Managing any type of team can be difficult, but managing a creative team comes with its own distinct challenges. This guide provides some useful tips for managing a creative team.

1. Find Technology that Works for You

Technology can be an invaluable resource when it comes to managing a team. It can help you to stay connected, up-to-date and productive. However, when the right technology is not used, creative teams can often find themselves bending to meet the constraints of a piece of software.

As a manager of a creative team, you must find the right technology to meet the needs of your staff. Firstly, you can look for technology that specifically caters to creative teams like yours. However, this might be a little bit more difficult when it comes to more standardized software.

One of the most useful pieces of technology for managing a team is communication technology. As more and more businesses look to use a remote model full time, communication software is going to become a staple piece of technology for almost every company. Creative teams often struggle as the popular, standardized communication software like Slack offer little to no room for adaptation. You should look at some of the best slack alternatives as these tend to be open-source and can therefore be altered and modified to meet the needs of your team.

2. Create a Safe and Open Working Culture

When it comes to managing a team of creatives you must create a safe and open working culture. You should try to avoid common management styles that are too judgemental or authoritative as these can stifle creative expression. While more authoritative managers tend to assume that their style helps them to remain in control and effective, in a creative environment this style can be very counterproductive. A too ridged working culture will prevent your talented team from sharing their ideas which will, in turn, limit your creative output.

3. Streamline Your Project Managing Techniques

To ensure that your team members remain on the same page and productive it is vital that you streamline your project managing techniques. Over time you will develop a style that comes naturally to you, to begin with, however, you must work on your managing practices. You should ask for feedback from your team once a project is completed to learn more about how you can improve your managing style.

4. Give Regular Feedback

Feedback is a very useful tool for any employee, but it is perhaps most important for creative workers. This is because creative staff have to take more risks and use more imagination with their work. It is therefore important that you provide your staff with regular feedback. This will help to keep staff on track and confident in their work. It will also enable you to manage more effectively as you are aware of the output of employees. When you are conducting feedback sessions you might also try to include some form of employee engagement monitoring. This will help you to keep track of how your employees are feeling about their work.