3 Mindsets for Effective Brand Strategy Workshops
By Levina Kusumadjaja
When I first learned about strategy workshops, I thought that it was a workshop where I needed to come ready to present with a keynote full of work samples and all of that. I thought I had to come with a ton of research in my back pocket about the client, so that I will sound smart and look like I am a true expert in that workshop. Obviously, I was 100% wrong.
A strategy workshop doesn’t work like that. A strategy workshop isn’t a time for us to show off to our clients. That’s the total opposite of what a strategy workshop is all about. It isn’t about us at all, because it is about our clients. It is about understanding who or what the brand is, who needs to know about the brand, and how we are going to bridge the gap between the two. It is about figuring out together how you can help the brand and serve your client. And to be effective in these workshops, there are three basic mindsets that we should have.
Mindset #1: Come empty
Coming into a strategy workshop with assumptions are like mixing food dyes. Imagine there’s an icing for a cake and this icing is the business. Now think about it, who should color the icing—the business owners or us, the strategist? Of course it’s the business owners! When we come with assumptions, it’s like putting food dye on the icing with the colors we want, not what it actually is. And then we keep mixing our colors with the colors that the business wants to put on the icing. It becomes a muddy mess, brown and gross.
Strategists, if you forget everything else in this article, please don’t forget this advice: come empty. I’m not saying that this is the only important mindset to have; but without this mindset, the rest won’t work. We need to learn to come to strategy workshop without our assumptions and opinions. We need to learn to come with empathy. Our goal isn’t to convince our clients to believe and approve our strategy. Our goal is to understand what they need, so that we can figure out the right strategy. These are two completely different things.
Mindset #2: You’re not there just to listen, you’re there to understand
Years back, I used to do settle with an email brief from one of the creative directors I worked with. He used many adjectives to describe the kind of website content that his client was looking for. I settled with listening and reading, but without understanding. I didn’t ask further questions to clarify and I just started writing. Guess what? I had to do so many revisions because we weren’t on the same page. What he described as “fun” wasn’t my definition of “fun” at all. It was a horrible experience.
It makes a difference when you come thinking you’re just there to sit down and listen quietly, compared to knowing you have a specific goal to accomplish through a strategy workshop. Your task in a strategy workshop is to ask really good questions, really hear the answers, then ask more really good questions, and keep repeating these steps. It’s not just listening to what your client says, but bringing you and your client to the same page and understanding.
Mindset #3: You’re not just a glorified note taker
Let’s take it a step further than just understanding. You’re not just there to take notes and make sure those notes are correct, but then you are also there to process the thinking. You need to ask questions in your mind as you go through the workshop, “Why is what they said important?”. As strategists, it’s important for you to constantly be processing what your client is communicating through two filters:
Who is the brand?
Who needs to know about the brand?
This is why strategy workshops are so valuable. It’s not just about you understanding your client to do the project well, but also about you helping your clients understand their business and their goals better. The discussions in these workshops can help your clients think and make decisions about their business. It helps them understand things they probably didn’t even know about their own business. You’re not just there to pull out things about their business, but you are helping them clarify their thoughts about the business.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!