Agencies, studios, publishers and production companies are small, fast and usually spread over more than one office. Teams form around a pitch or a production and disband when it ships. Freelancers sit beside permanent staff. Decisions are taken quickly by a founder or managing director, and nobody has time for a process that takes a quarter to set up. This page explains how the sector runs performance management, with examples you can adapt.
A campaign, a title, a series or a build has a start and an end. The people on it may never work together again. Waiting for an annual review means the detail of six projects is lost. Studios that manage performance well hold a short retrospective at the end of each project and write a few lines about each person’s contribution while the client or the audience response is still known.
A junior designer, a mid-weight copywriter and a creative director are judged on craft, but also on how they take a brief, present to a client and develop others. Without a published progression framework, promotions follow whoever is closest to the founders. A simple ladder with three or four levels per discipline gives the review a shared language and makes salary bands defensible.
Freelancers can be a large share of a studio on a busy month. They are managed through their contract, not through appraisal, but the studio still needs to know who was excellent and who should not be booked again. A simple end-of-project note, kept in the same place as permanent staff feedback, gives producers and resourcing leads one view of the talent they rely on.
A studio with offices in two or three cities often runs performance by the personality of whoever leads each office. The managing director wants to know that reviews happened everywhere, that pay conversations are consistent and that the strong people in the smaller office are visible. A shared cycle with light forms does that without adding a layer of process the culture would reject.
A typical pattern. Your own calendar, agreements and policies come first.
The producer or creative lead notes each person’s contribution, permanent or freelance, while the work is fresh.
Short conversations on workload, craft and what the person wants to do next. Notes shared, not filed.
Self-reflection, project notes and the lead’s view, against the progression framework for the discipline.
Decisions made across offices at the same time, using the review record rather than who shouted loudest.
A new office or acquired studio joins the same cycle in days, with its own forms if it needs them.
Three illustrative scenarios showing a goal, the evidence that informs it and the conversation that follows. Adapt them to your own roles.
Illustrative voices. New Dynamics wrote these composite perspectives to reflect themes that are common in the sector. They are not customer testimonials, and the names do not refer to real people.
Three offices, three ways of doing reviews, and the managing director asking me which of them had actually happened. One light cycle for everyone was the answer. Nobody misses the old forms.
Many of the people on a big job are freelance. If the producer does not write two lines about them at wrap, we book the wrong ones next time and lose the right ones to a rival.
New Dynamics connects goals, feedback, recognition and reviews in one place. Bring a real process to the demo, and confirm each requirement with the team.
Capture a few lines from the producer or creative lead at the end of each project, permanent or freelance, in one place.
Explore the featureLight forms and shared reminders for every studio, with room for a discipline’s own progression ladder. Send us the review form you use today.
Explore the featureReflect project teams, disciplines and offices, so the right people are asked for input when the team disbands.
Explore the featureBring project notes, goals and recognition into view for a short review against the progression ladder, with room for the lead’s judgement.
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See how a designer’s or producer’s goals for craft, client work and coaching could stay visible between reviews.
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Twice a year suits most agencies and studios, supported by fortnightly one-to-ones and a short note at the end of each project. Annual reviews lose the detail of a year’s projects; quarterly reviews take more time than a fast-moving studio will give.
Freelancers are managed through their contract, not appraisal, but keeping an end-of-project note about them alongside permanent staff feedback helps producers book the right people again. Keep the record factual and about the work.
Use one cycle, one set of light forms and a published progression ladder per discipline, then hold pay and promotion decisions across offices at the same time. Completion tracking shows the managing director that reviews happened everywhere.
Setup depends on your forms, cycle and people data, and is scoped with the team. Send us the review form you use today and we will show your cycle running in the platform before you commit; ask at the demo what setup would involve for your studio.
Associate and partner review cycles, chargeable-hours context and progression frameworks for firms of 15 to 200 people.
Performance management in professional services firmsSite-based and office-based staff in one cycle, competency frameworks per trade and an end to paper forms.
Performance management in construction and propertyOKRs, career ladders, peer feedback and calibration across matrix product teams.
Performance management in technology companiesBalanced scorecards, conduct evidence and annual certification under SM&CR.
Performance management in bankingAnnual appraisal, professional revalidation and clinical supervision on a 24-hour rota.
Performance management in healthcareSafety-critical competence, rotation crews and the skills for the energy transition.
Performance management in the energy sectorObjectives, values and fair outcomes in central and local government.
Performance management in the public sectorAnnual teacher appraisal, the Teachers’ Standards, early career support and support staff.
Performance management in schoolsDevelopment reviews, academic probation and promotion across research, teaching and citizenship.
Performance management in universitiesShort check-ins, guest feedback and visible career paths for shift-based teams.
Performance management in hospitalityStore KPIs, part-time and seasonal teams, peak trading and routes into management.
Performance management in retailShift teams, skills matrices, safety behaviours and continuous improvement.
Performance management in manufacturingSee what performance management could look like for your organisation.
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