Not just communications professionals, trusted partners

Bringing in an agency team can feel like a risk. It means working with an external group that needs to quickly understand your business, represent your thinking and help move important work forward.

With 50 percent of executives bringing in third-party support for core internal capabilities like communications, according to Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey 2024, companies can introduce significant risk to their business if the partnership falls short.

But when you find the right team, it doesn’t just take work off your plate—it amplifies your impact across the organization. It’s not just about delivering a plan or creating content. It’s about having a partner who can step in, understand the business, build relationships with stakeholders and help the business achieve its objectives.

In a recent conversation at an agency offsite meeting, Forty1 consultant Callan Russo and Kate Prout, who we partnered closely with at a multinational pharmaceutical company, discussed the importance of having a trusted partner.

“It’s that thought partnership—really understanding the business, embedding yourselves in the team, being an extension of the team,” she said looking back on her experience with dedicated agency teams. “Before I engage any agency, I ask whether they can embed quickly, whether I’d trust them with an unfinished idea, and whether I’ll get the same people consistently.”

As that partnership takes hold, initial hesitancy gives way to something more powerful. Your external partners begin to feel like a true extension of the organization, and a vital part of your team.

From idea to execution

Most organizations don’t need more vendors. They need partners who can think alongside them and strengthen the work. On the difference a dedicated team brings to a partnership, Kate described, “That ability to have a thought partner who is like an extension of the team.”

It’s the flexibility to bring a half-formed idea or a new challenge to the agency team and trust that those ideas can be shaped into something actionable. “When you have a trusted partner who knows your business, you can share your initial ideas freely, and know that they will put structure around it,” Kate shared.

An outside perspective, especially from agency partners working across companies and sectors, can also bring fresh thinking and greater clarity.

Just as importantly, consultants don’t just formulate a plan. They take a well-thought-out strategy and translate it into action. “They have a plan,” Kate said, “and they’re also going to work alongside your internal team to execute it.”

Consistency matters more than scale

At Forty1, Kate experienced a dedicated team embedded in day-to-day operations.

“It’s not a team of 20 people trading off work,” she said. “You get consistency.”

When it comes to your agency partner, you don’t just want capability—you want confidence in the people doing the work.: “A small, focused team of highly experienced senior communications folks who can be a Swiss army knife across many aspects of communications.”

What does Kate recommend to teams looking for a trusted partner to help move ideas and initiatives forward?

After years of working with agency partners, Kate distills it to three things — all of which she found with Forty1:

1. Embedded thought partnership, not just task execution
2. A small, senior, consistent team you can rely on
3. The trust to share unfinished thinking and know it will come back stronger