How can you build a team with complementary skill sets in Advertising?

1 Define your objectives and scope

Before you start looking for team members, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure your success. What is the purpose, target, and budget of your campaign? What are the deliverables, deadlines, and quality standards? How will you communicate and report your progress? By defining your objectives and scope, you will be able to identify the skills and roles that you need for your team.

2 Seek diversity and balance

Advertising is a multidisciplinary field that involves different aspects of research, strategy, design, copywriting, media, and analytics. You want to have a team that can cover all these areas and bring different perspectives, experiences, and styles to the table. Seek diversity and balance in terms of skills, backgrounds, personalities, and preferences. Avoid having too many people with similar or overlapping skills, or too few people with essential or specialized skills.

3 Assess skills and portfolios

Once you have a list of potential team members, you need to evaluate their skills and portfolios to see if they match your expectations and requirements. Look for evidence of their previous work, achievements, and feedback. How well do they perform in their domain of expertise? How creative and original are they? How do they handle challenges and feedback? How do they collaborate with others? Ask for samples, references, and testimonials to verify their claims and quality.

4 Conduct interviews and tests

The next step is to conduct interviews and tests to get to know your candidates better and see how they fit into your team. Interviews can help you gauge their personality, motivation, and communication skills. Tests can help you measure their abilities, knowledge, and problem-solving skills. You can use different formats and methods, such as phone calls, video calls, online quizzes, assignments, or case studies. Make sure you ask relevant and specific questions and give clear and realistic instructions.

5 Assign roles and responsibilities

After you have selected your team members, you need to assign roles and responsibilities to each of them. Roles define what each person does and how they contribute to the team. Responsibilities define what each person is accountable for and how they report to the team. You can use different tools and frameworks, such as RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed), to clarify and communicate these aspects. Make sure you align roles and responsibilities with skills and expectations.

6 Foster collaboration and feedback

The final step is to foster collaboration and feedback among your team members. Collaboration means working together towards a common goal and sharing ideas, resources, and information. Feedback means giving and receiving constructive and timely comments, suggestions, and praise. You can use different platforms and channels, such as email, chat, video, or project management software, to facilitate these processes. Make sure you encourage trust, respect, and openness among your team members.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?