If you're running your own creative agency, you might be wondering how to organize and set it up. And when many creatives hear the word "structure," they might fear becoming overly corporate and rigid. As you scale, yourcreative agency organizational structure matters increasingly.
Too many creatives resist the idea of establishing structure. There's a perception that structure feels constricting. But the reality is that a proper creative agency organizational structure enables the team to do its best work. With less thinking about how to accomplish tasks, your team will have more time for the creative work they do best.
Your creative agency organizational structure should be simple enough to understand, but robust to handle complexity. Let's explore how to create a system that helps your agency grow and succeed.
First and foremost: who has the authority?
A growing creative agency should divide responsibilities. When you add more team members, you need to be very clear on who is responsible for what. Without this clarity, you risk having work fall through the cracks or having multiple people duplicate the same tasks.
Structure starts by defining who has authority, sometimes called decision rights. If you're the sole owner of the agency, you could own every decision in the agency. But if you do that, you'll soon become the bottleneck for the agency. Even worse, you won't have time to contribute to the creative work you love. You can reserve the right to go over every decision yourself, but that sort of micro-management rarely works out for the best.
Therefore, it's crucial to define who has authority within the agency. Many successful agencies are the result of a partnership. Bringing two or more experienced freelancers together adds skills, but requires planning. In such cases, agencies should define your areas of responsibility to keep balance.
If one person is in charge of bringing in client work, directing projects, or handling the books, they need to have authority over those areas. But those partners also need reassurances that one person can’t dominate the agency.
For those people brought on after the agency’s founding, structure will be more a question of responsibility than authority. The person in charge, after all, is always in charge. Therefore, define how much authority each person has in their area of expertise. Successful agencies universally delegate certain types of decisions so that the boss is freed up to focus on the tasks that only they can handle.
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How to Make Good Decisions in Business (Simple Techniques to Master)![]()
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How to Decide What to Delegate & Improve Your Productivity![]()
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If you aren’t already comfortable with delegating decisions (or even entire assignments), it’s a skill well worth practicing. Always be on the lookout for tasks you can delegate. Generally, these are tasks that others can do with similar results to your own involvement.
As soon as you have someone else working for you, start practicing handing over a limited authority for that small piece. You can monitor and advise the first few times, eventually handing over the reins. Delegating is a skill, and you can learn it to help you scale your efforts.
Take these steps to structure your agency
There are several creative companies that have announced that they employ a flat hierarchy—that there are no bosses. It's an appealing option, but one that is particularly difficult to implement. You need an entire team of people who can handle working under their own direction, and if everyone could do that, they'd all be freelancers.
For most agencies, structure and hierarchy are important. Customize your structure to your own preferences and the abilities of the people who you will work with. Let's explore the key steps that help you set your creative agency structure.
Organize your workflow
When learning how to set up a creative agency, one of the biggest decisions is how to divide the work. Your creative agency structure should consider if projects are assigned to one person or broader, collaborative teams.
Your creative agency structure should adjust based on the types of projects you handle. Breaking tasks into smaller pieces can make work more efficient, since team members get really good at doing their specific jobs. Plus, this approach lets you match tasks to each person's strengths.
However, the structure of your agency must also prevent bottlenecks. When you split up projects, you have to make sure no one sits around waiting for others to finish their parts. Good planning and clear communication help keep work flowing smoothly through your agency.
Set up communication channels
Good communication keeps your creative agency running efficiently. Whether your team works in the same office or from different places, you need clear ways for everyone to stay in touch. Setting these up early helps avoid mix-ups and keeps work moving forward.
Pick communication tools that fit how your team likes to work. Office teams might do best with daily meetings and shared work areas. Remote teams need good video chat and messaging apps to stay connected. Start simple and make it easy for everyone to share ideas without feeling stressed about too many messages.
It takes time to build good communication habits, but it's worth it. When people communicate well, work gets done faster and with fewer mistakes. Start with basic rules about how to keep in touch, and then ask your team what's working and what needs to change.
