Who wants to be ordinary? At Be Bold Media we certainly try very hard not to be.
It confounds people sometimes. They expect a business to behave a certain way, to fit a particular mould. Often they like to see a buzzing office which is open from 9am to 5pm (but probably a little quieter while lunches are being taken).
The thing is, in quite a few respects, the world doesn’t work much like that any more – at least not a world we want to perpetuate…
News and other content moves quickly in our digital world, which means someone needs to be across the day’s agenda from very early in the morning. Broadcasting and online updates don’t stop at 5pm, so any activity related to that work has be factored in as well.
Of course we as a company also support clients who can have a crisis develop very quickly at any hour of the day or night. Add to that the need to be on-site, out filming, facilitating meetings, even maintaining time-lapse cameras or live-streaming an event and you can see it’s a job requiring lots of mobility and flexibility.
None of that squares with everyone piling into one place at 9am. Nor does that kind of approach play particularly well with life in general, which doesn’t happen in office hours either, especially if you have kids or other family responsibilities.
That’s why we’re wide open to flexibility. Modern communications mean that you don’t have to be in one place, but you can all still be working together. Ring our office and the team member who picks up could be 100 miles from the person you need, but can still put you through. Everyone has access to our content and management platforms, files and records, but it doesn’t matter if they’re in Newport, Shrewsbury or Istanbul. You’d be amazed how much of our job we can get done through a smartphone and the relevant apps.
Raised eyebrows?
We don’t even promise that your phone call will be answered every time. That’s a statement which can raise eyebrows, but is it better use of our and our clients’ time to have someone sat by the phone or getting on with something creative even if it means we’re all tied-up? Of course clients all have their account directors’ mobile number and messages get forwarded straight to multiple team members, so nothing gets missed. Actually, most of the phone calls we get to our office are from people trying to sell things to us and to our clients…
We have a centre, a smashing, spacious office which is fully equipped with everything we need, including meeting spaces, big screen, all of the technology and the kit to make really good coffee. We don’t insist on everyone being in it all the time. It’s there for when it’s needed by whoever needs it.
To be able to open up the laptop when inspiration grabs you and get your work done wherever you happen to be is one of the greatest freedoms and privileges and the capability to do so is repaid in spades by the commitment and loyalty of our experienced and hard-working team.
More and more businesses are bucking the trend by losing the central office altogether and only being physically in the same place when they really need to. It allows teams to be created from the best people wherever in the world they are. Some are even hacking back their opening hours yet still supporting growth and profit by finding ways to be more productive!
Many businesses which cling to the 9 to 5 culture now may begin to re-assess in the not-too-distant future and they are likely to find that what currently seems like radical change is not as improbable as ingrained practice dictates. We like to be ahead of game.
