June 26, 2020

#Agency 13: The 'Return to Normal' from the Agency Owner's Perspective w/ Drew McLellan

In this 13th episode of the #Agency Series, we hear from Drew McLellan, Founder at Agency Management Institute.

He talks about:

  • How agencies are handling the shift from WFH to back to the office
  • What safety measures are agencies taking
  • How owners are handling employees who are reluctant to return to the office
Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:11.349 Hey everybody, welcome to another agency TRACK EPISODE OF B Tob Growth. My 2 00:00:11.429 --> 00:00:16.670 name is drew McClellan and I am with Agency Management Institute and I am delighted 3 00:00:16.750 --> 00:00:21.620 to be back with you to chat about what's happening in agencies across the globe. 4 00:00:21.620 --> 00:00:26.300 As I record, this is early June of two thousand and twenty and 5 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:30.420 we are here in the states and in many other parts of the world wrestling 6 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:36.810 through both the pandemic and a lot of protests and rioting and a lot of 7 00:00:37.009 --> 00:00:44.570 really interesting and difficult discussions around racism and so it is certainly a volatile and 8 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:51.039 important time in certainly our world's history, and all of this is impacting agencies. 9 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:53.600 So before I get into what I want to talk about today, just 10 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:57.640 a huge thank you to the folks that be tob growth for inviting me to 11 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:03.719 be your host for this particular track and to share some information with you. 12 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.989 So, if you're not familiar with agency management, is to to we've been 13 00:01:07.030 --> 00:01:11.629 around since the S and we work with agency owners and are basic premises that 14 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:18.150 most agency owners are accidental business owners. They're awesome at the client facing part 15 00:01:18.189 --> 00:01:22.739 of the work, but they struggle sometimes with the business side of the business 16 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:26.459 and the reason we exist is to help agency owners make more money and keep 17 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:30.180 more of the money they may and so we work with about two hundred and 18 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:36.250 fifty agencies all over the world helping them do just that every day, and 19 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:38.969 we do that through all kinds of different ways. We have a podcast called 20 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:42.689 build a better agency, which I would invite you to join us at if 21 00:01:42.930 --> 00:01:47.959 this is a topic that is interesting to you. We have all kinds of 22 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.799 workshops, both on demand and live, and this year we are having our 23 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:57.040 first ever conference, the build a better agency summit, which will be in 24 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.069 Chicago November eleven the twelve, if we're all able to travel by then, 25 00:02:01.069 --> 00:02:05.230 which I'm hoping we will be able to. So actually that's what I want 26 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:07.310 to talk to you about today. Is I want to talk to you about 27 00:02:07.390 --> 00:02:12.030 this return to normal from an agency owners perspective and one of the things, 28 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:15.819 one of the big things, and I'm talking to agency owners right now about, 29 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:22.740 is the return back to the office. So most states have started to 30 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:30.370 lighten up the lockdown provisions of the sheltering from home and many agencies are beginning 31 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:34.050 to go back to the office, and so one of the conversations I'm having 32 00:02:34.090 --> 00:02:38.490 every day right now with agency owners is they're wondering how agencies are doing that. 33 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:43.210 So what how are my peers going back to work in their office setting 34 00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:46.280 and are any of them thinking about maybe not going back? So I thought 35 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:51.360 that would be a good conversation for us to have today. So, as 36 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:55.599 of June twelve, which is when I'm recording this, I would say of 37 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:01.469 the agencies we work with, which are predominantly US based agencies, about thirty 38 00:03:01.509 --> 00:03:07.349 five percent of them are fully back in the office, so they are everybody 39 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.629 on staff is back, unless they have a medical reason for not being back, 40 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:15.900 and then I would say another probably forty five or fifty percent of them 41 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:23.060 are in what I would call a phased approach. So they are back in 42 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:27.409 the office, some subset of employees are back in the office and they have 43 00:03:27.530 --> 00:03:31.250 a schedule of how quickly everyone else is going to come back to the office. 44 00:03:31.689 --> 00:03:36.969 So many agencies at this stage, in the early June stage, are 45 00:03:37.009 --> 00:03:38.689 at the point where they've said to their employees, if you want to go 46 00:03:38.849 --> 00:03:43.800 back to the office, you can. If you still want to stay working 47 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:46.639 from home for a little while, you could do that too. And then 48 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:50.599 here are the dates and they've got those stretched out of when we want to 49 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:53.400 have twenty five percent of the staff in the office or fifty percent of the 50 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:58.550 staff, and here's the day when we expect everyone to be back, and 51 00:03:58.669 --> 00:04:01.430 the only people who will not be back in the office are people who have 52 00:04:01.629 --> 00:04:06.270 a medical reason, in essence of doctor's note, for not being able to 53 00:04:06.310 --> 00:04:10.939 come back, in most cases because they have some sort of compromised immune system 54 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:14.219 and it's not safe for them to