A happy team is naturally more productive and creative than people who hate their jobs. What is the magic ingredient that makes some marketing teams more satisfied than others? Personalities come into play anytime a group of people works together, but many other elements relate to job satisfaction.

The costs of replacing a worker are as high as 60 percent of the employee’s annual salary, so figuring out ways of keeping them satisfied pays off in savings. You also can’t replace the training and on-the-job experience your current marketers already have. Keeping your team together is one way to enhance productivity. However, there are other things you can do to keep the team you have happy and thriving. Try these tips below for building a marketing team.

1. Offer a Variety of Work Options

Some people work best in a busy office setting, where they can easily bounce ideas off the person next to them. Other people need space and quiet to create. Because your team is likely made up of a variety of personality types, offer different options so people can choose what works best for them. One single mother might benefit from working remotely, while another mom might feel there are too many distractions at home and do better in an office setting. Give your marketing team options for where to work and even the hours they work.

Keep in mind that some studies show remote workers are 91 percent more productive, especially those with specific skills. While that is an average and may not hold for everyone, it highlights the importance of offering choices.

2. Provide Networking Opportunities

Creative people tend to learn a lot from others. Widen the circle of networking opportunities for your marketing team. Send them to a conference or host a gathering for professionals in the area. Invite a special speaker and create opportunities for interaction.

You should also look outside the marketing world for inspiration. Take your team to a local art gallery and learn more about a specific genre. Network with people in your area, including customers, as your group will then learn about their personalities and desires and be better able to serve them.

3. Rework Your Office Layout

The layout of your office space can encourage or discourage productivity. Think about the people who work most closely together. Do your graphic designers need to get up and share materials with the marketing director frequently? If so, their desks should be close to the director. However, you should also consider elements such as when you have brainstorming sessions and where they should occur.

4. Conduct Regular Training Sessions

For younger workers in particular, regular training and development is a vital aspect of job satisfaction. In a recent report, researchers found 42 percent of millennials felt learning and development was the single most important benefit in deciding where they should work.

Training sessions are also your opportunity to address weaknesses in your team without calling out anyone by name. If you notice some time management issues, offer training on how to make improvements. If you see problems with conflict resolution, invite an expert on the topic and give your team tools to interact better.

5. Show You Care

When your team knows you care about them on a personal level, they’re much more likely to feel satisfied in their role with your company. Recognize birthdays or send a get well card when a team member is out ill. Take individual team members out for lunch each week and get to know each person a little better. It’s natural to gravitate to personality types that mesh well with yours, so make an extra effort with the ones who you find grating or don’t click with as well with.

A little effort on your part may reveal someone who is quite interesting. Every person on your marketing team has unique skills and interests. Once you know what they are, you can better direct work their way that matches their personality. They’ll be happier, and you’ll get their best efforts.

6. Improve Communication

Look for ways to better communicate with your employees. Work on listening skills, practice offering clear directions and use tools to help the process. Project management tools keep everyone — both in-office and remote workers — up to date. At the same time, though, learn how to limit communication so that workers aren’t distracted all day long with instant messages or someone stopping by their desk to chat. Limit meetings to five or 10 minutes, and set aside work hours where people can focus uninterrupted.

7. Go to the Cloud

Put project information on the cloud, so your workers can access it anytime and from anywhere. Creative types often have an idea in the middle of the night or while driving home from work. If they have the opportunity to pull up a project and add a few notes for the team, they may come up with more creative ideas and have a better opportunity to hit the ground running with that idea the next morning.

A cloud-based project management system’s payoff in productivity and creativity is well worth the investment. You can also bring in contractors to tweak the team’s ideas a bit and offer a fresh perspective.

8. Use Time-Saving Tools

Some tools save the entire team time, such as social media scheduling tools or automated emails that are created once and then sent out over and over again to potential leads. Look for tools that offer time-saving features so that your team can work on the big ideas and leave the small, menial tasks to automation.

Add time-tracking software to your team’s desktops so that they can track what they are spending the most time and seek improvements. Offer incentives for anyone who improves their productivity scores or takes steps toward wasting less time throughout the workweek.

Strive to Always Improve

The best marketing teams have a philosophy of always improving. Look for ways to motive and inspire your crew, and with time, you’ll develop a culture other departments will envy. When your employees are happy, they are productive and work together like a well-oiled machine.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.