Renee’s mantra is “consistent excellence with moments of greatness.” Translation: every project doesn’t need a Cannes Lion. Smart leaders know when to sprint and when to jog. Recovery time is not a perk, it is performance fuel.
Leading a creative team means walking a tightrope between excellence and exhaustion. You want to produce brilliant work that makes clients happy and wins awards, but you also need to keep your team motivated, healthy, and engaged for the long haul.
This question was answered by Renee Hyde – Client and Agency Leadership at Howatson+Company with expertise running large integrated clients globally, with Andy – Host, CEO Streamtime moderating the discussion.
The key to balancing pushing for brave creative work without burning out your team lies in setting realistic expectations. As Renee explains: "We have a saying here that it is consistent excellence with moments of greatness."
This philosophy recognises that whilst you should maintain high standards across all work, not every project needs to be award-winning. Renee elaborates: "We have a really high standard in all the work that we do and we know we always want to do brilliant brilliant work for our clients across anything we're doing an email a website an ad and then every now and then you'll hit a home run."
Effective creative leadership requires reading each situation and team member carefully. Renee notes: "I think that that is the balance of a creative leader that can kind of keep an eye on each team each project make sure that they have the right balance of project shape of projects know when to push them know when this one's going to be a home run or this one's you know it's just one of those standards of excellence."
It's crucial to communicate these expectations clearly with your team. As Renee points out: "We talk to our team about that like everything can't be a 10 you know there will be we want everything to be brilliant but we're not making you know a Cannes Lion winning ad every day of the week."
Recognising the natural peaks and troughs in creative work is essential for preventing burnout. Renee emphasises: "I think the other piece is and we've talked about a lot is recovery so there are peaks and troughs in our business your new business pitching is another really good example of this and the next question around the awards season again is another great example of really busy peak times."
The responsibility lies with leadership to actively manage these cycles. Renee explains: "We know and we are responsible as leaders to help people kind of have those recovery moments make sure people the great advantage of flexibility in this era is that people can have that kind of hybrid working if there's if there's moments where you've just delivered a big project we've just delivered a big project for Allianz and the team have had a little break you know there has to be those kind of rest and recovery moments."
If you're working in an environment where every brief is treated as make-or-break, it might be time to reassess the leadership approach. Renee suggests: "If you're working in a creative department where every brief needs to be a black brief I would perhaps question the creative leadership because that's not humanly possible."
The creative industry shouldn't operate like an extreme sport. As Andy confirms: "It's not an extreme sport no we're not prepared enough to behave like that constantly."
Balancing pushing for brave creative work without burning out your team comes down to smart leadership that understands human limitations whilst maintaining high standards. It's about creating an environment where consistent excellence is the norm, with space for those magical moments of greatness to emerge naturally.
Remember that sustainable creativity requires both ambition and compassion. By setting clear expectations, building in recovery time, and knowing when to push versus when to support, you can foster a team culture that produces brilliant work without sacrificing wellbeing.
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Renee is responsible for client and agency leadership at Howatson+Company. She specialises in running large, integrated clients both locally (Allianz, Samsung, CBA) and globally (Marriott International, IBM, Microsoft, Google) having worked in leading agencies in Australia and New York like M&C Saatchi, CHE Proximity and Anomaly. Renee has a unique skill set having worked in various capacities including consulting, media, customer experience and communications. She has birthed, built and grown brands and is at her best with complex challenges to solve. Renee is also a mentor at the Trenches, a qualified Mental Health first aider and has been recognised by Campaign Asia as a Woman to Watch and by B&T on their Women in Media Power List. As a mother of two young girls, Renee is a passionate advocate for diversity of all forms and is constantly tired.
For the past 13 years, Sharon has worked as a Psychologist, aiming to authentically connect with people to help them feel safe and heard. She believes, if we can gain insight into why we might think, feel and behave a certain way, we can make more sense of our current lives and then, with a growth mindset of self-compassion instead of a fixed mindset of shame, we can consciously implement positive change. Sharon has a holistic approach, she is informed by Existentialism, Neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory and Attachment Science. Sharon believes if we can accept that the behaviours we developed as children were necessary for our survival and if we can understand that all the emotions we feel provide insight into our deepest values, we can live purposeful and meaningful lives. Sharon is currently working on an online program called Taking Up Space. The program empowers women who tend to default to people pleasing behaviours. The program focuses on building insight into ones behaviours, developing emotional competence (learning how to regulate and learn from all emotions we feel) as well as building courage to integrate these insights into our everyday lives so that we can live more authentically. Sharon is also a contributor to Newspaper articles (Sydney Morning Herald), Radio (ABC) and TV (Sky News, Channel 7 Sunrise), and is the Psychologist for eHarmony Australia.
Andy Wright is happiest in a well‑worn baseball cap. As founder of Never Not Creative, he rallies a worldwide community determined to make the creative industry kinder and fairer. He also steers Streamtime as CEO and co‑chairs Mentally Healthy. Different titles, same purpose: brilliant work should never cost anyone their wellbeing. Never Not Creative was born when Andy decided it was time to stand up and make the industry a better place. What started as one person calling for change has grown into a movement that shares research, sparks honest conversations, and builds practical tools that help teams thrive. Andy’s rule of thumb: protect the humans and the great work will follow. Picture a studio cat giving you a gentle nudge to stretch, breathe, and log off before the midnight oil even thinks about burning. Off the clock, Andy is dad to three energetic kids, husband to one exceptionally patient partner, and a loyal Everton supporter (character building, he insists). Whether he is championing healthier workplaces or cheering the Toffees through a tense ninety minutes, Andy believes creative success should leave everyone standing a little taller, not lying flat from exhaustion.
