Want to grow your agency but don’t know how? Has growth plateaued? Are you struggling to find more of the right type of client? Are you trying to build an awesome team and are finding it tough to find the right people? Or perhaps your agency is growing but you’d like a refresher, tips and advice on how to accelerate your growth?
If any of these questions resonate then why not join a bunch of highly motivated agency owners and Janusz Stabik, a coach and mentor to agencies across the globe and lead coach for Google across numerous agency growth programs to help find the answer.
What’s holding you back from running the agency you want to run? What do the high performers do differently from the rest? How good is your agency?
Janusz will take you through the strategy, benchmarks, tips and templates you’ll need to run an efficient and effective agency to accelerate your growth in 2021. You’ll meet other agency owners and gain fresh perspectives, you’ll feel the weight lift from your shoulders, you’ll be energised and excited about the future and you’ll have gained clarity on how to get there.
By the end of the workshop you will:
Understand what the high performing agencies do differently to the rest
Understand the key metrics and benchmarks of high performing agencies, and how you compare
Have a super simple scoring mechanism to quickly temperature check how your business is performing
Have a business operating system and meeting framework to help run your agency like clockwork
Have a renewed spring in your step, focus and energy to help move your business forward in 2021
Running and growing agency depends entirely on recruiting and retaining good people who do great work. You work hard to attract great employees, you want the best! But what does the “best” really mean? Good cultural fit? Good at their job? Experienced? Passionate about their work? All of this?
If any of the following rings true, this workshop is for you:
We have a great team, but we need a framework to ensure we understand what good looks like and how to recruit more of the same type of people going forward
Managing creatives/developers/{agency employees} is hard and can often feel like ‘herding cats’, there must be an easier way
You are on the cusp of growth and building the right team is key to success
Some of your people always underdeliver, their work is constantly substandard, and you spend most of your time managing them
Some of your people just don’t ‘fit’, they don’t have the right work ethic, and you feel constantly frustrated (perhaps they feel frustrated too)
You find it difficult to recruit good people and the competitive labour market is making this even more difficult
You have some great people working for you, but they never quite go the extra mile
I’m unsure what cultural fit means, but there are certain people who just don’t gel in our agency
At the end of this workshop you will:
Understand the two types of people problems that are killing your business, and what to do about it
Define what the ‘best people’ for your business look like in a simple, concise, insightful and action-oriented framework
Be able to measure your team (and applicants) against both cultural fit and job performance, simply and effectively
Have a mechanism to help grow and nurture an awesome agency culture
Audience: Agency owner founders, sales/marketing teams, account managers/client service execs
The average agency loses 20% of its revenue every single year through client churn. The sobering fact is, this is the average and it’s not uncommon for churn to be closer to 45% (a HUGE hole to fill). This results in unhappy teams, unhappy clients, lost marketing spend, lost time, lost effort, lost money – no wonder growth is so difficult?
What if:
We retained 90-95% of our revenue year-on-year
We increased LTV (lifetime value) of our clients by 10X
Our clients were ecstatically happy and became our FREE referral marketing machine
New sales and client acquisition built upon a solid foundation of revenue and funded future growth (rather than filling the hole)
Sound like a pipe dream? It’s not and it’s eminently achievable.
At the end of this workshop you will:
Understand the key reason that you don’t retain your customers and how this is hindering your growth
Be empowered and energised about how to create ecstatically happy clients who become your FREE marketing machine
Be able to identify the key opportunity to maximise client lifetime value
Join this workshop to find out how to kick-start your growth by focusing on your most important asset – your existing customers.
Book your place
You can book for each individual session via the links above or, for the most value, book all three sessions as a package by emailing [email protected].
Individual sessions are £45+VAT per session for BCI members or £70+VAT for non-members.
Book all 4 sessions for £100+VAT (BCI Members) or £160+VAT (non-members).
About Janusz Stabik
Janusz is a coach and mentor to agency leaders across the globe through his coaching practice and consultancy, Digital Agency Coach, where he helps helping agency owners to run better businesses, lead better teams, make more money and have fun doing so. He’s an ex-agency owner, a trusted speaker for Forbes, head coach at the GYDA Initiative and a lead coach for Google across multiple agency growth programmes throughout EMEA.
“For an industry that supposedly gets positioning, we generally do a pathetic job at doing it for ourselves.” Those are the straight-talking words of David C. Baker who joined us for a fascinating session earlier this month discussing how creative and digital businesses can nail their positioning statement to get the right clients.
Described by the New York Times as “the expert’s expert”, David C. Baker is an author, speaker and adviser to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written five books, advised more than 900 firms and keynoted at conferences in over 30 countries.
