Simon Summerscales: Dealing with Change

Let me just start by reassuring you. This is not one of those polemics that bangs on about how "everything now is about hover boards and 3D touch so just deal with it”. Of course it is, but this is not that.

This is more about how we deal with change, which is really all any of us should be concerned with, because as we all know change is inevitable and it is one of the few constants for which we can truly prepare.

The ad industry spends a disproportionate amount of time discussing change, but it’s always the same unhelpful format. "The way it was vs. the way it’s going to be”. The innovator vs. the traditionalist. Thousands of turgid conference panels devoted to two polar positions. The traditionalist attempting to make the innovator appear naive. The innovator delivering the obituary of the traditionalist. I admit, the reality doesn’t make for a great conference debate: change is often slow and certainly doesn’t happen all at once. We take some of the old and apply it to the new. We adapt. It won’t be the way it was and it’s rarely the way we predicted. Not a great conference premise, but reassuring if you’re grappling with the concept of change!

So the specifics really don’t matter. It’s about our attitude to change. How we prepare for change. How we make transition easier, how we innovate and how we learn from what we have achieved before.

At 72andSunny we talk about a culture of “Born Modern”. It’s a way of describing our attitude to change. It requires a present mindset, a focus on learning new things and creating a core behaviour that is self-reflective and self-critical. Organisations like ours born in unpredictable times (economic, technological, geopolitical) must constantly adapt to their changing environment.

This cultural ethic gives us a platform for innovation, appreciation of the skills we develop and a healthy disregard for baggage. It’s not about the future or the past - it’s about now.

Happily, there are some important principles that seem to underpin companies that embrace a strong change culture.

Listen & collaborate

The starting point for change is openness. It really matters that we have our ears tuned and we invite others to develop on our thoughts and ideas. It may sound a little hippyish for some; certainly the traditional approach in advertising is to create hierarchy and silos. Some will also argue that many a successful creative business has been built around functioning dictatorships. The thing is, I don’t believe that these companies are capable of dealing with change (particularly after the dictator goes).

An open, listening and collaborative company deals with change because change is welcome. Anyone can bring change.

Prototype & iterate

I know that these are very modern buzzwords, but the process of prototyping has been around for many years. It doesn’t have to mean complex apps, it can just as easily be a mock-up of a billboard in situ. The thing is, just the process of making a rough model for your ideas opens up all kinds of possibilities for how it can be developed, and iterating is really just a way of ensuring constant progress, testing ideas to see how they fit.

Learn something every day

I’m not 100 per cent sure it matters what you learn; it’s just the discipline of constant learning which seems to kill any fear of new or different. Everything starts to feel like an opportunity. The creative stimulation of craft skills (drawing, sewing, coding), the communal satisfaction of cultural skills (language, travel, dance), it all sharpens you for the daily work practice.

Avoid cultural straightjackets

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of defining a culture by the specifics of what you make - and committing to it as the pride of a craftsman. But that just locks you to what has been rather than what is to come.

Whatever your purpose or mission, make it flexible and grander - don’t be a specialist digital or film anything. Have a higher mission. It’s more motivating, and you’ll cope much better with tomorrow.