How Hive Is Helping An Entertainment Company Double Its Footprint
Hive is used by many different types of performing arts organizations, but this one is special. As a premier ballet company, this Hive customer not only presents exhilarating performances but also runs extensive educational outreach programs and offers top-level professional dance training at its academy.
Despite nearly two years of pandemic-related uncertainty, the ballet company has found ways to move forward. When indoor performances were canceled, the team pivoted to outdoor and virtual shows. And with support from its generous donors, the company not only continued operating but was also able to build a brand new center for entertainment.
This second building has doubled the company’s physical footprint in the community – but in order to grow and succeed within this massive opportunity, the organization needed to bring structure to its internal operations as well. That’s where Hive came in.
Before Hive: An Entertainment Company In Need Of Structure
In addition to its performers, the company currently has less than 100 employees working across the Marketing, Production and Ops, Artistic, Patron Experience, Development, Academy, and Finance teams. But this number is growing quickly. With the opening of the new center, the company recently hired a new team member to help run the facility and plans to hire more employees in the near future.
Before finding Hive, there wasn’t a systematic approach to managing projects and workflows across the company. Projects were tackled as they came up, and employees were collaborating via a combination of Microsoft Project, Teams, and email. And with its second location now opening, it was more important than ever for the team to structure workflows and give employees a single place to collaborate on projects and track all of the amazing work they were doing.
As creatives, many employees at the company had never even thought about the process of how projects are managed. However, a handful of employees did have experience with project management solutions, and they knew the organization could reach new levels with the help of the right tool.
There were three overarching problems that they needed to address:
1. Visibility
With so many different departments, they needed a way for people to understand what others are currently working on, but also still let each department operate independently.
For example, the marketing department works with the artistic team, production team, patron experience team, and many others. However, until Hive, the marketing department wasn’t able to see what each of those teams was working on, which means it was often blindsided by last-minute requests.
2. Prioritization
Before Hive, the company was always putting out fires and spending time on things that weren’t actually impacting the organization. Without a tool to help with this, tasks would often come in at the last minute, making it hard for teams to properly manage resources and understand which projects were actually worth it. Prioritizing tasks would help teams operate proactively rather than reactively, so it could allocate time to projects that actually have a larger purpose.
3. Accountability
They needed a system that would also hold people accountable for their work. Because employees wear so many different hats, it was hard to hold any specific person accountable when a specific task or project came due. Without proper ownership, people lacked a sense of responsibility and tasks were falling through the cracks. The teams needed metrics to back up which tasks were assigned to who, which tasks were completed, and when this all happened.
With these pain points in mind, employees had been advocating for a project management tool at the company. They wanted to grow into something bigger, showing people there is a strong structure behind the organization, which would mean more work, more employees, and more opportunity for growth – they knew it was the perfect time to get leadership on board.
The Scorecard: From 16 Tools To Just 1
The process for choosing the right project management tool began with intensive research. The team responsible for choosing the tool began with a field of 16 different options, which they selected through a combination of web searches and past experiences. From this initial list of 16, they began to weed out tools that lacked must-have features or didn’t offer discounts to nonprofits, which was essential for its budget.
Once it was narrowed down to the final four tools, the company tested each one, participated in demos, and then weighed the pros and cons, highlighting what fit their desired functionality.
After this thorough evaluation process, the metrics were loud and clear – Hive scored much higher than all of the other tools. In addition to the sheer numbers, they also liked Hive’s simple (in a good way!) interface. Because most people at the company had never used a project management tool before, Hive’s user-friendly features made the decision an obvious one.
The Impact Of Hive: Just Getting Started
The company has only been using Hive for a few months, but it has already impacted the way the organization runs on a daily basis. Here are some of the ways Hive is helping them tackle this new chapter with more organization and structure than ever before.
1. Templatizing complex projects
To save time and standardize the planning process for each production on the calendar, the organization has created Production Templates in Hive. Each template contains tasks that are always a part of every production, such as ticket sales and marketing rollouts. While the specifics may look slightly different from production to production, these templates will help streamline and provide structure to the planning process.
With Hive in place, they plan to build other useful templates, which will be instrumental for replicating the planning and execution processes in the future. Instead of manually planning each upcoming show or event, they will be able to simply click a button, apply the corresponding template, and get to work immediately.
2. Planning and executing company initiatives
In addition to planning schedules and budgets for immediate projects, Hive is helping the organization plan for larger company-wide initiatives that are still several years out.
In the world of entertainment, it’s important to think up to three years out to give every department enough time to prepare and execute accordingly. While some shows can be expected on the calendar every year, other shows require much more creative thinking and strategic planning. Hive is providing the structure that helps all departments understand what is coming down the pipeline, so they can make smarter decisions and prepare every aspect, from marketing materials to designed props.
Templates are also going to play a key role here. With unique templates built for different types of performances, festivals, or activities, the company will be able to get the ball rolling on future initiatives quicker than ever before.
Moving Forward
As Hive rolls out across more departments at the ballet company, its employees are working hand-in-hand with their Hive Customer Success representatives to make sure everything goes smoothly. With Hive in place, there will be less reactionary behaviors and more proactive, useful mindsets across the company. The organization undoubtedly has a bright future ahead of it, and the Hive family is so excited to grow alongside it.
