Firm Showcase—Inside the GolinHarris “Prevolution”

We use our “Firm Showcase” feature to celebrate the most exciting, pathbreaking models, techniques, and approaches in our industry. This week, our attention turns to a large agency that made headlines for doing something that many companies have talked about but few have done: Aggressively altering their model to meet the demands of today’s clients.

As the New York Times reported, GolinHarris unveiled this past June an ambitious restructuring or “prevolution” by which the firm would reorganize around four primary needs clients were demanding: insights, ideas, engagement and integration. The resulting model replaces the standard, seniority-based hierarchy with global communities of dedicated specialists who are embedded in every account. Traditional titles such as “Account Executive,” “Account Supervisor,” and “Vice President” are replaced with titles corresponding to four in-demand specialty areas. Account teams would henceforth include “catalysts” who make client relationships happen; “connectors” who use media channels to reach audiences; “creators” who come up with all those great content ideas; and “strategists” who whip up the communications direction for a piece of business. As the Times reported, the firm also created hi-tech, multimedia hubs in offices, dubbed “The Bridge,” where employees, working side-by-side with members from each community, can track and engage in real-time conversations around client brands.

It’s one thing to plot out fundamental change; quite another to make “prevolution” happen in an organization with 700 employees spread over thirty-four offices worldwide. How has it been working out several months since the launch?

CEO Fred Cook emphasizes that the reorganization is a gradual process that will require a year to complete. Still, much has been done. Employees have taken online tests to assess to which of the four specialties they belong. Internal communications networks linking members of each specialty across offices have been activated, each with its own personality and character. “We purposely made them very different,” Cook notes. “Some were launched with videos about what the specialty meant, one with an animated film. The idea is to give employees a clear idea of what the specialty is and also to nurture a sense of belonging.” As Catalyst leader Nicola Moore relates, it’s “incredibly rewarding to see people thrive in their new roles and collaborate with enthusiasm across each of our four communities.”

Every account team across the company has gone under review, with leaders re-organizing the teams to allow for the appropriate mix of strategists, connectors, creators, and catalysts. Training calendars are in place to educate employees about the new system and to foster their involvement in their specialty community. Cook relates that some teams have required more tinkering than others: “The inspiration for our model came from our work with Nintendo. In that case, the team had organized themselves in this way according to specialty. So their account didn’t require a lot of change. Other accounts primarily had generalists, so we had to reassign people, fill in roles that were not yet filled, and train people.” Other changes already in place include simplification of Golin’s billing structure from eleven hourly rates to four, construction of media hubs in all of its offices, and hiring of a more diverse workforce to fill slots in the four specialty fields.

Cook and others inside Golin acknowledge that the reorganization has not been hassle free. “In the beginning,” Cook explains, “people were skeptical; they didn’t know if it would be good for them or their career. Some were afraid of being pigeonholed into one function.” Over time, however, much of this resistance has melted away. “I’d say enthusiasm for the model has increased ten-fold. People coming into the agency are excited about it, as are those who have been here for a while. The attention we’ve gotten makes people even more excited to be part of something new and different. I’m getting calls from universities whose PR programs are fascinated by what we’re doing and how that impacts the kinds of courses they’re offering.”

As Alan Parker, Head of Dialogue for the UK, points out,  “The very fact that it’s been challenging at times is proof enough that the change we’re attempted is real and important.” Creative Director James Kelly concurs, observing the practical impact the reorganization has had on day-to-day work, “We now have a dedicated global creative team of conceptual thinkers, writers, designers and developers. Teams from every office come together virtually and face-to-face to work on client briefs to ensure fresh thinking and varied perspective.” Parker notes that working under the new model “is probably the closest I’ll ever get to playing in an elite sports team! Just like an elite sports team, we have specialists in each position with a job to do for the team as a whole.” Jim Dowd, who oversees national media relations, proclaims that he has “seen such a change in the enthusiasm and energy level of our staff—so many people commenting on how they are meeting and working with teams they usually operated apart from.”

Reflecting on the past few months, Cook offers the following advice for firms seeking to make deep, organizational changes stick:

• Mind the details: Real change is fundamental and gets down into the nitty-gritty. It’s important to spend a lot of time on the basic elements of your structure—to start from scratch and redesign everything. Observes Cook: “Real change has to become a grass roots phenomenon.”
• Build momentum: Companies naturally slip back into old ways of doing things. To keep excitement high, Golin has created milestones—training meetings, announcements, launches of new technology—that inspire employees and let them know that the change is real.
• Be patient: When you come up against roadblocks, stay in touch with your larger goals. Keep others focused on them, too. Says Cook: “Our group leaders are all focused—it is rewarding to me to hear them articulate what we’re doing, because they’re articulating the message to the whole organization.”
• Stay flexible: Learning from your mistakes is key. It could be a technology issue or how you’re focusing on a client. It could be a person who might not fit into any one group. Whatever the case, you have to be able to change course. “As we now start living the model,” Catalyst leader Nicola Moore reflects, “we expect there to be questions we haven’t anticipated or unexpected situations which arise. That’s the challenge of being a leader. There are always unknowns for those first to bat.   As we move forward, we’ll continue to enhance and improve the training, tools and resources that support our new structure.”
• Measure Progress: You need mechanisms in place to know that change is working. Said Fred Cook “We’re doing an employee survey, asking employees if we’re moving in the right direction and how engaged they feel in the change. We’re also creating a new client evaluation measuring exactly what this model is trying to deliver in terms of business insight, creative ideas, multimedia engagement.”

Ground-level change is complex, but as Cook attests, it is also endlessly fascinating. “So much thought and work has gone into this.  It’s hard to change mid-stream when what you already have isn’t broken. But we’re doing that. We’re redefining who we are and redesigning our company.”