Where Capability Meets Ambition
By Matt High, Editorial Director, BizClik Media
Capability. A single word that can mean many things to many businesses. But whether it’s your skills as a leader and those other leaders around you, or the individuals you surround yourself with, that capability can drive success and good culture.
We only hire the best people at BizClik Media. The reason for this is simple: as a fast-growing disruptive digital media agency, we strive to only deliver the highest quality of work to our global customers.
For 12 years BizClik has been producing multi-channel content for some of the world’s leading businesses and organisations; magazines, videos, social media, websites and more. As an East Anglia-based business we understand the importance of nurturing great local talent. And, the capabilities of our 50+ employees, each of whom is an expert in their field, have been the differentiating factor between our business and many of our competitors. In short, we recognise talent and the impact it can have on our success.
We are currently looking to broaden our capabilities even further. As part of that hiring process, I have been meeting potential new employees to join our editorial team. Naturally, when interviewing you’re always looking to drill down on those capabilities and skills that will make someone an indispensable member of your own team; in this instance, great writing and journalistic abilities, a good understanding of storytelling and how to deliver unique content across multiple channels and to multiple audiences, a tech-savvy and quick to learn approach, and the desire to succeed.
But as a manager, you should also be looking for those wider, less tangible capabilities that make someone a right fit for your organisation’s culture. Are they inquisitive and always wanting to expand their knowledge? Do they enjoy a challenge, or show a willingness to go above and beyond in order to ensure that they – and the business – stand at the forefront of the sector? Are they able to complete the work assigned to them, but always consider how it complements other teams within the business? And how that, by looking to improve or innovate, they can elevate everyone? Also, are they prepared to stand up in front of 50+ people and embarrass themselves singing Karaoke?
Maybe that last one is playing on my mind more than it should as we count down to the Christmas party, but you get the idea: capability is more than just being technically proficient at your job. And that’s become increasingly more obvious as I conduct interviews with BizClik hopefuls who, having sold their prospective skills so well, all ask a variation on the ‘what’s it like to work at BizClik Media?’ question. In answering this, you as a manager are effectively selling the capabilities of you, your team and your business (worth thinking about if you haven’t previously).
In doing so I’ve realised we have far more skills, capabilities – whatever we wish to call them – than I previously thought. We have a brand that is respected by some of the biggest names and organisations in the world, such as the United States Air Force, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Santander, Dell, Vodafone and more. Our large suite of B2B and industry-focused digital magazines tell the stories of some of the world’s greatest innovators, and we have a host of websites that are must-read sources of information for leading business executives and entrepreneurs worldwide. These people work with us because they respect those capabilities.
Alongside our content team, for example, we have a proactive and knowledgeable sales team that excels at relationship building, at getting the very best out of the people that we work with and enhancing our name further at some of the largest events, conferences and round tables in the world. Our social media experts are skilled at getting the most out of our engagement with clients, with others in the industry, and our readers. Their job revolves around ‘selling’ our capabilities through their social content.
We have a team of video and digital media specialists who create great video content, working closely with those people that are featured in the magazines, visiting them – wherever in the world they are based – and directing them with an authority and skill that commands attention. It takes a certain level of confidence and capability, for example, to tell the Chief Software Officer for the US Air Force how to present himself, how to act in a video shoot, and what you expect from him. But that’s what people who work at BizClik do, and they do it every day.
So, how do I answer the question of what working at BizClik is like? I consider those points listed, and tell people that whichever team you work in, and whether you’re starting at a junior or managerial level, you meet skilled and capable people that force you to up your game. And in business, that’s a good thing.
But you should never stop moving. We recognise that in order to improve our capabilities, it’s important to bring new perspectives, new skills and knowledge bases into our team. That’s why we work with talented freelancers, both local to our East Anglia base and our Californian office, who actively seek out the opportunity to work with BizClik. We also focus heavily on employing young individuals looking to start their careers, and on a continuous apprenticeship scheme, whereby we enrol a minimum of two young and talented people onto an apprenticeship every year.
Other work we’re doing at the moment is solely focused on expanding our capabilities. For example, we’re in the process of establishing the BizClik Academy, which will undertake all our in-house training across each team and each job. But, perhaps more importantly, it will also focus on those softer skills that are important for the longevity of a business, things such as management and leadership training, time and stress management programmes, and wider areas like communication, career and learning skills.
In setting out this piece I’ve posed a couple of questions: what’s it like working at BizClik and what does capability mean to you? The first, I think I’ve answered by the many examples listed. The second, on a broader level, is fed by however you approach that first question.
Capability can mean a specific skill, or describe whether you’re competent at your job, but really it means much more. It is how a collection of individual skills can set a business on the right path and contribute to that success.
Matt High is Editorial Director at BizClik Media E: info@bizclikmedia.com Visit bizclikmedia.com Twitter: @BizClikMedia
