Matrixing/Matrix Management

Starting in the mid-1990s, Hill & Knowlton's management addressed how to restore excitement, growth, and profitability to one of the oldest and best-known brands in the public relations industry. Ultimately the answer to that challenge was to embrace matrix management, which replaces a silo approach to account management with a management philosophy and organizational strategy that builds teams relevant to each account based on the most relevant expertise.

One of the steps in meeting this challenge was to ask, “How we can bring value to clients?” This question could not be answered without recognizing that it might require an end to the silo approach. A silo approach to managing client accounts assumes that one account manager with his or her team is the only resource made available to the client.

The silo approach had lots of problems. Clients were denied the broad talent, intellect, and experience of the firm—which should be one of the fundamental reasons they would hire Hill & Knowlton versus a local boutique. Clients were not getting full access to global resources and specialist skills. Growth was artificially restrained by the talent and experience of the local office. And staff didn't have the professional opportunity to interact with other offices and skills to encourage their own growth and development.

The matrix management style has some clear strengths. It provides clear fiscal accountability. It facilitates a hands-on training and mentoring environment for public relations people. It delivers local accountability for clients and accounting clarity for billing.

The challenge was preserving the historic strengths of geographic management while unlocking the potential for clients, agency people, and the firm. The solution was matrix management.

Matrix management, as introduced at Hill & Knowlton in the United States in 1996, was designed to deliver greater value for clients, staff, and the firm. It was a management tool to compensate for the weaknesses of local profit and loss (P&L) management by unlocking our potential.