Here’s a summary of David’s brilliant talk with essential tips on how to come up with a positioning statement that works for your creative or digital brand.
Why bother with positioning?
The Wikipedia definition of positioning is: “the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is distinguished from the products of the competitors and different from the concept of brand awareness”.
Your positioning is vital if you want to win the right clients and for David C. Baker that’s all about coming up with a positioning statement that’s deeply focused on what you do and exactly who you do it for.
You need to go into a positioning exercise with the right attitude, David said. If it’s just about keeping busy, that’s a very bad reason, he warned.
Thinking about your positioning in terms of meeting the growth goals of your company is potentially a good reason but only if the goals are properly measured and sustainable.
A great reason for strong positioning is if it gives you the ability to deliver more effective work as a “deep specialist” and to charge a premium price.
But for David, the main reason he likes his agency clients to have a strong positioning statement is that he can’t write a marketing plan without one.
Types of positioning: Horizontal and vertical
David says there are two types of positioning to consider.
Horizontal positioning is offering a specialist service such as annual reports or targeting a specific demographic such as older people.
The benefits of this approach are that you get lots of variety and the opportunity to work with larger clients.
You also don’t have to worry so much about client conflicts and your business will have a greater immunity to economic downturns than if you were focused on a vertical sector.
The second option is vertical positioning which is targeting a particular industry sector such as financial services, tourism and hospitality.
The advantages of this approach are that it’s easier to find clients and they will often take you with them if they move jobs.
It’s also easier for your reputation to spread as communities tend to organise around verticals, with conferences, trades and awards etc, and the money you can make tends to be higher because verticals place a premium on deep expertise.
Testing your positioning statement
Once you’ve decided on your positioning statement, you should test it by answering some key questions.
David grouped them as “quick tests” and “better tests”.
The quick tests
Is it the typical “more better” nonsense? By this David means you don’t need to use superlatives in your positioning. Being “more better” than someone else is not a strategy. “Just state clearly what it is you do”, David said.
Could a prospect self-select themselves into or out of the running? Prospects should be able to read your positioning statement and know straight away whether or not your business is right for them. This means you won’t waste your time on pitching unsuitable clients.
Do you have an unfair advantage in maintaining the claims you are making?
Do you have some things that other people don’t have? Perhaps it’s unique research insights or you’ve delivered the service many times before.
Are the claims readily verifiable to an outsider before they hire you?
David said: “There are a lot of things that your clients love about you, but they can’t really test the veracity of those claims until they become a client. So it’s good, for example, that you’re responsive or that you listen carefully. But how can they verify that because there’s nobody out there saying ‘you know what, we tried to listen to our clients, and it just slowed things down, so we don’t do that anymore’.
“There are a lot of things that are true that are not a part of the positioning discussion, they are just there. You want to distinguish between why clients come to you, and why clients stay with you. They stay with you because of some of these other things, but that’s not why they come to you in the first place.”
Would you let a client of yours get away with a lack of precision in your claims? You probably have some clients who want to make claims about their product or service that you don’t think are courageous or strong enough. But if you’re really honest, are you doing the same? You should be “bold and unique” with your positioning, David said.
The better tests
How many competitors are there who occupy the same expert positioning as you?
David said that the number of competitors in your geographic client area should be between 10 and 200. If it’s fewer than 10, your positioning is probably not viable unless you’re starting something very new and you’re the first, or one of the first, to market. If you have more than 200 competitors, David advised that you should work on narrowing your positioning down.
How many client prospects are there that you could address?
David said that number should be between 2,000 and 10,000. Many will probably not hire you, but could they hire you if they wanted because your positioning fits their needs?
10 immediate, unrehearsed “aha” moments between peers
David gave the analogy of sitting on a train and striking up a conversation with a fellow passenger who he discovers works in marketing like he does. “I know a fair bit about marketing but I still expect to have 10 “aha” moments from the other person because they are positioned in a different space than I am. I want to have 10 of those “aha” moments in a 10 or 15 minute conversation.”
Your positioning needs to be such that you surprise others in your sector. If not, David said, then you’re probably not positioned well enough because you haven’t focused in an area and dived in deep enough.
Do you never run out of topics to write about?
When writing blog posts, do you sometimes think “I don’t know what to write about that is interesting or hasn’t been written about by lots of other people already?”. If the answer is yes, that’s a sign that your positioning probably isn’t right. “The deeper and tighter your positioning, the more things you can write about that are interesting to a smaller segment of the population,” David said. “Positioning is an exercise in exclusion, not inclusion.”
