As Pistachio Director, my job can take on many forms. Most of these involve the day to day running of the business, and sometimes I have my tea making hat on (which doesn’t happen very often, I must say – sorry team!).

But, what does takes up a lot of my day is juggling all of the creative work that comes into Pistachio design studio and managing when, where and how it’s going to get done.

The work that we create here at Pistachio, in both our Marlow and Nottingham based offices, can range from big campaigns that require weeks of work, to smaller jobs like a logo re-design or a webpage update. So, it is my job to try and make sure that this work is evenly and appropriately distributed amongst the team to ensure that we are hitting client deadlines and utilising everyone to their full potential – because we don’t want unhappy clients or unhappy designers!

In order to do this effectively, I’ve come up with some top tips to ensure all runs smoothly…

1. Use a tracker – This could be as simple as using an excel spreadsheet to monitor workflow (Pistachio Director Paul’s personal favourite) or you can use a free app (there are many great ones out there), or even be really fancy and use a bespoke system or a CRM.

2. Spread the love – I try to make sure that everyone has a variety of work to do so we aren’t all doing the same thing day in day out. This means that the client gets a fresh perspective and approach to a project and our designers aren’t pulling their hair out over monotony.

3. Read everything – Our amazing and diligent client services team give the studio all of the files and details that our designers need for every job, and sometimes there can be a lot there to digest. There is nothing worse, from both sides, if the brief isn’t delivered or read correctly, causing a myriad of questions that have already been answered and wasting valuable design time!

4. Try to plan ahead – Of course, this one isn’t always possible but generally speaking, when we make a timeline for a job we try and stick to it as diligently as possible. However, this can go out of the window pretty quickly when demands change, so I try and make sure that we are as agile as possible and are able to react to client requests where possible.

5. Pick up the phone – Sometimes it’s simply just a lot easier to talk to people. Honestly? I do love a good email, it’s a great way of keeping a solid trail of communication and a great tool for double checking a brief. But, secondary to the email, it is ALWAYS good to chat it through with the team at least once to make sure that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet!

6. Be flexible – Now this is a tricky one. At Pistachio we always try and be as flexible as possible when we do a job, working around the client and trying to fill in the gaps as much as possible, where needed. However, this can often cause a lot of back and forwards between client and design that can be counterproductive. Therefore I always encourage clients to supply as much content and guidance as possible before design begins as, after all, we’re good but this isn’t Hogwarts…

Thanks for reading my top tips on organising a team. If you’d like to know more about the wonderful work our team produces, and we can help your business to thrive, simply get in touch with us today!