be out anywhere, is I say, 55 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:16.899 for them to go to the grocery store or restaurants or on vacation, and 56 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:19.899 it certainly not safe for them to come into the office. So that's sort 57 00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:24.449 of where what's happening as of right now, if we look at sort of 58 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:30.129 this time stamp of early to mid June. So some considerations around that. 59 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:33.410 I mentioned that some of you are thinking about not coming back at all and 60 00:04:34.089 --> 00:04:39.000 I would say that a very sliver, a small sliver, of the agencies 61 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.720 that we work with that weren't already virtual. Obviously, if they were already 62 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.480 virtual, they've just been humming along and kind of laughing at us as we 63 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.560 try and figure out this work from home thing, because I already had figured 64 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:54.470 out. But there's a small sliver of agencies where the working from home is 65 00:04:54.509 --> 00:05:00.149 gone so well and in full candor. In many cases this is driven by 66 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:05.709 the agency owners own personal feelings about going back to the office. I think 67 00:05:05.709 --> 00:05:11.779 in many cases how the staff responds to the idea of going back to the 68 00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:15.860 office is very reflective of the leader of the organization and how they feel about 69 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:20.569 going back. So the agencies that are already back, the owner was ready 70 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:24.610 to go back, was excited to go back, felt safe going back and 71 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:30.769 exuded all of those emotions to their team, who then also felt like it 72 00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:33.649 was safe and a good idea to go back to the office. But we 73 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:39.240 do have a couple agencies that are actively trying to negotiate their way out of 74 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:43.720 an existing lease or are going to just let their rest their lease run out 75 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.000 and not renew their lease and they are thinking about going virtual. A hundred 76 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:53.350 percent of the time, as you might imagine, that is predominantly smaller agencies. 77 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:58.069 So I would say ten and maybe fifteen people at the most. I'm 78 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:00.949 not seeing a lot of the larger agencies and we work with agencies from, 79 00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:06.579 you know, one or two employees to about two hundred and fifty employees and 80 00:06:06.660 --> 00:06:13.100 I'm not seeing the larger agencies, even agencies twenty and larger, talking really 81 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:16.379 about going virtual if that's not how they were set up prior to covid. 82 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:23.089 So the agencies that are going back there are some common sort of questions and 83 00:06:23.769 --> 00:06:29.569 concerns and considerations about going back. So of all the agencies that we work 84 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:32.959 with that are back in the office already, a couple of them are actually 85 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:38.079 taking temperatures at the door before they let the employees in of the morning, 86 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:43.240 but the vast majority are not taking temperatures. Are asking employees in essence, 87 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:47.750 to self report and self regulate. So some agencies are saying, look, 88 00:06:47.790 --> 00:06:53.430 every Sunday night, send an email to your direct supervisor saying I don't have 89 00:06:53.509 --> 00:06:58.269 a temperature, I don't ever persistent cough. I have not been exposed, 90 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:00.149 to the best of my knowledge, to anyone who has an active case of 91 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:05.980 covid and I feel the same as I have in the last week or two 92 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:11.019 weeks or three weeks. So there's sort of self reporting that they are healthy 93 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:15.420 and ready to come back to work. That's sort of the most common sort 94 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:20.449 of preventative measure that I'm seeing agencies take very few agencies, like two or 95 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:29.089 three, have invested in any any sort of screens or protective barriers to put 96 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:34.000 between offices or to put in a conference room. Most of you are rearranging 97 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:38.360 your office as a little bit, or maybe you're sitting every other desk or 98 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.560 something like that to allow for social distancing, but for the most part there's 99 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.910 not been a lot of investment in equipment or new desks or anything like that 100 00:07:48.709 --> 00:07:56.589 to really mandate and control social distancing. On the subject of masks, I 101 00:07:56.670 --> 00:08:01.339 have probably only one agency that I know of that is requiring masks. Most 102 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:05.180 agencies are saying, look, if you want to wear a mask at the 103 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:07.579 office, you absolutely can, but if you don't want to wear one, 104 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:13.649 you don't have to. However, if you are going to be working with 105 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:18.129 or approaching someone who is always wearing a mask, it's going to be etiquette 106 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:20.850 in the office for you to say to them, Hey, I'm going to 107 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:24.410 I'm heading over to your office or do your cube or whatever, or we're 108 00:08:24.449 --> 00:08:28.600 about to meet in a conference room together. Would you like me to wear 109 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.159 a mask? So they're allowing the