I’ve written about some lessons learned while working in-house that made me a better consultant and business owner. Now, I’m turning the tables and following up with some ideas for what I think helped shape my success when I was an in-house, corporate, creative.

I have been fortunate to work for some name-brand organizations as an in-house creative. But my career didn’t begin in-house. I started freelancing early, before even attending design school, and for a year after graduating from The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. During these formative years of my career, I learned the difference between merely freelancing as a graphic designer and consulting with clients to solve their most significant design challenges.

Design students at SVA learn how to be creative problem-solvers, developing original solutions to communications and design challenges. That meant not just designing something that merely looked good but also solved a strategic need. We learned that you first needed to define the real challenge to be addressed. This often required some digging and prodding from clients who typically ask for what they thought the problem was when what they needed was something else much more specific and measurable.

This consulting mindset is something I brought to every in-house cubicle and office I inhabited. Here are the elements of a consulting mindset that I think will take you and your department from order-takers to creative problem-solving rock-stars!

Does it need to be a light-bulb?

You have undoubtedly heard a few “light bulb” jokes before. If none come to mind, let me entertain you for a moment:

Q: How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change.

And here’s one related to the creative profession that stuck with me:

Q: How many Graphic Designers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Does it need to be a light bulb? 

Sure it’s just a joke, but when you think about it, the best creative work comes out of being curious and not assuming that what the client wants is what they need. And our superpower is seeing things uniquely different from other (dare I say normal) people. 

Don’t accept that the idea (AKA deliverable) the client asked for is the right solution to the problem. Just because someone said, “we need a photo of a sunset,” doesn’t mean that a photo of a sunset will communicate the right message. Maybe an icon would be better because it’s going to be a 2-color print job, or it’s going to be so small that an image would be unrecognizable. Or maybe it’s not even a sunset at all, because what the client wants to convey is “a day at the beach with family.” In which case, you might suggest sandcastles, a beach ball, sunscreen, and a towel, or kids with sunburned shoulders.

Determine a shared measurement of success.

If you don’t want to be treated like an order-taker, then start behaving like a partner in the process. Partners work towards shared goals. Those goals should be discussed, negotiated, and understood by everyone at the onset of the project. The creative solutions your team dreams up should help your client achieve those goals.

I will assume that you use some form of project or creative brief at the onset of any project. If you don’t, you should begin immediately with the very next project request that comes into your department.

A brief is like a roadmap for the project and the solutions your team needs to develop. The client typically provides you with basic project information in a kick-off meeting, and you should follow up with lots of questions to make sure you understand their needs and goals.

Knowing their strategic business goals is essential to know if the resulting deliverable was successful after the project. Include this line in your brief:

“The success of this project will be measured by [insert a non-subjective, qualitative or quantitative, form of measurement that aligns with business goals].”

For example: “The success of this project will be measured by a 15% increase in new subscriptions to our newsletter over a 60-day period.” would be a great goal and measurement metric for a pop-up graphic on a website to get visitors to subscribe. 

It will also affect how your team approaches copywriting, image selection, design, and more. I can almost guarantee that “design something cool that will win an award” isn’t going to be a shared goal. So don’t worry about your department’s creative portfolio, as much as how well you are helping your internal clients to achieve business goals.

Detours, not roadblocks.

In-house teams tend to be very protective of brand assets. Especially when clients make requests that require pushing the limits of what’s acceptable according to the brand guide.

While it’s easy to say “no” to potentially brand-damaging or short-turnaround requests, you need to be mindful of appearing like you’re putting up roadblocks to solving their problem.

When someone asks for something you know you can’t produce because it’s off-brand, you can’t do it in the time they need it, or it’s just a bad idea, try this approach instead:

“No, we can’t do that. But what if we… [insert a better idea here]”

Then brainstorm an alternate approach with your client. Use their suggestion as a launching point for new ideas and even team building. Strive to make flexibility and creativity the hallmark of your teams’ reputation.

It’s going to take small wins over time.

Working in-house means you don’t get to choose your projects the way an outside agency might. So this shift from order-taker (whether real or perceived) is going to take some time. Look for the small wins with each project, and the big winds will come too. Try following up with your client after a project has been delivered to see how it was received and if they met their business goals. Talk about the positive results and opportunities for improvement next time. You’re going to appear to be a partner, solutions provider, and creative rock-star for it.

