Alliance of Independent Agencies Welcomes Sabrina Chevannes as People Chair

Sabrina Chevannes, founder and CEO of Complex Creative, will be the new Alliance of Independent Agencies people chair. As a people-first organisation, the role of people chair is to ensure that as an Alliance, continue to offer agencies the collective support and resources to drive innovation in the attraction, nurture and growth of our talent. At the heart of this is a range of initiatives around improving diversity, talent retention and training at all levels.

“As co-chair for the Alliance, I will be concentrating on helping independent agencies recruit and retain the best talent from a diverse set of backgrounds. I believe that where independent agencies thrive is their unique company culture and the ability to offer a flexible career path to their employees. As an Alliance, we can provide support and training across DEI, wellbeing and talent to enable agencies to nurture and grow their teams and retain the best possible talent and culture.”

Sabrina was the former head of digital at Britain’s Next Top Model and has run successful campaigns and created websites for a wide variety of brands such as FitBit, Pirelli, UNICEF and the Ministry of Defence.

Sabrina’s passion now lies in content and so she runs her own podcast and writes for Forbes.com and Entrepreneur.com.

We sat down with Sabrina to ask her about her new role as people chair.

Q> How does your role of People Chair fulfill the needs of Member Agencies?

Sabrina> When we listen to our members’ concerns, it’s always revolving around people. Whether it’s help with finding and retaining the best talent, looking after employee wellbeing or understanding diversity and inclusion, the common denominator is people. 

In my role as People Chair, I will bring the experience I have in these areas to help solve Member concerns. I believe that we need this role needs to get more involved with the members to find out exactly where they struggle in these areas and what we can do for them. 

Independent agencies are naturally quite diverse and it’s by pooling together our common experiences that we can help provide amazing solutions to People problems across agencies. 

Q> What’s the secret to building a strong company culture?

Sabrina> Culture is personal, and you cannot copy another company’s cultural values just because they sound impressive. Culture needs to come from within and is often driven by the leader of the agency. If the leader is motivated by success, then that’s what the company’s culture will be. 

But the culture goes way beyond a set of company values that you put on the website. It’s the heart and soul of the company - the personality, if you like. The way to do this is to ensure every member of your team is on the same page - they share the company’s visions and have the right mindset to make them happen. 

Then, the internal values that you want all your team to possess, these are the qualities that you need to hire for, over and beyond what any CV says. If you hire on values, you will see your company’s culture grow and be consistent throughout. 

Q> What do you think the key elements are for a creative and diverse talent pool?

Sabrina> This is not as easy as people think. I know that many companies want to increase their diversity, but if they’re geographically located in an area that is not very diverse, they’re going to struggle. 

If you’re hiring remote workers, then you should have no problem with this, as you have the ability to work with anyone in the world. 

However, if you don’t have this luxury, then I think there are a few key things you can do:

- Revise your job descriptions: you may have used a version of the same thing for a while and the language you use naturally attracts the same types of people. Think about who you want to attract and write the JD aimed at them. 

- Brand yourself as a diverse employer: use external comms to show diverse brands you work with, or things that interest your team. Explain policies you have in your team that may attract a more diverse workforce. 

- Offer internships: if you are unable to find diverse senior roles, then go for the more inexperienced and train up interns or apprentices. You can find schools where there’s a more diverse set of students and they can then be trained up to be a good cultural fit for your company. 

- Get your staff to refer to diverse groups: your staff may have a more diverse network than you do, so why not ask them to refer your company to their network?

Q> Why is it important to focus on people within agencies?

Sabrina> Everything revolves around people; it is the best, but hardest thing about agency life. People are the heart and soul of an agency, but they are often the reason for so many of the problems. 

That’s why it’s so important to focus on people, because when we get it right, the benefits are incredible. These people then inspire others and the positivity and success just grows. 

Q> How can agencies improve upon employee retention while facilitating employee growth in-house?

Sabrina> It’s all about inspiration - people want to work in a place where they are doing exciting work, they feel valued, there’s room for progression and the company’s values align with theirs. If you are consistently providing an environment like this, then employee retention will be high. However, if you’re looking for growth, you need to be careful that you do not affect the current company culture. 

Many companies get excited during periods of growth and they decide to hire a bunch of people very quickly. They’re less diligent during recruitment and get the wrong people in. The wrong hires can be a massive detriment to the company and current staff may feel like they’re not in a company that they align with anymore and leave. 

Q> Tell us something about yourself our members would find intriguing and might not know about you yet?

Sabrina> I used to be a professional chess player! So, that’s why I’m so big on strategy and I’m always thinking several steps ahead. I’m still an International Chess Master and coach in schools and privately, so it’s still a big part of my life alongside running my agency. I relate so much of business to chess - the tactics involved, outsmarting your opponents and being able to plan and look for opportunities. 

Q> So, what does the next 6 months look like for you within this new role?

Sabrina> I plan to get to know as many members as I can, on a really personal level. I believe that you cannot do the People role without really knowing the people! I want to know what problems they’re having in their agencies and how we can help with them. Is there anyone we can help introduce them to or any solutions we can provide?

So, I invite anyone to a virtual coffee, or even a real-life drink if you’re in London - I’m always up for a glass of vino :).