How to write a positioning statement
David shared some key tips for writing a positioning statement.
You do [this] for [these]
Your positioning statement needs to answer two questions: What do you do? Who do you do it for?
Keep it snappy
Your positioning statement should be no more than 12 words. Don’t use a lot of adjectives or adverbs and avoid superlative statements. ”Be brutally objective and rational in your statement. Let other parts of your website provide the ‘we’re the best’ and ‘we’re amazing’ messages.”
Scare yourself a little
Smart positioning decisions are made when people look at everything they do and decide honestly what should be included. That might mean leaving something out because there are too many competitors or it’s not your best work. That’s a painful decision to make”, David said, but scaring yourself a bit is no bad thing.
Socialise but don’t democratise
When coming up with your positioning statement, it is important you bring everyone along by involving your team, listening to feedback and answering questions well, but you (the managing director/chief executive/president etc) have got to make the final decision.
If all else fails, reluctantly build a sub-brand
If you settle on a positioning statement but you realise you only have very limited examples of how you fit and you’re nervous about jumping in with both feet, David said you can create a sub-brand. This is useful for a generalist business that is doing lots of things for lots of people but wants the advantage of a tight positioning.
Let us know how you get on with writing your positioning statement by tweeting us at @Bristol_CI.
What do a Bristol-based integrated marketing agency and a team of world-leading wet blastingexperts have in common?
No, this isn’t the start of the world’s worst joke. It was, however, a topic of discussion at Proctors HQ recently, as we talked about a series of surprising discoveries during Vapormatt and Proctors’ first year of working together.
But what similarities could there possibly be between a business who engineers and manufactures technology for some of the world’s most high-tech sectors; motor racing, aerospace, additive manufacturing/3D printing, medical implants and surgical tools; and a business whose bread and butter is creating marketing campaigns with a gut-punching impact?
40 years of expertise
Vapormatt and Proctors’ working relationship started in 2020, otherwise known as TheYear We All Want to Forget (But Can’t). Rather than this challenging 12 months compounding the pressure placed on our first projects together, it instead highlighted a number of the incredible qualities shared by both businesses.
From our ethos, to our team spirit, to our niche specialisms – there’s a lot to be said for what we share. And one of the most apparent surface-level similarities between our businesses is our age.
Both Vapormatt and Proctors have more than four decades of expertise, cementing both companies among the longest established within their respective fields.
Stewart and Terry Ashworth founded Vapormatt in 1978, growing quickly after a move from Guernsey to Taunton. Before long, Vapormatt had outgrown their new facility and discovered their niche: they wanted to build their own machinery, to their own high standards, so it matched the teams’ exceptional skill and proficiency.
This shift marked the true birth of Vapormatt’s wet-blasting business as it looks today. Vapormatt is a true pioneer of wet-blasting technology, offering world-leading tech complemented by unrivalled capability.
Similarly, Proctors has spent the last four decades refining its knowledge, practice and gaining unrivalled experience in the marketing sector. From the heart of Bristol, our 70-plus team is made up of award-winning creative, strategy and technology professionals – all of whom are experts in their own specialisms.
Measured and controlled success
For those not in the business of marketing and advertising, it can seem as though concepts are produced at random. A unicorn promoting an energy company? Meerkats pushing insurance products? There is, in fact, method among the madness. Every marketing decision has been researched and calculated in order to create the desired impact on its audience.
At P+S, we like to think we take things even further. We take a learn > build > measure approach to marketing strategy – meaning our work doesn’t stop when the campaign has launched. Instead, we continue to refine our marketing efforts on an ongoing basis.
And Vapormatt are much the same with their approach to engineering the right technology for each of their customers. Their design philosophy is ‘if you can measure it, you can control it’. And as a result of this focus, Vapormatt are leading the way when it comes to repeatable and reliable processing.
If you don’t already know, at its most basic level, wet blasting is a precision-driven process which uses water and slurry to refine an object’s surface with microscopic accuracy. It leaves nothing to chance. And the reason for Vapormatt’s esteemed reputation is largely due to their measured approach and exceptional attention to detail, powered by their understanding of every clients’ business.
Vapormatt’s patented technology and Proctors’ meticulous marketing strategy have a similar foundation: eliminating error and achieving the best results for our customers.
Our relationships set us apart
Any business worth its salt knows it’s not just a single product or function which is responsible for success. And both Vapormatt and Proctors value their customer relationships above everything else.
Vapormatt may be a world-leading technology business, but it’s their aftermarket service which offers the most value to their customers.
