IQ Interview: Mark Goodman, CEO of Twist Image
By Bruce Powell
Twist Image, one of Canada's leading digital marketing agencies, has grown rapidly since opening its doors in 2000. Along with their operation in Montreal, they have also opened an office in Toronto in 2008. We had the chance to sit down with Twist Image CEO Mark Goodman to discuss their hiring strategies and how every new employee has the obligation to become their own ‘Centre of Excellence’.
Questions:
IQ: Does Twist Image have a unique people strategy?
TI: Our people strategy actually ties directly into our overall business strategy and what we like to call our ‘strategic pillars’. One of those strategic pillars is keeping an eye on the future, and that directly impacts the type of people we aim to attract and hire.
Keeping an eye on the future means we’re always bringing forth new ideas and that as an agency we strive to be at the forefront of what’s happening in our space. The only way for us to do that is to have people that understand and support that same goal. Digital marketing is an industry that continues to evolve day by day and if we want to continue to be a leader, it’s really going to hinge on one thing – our people.
We promote and require an environment of constant sharing and connecting. We look to our people to not only be great at what they do, but also to act as resources for others in the company - that’s where the notion of everyone having “centres of excellence” comes from. Every employee of Twist Image has the opportunity and the obligation to create their own centres – things that they can become the go-to person on. We grow by everyone becoming their own centres of excellence and sharing with those around them.
IQ: What is the most important step in your hiring process?
TI: We don’t have a most important ‘step’, but there is one question we place a lot of weight on and feel is a great summary of a person’s skill set. That question is the first one we ask – “Tell us about yourself?”
This question really shows off a candidate’s ability to distill everything down, and sell themselves to you in about five minutes. To give a good answer and be successful, they have to be able to identify and communicate their own unique point of difference, their most relevant skills and experience, be interesting and personable, and ultimately be able to convince us of why they’re the right choice.
There are many instances in business when you have to have many or all of those traits. If someone can sell themselves to us in a short amount of time like that, then it gives us confidence that they’ll be able to do the same for us in front of clients on a day-to-day basis.
IQ: What does Twist Image do different in their hiring?
TI: We really try and make the process as much of a 50/50 situation as we can, meaning we want the candidate to be interviewing us as much as we’re interviewing them. It’s almost akin to dating when ideally you have a situation where both sides come to an agreement and are eager to move forward with each other. We don’t want a case where we might feel really strongly, but the candidate is hesitant or has certain reservations. While we obviously need to make sure a given candidate is right for us, we want them to WANT to work here as well. We don’t try and aggressively sell.
We feel people will be much more likely to go above and beyond if they’re working somewhere they love, and they get to do work they’re passionate about. You could have the most skilled person in the world, but that skill is unlikely to be used to its full potential if that person views their job as nothing more than, well, a job! Most great achievements are the result of true passion for the work you’re doing.
In addition, we’ll give people homework assignments to give us a better idea of their thought processes and what they’re capable of. Interviews can obviously reveal a lot and answer many questions, but we like to really put people to the test and see what their different thought processes are or how they might approach a certain project.
IQ: What challenges have you encountered with hiring as you’ve grown?
TI: Well when we started we were really small – it was basically a friends and family environment, one room, everybody knew everybody. When you’re smaller like that it’s easier to maintain that common vision and know that everybody is on the same page. As we’ve grown it’s been challenging to ensure everyone continues to share that same vision. As you grow, it also forces you to explicitly lay out the things that were, in the beginning, implicitly understood; so you can be sure everyone is aware of them – things like your mission, vision, values, etc.
With rapid growth also comes the increased pressure to take short cuts with functions like hiring in order to save time and continue being able focus most of your energy on core business needs. Also, as you grow and land new business, there can often be a demand to find new people very quickly to accommodate the new projects.
When situations like this arise, functions like hiring sometimes get handed down to lower levels, and in turn you find yourself in a situation where the quality of hires starts to drop a little. If this continues on for long enough, then the quality of your talent pool starts to get diluted and instead being an agency where top talent is the rule, it can become far less common and mediocrity begins to take over. It’s a tough balancing act, but time spent on proper hiring procedures and ensuring you do your due diligence at every stage always pays off in the end.
IQ: What steps do you take to retain top talent and ensure they’re constantly engaged?
TI: Where we are right now, the size of our company really helps with engagement and in turn, retention. Because we are mid-sized, it allows people to shine quicker and more easily - it gives them the opportunity to differentiate themselves and really stand out. In larger multi-national companies it’s harder to do that due to the sheer volume of people, but also because there’s usually less opportunity to do work that can really gain attention. If someone is doing great work here, it gets recognized…..and recognized quickly. That’s definitely attractive to A-players. They like succeeding, and being in a situation that allows them to do that more easily is a big plus for them.
On that point, we’re also able to reward great work more quickly, and grant additional responsibility if someone has earned it. We don’t have any set schedules or timelines as far as when and how people progress. If someone shows us they’re ready and are constantly proving that by performing at a high level, then we’re happy to reward and promote them.
IQ: How do you attract?
TI: We actually engage a recruitment firm to help us find those elusive top candidates. We all know the best people are rarely out there actively looking, so it’s often necessary to go out and find them.
Additionally, Mitch Joel obviously does a great job of being the public face and voice of the agency, and is great to have for a number of reasons – one being for recruiting top talent. Between his frequent blogging activity, writing a regular column for the Montreal Gazette, and his numerous speaking engagements, Mitch gets great exposure for Twist Image, as well as having built a great brand that people are attracted to. Most marketing professionals would jump at the chance to work with a Mitch Joel, and that goes a long way in helping us land those top people once we determine who they are.
We’re very lucky to have someone like Mitch because there’s really very few of those people out there – people that are extremely accomplished and charismatic…..visible leaders and authorities in their fields.
Twist Image’s Top 3 Tips for Growing your company by Hiring Top Talent:
- Have people become their own ‘Centres of Excellence’ – an area they can be the go-to person on and help educate others in the company.
- Make hiring a 50/50 process – look for candidates to interview you as much as you’re interviewing them. In the end employees who really want to work for you will perform that much better.
- Don’t allow the function of hiring to get passed down or handed off when things get busy – you’ll get stuck in a situation with a diluted talent pool that is hard to reverse.
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Bruce Powell, Managing Partner, established IQ PARTNERS as a leading recruitment firm to help entrepreneurial companies hire beter, hire less, and retain more.
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