Here, there, and everywhere.
A note from handsome,
a holistic experience design agency
On becoming an everywhere agency.
Founded on the idea of continual experimentation and curiosity, we often find ourselves asking ‘why?’ and ‘why not?’ Recently, we’ve taken some long hard looks at the work we make and how we make it and have been asking ourselves ‘Is this really good enough?’ Good enough for our clients. Good enough for our industry. Good enough for our people. Can we make the work we do better by rethinking how we go about making it? Challenging all the conventions, patterns, and even stereotypes that make an agency creative or innovative.
And let’s face it. For all the agency talk of pushing creativity, innovation, and risk-taking on clients, very few actually walk the walk when it comes to applying innovation to ourselves. So, walk we have. And, the first place that we’ve walked the walk — is right out of the office.
We’ve made the move to become an everywhere agency.
Not confined by a single location, a static set of walls, or a forced sense of uniformity. We’re venturing out into the world — the one that we design for everyday and working within it. Encouraging our people to work from anywhere and everywhere.
The ‘office’, ‘studio’, or ‘atelier’ in the creative agency world has evolved into a vaunted and mythical space. And for good reason — people need a hothouse or third space that nurtures the kind of thinking that doesn't reliably happen elsewhere. Or could it?
Could we redefine our ‘space’ not as a physical place, but as a thoughtfully curated and open creative environment defined by our people on their own terms — working wherever, whenever, and however they want? Could the ‘office’, the people, the agency be everywhere?
We decided to see what would happen if we did. And here's what we learned so far:
The work becomes smarter, more relevant, and more effective by drawing upon a wider array of talent and perspectives. No longer bound by location, we’re working with talent weighted more heavily toward project, client, and even cultural need. Which brings both distinct perspectives and shared experiences that better complement our clients’ audiences. Teams distributed across North America, Europe, and beyond add up to more diverse ideas and solutions that get reflected back into the work.
Diverse work environments, suited to individual needs, create better team environments. And better work in the process. By working from everywhere, people can naturally work in environments and to schedules that suit their working style. Providing a level of autonomy and flexibility at both individual and team levels, means that teammates sort out how best to sync up and collaborate between doing intensive, heads-down deep work. Having a single standardized way of working becomes less the goal than having a way of thoughtfully experimenting to create impact.
The culture becomes stronger as we show up as individuals rather than playing to type or functioning as members of tribes. Working in diverse, distributed teams has been a dramatic leveler. The ‘us -vs- them’ dynamic often found between disciplines, client-agency teams, or corporate silos is greatly reduced when open minded individuals, working from their unique habitats come together. The collective becomes stronger with greater recognition of people — seeing them for who they are, what they bring to the table and the contributions they make. And with recognition comes responsibility and ownership. Despite initial concerns to the contrary there’s very little hiding in an everywhere agency. Everyone is equally vulnerable and able to make an impact.
Becoming an everywhere agency has also sharpened our focus on certain aspects of our culture to ensure sustainable success. Like amplifying growth and entrepreneurial mindsets. Creating more autonomy for individuals and teams requires that every member is comfortable with ambiguity, adept at learning on the fly, and linking raw ideas to business value. We’re literally designing and building the company we want to work for with every client partnership we make. And a big part of that is having a lot of confidence in each other to actively contribute and build upon a shared vision.
Leadership is another area of renewed focus. With no ‘room’ to command, our leaders must support distributed and dynamic teams differently. Championing collaboration and inspiring new strategic and creative thinking across joint project and client teams favors highly communicative, in the trenches, hands-on involvement. High-frequency creative iteration and mentoring in the moment wins everytime over the old big reveals and folded-arm, formal work reviews. Leaders at handsome are in it with everyone else.
This is just the start.
Working from everywhere is working thus far. Like everything we do, this too is an ongoing, highly intentional experiment. We’ll continue to reflect and refine as we learn. The need for physical, in-person engagement and connection isn’t going away either. We’re simply being a lot more thoughtful and selective about how we use it to best effect. Whether that involves immersion that can only be done in our clients’ presence, or project team members in the same location setting up informal creative jam sessions from a shared workspace, we’ll try it — as long as it makes us, our environment and our work better.
If you are someone who aspires to do impactful, game-changing work — your best work from where you work best, please drop us a line here. If you are looking to grow your business or take it in a new direction and want to work with a dynamic team designed around the way you work, please reach out to us here.
— John Roescher, handsome CEO