PR professionals tend to be very creative individuals, but they are also as diverse as the colors of the rainbow. The key to recruiting and retaining the best possible talent for your agency is understanding who your employees are and catering their tasks to their strengths. By placing them in roles that use their talents and in teams that complement their abilities you can guarantee successful campaigns for each one of your clients.
Dividing your staff into personality types can give you a clear vision of their abilities. These personalities make up the “Agency Rainbow.” There’s the leader (Red), the supervisor (Gold), the team player (Orange) and the solo player (Indigo) (see the graphic on page 7).
Using the traditional meanings of color, we’ll explore the definition of each personality and the role they play in making a PR firm run effectively.
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| Don’t be color-blind: Understanding the diverse personality types among your agency’s employees will allow you to retain talent by catering to their strengths. Source: Caroline Sherman |
WHO ARE THEY?
Don’t be color-blind: Understanding the diverse personality types among your agency’s employees will allow you to retain talent by catering to their strengths. Source: Caroline Sherman
Red. Red symbolizes action, confidence, courage and vitality. Combined, these are qualities of a true leader. Reds make great account directors. They take charge, are extremely focused, can develop long-term goals and have the confidence to handle client contact even when dealing with difficult situations. Red is also the color of passion, and these individuals may have a temper. They perform their best when they are balanced out by a more even-keel personality.
Gold. Gold symbolizes prosperity, wisdom and optimism. These qualities make for a great motivator and hence, an effective supervisor. They are great cheerleaders and encourage their fellow workers to perform their best. They understand that people respond to positive reinforcement and are most effective at building trust with those they manage. Golds, typically in the role of senior account executive or account supervisor, do well in working closely with the team, while Reds shine when dealing closely with the client.
Orange. Orange symbolizes vitality and endurance. It stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. These are essential qualities of the team player—and account executives. They have no problem putting their nose to the grindstone and seeing a project through to completion. They like working in groups and accomplishing tasks in tandem with fellow workers. Curiosity is a driving characteristic of the color orange. These team players also show innovation and originality when approaching a project.
Indigo. Indigo symbolizes intuition, meditation and deep contemplation. These are characteristics of the solo player. Though they are most effective working as an individual, their focus and intellectual nature brings an important dimension to the office environment. They often have profound insights and a sharp sense of intuition. At times they can be moody, but they understand their unique strengths and have the ability to master skills quickly. Within an agency setting, these individuals might best fit as specialists whose skill sets can be leveraged for specific projects or account needs.
HOW TO WORK WITH THEM
Creating a team environment is essential at any PR agency. In order to be most effective and efficient, each team working on a project should have at least one representative of each color. Understanding each employee’s strength and combining them with others whose skills complement—but do not overshadow—each other, is essential to the success of that team.
The leader keeps the group focused and on track while dealing directly with the client. Reds respond best when given autonomy and authority. They are not afraid to change the course of the campaign if it’s not achieving desired results and they thrive on being given the freedom to do so. This is a group of individuals that typically respond best to a hands-off approach—micromanagement here will not be effective.
Allowing the supervisor to oversee the day-to-day business of the team keeps them motivated and focused on achieving short-term goals and delivering results. Golds understand the big picture and how to assign various tasks within a campaign to achieve goals. While they don’t need constant monitoring, outlining the overarching objectives of a client’s campaign will help supervisors to guide the team accordingly.
The team player is the cheerleader of the group, keeping the mood light and encouraging others when things get frustrating or you hit a bump in the road. Oranges need more micromanaging by setting specific deadlines for specific tasks. Their strength lies in having interaction such as media pitching and coming up with creative ideas in group brainstorm sessions.
The solo player knows what they’re expected to deliver and focuses on the task at hand and making deadlines. Indigos are great at specific individual projects such as writing proposals and press releases. They have sharp, strategic insight and bring individual ideas to the group. Be careful not to isolate them. They need to know their contributions are crucial to the team’s success.
When conducting larger brainstorms for a client’s strategy, it’s helpful for these individuals to have some time to develop ideas on their own and then allow them to present their ideas to the group for consideration.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
When interviewing to fill positions in your PR/marketing agency, it is important to know what color is lacking in the office environment and seek out the personality that fits. In addition to an impressive resume, good references and relevant experience, understanding how a potential new employee thinks and where they might fit into a team environment is essential.
There are many ways to evaluate their personality in an interview. Their enthusiasm and animated body language may mean they are an Orange. A well-groomed and well-dressed applicant may tell you they are a Red. One who asks a lot of questions and is a good listener shows signs of being a Gold. And one who has an impressive resume and knows a lot about the firm—but may be avoiding eye contact—could mean they are an Indigo.
Using an agency rainbow can solve problems more easily and surpass your client’s expectations—bringing you closer to that pot of gold. PRN
[Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from PR News’ just-published Employee Communications Guidebook, Vol. 3.]
Contact:
This article was written by Caroline Sherman, VP of Alpaytac Marketing Communications/Public Relations. She can be reached at [email protected].