employees to sort of navigate this together in 110 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:39.559 a way that is sort of mutually respectful of everybody's personal choices. Most agencies 111 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:48.629 are providing hand sanitizer, sanitized wipes, a clean a more aggressive cleaning schedule, 112 00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:52.149 more more cleaning products in the office. I have not had an agency 113 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:58.580 that is providing gloves or masks or anything like that, but all of them 114 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:05.179 are stepping up their own sort of cleaning regime and sharing that information with the 115 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:07.659 employees. One of the keys, I think, to a successful return to 116 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:13.929 the office is a lot of communication around what you as the agency owner or 117 00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:18.690 the agency itself. What are you doing and not doing in terms of safety, 118 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:22.809 and what are you requiring the employees to do? So a lot of 119 00:09:22.009 --> 00:09:28.159 candid conversation about the rules and what are rules? What are hard rules like? 120 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.840 In this one agency you will wear a mask if you are at the 121 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.600 office, and even this agency they have to wear a mask when they walk 122 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.789 in. They have to wear a mask if they're in common areas, but 123 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:41.629 if they're sitting at their own desk they don't have to wear a mask. 124 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:46.909 I don't know of any agency that's requiring someone to wear a mask from the 125 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:48.990 minute they walk in the door until the minute they walk out at the end 126 00:09:48.990 --> 00:09:54.899 of the day. But I think it's really important that you define what the 127 00:09:54.019 --> 00:10:01.139 rules are versus what sort of the suggestions are guidelines are. So be clear 128 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:07.009 with your employees and your team about this is what is required and this is 129 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:11.690 what we would like to suggest, but we're leaving that up to you. 130 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:15.210 So be really clear in your language around that. So one of the other 131 00:10:15.250 --> 00:10:18.809 questions that I get asked about quite a bit around or turning back to the 132 00:10:18.929 --> 00:10:20.370 office, is what do I do if an employee doesn't want to come back? 133 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:26.000 And you know that's going to be a very individualistic decision for you and 134 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.000 your agency. Some agencies are taking a hard mind and they're saying, look, 135 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:33.399 everybody's got to be back by pick a date, whatever that is. 136 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.870 So let's say August fifteen. If you're not back in the office working by 137 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:39.990 August fifteen, then we need to have a conversation about whether or not you 138 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:45.549 can still work here, because we're a collaborative business. We work better when 139 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.909 we're all together. It's not fair for some people to opt out of working 140 00:10:48.950 --> 00:10:52.860 at the office while other people are in the office. Others are taking a 141 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:58.139 much more relaxed stance about it. Which is pretty much they're saying. Look 142 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:01.100 through the end of two thousand and twenty. This, by the way, 143 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:03.019 is not the norm. I'm giving you an extreme. Through the end of 144 00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:07.049 two thousand and twenty you can work from home or the office, you decide, 145 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:11.210 but I don't know anybody who is saying you can work from home forever. 146 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:16.570 I'm not hearing any agencies say that right now. If the agency owner 147 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:20.559 or leadership team is decided we're going back to work, we're going back to 148 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.480 the office, then at some point in time they are requiring everyone to be 149 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.320 in the office. Now one of the things that is happening is a lot 150 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:35.110 of agencies are really rethinking their remote work policy. So prior to covid there 151 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:37.750 were a lot of agency owners that I knew there were very anti work from 152 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:41.509 home. They didn't think it would work, they didn't think it was productive, 153 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:45.870 and some of them, some of them, are changing there too, 154 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:50.340 and so I think we're going to see a lot of highbread we're work sort 155 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:58.100 of expectations and that many agencies may be a little looser about allowing people to 156 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:03.610 work from home on occasion. I don't envision that a lot of agencies are 157 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:05.929 going to move to a yeah, you can just work wherever you want, 158 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:09.690 even though you're all in town and could be at the office. I don't 159 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:11.450 see a lot of that. One of the reasons for that is I think 160 00:12:11.490 --> 00:12:18.120 I think it's important for us to be careful about making permanent decisions or promises 161 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.480 about the work environment while we are in still in the middle of all of 162 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.600 this craziness. Think everyone's emotions are super raw. I think a lot of 163 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.149 people are afraid, I think a lot of people are angry, I think 164 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:35.950 a lot of people are depressed, and so I want to caution you on 165 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:43.350 making any permanent or long term decisions right now. It's a little like they 166 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:46.580 tell you after you've had a loss in your in your life, a death, 167 00:12:48.179 --> 00:12:52.019 that that is not the time to be making decisions, financial decisions, 168 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:58.970 moving decisions, job decisions, because you're just not really able to just be 169 00:12:58.129 --> 00:13:03.610 objective about the decision. And I think we're in a situation very much like 170 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:09.769 that right now. Our emotions are so raw and we're experiencing so many things 171 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:16.399 that we've never experienced before that it's a dangerous time to make absolute decisions. 