Which course is right for you?
Help with the right training for you and your team
I was travelling back from a regional agency conference one day and I thought how do I work out what training people need. I had a list of training the agency could provide and a list of training my teams wanted. How to match these two?
Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I put together this matrix which shows the streams of hard and soft skills that agency teams need to acquire as they progress in their careers.
Account management and direction are the soft skills that are wrapped around hard professional skills. You can have the best program or creative idea in the business, but if you can’t take the client on the journey and get sign off – you got nothin’.
I’d love to know what you think of the skills matrix.
AGENCY SKILLS FRAMEWORK
 Skills and knowledge |  Acct Mgt |  Financial |  Management |  Business Development |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account Director | Issues Crisis | Annual planning Negotiation | Group profitability Capacity | Leading teams Interview skills | Identify and win Business networking |
| Account Director | Stakeholder mapping | Relationship mgt Quality oversight Selling | Forecasting Budget negotiating | HR policies Performance management | Pitching Referrals Thought leadership |
| Senior Account Director | PR strategy development | Strategy Effective communication | Client profitability Negotiation | Coaching Counselling | Brainstorm facilitation Pitching |
| Account Manager | Program development Industry /brand knowledge | Implementation for results Measurement & evaluation | Budget scoping and tracking | Supervising skills | Scan and secure additional projects |
| Senior Account Executive | Media relations Social Media Event Mgt | Effective meetings Understanding self | Time management Budget tracking | Effective delegation | Presentation skills Research and analysis |
| Account Executive | Writing, editing Monitoring | Active listening Reporting | Timesheets Purchase orders | Giving and receiving feedback | Creds and case study preperation |