Because Vapormatt’s technology is highly specialised, much of their machinery is custom built – meaning it can take more than just ‘plug and play’ approach to use it. But Vapormatt’s promise is that they will work with every single client, offering hands-on guidance and remote assistance, individual expertise and teams of professionals to support every project. In fact, once the team have committed to a project, they don’t just find their clients the right tech and leave them to it: they stand by their side at every step of their production journey until they’re satisfied.
It’s a similar relationship to the one Proctors has with its clients. We don’t just push out marketing campaigns for our clients and leave. In fact, we view every job as an opportunity: to build deeper relationships between our clients and their customers, to open up new channels of brand-customer communication, or to simply assess what we can change to make our communications even more powerful.
And testament to the strength of our relationships? We’ve been working with many of our clients for decades, as we continue to bring them new ideas, fresh proposals, and identify innovative, relevant opportunities for their businesses.
For both Proctors and Vapormatt, our success lies in not just serving our clients: but in helping them realise new potential beyond what they ever thought they could be capable of.
Never afraid to be bold
When it comes to surface treatment and finishing, dry blasting is still the world’s dominant technology. Even companies who do offer more advanced, precision-driven wet-blasting processes will still offer dry blasting as a service in order to try and secure a larger market share – to capture those customers who may be resistant to trying something new.
However, Vapormatt focus solely on wet blasting – for today and for the future. And rather than seeing this as a limitation, the team knows it pays dividends. As a result of focusing purely on wet-blasting technology, Vapormatt are world leaders in their field. They’re the go-to name for wet-blasting machinery across the globe. And as a result, the team have complete confidence in both their ability and their technologies, so they can guarantee the quality of their machines’ output for every single project.
And at Proctors, we’ve never been afraid to be bold either. Whether through larger-than-life messaging or extraordinary creative, our mission is to make our clients stand out from the crowd, whatever it takes.
From implementing brave B2B messaging, to innovating with Augmented Reality, digitalised direct mail and interactive online content. Whether the brief is to create a simple email or to discover the most effective way to market a new product, we dedicate ourselves to finding more exciting ways of engaging our clients’ customers and showing off their products and services.
Building the world of tomorrow, today
As it happens, this particular integrated marketing agency and Vapormatt’s world-leading high-tech wet blasting business have more in common than you might think.
No matter how niche, technical or specialised your business is, you deserve to get more from your marketing. So if you have an ambitious marketing plan, big dreams for your next product launch, or just need a bit of a boost when it comes to a creative social strategy, talk to Proctors. We’ll be more than happy to put our heads together with yours and see where the year takes us.
In the two and a half years since launching, Bristol-based Haio has gone from strength to strength, making their mark as one of the fastest growing local UX and development agencies in Bristol and the surrounding area.
Now the team have taken an exciting new step, relaunching the brand – including taking on a new name; Unfold.
Making the complex simple…
Making the most complex things seem simple has always been the super-power behind the Haio team – helping growing digital businesses to create world-class user-experiences and digital platforms. The team works under the belief that with the right people and tools, anything is possible.
So what do Unfold actually do?
In short, the team build websites, web apps and digital platforms for start-up and scale-up businesses. They help entrepreneurs and business leaders develop world-class experiences by bringing expertise across four areas:
Building the right thing: through a process of analysing and refining concepts, big opportunities will be discovered, reducing risk and helping build products people will actually want to use.
Designing better products: take away the guesswork and design products which solve real-world problems by bringing real users into the design process.
Shipping technology faster: an agile, iterative design process gets products to market faster and lets businesses start collecting real customer data sooner.
Scaling businesses: optimising, understanding and improving the product to continue business growth. They also help up-skill and develop business’ in-house capabilities.
So why the change?
Working closely with fellow BCI member Sue Bush from Touchpoint Design, Haio needed a fresh platform and a clearer market positioning to continue growing alongside it’s clients scaling businesses. The team sought-out their raison d’être and in uncovering this essence, a better definition of who they are and what they do. Unfold is the culmination of this journey and sets the scene for their next exciting chapter.
So, what can you expect from Unfold?
Unfold’s mission is to empower and propel entrepreneurs and their businesses to the next level.
They’re also making their expertise from across the team more accessible, offering free, no obligation 1 hour consultancy sessions with a product or technical lead, to help talk through some of the challenges you might be facing. You can book a call any time through their website https://bit.ly/3oHJu70.
In addition to this, they’re on a mission to share their knowledge and break down barriers in understanding regarding tech development, startup success and digital platform scaling. This is why their new website has a fantastic new Resources Hub, dedicated to entirely free articles and reports on everything in the startup ecosystem – from fundraising through to scaling your technology.
