How the Performance Autonomy Model Drives Marketing Success
Jennifer O’Connor, a principal at Boathouse, recently sat down with Jed Morley, VIP contributor to Valiant CEO, to discuss Boathouse’s performance autonomy survey and its key findings, common CMO mistakes, how technology has changed the way people start businesses, and the outlook for Boathouse for 2022 and beyond.
Jed Morley: To start off, let’s learn a little about who Boathouse is and what drove the team to create the performance autonomy model in the first place?
Jennifer O’Connor: At Boathouse, we are driven to raise the bar. We are a full-service marketing and technology agency with a team of idealists who are driven by creating new knowledge, by connecting strategy and execution, and by relentlessly believing in the power of creativity to multiply performance.
When the pandemic hit, it drastically impacted us all individually, as a society and as a workforce. We knew that we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to radically redefine the way we work. After surveying our employees and diving into industry trends, we made a decision to truly lean into autonomy. We set up a model that is optimized for employee satisfaction, client performance and the future growth of the agency.
Jed Morley: What was the general consensus? Were there any findings that really stood out to you or surprised the team at all?
Jennifer O’Connor: With uncertainty on the rise, our goal was to increase communication and transparency regarding our future of work initiative. We knew that employees who felt included and involved – were happier and more productive. So, we reached out to our employee base to listen and learn.
Here are a few standout data points from our future-of-work survey:
88% of our workers want a hybrid working model
67% of our employees plan to go to the office 0–2 days a week
12% of our workers live in a different state
28% of our employees were hired during the pandemic
Based on this, we knew work was no longer defined as a physical space. Our employees had a desire for more flexibility to increase their productivity. However, as we dug in deeper, we realized it was more about autonomy. This was the key. It was about allowing employees to exercise flexibility in whichever way worked best for them.
So, we Launched The Autonomy Model. Allowing employees to work where they feel most productive and where they feel they can create the most innovative and high-quality work.
Jed Morley: What are the effects of autonomy models when it comes to job satisfaction for employees? Do you see more positive results because of this?
Jennifer O’Connor: By providing greater autonomy, we are leaning into one of the most basic human intrinsic motivators. Autonomy is about empowering employees to have control over their work and their lives. Autonomy is also a key driver of happiness in the workplace. So, by entrusting employees with greater autonomy – they are happier, more productive, more motivated – which means greater performance for our clients and more success for Boathouse.
Jed Morley: Where do you see the negative side effects of having autonomy in the workplace, if any?
Jennifer O’Connor: With a more autonomous model comes the challenge of maintaining a strong team interaction and connection with each other. This topic is so important to us – that we have a team internally fully dedicated to figuring this out.
A performance culture is the heart of Bh. And although we may not all be in the same space anymore; we are working hard to continue to reinforce our culture and our community through a mix of social and educational events where we can come together to grow and learn from each other. To harness each other’s experience and expertise. To better ourselves individually. And, ultimately – as a team. With our autonomous model, we’re carefully curating the activities we initiate making sure to implement both physical and virtual experiences for ultimate inclusivity.
Jed Morley: What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs, or more specifically, CMOs make? What would you suggest they do?
Jennifer O’Connor: I think one of the biggest mistakes that really any employee can make – and it becomes even more pronounced if you are an entrepreneur or a member of the leadership team – is not believing in yourself enough to take a calculated risk. If you spend too much time researching or planning – you will start to second guess yourself – guaranteed. The worst thing you can do is to wait until everything is absolutely perfect.
The key is to just get out there, make the decision – then, let it sit. See how the company reacts and what feedback you hear from your team. Then, take that all in and figure out your next step. Don’t sit on the sidelines for too long. Take action – and move forward.
Jed Morley: What would you say is the main difference between starting a business at the time Boathouse started versus starting a business in today’s age?
Jennifer O’Connor: Technology. 100%.
Boathouse started in 2001. Think about how different technology was then. Apple just launched the iPod so people could have “thousands of songs in their pocket.” The first Bluetooth cell phone with a color screen was launched. Google just pushed image search live so users could search thousands of images instantly.
Today Boathouse is leading on the integration of A.I. across the marketing function. It will be a tailwind in our industry for the next twenty-five years. Unlike many of the transformative technologies of the last 25 years (digital, social, mobile) A.I. has the potential to rebuild marketing’s stature in the organization if adopted early and comprehensively.
We are obsessed with driving change based on technological innovation – and we are always looking around the corner for what’s next.
Jed Morley: What’s your favorite “business” quote and how has it affected your business decisions?
Jennifer O’Connor: My favorite business quote is the following from Winston Churchill.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
This has a great deal of meaning to me. As a perfectionist by nature, I had to really push myself to be OK with failure. I had to learn that failure was, in fact, the springboard to growth and success. And I now believe that without failure, there is no learning. And, without learning, there is no success. This important lesson has taught me to be more confident and comfortable taking risks and making those tough decisions – because, I know, on the other side – no matter what happens, the outcome will prompt the necessary changes to get to the next step.
This quote also speaks to my hardworking, go-through-a-wall way of getting things done. There is something deep down inside that intrinsically drives me to keep going when things get hard, to not stop until I solve the problem, to keep pushing that rock up the hill. I think you need to have that kind of passion and drive to be truly successful.
Jed Morley: What are the Boathouse company goals when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent today?
Jennifer O’Connor: Because work is no longer defined by a physical location, we are now able to tap into a larger talent pool, with the ability to hire from anywhere in the world. When our survey was taken, 12% of our employees were living outside of the state. We have completely revamped our recruiting process to expand our searches more nationally – even sometimes globally – allowing us to find the absolute best-of-the-best.
But we also know that Boathouse may not be for everyone. We aim to hire employees who have that same passion and intrinsic motivation to succeed for themselves and as a part of a team. We hold the bar very high and ask people to live up to it as a way to advance themselves in their careers and Boathouse, as a company.
Jed Morley: What are the biggest key takeaways from industry trends and how do we move forward in a post-pandemic world?
Jennifer O’Connor: Yes – the pandemic did change everything. It has accelerated the digital transformation of the workforce. And, we have decided as an organization to lean in. To take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to radically redefine the way we work.
No, we don’t claim to have the roadmap. And we certainly don’t claim to have all the answers. But – we are confident in our approach. To lean into autonomy. We believe in the benefits that it will bring to our employees and to our business. We are driven to succeed and believe that the key is to constantly examine the changing world around us. To be in an ongoing process of discovery and change to find what is right. We don’t know what the future will bring, but we are excited about the adventure and for the possibilities.
Jed Morley: What’s next for Boathouse in 2022 and where do you expect to see the company in the next 5-10 years?
Jennifer O’Connor: We live in a world of profound and constant change where companies big and small must rapidly adapt to survive. I am very much looking forward to what we have planned for 2022. We have several important initiatives that we will be focusing on – including integrating our applied A.I. stack, centralizing our operations department, increasing our focus on our diversity equality & inclusion efforts, and opening a new office in Washington, DC…to name a few.
From day one at Boathouse, we set up our financial model to enable us to invest 5% of revenues for R&D to keep us modern and innovative. We use the dollars to experiment so that we can help our clients to outperform. A constant focus on business building, with the investment to go along with it, will propel Boathouse to be a nationally recognized leader in our industry.
Originally published in Valiant CEO on January 20th, 2022.