Autonomy is important

By
Jonathan Davis

liquidfish isn’t your typical agency. We’ve grown to over 10 times our original size in as many years, owing in large part to an ideology which places innovation above all. Our websites aren’t based on turnkey templates or cookie cutter content management systems. Every aspect of our work–from design and development to copywriting and social media–is an opportunity to improve.

Improvements can come in many forms. Our company isn’t organized in a traditional hierarchy. Cody Blake, founder and President of liquidfish, believes in a horizontal distribution of authority that allows the individuals who produce the work to make decisions which determine the quality of the product. The results speak for themselves—with numerous American Advertising Awards under our belt and a growing and diversified client base in our portfolio—both of which we are proud to share and showcase.

Members of our team are given total ownership of projects. This empowerment manifests itself in more creative solutions to challenges both big and small. National brands and small businesses alike present unique challenges, but the same amount of focus and care applies to each campaign we manage and each strategy we formulate.

This begs the question: why is it that a lack of formal oversight can result in higher quality work?

My hypothesis is that when people are given the resources to create freely, that freedom elevates each task, making the project more personally important to each member of our team. When the outcome of a project reflects personally on me, I (for better or worse) care more about how it turns out.

That isn’t to say we don’t value our more experienced team members: Cody has a hand in most everything we do, providing recommendations and feedback when necessary; Wendy, our social media manager, guides the voice of our campaigns; and our Creative Director can often be found in the whiteboard room, mocking up tweaks to our design work. Simply put, liquidfish is a testament to the fact that autonomy can exist in concert with quality assurance.

For examples of the kinds of results our approach yields, take a look at our Work page, and keep an eye on The Current for exciting liquidfish updates, industry news, and more.