172 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.000 So one of the things I want to caution you about is a lot of 173 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:20.120 people have said, well, you know what, this working from home thing, 174 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:24.960 it's working pretty well. We might really loosen up on our regulations around 175 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.950 that. One of the reasons why working from home right now is really working 176 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:33.830 and why agency owners are having more confidence in it than they've ever been had 177 00:13:33.909 --> 00:13:39.110 before are a couple things. Number one, everybody on the team is in 178 00:13:39.190 --> 00:13:43.419 the same circumstance. So everyone is working from home. They're all checking in 179 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:48.700 on zoom at the same time or they're all, you know, on skype 180 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:54.500 or whatever whatever you're using. They're all using the same tools, they're all 181 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:58.450 slacking at the same time and everybody is, in essence, working in the 182 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:03.889 same environment, even though everyone's environment is very unique to their home right so 183 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:09.730 it's very different when everyone is working remotely, as opposed to a hybrid situation 184 00:14:09.809 --> 00:14:13.039 where some people are in the office. So let's say you have four people 185 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.120 who need to be in a meeting and three of the people are in the 186 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.960 meeting in the office, in the conference room, they're looking at the white 187 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:24.950 board, they're participating in a in an organic way, and a third person 188 00:14:24.149 --> 00:14:28.950 calls in for that meeting. That's very different than all of you being on 189 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:33.509 zoom and all of you using the Zoom White Board. So be careful about 190 00:14:33.509 --> 00:14:39.940 assuming that the work from home environment is going to work down the road in 191 00:14:39.019 --> 00:14:45.100 a different circumstance. The other reason why work from home is getting such ray 192 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:48.899 of reviews right now is all of the concerns that agency owners had, which 193 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:52.570 was my employees are how will I know what they're doing? How I know 194 00:14:52.649 --> 00:14:56.129 if they're working? They might be going to a yoga class or having lunch 195 00:14:56.129 --> 00:15:00.250 with their friends or fill in the blank. Well, right now none of 196 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:03.090 us can go anywhere, and so of course we're working from home and of 197 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:07.559 course productivity is up and of course your people are working longer hours they don't 198 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:13.159 have anything else to do. So again, my caution is I'm not I'm 199 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.879 not anti work from home, I'm not anti remote work. What I'm saying 200 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:22.509 is do not let this very, very abnormal, hopefully will never happen again 201 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:30.950 moment in time and how work from home worked in that environment dictate to you 202 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:33.470 whether or not it's a good idea for your agency in the long run. 203 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:43.299 So be mindful of the just how abnormal everything is right now. So don't 204 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:46.580 don't look at what has happened in the last couple of months and say, 205 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:50.690 well, I can extrapolate that that will work out just as well in March 206 00:15:50.769 --> 00:15:54.289 of two thousand and twenty two as it is in, you know, March 207 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:56.889 of two thousand and twenty because I don't think that's true and I would hate 208 00:15:56.929 --> 00:16:03.250 for you to break your lease or decide you're going completely remote or completely re 209 00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:08.120 work your work from home policy in a really permanent, absolute way until we 210 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:12.480 are a few months out of this, until we what we feel like is 211 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:17.960 that we're sort of back to air quotes normal, and then you can look 212 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.070 back and say, well, now that I look at it and now that 213 00:16:21.149 --> 00:16:23.429 I look at what's happened since then, here's what I really think. So 214 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:27.830 give yourself some time to make those decisions. One of the other things you 215 00:16:27.909 --> 00:16:32.669 need to think about in terms of returning back to the office is how do 216 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:36.019 you communicate that with clients? Our clients going to be welcome back in the 217 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:38.620 office and, if so, what are the rules they're what about partners and 218 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:42.379 vendors? So it's not just your own team that you need to communicate sor 219 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:48.210 of the again, the rules versus the guidelines or the boundaries for the suggestions. 