I'm a forward planner. I'm a to-do list writer. I'm a meticulous thinker. I'm a perfectionist.
🎵 I'm a bitch, I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother, I'm a sinner, I'm a saint 🎶
Nah but seriously. Those first few traits are what makes me a damn good account manager.
But I'm also a worry-wart. I'm prone to anxiety. I'll think about what I said to my client 4 days ago and if they took it the wrong way. Raise your hand if you're an overthinker too. Yep 1 in 7 of us have some form of anxiety bubbling under the surface.
My anxiety recently snowballed a chill client meeting into a high stress, defensive situation. It made me realise how much your headspace as a creative account manager dictates the rise and fall of your project - whether you mean it to or not.
It also got me thinking about whether creative project management is typically a job that evokes anxiety? Does coupling that with the urgency and pressure of agency life just amplify my anxiety? I got my nerd on and started researching to find out.
So today I'm reflecting on:
That anxious little bundle of a project
How being in the wrong headspace from the get-go impacted the relationships around me (my client, my colleagues and myself)
What positives I learned from it
Whether there is a correlation between project management, agency work and anxiety?
Let's start with that anxiety-prone project
I had a client meeting scheduled to discuss a recent project that hadn't gone as expected. The client failed to brief in a number of functional requirements, which meant we'd barely scratched the surface of the full scope (gahhh f**k). To be honest there was blame on both sides - client and agency. We took the brief one way, the client another. But at the end of the day, they signed off on a pretty clear scope with us that didn't have these functional requirements.
Anxiety comes knockin'
So once this hiccup came to light, they organised a team meeting to discuss the mishap. Cue my anxiety. I totally read into this as the bull (client) raging towards the red flag (me); a worst case scenario "we're pissed off you screwed up our scope" meeting.
Action mode kicks in
Ek time to plan! Leading up to the meeting I had prepped the work we'd done, collated comms on the scope and screenshotted written approvals.
I planned out how I'd approach the convo. What responses they may counter with and how I'd shut that down.
I'd spoken to different team members to get their perspectives. I'd quoted out the next phase of the project and was ready to push hard. I was not backing down. I was on the defensive.
Jokes, it's fine
Day of the meeting comes and the client is chill as a cucumber. They recognised the miscommunication, were happy with the scope we'd already delivered and just wanted to chat next steps.
Sweet relief!
Ahhhh sigh of relief. Things are fine. My relationship with this client is good. It was all in my head.
But also...damn. It was all in my head. How did I get so off track? And why did I jump to such strong conclusions on how this would all play out?
Key takeaways
1. Don't assume - ask
Seems like a no-brainer now, but ask for more detail and prepare according to that. I could've avoided this anxiety drama if I had simply asked for a meeting agenda and understood where my client's head was at. Duh!
2. How does it effect your time (and others)
As it turns out, I'd wasted a lot of time, resources and mental headspace for a situation locked up in my noggin. Not just my own, but that of my colleagues too. My anxiety had infiltrated the team and created an atmosphere of concern.
3. It impacts the client relationship
Ding ding I was ready to rumble from the start of that meeting. In hindsight, I may have come across to the client as highly strung as I read from the loose script in my head.
In this scenario, the convo swayed pretty quickly to the one I had planned. But what if it hadn't? Then I'd look like an idiot
4. Don't let your anxiety define the sitch
The hard thing with anxiety is you may learn from the mistakes of overthinking unnecessarily. Your brain says don't do that again or that's ridiculous. However you can't always stop the emotions or scenarios that creep in.
I'm still working on coming to terms with welcoming anxiety and using it to my benefit rather than detriment. I think the first step is recognising it and second step is...
5. Recognise the positives
As I said, my anxiety makes me a good account manager. If this worst-case, raging bull scenario actually came to fruition I'd be super-duper prepared.
It makes me feel good going into a meeting prepared for any which way things will fall.
How anxiety infiltrates the agency space
There's a decent amount of mental weight that comes with creativity and problem solving, which is amplified when working across multiple clients in agency land.
I have a friend who blatantly refuses to work for an agency. She will never do it due to the stigma around urgent deadlines, late nights and deep-rooted expectations to be 110% 24//7.
There's a real stereotype that agency life = awesome learning opportunities + increased anxiety and stress. I mean, stereotypes exist for a reason and I've definitely seen some environments like this.
17% of agency employees say they're not happy at work
34% of agency employees are worried about their mental health
84% of agency employees have to take work-related calls or respond to emails during out of office hours
Advertising and PR agencies are deemed one of the most stressful organisations.
PR Exec's are ranked in the 10 top most stressful jobs in the world (yep, world).
So yeah, agency and anxiety can go hand in hand depending on where you work.
Does account management bring it's own anxiety?
In my experience, this 'agency' stigma isn't true. I've worked across three creative agencies (design, dev & branding) and each has been supportive, open-minded and compassionate.
Agencies (and organisations in general) have queued up to the importance of mental health and are striving for better working environments.
So this then led me to ponder whether the role of creative account or project management brings its own set of unique anxieties?
The answer is yes - project managers are anxious by the nature of the job description. We're balancing multiple clients, various project requirements, delegating to different teams. We segment off our brain for each account and open & close that part of our brain multiple times a week (or day in some cases).
But creative managers are also prone to anxiety by virtue of themselves as individuals. It's generally the Type A personalities that land these roles right? The type of people that naturally feel a need to excel or reach perfection.
In my experience, I've worked overtime when I have an innate itch to scratch. That need to do better, help that client or support my team stuck back. Not because my manager expects me to. But because I put that pressure and expectation on myself.
Dealing with anxiety as a creative account manager
I'll tie off by saying that my experience with anxiety is minor compared to the average person suffering from generalised anxiety disorder or other mental health comorbidities.
Cliche to say but every person's journey with anxiety is unique. For me, it is something I've learnt to accept and use to my advantage as an account manager.
So redirect that anxious energy into action that benefits your project, client, team or yourself #cornybuttrue?