Working in a creative field can be rewarding, but it often means that you are expected to work faster and harder than the rest of the world. Many people who work in creative fields feel they have a lot of breakthroughs coming from a more open-ended working schedule, but it isn’t always practical to give yourself permission to work at your own pace all the time.
If you are in a position where you oversee or manage other creatives and their schedules, there are some things you should keep in mind when assigning deadlines. Keep reading to learn more about how to use creative project management for your business.
What’s A Creative Team?
A creative team is a group of individuals who work together to create a certain product or site. Each team member works on a specific aspect of making the project come to life, but they all work together so each member can contribute to the end outcome.
This could be anything from creating an entire piece of artwork for your company to creating social media content for your marketing content or finding new ways for you and your other employees to communicate with the public because you and your team have been brainstorming all week.
3 Key Challenges Creative Teams Face
There are many different challenges that creative teams face during a project, but they are mostly caused by excessive workloads and expectations set at unreasonable deadlines.
Speed At Which Creative Teams Are Expected To Work
Most creative teams are expected to work at lightning speed because companies believe fast creation is better than thoughtful creation. Creative teams feel that if they slow down their pace and take the time to think things through on every step of their projects, they risk getting fired or losing customers by being late.
Lack Of Resources
Creative teams have limited resources because every team member is responsible for doing just as much work as another member. This, in turn, brings down the performance level of every creative employee, which can lead to resentment on the part of other employees whose work has been minimized or neglected.
Volume Of Demand For Creative Work
Being expected to do so many jobs on a project at once makes it difficult for creative teams to complete all tasks in time and maintain their high-performance levels. They often feel that their employer is looking for quantity over quality in the finished product, making them feel like they need to rush.
How To Manage A Creative Team
It is important to manage a creative team to foster growth and ensure that they can work at their highest level at all times. You can improve how they do their jobs by managing the team and providing ways for them to work together and communicate more effectively.
Inspire The Creative Team To Grow
Managers need to motivate their teams to perform better and grow as people capable of working on creative projects. They need to be open with their employees to understand their expectations and how their hard work will benefit the organization in the long run.
Encourage Collaboration On The Creative
Creative teams are often made up of a group of people who work together on a project and are involved in every step of the process. This can lead to certain members feeling like they don’t want to work with others when they feel their input isn’t wanted or needed. In order to encourage this type of collaboration, you should offer creative team members ways to discuss ideas, suggest creative ideas, and give feedback on drafts as they go through the creative process.
Communicate With Your Team Daily
When you are leading a creative team, communication is key because even though you may not be able to see all of the work your employees are producing in real-time, you will be able to see what the end product looks like. This will help your employees know how they can improve their work and create better products in the future.
Delegate Distracting Tasks To External Folks
If a creative employee is doing an unnecessary project to the end, you should consider delegating it to an outside person or company. The best way to do this is to find one person who is not working on the assignment and can help the other employee complete it in a timely manner. Using this method, you can focus on what your employees are trying to accomplish and improve their performance by giving them more time and energy for their projects.
Establish Creative Standards To Meet
When managing a creative team, it’s important to establish and enforce certain standards so that the employees know what is expected of them and how they can adhere to their decisions. This can help both yourself as a manager and your employees by creating an environment where their work will be very high quality.
Give Constant Feedback To The Team
Creative teams often feel that their work is never good enough because of the high demand they are under. By giving them constant feedback, especially positive and constructive criticism, the employees can learn what they need to improve on and how they can make their product better.
The Bottom Line
If you want to be a creative team manager, you will need to know how to manage them to work at their highest possible level. By inspiring growth, encouraging and facilitating collaboration, motivating your employees, communicating effectively with your team, and establishing creative standards for them to follow, you will find the right balance of maintaining their energy and enthusiasm while keeping them on task.