Win a free UX audit for your business
Thirdly, to celebrate the launch they’re also running a small competition – offering 5 free UX audits to UK businesses. This is a chance to have a professional UX designer review and recommend some approaches to a specific challenge you may be facing with your digital product. You can find out more about that here https://bit.ly/3pFIrWx
For our first big announcement of 2021, we are delighted to reveal the new members of the Bristol Creative Industries board of directors.
Following the launch of our new brand and website towards the end of last year, our focus has been to bring on board a new team of directors who will help us deliver our plans to support members and Bristol’s creative industry in nurturing and attracting talent, connecting and growing their businesses.
The diversity of Bristol’s creative industries is something we are immensely proud of, but we also recognised the need for our board to better reflect that diversity. We need individuals who can bring different perspectives and experiences and help us widen our reach across the city. That will help us to future proof the organisation and better support our members.
We are extremely grateful to the stellar line-up of individuals who have joined our board. With their incredible expertise, they will help us build stronger connections with creative businesses, government organisations and individuals in all corners of the city.
Supporting our members
During the pandemic, members have relied on us for advice, counsel and connections. We will continue to do that as challenging times continue and our priority remains to provide a valuable service to our members.
The sector is a vital part of the region’s economy and we look forward to shaping many exciting new support initiatives, supported by our new board. Talent pipeline and business support are areas we know members want our help with and we’re looking forward to sharing more information about some exciting new initiatives in the coming weeks.
Despite the current economic conditions, there is much to celebrate. Bristol remains a brilliant place to run a creative business and we continue to see innovative companies making the city their home and joining our creative cluster.
“Despite very challenging times, our sector remains positive which fills us with confidence. Our role is to help future proof Bristol’s creative industries and our members by ensuring their businesses grow in a way that better promotes diversity and inclusion. The new Bristol Creative Industries board will help us to do that.”
Julz Davis has a 20+ year track record of delivering disruptive engagement solutions for complex campaigns across the community, civic and commercial sectors. He has worked for award-winning communication agencies, world food distributors, large-scale events, ethnic media and ethical banks. Julz is proud to have transformed, enriched and saved the lives of people from under-represented groups.
From Knowle West to Westminster, as an award-winning creativist, he is inspired to creatively use the tools of activism to co-create with organisations and other like-minded changemakers keen to advance adventures in diversity and social change, for good.
Marissa Lewis-Peart
Marissa Lewis-Peart is a designer from Bristol with a passion for how people interact with brands and how that experience is shaped through design. In 2019 Marissa won the Ben Martin Apprentice Award in collaboration with Bristol Creative Industries, Babbasa and The IPA. Through that, she attended SXSW in Texas to build her network and gain industry experience through a local internship program.
In addition, Marissa is a scholar on the Editorial Intelligence Social Capital Network programme funded by Google and a dancer in her spare time. She is passionate about helping other young people from underrepresented backgrounds into the creative industry.
Heather Wright
Heather Wright is a BAFTA-winning animation Executive Producer and Creative Industries Consultant. She is a collaborator and connector with a passion for creativity.
In 2020 Heather set up her own agency Springboard Creative. Prior to that she spent 22 years as Executive Producer, Senior Management Team and Board Director at Aardman Animations, where she was credited with being a major contributor to the cultural, commercial and creative success of the company.
She has many credits to her name but is most proud of her work as Executive Producer on BAFTA winning ‘Tate Movie Project’ actively engaging over 35,000 children across the UK, to co-create ‘Itch of the Golden Nit’. As Chair and Trustee of Creative Youth Network she supported the CEO and the Board during a time of transformation from being a local activity centre to being one of the South West’s most respected youth arts groups.
Heather is also an active member of the AHRC Creative Industries Advisory Group and supports South West based companies as an Innovation Expert for Business West.
She also has a lifelong interest in enriching the lives of children and young people everywhere, whatever their background, whatever their circumstances, by unlocking their creative potential.
Gail Caig
Gail Caig is a freelance consultant, working in strategy and policy development and specialising in the creative industries. She is currently working as an advisor to the Creative Industries Council. Gail has worked in national government for over a decade, primarily as Head of Creative Industries Policy at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Working across the private, voluntary and not for profit sectors, she has successfully secured major funding bids, overseeing programme delivery and advocating with, and for, a range of interest groups including people with learning disabilities.
Gail was Head of Policy for Creative England. She worked with governments and agencies in countries including Columbia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Germany to share best practice.
Dr. Susan McMillan
Dr. Susan McMillan is an award-winning television producer and writer who has spent much of her career at the BBC. She has also worked on many international co-productions with Discovery Channel, National Geographic and film companies in Australia.
