Sparrow’s Nest – reader career question: I have been in my current role at a media agency for four years and feel like I have plateaued and become stagnant. I’ve explored new opportunities on the publisher side and was in early discussions with a big media player. Unfortunately, these stalled and I was at a loss to understand why? Then on the quiet, I was told that a senior person from our company told the publisher to stop poaching their staff or there would be ramifications. Our agency promotes that the people are at the heart of everything they do and like most agencies, people are their #1 priority. Now I’m not so sure, how do I react to this, and where do I go from here?
Sparrow’s Nest response: This is a tricky and complex question, I’m not sure I have the answer. If you read between the lines the company is effectively telling the publisher to leave their staff alone and effectively limit any career opportunities. This practice should be called out however it’s a bit of a political nightmare and you must be prepared to go into this messy situation with your eyes open. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and not an indicator of widespread industry practice.
Because you are looking for an outside career change, I’m not sure how this will play out with your media agency HR team and if they want to highlight or address this issue. Also, as some of your information is off the record and not openly discussed or publicly acknowledged it’s going to be difficult to prove or substantiate the actual circumstances.
However, blackmail or intimidation to publishers is unacceptable behaviour and needs to be stopped. You are brave to bring this to my attention and I’m struggling to give you the best course of action.
With such a tricky and confidential matter, it’s challenging to ensure this doesn’t backfire on you and affect your long-term career. If this is happening to other people and with the current talent crisis, agencies are in dire circumstances to keep talent, reduce churn and find people to fill vacant roles it’s fostering some shady practices.
Do you have a Right to Speak or a confidential hotline where you can report unacceptable practices? In the past, these platforms have been used to report dodgy business/transparency issues or more recently sexual discrimination/harassment. They are investigated, completely confidential, and as long as you are tech-savvy, not traceable back to your agency IP address.
If you have a positive relationship with anyone in HR you may want to consider if you blind copy them on your lodgement. It would be great to have some local support and backup if you are going down this route. This is a personal decision on how far you want to take this matter and if you decide not to move forward it’s an informed understandable decision. It’s a choice only you can make, change can be tough especially if agency management shies away from addressing the difficult issues.
Great leadership leans into challenging issues and what’s that old saying “when the going gets tough the tough get going.” If only that was true in the advertising/marketing world. In my 40-year career, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Dodgy practices getting swept under the carpet and its business as usual or tough calls are made, the issue is addressed head-on with honesty, humility, and a real sense of urgency to get better and fix bad practices immediately. Hands down addressing the difficult issues are the way to go and inspiring leadership steps up and ensures best practices are in place and the agencies’ people are truly their number one priority!
Employees in all industries at times are tempted to overstep the line to keep valuable staff, but there are better ways to do it than threatening career prospects.
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Last week Greg Graham (aka Sparrow) was in Austin, Texas to cover SXSW for Mediaweek. Catchup on his daily coverage and his Conference wrap:
• Sparrow at SXSW: Day 1 with Scott Galloway, Bob Odenkirk, Priya Parker & more
Brene Brown introduced her new HBO series Atlas of the Heart
• Sparrow at SXSW: Day 2 Austin showcase ‘houses’ from Twitter, CNN+ to Amazon Prime
Sparrow gets a free hot dog, visits Fluf World and Lizzo’s ultimate fan experience
• Sparrow at SXSW: Day 3 Emerging tech trends and Jules Lund on TikTok addiction
Plus Lizzo Live: ‘She owned the stage and captivated the full house with her realness, talent, empathy’
• Sparrow at SXSW: Day 4 Pfizer CEO, author Rohit Bhargava + visit to Australia House
Sparrow interviews Jason Dundas about brand funded content and what’s next
• Sparrow at SXSW: Day 5 Brisket and beers, then Hollywood powerbrokers
Plus: 400 drones promote Halo series and Andrew Watt on the SXSW experience
Sparrow’s SXSW Top 12: Festival wrap after five days at conference sessions