Learn more about tools to facilitate communication below:
Manage team accountability
Learning how to set up a creative agency means being clear about who does what. Every team member should know their job, and you need to be ready to step in if someone isn't meeting expectations.
Your creative agency organizational structure works best when everyone understands their role. Think of it like a playbook—each person has to know their part and what they're responsible for. When the rules are clear from the start, there's less chance of mix-ups that could hurt your whole team or disappoint clients.
Set a client communication plan
When setting up your creative agency structure, you need clear rules about who talks to clients. Your clients should never have to guess who their main contact person is or wonder who they should reach out to with questions.
Some creative agency organizational structures keep all client communication going through the owner. Others let team members talk directly with clients, but this means training your team on how to handle these conversations professionally. Whatever you choose, make it part of your plan for how to set up a creative agency that runs smoothly and keeps clients happy.
Why you should put everything in writing
When setting up your creative agency structure, write down all your plans and rules. You might think you'll remember everything, but it's easy to forget important details. Plus, your team members will need something they can look back at when they have questions.
Learning how to set up a creative agency means being clear about how things should work. Don't just keep all the important stuff in your head—put it on paper or in a document that everyone can see. This simple step will help prevent mix-ups and keep your agency running smoothly. Consider these focus areas as you create documentation.
Contracts protect both parties
Contracts are highly recommended, both for employees and client engagements. For any employees, you need an employment contract that lays out both their responsibilities and their benefits.
For freelancers and contractors, you need a contract that sets out something similar. This is one time that you’ll find it beneficial to go to a lawyer to draw up the contracts, even if you just get a template that you can use over and over again.
Learn more about the essentials of contracting in the article below:
Process documentation eases the learning curve
You’re going to have a lot on your plate when running a full-fledged agency. Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to remember all of these details—rather, create some reference materials that you can follow. It will save you time and stress in the long run.
From a written workflow to an owner’s manual for your agency, don’t be afraid to write your own reference materials. When you perform that "once per year' type of task, you can simply reference your own how-to guide instead of learning from scratch.
Employee handbooks provide clear, concise guidance
Writing out a handbook for employees (and possibly one for contractors, as well) will save you a lot of work in the long run. Most importantly, it saves you from having to recite all the information included in it to new hires.
A handbook can also protect you legally, ensuring that every employee has reviewed your key policies. That can actually resolve a lot of legal issues, like accusations of an unfair firing.
Learn how to create a handbook of your own in this article:
Structures aren't permanent, so stay flexible
When you're learning how to set up a creative agency, remember that your structure will need to change as you grow. A working structure for a team of two won't fulfill the needs of a ten-person team.
Even after your creative agency seems to be running smoothly, keep checking how things are working. Small problems can become big headaches if you don't fix them early. Make it a habit to review your structure and rules regularly, and be ready to make changes when needed.
If you've found gaps in how to set up a creative agency, it might be time to consider bringing in another person. Start by examining what work should happen, and then ensure that you have clear assignment of that work. If there's no natural fit, it may mean it's time to hire. Unfortunately, it may also mean that there’s a bad apple in the barrel. In either case, focusing on the issue can help ferret out if team changes are needed.
A few times a year is often enough to review how your agency is functioning, at least in terms of structure. Make discussions with your team a part of your ongoing process. Doing so can tease out those signals that the structure or processes need evolution.
Now you know how to set up your creative agency organizational structure
Now, it's your turn to rethink your creative agency structure. It's okay if your agency is already mature; it's still worth re-examining how work gets done. By making structure and processes clear, your team can refocus on creative work that drives the business forward.
Need more help scaling your creative agency? With the help of Envato, you have an unlimited download library that can support any type of project. With stock photos, graphics, illustrations, and more, you have everything you need for top-notch client work.
DisclaimerYou should always seek independent financial and legal advice. This article is intended as a guide only.