The post How A Consulting Mindset Will Take Your Department From Order-Takers To Creative Problem-Solving Rock-Stars! appeared first on UpSource.

The stereotypes associated with in-house creative groups are abundant. Most are more annoying than true. But hold on, there’s one that may have a touch of truth behind it. And some of the most cherished benefits of landing an in-house gig may be the key cause of it.

The one in-house stereotype I hate hearing about is a client not believing
inspirational results are possible from an in-house creative team. This makes the
hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The perception is based on the assumption that the in-house creative path provides
a steady gig, a regular paycheck, health benefits, and regular dinners with the family.
This is what makes in-house careers so attractive to many designers. However, does
that mean it also breeds a complacent stagnation of creativity? Personally, I’ve
experienced many nights of nuked food at the dinner table alone. But honestly, I
have seen complacency and what it can do to the work overtime. Who is
accountable for this?

First, let’s understand the nature of the design industry. Our status as professionals
is based on a combination of innate talent, our specialized education, the
development of our skills and our recognized mindset as a group—not unlike other
professions.

Before working anywhere, it’s the commitment to develop these

attributes that define us personally. And a certain amount of that development is our own
professional responsibility. It drives our personal brand.

A key component of this is inspiration. Creative people know what inspires them.
They should reach for that inspiration at every opportunity.

In hiring us, the employer owns a certain amount of responsibility to develop us as
well. It’s an investment toward better quality, production, and ultimately their
bottom line. Employers want to increase our value, not necessarily personally, but
to the company. If that sounds like making us a commodity, well, we’ll need to get
over it. In fact, take advantage of that.

As creative leaders, part of our job is to inspire our people.
Most creative leaders didn’t become leaders because they suck. We have experience. If you’ve been there–done–that and bought the shirt, share your experiences. It’s a way to give back to the profession and enhance the value of your people to the company. Lead by example. When you’re inspired, spread the love. Create a repository of creative inspiration available to your entire team. Have each of them contribute. Maybe schedule occasional review sessions to talk about the latest additions. Be involved in your team’s work to the point of frequent critique sessions with other teammates—with the intent to review project progress and to gain immediate feedback from other creatives. However, teach others not to rip into what’s wrong with a project right away, like many of our professors did to some of us back in the day. Remember?

We’ve all had those heartbreaking moments when our favorite concepts were
rejected by a client. In fact, easily 65 percent of the best work I’ve done never saw
the light of day. Each of our team members is sure to have experienced that same
heartbreak. Give your creative staff a chance to bring those projects back to life.
Hold scheduled “Living Dead” share sessions with your teams. The team will have an
appreciation for the work well beyond what the client could ever articulate.
Mentoring is another inspiration tickler. Have interns and new hires shadow your
top talent for a time. Don’t rely on them merely observing. The experienced talent
should have the next generation do the work, just under their meticulous eye. That usually makes learnings easier to remember—and in my experience, the mentors learn almost as much as the mentees.

I am a huge fan of road trips. Be involved in the local creative scene. Look for
opportunities (e.g., gallery showings, studio tours, speaker events) that your team
can attend together. In fact, encourage your team to come up with their own road
trip suggestions.

As an attendee of many design conferences, I know how inspiring they can be.
Developing a plan to get your team to design conferences is a huge shot in an
inspirational vein.

These are just a few suggestions to kill complacent stagnation and drive inspired
creativity into your clients’ projects. Kill that stereotype!

I know what you’re thinking … the organization has a budget. Budgets truly can be inspiration killers. Try and work as much of the above ideas into your budget, or at least as much as you can get away with. Argue that the return is the increased value of your team to the company. True, that value is intangible, but the ROI will show when your team’s work directly affects company sales in positive ways—but that’s another story.