Susan now inspires the next generation of creative industries talent in the South West. She developed the BBC partnerships at the University of the West of England, the first of their kind in the UK.
Susan set up the new School of Creative Industries at Bath Spa, partnered with Pinewood Studios and IBM. She has also developed exciting new film and gaming degrees with Bristol’s Boomsatsuma to ensure diversity and inclusion.
In addition, Susan is Executive Producer of Bath Spa Productions, a commercial production company and film studio with clients including BBC4 and BMW. During lockdown, she launched Z.Ed, a platform for emerging talent in the South West. She has also worked with Vuni, an app showcasing creative content from young people in Bath and Bristol.
As joint leader of an independent agency, 2020 has meant sleepless nights. But it has also provided opportunities to inspire others and galvanise our team.
1. There are no perfect leaders
There never has been and there still won’t be perfect leaders in 2021. Throughout 2020, leaders have been pushed and tested in completely new ways. Moving forward it’s important to focus on our strengths as leaders, rather than our weaknesses. Reach out and work alongside other leaders to delegate some of your leadership tasks and remember that in areas you struggle, someone else will excel. It is a positive thing to learn from this. We as leaders are always learning. In an effort to continue our development and competence in this area, with my fellow Director, Chris Thurling, we recently took part in a two-day course run by the Institute of Directors entitled Leadership for Directors. Be open to new information and to adapting your preferred methods and means as necessary.
2. Demonstrate what it means to be a good follower
As a leader you are also a follower, likely following other leadership team members within the business. Demonstrate what it means to be a good follower through asking the right questions and having the right attitude towards a mutual goal. Praise and reward good following within the business and cultivate an atmosphere of support and trust. This will be crucial in tackling the upcoming year.
3. Managing expectations about risk and innovation has never been more important
Staff will need to know what level of risk is acceptable within the business, especially coming out of the complex year that was 2020. It’s important that as a leader you communicate if risk and innovations are rewarded or if in the current period the aim is to avoid risk within the business.
4. Understand different motivations and work out how you provide them
We’re all motivated by different means: money, autonomy, flexibility etc. These motivations also change throughout a person’s life. Many of our motivations have changed in 2020 in particular as our lives have shifted emphasis. It’s vital that moving forward you have empathy with your team and ask individuals what it is that motivates them. Don’t waste your time offering flexibility to an individual who is focused on financial gain for example.
5. “Leaders are usually unaware, or at least underestimate, the motivating power of their presence.”
Sir Alex Ferguson got it spot on when he said this. Good leaders can inspire people simply by being around them, and often have an energy that people want to follow. This has increased in difficulty this year as a leader’s presence is significantly diluted on screen. The minute I as a leader press that ‘leave meeting’ button online, my presence has gone. This is an obstacle that needs to be overcome and one of the reasons I believe that, to misquote Mark Twain, the death of the office has been greatly exaggerated.
6. Change management
Understand, share and coach people through the change management process, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ change curve, so they appreciate the emotional journey they are likely to go through when faced with change, especially big or unexpected sudden change. We might go through stages of shock, denial, then anger and frustration, through to uncertainty or depression, before starting to feel more positive with acceptance, problem solving and finally commitment. Following the difficult year that has been 2020 it is vital that as we move forward, we are able to do so together.
7. Organisations need to nurture their social capital
It’s important to see connections and relationships develop across different levels and skill sets within the business. This is why, in normal times, colleagues enjoyed lunches and trips to the pub together. These obviously haven’t happened in 2020 and businesses will need to figure out how to maintain social connections whilst the virus still rages and how to rebuild them post lockdown.
8. Transparency
With communication, people want to understand WHY something has been decided – as much as possible, if you can share the raw or primary data that has influenced decisions, people will find it easier to contextualise and understand the reasons for decision-making. We’ve learned this year, when we haven’t felt the support of our team in a direction we propose, it might have been because we haven’t been transparent enough with what we were seeing, and why we thought the proposal was the best solution. Clear language is vital moving forward as the conversations that usually happen between staff in the office to provide clarity aren’t always happening remotely. Leadership styles are also contextual so bear in mind that what worked in the office may not work online. Perhaps a more direct approach will be needed. A greater emphasis on clarity will be necessary no matter what your chosen leadership style.
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate
In 2020, we have seen more than ever before the truth in the saying “Repeat yourself so often, you get sick of hearing yourself. Only then will people begin to internalise what you’re saying”. With so many changes, and also real or perceived threats, people want to know what that means for them. Even if there is no-change, communicating that gives reassurance. This remains crucial as we move into the uncharted territory that is 2021.