220 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:52.409 You also need to communicate that out to anyone else who might be typically 221 00:16:52.529 --> 00:16:57.649 walking in your door, and even thinking about male people and Fedex people and 222 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:02.200 all the people who wander in and out of our office every day. You 223 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.599 just have to be really clear about what your expectations are. And, by 224 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:10.119 the way, you probably have to educate people multiple times. So it's probably 225 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.640 not just one staff meeting. It's also going to be some signage in the 226 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.269 office. It's going to be signage on the door for visitors, all those 227 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:22.230 sorts of things. So this is a whole campaign about communicating something new. 228 00:17:22.670 --> 00:17:23.589 Good news is we know how to do that. We've been doing that for 229 00:17:23.750 --> 00:17:27.390 clients for years, but we often don't do it as well for ourselves. 230 00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:32.660 So this is a time when the cobbler's children really do need choose. They 231 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:37.579 need good shoes. So don't skimp out on how often you talk about this, 232 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:44.220 how many different ways and places you have reminders and that you allow your 233 00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:49.289 team to communicate with you, not only before you go back to work but 234 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:53.410 during that process, during that phase in process and even after they've been in 235 00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:56.450 the office for a week or two weeks or a month. You're going to 236 00:17:56.529 --> 00:18:00.240 want to get some feedback from them to make sure that they are feeling like 237 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.440 they're in the know. They know what you're doing, what you're not doing. 238 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.319 You know what the rules are with the expectations are. So this is 239 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.839 a time for greater communication than normal, which is sort of what we've been 240 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:15.470 in. I think we've been in a point we need to communicate more situation 241 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:18.549 for the last couple of months. But heading back to the office is a 242 00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:25.309 critical time for you to continue to communicate very clearly, often and through different 243 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:29.339 methodology, so it's not just you talking, but it might be a video, 244 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:33.099 it might be some signage in the office. So be thinking about all 245 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:37.099 the ways that you can help your team get comfortable and feel safe as you 246 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:41.259 ask them to come back to the office. So I hope that was helpful. 247 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:44.170 As you were thinking about this, I'm sure, for your agency, 248 00:18:44.210 --> 00:18:47.930 or maybe you're in the midst of it right now. I'm happy to answer 249 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:51.809 any questions that you might have about how other agencies are doing this. We 250 00:18:51.930 --> 00:18:55.839 do have a whole section on our website. So if you go to agency 251 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:02.759 Management Institutecom COVID, we have a ton of resources there. Specifically for agencies 252 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:06.279 and there's quite a bit there about going back to the office. What's allowed 253 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.680 what's not allowed. By the way, if you take your employee temperatures, 254 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:12.509 you can't say them out aloud. That's a hip of violation. So you 255 00:19:12.549 --> 00:19:15.349 can take it and then you can say to them okay, you can come 256 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:19.829 in or maybe you should go home, but you can't be more specific than 257 00:19:19.869 --> 00:19:23.539 that out loud where other people can overhear you. So there's all kinds of 258 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:29.019 interesting nuances to this and we've got a lot of resources on the covid page 259 00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:32.900 that hopefully will be helpful to you. So help this was helpful. Again, 260 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:37.180 if you have questions to shoot me an email at drew at agency management 261 00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:41.369 Institutecom. Happy to be helpful of I can be. And again, a 262 00:19:41.450 --> 00:19:47.049 huge thanks to my friends at beb growth for inviting me to host this track 263 00:19:47.730 --> 00:19:52.049 and to share with you some thoughts about agency life, and I'll be back 264 00:19:52.130 --> 00:19:55.160 next month with another thought or two. All Right, talk to you, 265 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.440 sue. For the longest time I was asking people to leave a review of 266 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.279 BB growth in apple podcasts, but I realize that was kind of stupid because 267 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:10.349 leaving a review is way harder than just leaving a simple rating, so I'm 268 00:20:10.390 --> 00:20:12.269 changing my tune a bit. Instead of asking you to leave a review, 269 00:20:12.670 --> 00:20:15.470 I'm just going to ask you to go to baby growth and apple podcasts, 270 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:21.460 scroll down until you see the ratings and reviews section and just tap the number 271 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:25.299 of stars you want to give us. No review necessary, super easy and 272 00:20:25.420 --> 00:20:29.099 I promise it will help us out a ton. If you want to copy 273 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:32.660 on my book content base networking, just shoot me a text after you leave 274 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:36.009 the rating and I'll send one your way. Text me at four und seven, 275 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:37.849 four and I know three D and three two eight