The theory goes that people are either left-brained or right-brained , meaning that one side of their brain is dominant.
If you’re mainly analytical and methodical in your thinking, you’re said to be left-brained. Whereas if you are more creative or artistic, you’re thought to be right-brained.
The creative process clearly requires creative or artistic people. Using the theory above it is safe to say that many people involved in the process are right brained.
So, what is creative operations and what has it got to do with left and right brained thinking?
Our definition of creative operations is, “it is the framework which is responsible for increasing velocity, capacity, compliance, and timeliness of the creative production process.” If these analytical and methodical capabilities that provide the underpinning to “left brain” disciplines, it is necessary to control creative people intimately involved in creative processes. Creative operations sit alongside creative services and account services and is a key competency for a marketing agency or an in-house creative services team.
So, what are the ingredients of Creative Operations…
- Co-ordination: ensuring all stakeholders involved in the creative production process understand what needs to be done when
- Calendar: a single up to date transparent calendar providing all stakeholders with visibility of what creative content and assets are in process and what is their status (not started, in progress, approved, complete etc)
- Collaboration – allow stakeholders to work together efficiently and effectively
- Compliant Communications – ensure feedback is provided and acted upon promptly with any required approval at the appropriate phases in the creative production lifecycle
- Control – proactive management of deadlines and dates to ensure that timelines are met and that any deviations or potential delivery problems are highlighted well in advance allowing team members to make proactive and timely adjustments
For many organisations these Creative Operations ingredients are delivered using spreadsheets, emails and more recently Zoom or Teams. For many, creative teams need to be more effective at left brain thinking. They need to make a change in their processes and apply more effective creative operations solutions to ensure these ingredients are delivered in a more joined up, automated and integrated way.