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By the end of 2015, after being an in-house creative director for nearly 8 years and working in this field for over 20 years, I found myself self-employed for the second time in my career. Now, as I enter my fourth year as a brand and creative strategy consultant, I attribute some of my success as a business owner to my experiences and the lessons I learned by working in-house. Reflecting on that time being in-house, I can also say that my consulting mindset, and teaching instincts, also attributed to my success leading in-house creative teams.
Whichever side of the fence you find yourself on, leading an in-house team or managing your own business, here are some things that have strikingly similar importance to how successful you will be.

Remember, you are running a business.
As much as being a creative leader is about the creative output of your designers, writers, photographers, videographers, and so on, it’s also about understanding how to run a business. As an in-house leader, you must come to grips that you are running a business unit within a corporation that needs to have procedures, processes, and policies to operate smoothly. Some corporations event document this information to ensure continuity of business. Your job, as the business unit leader, is to continually reassess, reevaluate, and redesign how your business runs to make it the most effective it can be.
This operational rigor comes in handy when you are self-employed so that your own business runs smoothly, plans for the future, and adapts to marketing changes. If you take the time to document how you run everything about your business – from marketing to working on projects, and billing clients – you will absolutely be more mindful about how things get done and where you can make adjustments to be more efficient and profitable.

Your relationships with other people are really, really, important.
I have believed in the power of networking since I was a teenager. I got my first freelance job because of it, got my first job out of college because of it, got my first corporate job at Banana Republic because of it, and quickly transitioned to a position at Gap when Banana Republic decided they were no longer going to be doing graphic tees because of it. I built my freelance business from 1999 to 2007 through networking, and my current consulting firm would not have ramped up so quickly since 2015 if not for my network of professionals that I could reach out to during that time.
So many people get the idea of “networking” wrong. If you’re networking, thinking that good things will come of casting a wide net, you are wasting your time. The key to strategic networking isn’t spending MORE time networking, it’s less time – but with more of the right people. There are two things that I have come to believe are more accurate than anything in business:

1. It’s not what you know, but who you know
2. Building strong relationships is more important than having a big network

Any self-employed creative professional, agency owner or consultant knows the power of networking. It’s how you grow awareness about your business, build a reliable source of referrals, and find strategic partners you can do business with. But for the corporate leader, this is even more so important. You can’t operate in a bubble within the corporate environment. You need to get out there and meet your internal clients, peers, and the (appropriate) higher-ups in the business. Having good relationships with all of these people will make it easier to sell creative ideas, educate them on how your department does things, and frankly make it easier to ask for more resources. Additionally, it’s one of the ways you will build credibility within the company because – if you do it right – your network will be advocates of your department and of you.
Manage your time like it is a precious, rare, commodity. Because it is.
I’ll be blunt here  and tell you the one skill you need to master no matter whether you are in-house or on your own: Say “no” to meetings or anything that is not worth your time, as much as possible.
There are two reasons for this, and they should be kind of obvious – but the more I talk to other creative leaders, the more I realize it is not as apparent as I thought it was.

1. You have too much work to do to spend so much time in unnecessary meetings.
2. Being too available sends the wrong message to everyone.

Creative leaders get invited to a lot of meetings about projects. We also get invited to business meetings related to the company, as befitting our roles in the corporate structure. Those of us who have worked corporate jobs know how many companies have developed a “meeting culture” (I actually attended a meeting where we planned other meetings) that becomes detrimental to both productivity and morale. What’s more, the nature of our role invites people to drop by our offices for an impromptu brainstorming session, status update, or worse to complain about a new corporate policy that will inevitably create more work for everyone. These interruptions not only break your concentration and the flow of creative ideas, but they suck up your time that you will need to earn back by staying late at the office or working over the weekend.
Guess what? Most meetings are unnecessary. Much of what someone called a meeting for could be achieved on a quick phone call or email. And if a meeting is essential, you need to ask yourself: Do I need to be there? Maybe this is an opportunity to delegate a direct report to go to the meeting and report back to you with a brief email.

As a consultant, you need to be discerning about how you spend your time. Not only do you need to leave time to do the work clients hired you to do, but you need to give yourself time for business development, marketing, finance, etc. Yes, networking is vital to growing your business, but you don’t need to do more of it. Be strategic about who you meet with and how. Can it be done with a phone call? Is this networking meeting or event going to result in a referral, business partner, or client? If it’s not a “heck yes,” then it’s a “heck no”!

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