10. Leadership won’t change. It will evolve
Leadership principles go back centuries in history and remain relevant today. Moving forward, leaders will continue to build on these principles alongside an ever-evolving culture.
A lot has changed in 2020 but good leadership principles have not. Leaders have simply had to adapt.
This article was written by Andy Brown, Chief Financial Officer at Armadillo, and first appeared on Business Chief.
At this time of year, our marketing team asks people around the business for their predictions for the following 12 months. Whilst we can usually have a good stab at what the next year will hold, 2020 has thrown everything up in the air.
This time last year, very few people would have predicted a global pandemic, or the impact it might have.
So, who knows what next year will bring. But as I look ahead to 2021, I hope we will value bravery, of ourselves and those around us, and appreciate those who encourage us to be brave. A character trait that doesn’t always get the limelight, I think there are at least three specific areas where it will be valued even more than it has been in years gone by.
Creative and strategic confidence
Marketeers across the board, from senior decision makers at brands to the agencies they employ, need confidence to follow the courage of their convictions. To be brave embracing new technology and risky creative ideas for their message to resonate in a crowded landscape.
Vulnerable and trusting with relationships
Many of us have heard the adage “we’re in the same storm, but not in the same boat” this year. With friends and colleagues working from home, and at times physically isolated or in quarantine, we need to be brave for our friends’ sake. Brave by dialling down our own fear of rejection or being excluded and reach out to them. Demonstrating compassion for others, and making an effort to listen with empathy may for some be like rays of sunshine in their day.
Back yourself
And we need to be brave in believing in ourselves. To have increased confidence that we can do something which may feel challenging. Bravery in the hope and faith that tomorrow will be brighter, and we’ll get through this if we look out for each other and stick together.
If this thought resonates with you, and you want to wear your heart on your sleeve more than just figuratively, Relabelled Clothing is a local independent ethical business with some apt ‘Brave’ apparel for adults and kids.
This article was written by Andy Brown, Chief Financial Officer at Armadillo.
Here at Armadillo we’re excited to announce that we will now be offering all staff external coaching with renowned confidence coach, Jo Emerson.
The introduction of external coaching follows our decision to move away from a traditional line managed structure. We have chosen to replace line managers with networked support; task-based support to bring clarity to deliverables, skills-based support to build expertise in key specialisms, and growth-based support. This is where the coaching will come in. We hope that this move will give people the headspace to work through their challenges, ambitions, frustrations and ideas, as well as empower staff to seek their own solutions and decide their own actions.
Fiona Craig, our Strategy and Planning Director, explains why external coaching was a must-have for us: “Internal support is very much focused on the work we do for our clients – you could say the client is the key stakeholder here, and all efforts are focused on doing a good job for them.
Fiona continues: “The support offered by external coaching is centred exclusively around the individual – often there can be a tension between the two areas of focus, and in a traditional structure, line managers can struggle to do a really good job of supporting on all fronts. So, this allows those who are exceptionally skilled in one area to excel, while the individual still gets supported on all sides.”
Jo Emerson is a confidence and human behaviour expert, author, and the winner of International Executive Coach of the Year (2019-2020).
Fiona goes on to say “Jo is highly experienced in dealing with change and confidence, and has a wonderful energy that felt right for us here at Armadillo. She will spark some great conversations and even greater ideas, we feel sure.”
Jo adds, “It’s a real privilege to be working with Armadillo at such a critical time and to support team members as they grow and develop within an incredibly fast-paced industry. Armadillo’s new networked-support structure coupled with external and objective coaching shows what an innovative and agile company they are!”
We hope you will join us in offering Jo a very warm welcome. We thoroughly look forward to working with her and cannot wait to see members of the Armadillo team succeeding in their career and self-development goals.
Networking. For many people, the word fills them with dread. For others, there’s an element of guilt as they know they should be devoting more time to making useful connections.
Perhaps you’re more extroverted and revel in the idea of being in a (virtual) room of new faces. Or you may feel ok about it but are unsure how to do it with the “stay at home, see no-one” Covid business environment.
There’s no doubt that networking is essential to the success of a business. But as it’s not urgent or immediately fee-paying it’s something that can easily end up at the bottom of the to-do list. Whether you love it or loathe it, Bristol Creative Industries (BCI) has just the ticket.
BCI Virtual Lunch
The BCI Virtual Lunch is an opportunity for a small group of members to connect virtually and exchange information about their business. The BCI team chair and host the one-hour session and invites are sent to contacts within the network.
