As general manager, you will oversee your local office, and be responsible for the overall performance of that team.
You will thus have some involvement in all aspects of the business. You will work with clients; manage your team and address internal issues; liaise with Omnicom stakeholders; and play a role in new business too.
You will line manage the most senior members of the account management team. This means conducting regular appraisals of these individuals, and frequent check ins – both 1-on-1s and group management meetings. You will guide these individuals in the management of more junior members of the account management team. While you will not line manage these people yourself or work as closely with them, you should seek to develop a relationship with everyone in your team, and ensure they are able to approach you where necessary.
You will support your team to address performance matters when they arise, delivering difficult messages in a sensitive but clear way, and liaising with HR when necessary.
Generally you will not line manage people in your office, who sit in other functional teams (eg platforms, talent or new business). Nevertheless, you should have a healthy working relationship with these individuals, and have a clear picture of their work and how they can maximize their impact at the local level.
You will set up account teams for success. Working closely with the senior management team, you will monitor and adjust capacity, workload and distribution.
You will be responsible for hiring and promotion decisions within the account management team and work closely with Mother Tongue’s Head of Training for effective onboarding. You will also identify training requirements across the senior team in general, and address these needs.
You will serve as the figurehead of the agency locally. As such, you should attend industry events and work to improve the profile of the business in your area among both prospective clients and employees. In new business, you will be supported by the business development team who will work to the same aim and have more of a focus on converting opportunities.
With your team, you are responsible for ensuring Mother Tongue’s global culture is adopted and embraced locally – while allowing for some minor differences according to local customs. Likewise, you should ensure that our standard processes and ways of working are followed consistently.
You will coordinate with other Omnicom entities, particularly within the eg+ Group. You should develop relationships with key stakeholders at our sister agencies, and ensure they understand and think positively of Mother Tongue’s offering and ways of working.
You will collaborate with the central management team in London, and act as a bridge between the central group and your local office. This will involve conveying information and implementing decisions taken centrally and communicating the needs and preferences of your office to central management. At the same time, you will share your thoughts and ideas around the global business and consider the broader organization beyond your office. As part of this, you should develop positive relationships with your counterparts in other offices.
You should keep abreast of industry developments and identify both threats to and opportunities for Mother Tongue – whether in your market or internationally. Likewise, you should have an overview of what is happening within your team and the performance of your office, identify trends whether positive or negative, and ways of either amplifying or correcting these.
With regards to clients, you should only be acting as the day-to-day lead on accounts by exception. However, it is important you have a relationship with senior stakeholders on your biggest local relationships, and your highest priority accounts. Your role here is to ensure that our key clients know they are a priority for us, that they have a senior sponsor they can come to in the case of any challenges, and for you to have a clear picture of the relationship – and potential opportunities for growth.
