your big career moves post-graduation. Guess what? It’s not. I’m willing to bet that the only strategic planning most of your dormmates, classmates, and dormmate’s classmates are doing right now is for Dollar Taco Night next Tuesday and not four years from now. And hey, we’re only hot-sauce-loving humans! But today’s reality for college grads, particularly in the creative and marketing fields, is that success starts early.

Beginning in the Freshman Resource Guide and carrying over to sophomore year with the Sophomore Resource Guide, you’ll notice that the word “resume” gets tossed around like magic dust — poof! Your own personal brand begins now. Be sure to keep updating your resume throughout your entire college experience, tracking everything you’ve done. Over time, and over internships gone good and bad, you’ll redefine your resume a hundred times, subtracting all the bits that no longer make sense and folding in the ones that do until you finally create an identity so relevant to your field that it could make even the coldest career counselor shed a tear.

Before you know it, the great divide will be upon you, and by that, I’m referring to your junior year. If you don’t have an internship lined up by then, apply, apply, apply! Just as the Junior Resource Guide emphasizes, it’s critical to start networking and interning at this phase in the game. This is where life starts to become much bigger than Dollar Taco Night. Why? Two words: safety net. You’d be surprised at how many students don’t end up in the career they thought they wanted. You might take an internship in a field like marketing and realize midway through what you really want to focus on is graphic design. This allows you time to retool your classes, and possibly even your major, while finding another internship to help you build a design portfolio. Trust me: You’ll need one.

Senior year sort of catapults you blindly into the lobby of the real world. It’s time to throw the stone as far as possible into the pond, rippling a call heard around your industry. Just as the Senior Resource Guide directs, you want to get a grasp on applying early enough for full-time positions, all the while avoiding “senioritis.” Reflect on all the working relationships you’ve cultivated during your internships and networking, and use those to your advantage by connecting on LinkedIn. If graduation has come and gone and you still find yourself jobless, take on some freelance work or even a post-collegiate internship.

Getting the career you want upon graduation can be done. But notice I didn’t say it was easy. It takes organization, effort, and above all else, diligence in staying ahead of the curve and your competition. When you get stuck or you feel like you don’t know where to start, keep these College Resource Guides handy and return to them every time you start to feel yourself wandering down the path of “this seems impossible.” They are designed to guide you through the hinterlands by targeting all the little pit stops you must take along the way. Among them, the most important are: Resumes, Portfolios, Internships, and Industry Networking. The ultimate results of treating these pit stops as actions over the course of your college career will yield results that are unfathomable in the best way.
Ok, you can have your pencils back now.

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Amanda is a copywriter-turned-recruiter who joined Creative Circle’s Philadelphia team in 2015. Her fascinations include, but are not limited to: good use of white space, just about anything animal related, TED Talks, and helping people find jobs they really want. Outside of playing talent matchmaker, Amanda spends most of her time scouting new locales in the City of Brotherly Love with her husband and jumping bean of a pup, Tuxedo.

In most jobs, the only way to feel like you’re growing is to get a promotion (and of course, more money). Oftentimes, employees end up taking any promotion or manager position that comes their way because it seems to embody the essence of moving forward, regardless of whether the “upgraded” role is applicable to their long-term goals.

However, if you are in a creative profession, chances are you’ve grown up saying, “I just want to make stuff,” which makes the infrastructure of most organizations incredibly stifling when it comes to creative growth.

Unlike a conventional advertising agency, where the ultimate promotion to creative director still has you engaged in creative production, many creatives in digital media are getting pushed up while also being pulled away from what they wanted to do in the first place — make cool things and tell great stories.

In my last organization, I watched endless numbers of creatives accept promotions as managers because that was the only viable next step that would allot them more money and a higher title. Unfortunately, many soon realized that they:

1. Never aspired to manage others
2. Did not embody leadership skills or experience to be accountable for someone else’s career growth
3. Were not socially comfortable engaging with others on a consistent basis
4. Preferred to be individual contributors who were left alone to create and produce work
5. Had no other options for growth

To my dismay, I watched a trickle-down effect where newly minted creative managers were frustrated by their lack of creative production and confused at what they were meant to provide to their direct reports. This resulted in their direct reports feeling paralyzed in their own growth, unclear as to whether they were meant to seek power or production.

Worse, when these creative managers eventually wanted to move on to other companies, they ended up taking managerial roles or higher titles because of the promise of more money (even though they still lacked managerial skills), setting them up for a path that they never chose and a focus on power over passion.

More than ever, there is a need for companies with creative teams/talent to provide alternative options for growth in the creative realm where creatives can feel like they are financially growing as individual contributors without the stress of title-seeking in order to get to the next rung on the ladder. And those who genuinely seek a managerial skill set should have the opportunity to do so, and to learn how to properly manage others.

As a creative, should manager be your next step? See what’s possible where you work in terms of being able to amass more responsibility within your role (and therefore increasing your pay) without taking yourself away from the work itself. When it comes to being a creative thinker, I think we can all agree that our minds live not in black and white but in shades of gray.

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Annie is a Creative Circle candidate and freelance creative strategist/copywriter working and living in Los Angeles. She knows digital media as well as she knows her own horoscope (she’s a Virgo), having worked at the likes of BuzzFeed and Mashable. She has created branded content strategies for the top Fortune 500 brands, which means she knows the true meaning of “going native.” If you want to work with Annie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.