We see businesses of all shapes and sizes during the session. From the managing director of an established 50+ person agency to founders of an innovative startup, each month we encourage a variety of members to attend. You’re more likely to meet potential partners or referrers than competitors.
Each guest has a three-minute slot or ‘elevator pitch’ to talk about their business. Some provide a general overview whereas others are more focused on the ‘who, what, how, why and for whom’. You don’t need to fill the three minutes, and you can add in a bit of informality and fun. It’s just three minutes and then you’re back on mute.
Making valuable connections
The members’ lunch is much more than just pitching; it’s a shared space for connecting with your peers to discuss challenges: Covid, managing remote teams, communicating over zoom, missing the office buzz, getting rid of office space, recruiting, new business pipeline and conversion, confidence, those on slowdown, those overstretched… the hour flies by. General themes are shared and collected by the Chair, who also is the rigorous timekeeper. It makes for a busy hour of listening and a feeling of community.
Does it sound terrifying? Well, maybe, but virtual lunches do have some advantages compared to traditional face-to-face networking, which can be unstructured and uncomfortable. You participate from the comfort of your own office/home, there’s no travelling, no small talk, only three minutes of talking for which you can prepare, and you hear from 11 other businesses – quite a high hit compared with an event. There’s no competing for airtime and you don’t have to ask for contact details as these are circulated after the event.
BCI’s Virtual Lunch is proving an effective way for members to widen their networks and it’s likely we’ll continue the format even when the pandemic has passed.
What our members say
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what Kate Sikora from Noble Performs had to say about her first BCI Virtual Lunch in November 2020:
“What a delight, mid-lockdown, to spend an hour seeing some familiar faces, meeting new contacts and discussing our current challenges in business. Thank you to Bristol Creative Industries for keeping us connected, as you have done so well for so many years.”
“We’d love to meet you and hear about your business,” said Chris Thurling, Chair, “and if you’ve been before, do come again. This region is known for its cluster of creative businesses and BCI is here to strengthen those connections. From one conversation, that links to others, that cross-refer to more contacts, to work contracts, to talented people. It’s a network that’s constantly growing, changing and on the move, offering opportunities.”
The talented creatives at Bristol designers Phoenix Wharf have once again taken GOLD for Best Hospitality Project at the London Design Awards, taking the top spot for the second year in a row. On both occasions, the winning project has been for a South-West client, shining a welcome light on the region’s buzzing hospitality industry at both a national and international level, with the London Design Awards representing the UK arm of the world’s largest network of design award programmes, which has recognised outstanding projects from over 7,500 brands and 2,500 studios since its 2010 inception by organisers DrivenXDesign. The awards run annually in New York, Shanghai, Sydney and Hong Kong, as well as London.
Phoenix’s Wharf’s 2020 winning project was its design for an ethical, accessible, community-oriented supermarket – The Bristol Loaf – in the city’s Bedminster area, celebrating the best local produce and ingredients by bringing together a café with retail offers including its own bakery, cheeses from Two Belly, new wine offer The Bristol Vine and fruit and veg from Hugo’s Greengrocer.
In 2019, the designers took GOLD for The Yeo Valley Café, taking the Somerset-based business – also the UK’s leading organic dairy brand – to London for the first time in the form of a two-storey café, shop and workspace on Queensway in the west of the city.
‘What these awards highlight is the great entrepreneurialism of the South-West in the hospitality field’, Chris Gwyther, Founder of Phoenix Wharf, commented. ‘We love working with operators who have both fresh ideas and a real vision. Neither project had the highest budget in the world, so it just goes to show that you don’t have to be in the luxury market to make an impact and a difference. You just have to know your target audience.’
‘When it comes to design’, commented Phoenix Wharf Associate Creative Director Emma Carter, who led both projects to fruition, ‘Bristol can now compete with any city in the country. What’s also notable about these projects is what a great advocate the South-West is forboundary-pushing sustainable design, with both projects featuring re-purposed materials wherever possible, and offering healthy, organic and sustainable food and drink with true community appeal.’
About Phoenix Wharf:
Phoenix Wharf is an interior design and branding agency specialising in hospitality and retail. Founded in Bristol in 2015 and independently owned, the consultancy brings ‘substance with soul’ to its clients, from start-ups to established heritage brands, local, national or international, including Space NK, The National Trust, Yeo Valley, Ensemble, Craghoppers, The Gro Company, Gill Marine, Private Room and Gymshark. Along with sister creative companies Ignition (exhibitions, events and experiences) and Caroline (strategic communications), Phoenix Wharf forms part of Istoria Group.
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