It is the same thing that I encounter when talking to agencies who are continually successful in the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, and also in those that manage to recruit and retain the best staff. They have a process for everything.

Many an agency will champion their creative process and rightly so; it’s tried and tested and delivers great work for their clients. But away from creativity, shying away from ‘process’ is still a common trait. Is it because, as an industry, we are supposed to have a freewheeling, fly by the seat of our pants approach to life and somehow process – especially when applying it to our businesses – appears to go against this ethos?

For a small, lifestyle business this approach may work perfectly well. With low overheads a business could cope with the peaks and troughs of agency life. But it can take a toll on the agency lead. We have all seen people burn out.

So, the answer must be a process for everything? Well, yes and no. Having something written down as a guide for everyone to follow is essential, but crucially it needs to be simple and even more crucially it needs to be followed. I bet you already have a folder called ‘Processes’ hidden away on your server that hasn’t been visited for years.

When it comes to new business you need to decide who you are targeting, why you are targeting them and when and how you will go about doing it. Otherwise you adopt the ‘spray and pray’ approach that DBA Expert Natasha Ellard-Shoefield recently discussed in this article for the DBA; Natasha makes clear that a more considered, process-led approach from the outset, is key to developing long-term client relationships.

The business as a whole will benefit from everyone knowing what is expected of them and how they are meant to behave; once you’ve got your process, write it down and communicate it to the rest of the team to make sure they understand. 

The same principle on processes for new business can be carried throughout the business. How do you combat the problem of assessing the effectiveness of your work? Ask the right questions on KPIs and measurements at the start of the project and log the responses into your project timeline so you can assess your success after the project has finished. 

With recruitment and talent development decide what skills you want in your business and look for those. Consider asking a staff member to redact gender and ethnicity information from CVs prior to viewing so that you are not swayed by unconscious bias. It is a common trait to recruit in your own image rather than on talent. Put the processes in place that will help you get the right person for the job, rather than the best you can manage to find.

Be creative with your processes if that helps – but keep them simple. Fitting into a process will not stifle your creativity, it will allow it to flourish.

Entered jointly by client and designer, and rigorously judged by industry leaders in three rounds of judging, the Awards represent independent and authoritative recognition of the unambiguous value of design.

This year – we saw the impact of design across the spectrum. Hear more from Design Business Association Chief Executive Deborah Dawton. 

Design Effectiveness Awards from DBA Design Business Association on Vimeo.

We are delighted to announce the 2019 shortlist of 59 winning entries below. 

A third panel of judges, consisting of CEOs from FTSE100 and some of the UK’s leading brands, will meet in April to select the winner of the prestigious Grand Prix award. View the full list of judges here. Here’s more from Chairman of the judges, Clive Grinyer, on the awards themselves. 

The shortlisted entries will find out if they have won Gold, Silver or Bronze at the award ceremony and dinner at the Royal Horticultural Halls on the 12^thof June.

Book your tickets for the 2019 Design Effectiveness Awards here and find out what a difference design makes.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2019 | shortlist

For full information about the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, including winning case studies from 2018, please click here.

Leaders need to show who they are, what they value and where they are going. They need to set the tone, the destination and the direction. Their personal story and the story of the business must come together into something authentic, credible and commercially powerful.

Often the stories are left to the PR, comms and marketing people, whilst the leadership skills are in the hands of an army of coaches and trainers. The magic happens when you combine them: bring the story to the heart of the strategy. Then empower the leaders to deliver it.

The best stories are human stories. They are about people. Stories about companies, organisations and governments only take us so far. We usually want to know about the human beings leading them, and the people they serve.

In my experience of over 20 years as a BBC correspondent and communications consultant, I’ve thought a lot about why some individuals cut through and others drift in obscurity.

As a reporter, I interviewed presidents, prime ministers and global CEOs. Now I’m fortunate enough to advise some of the most senior business leaders in the world. So, what are the secrets to powerful leadership communication?

Two themes come up time and time again. The first is that stories are essential for effective PR, marketing, communication and leadership. Through stories, our species was able to mobilise over tens of thousands of years and achieve a dominant position on earth. Our brains are wired for storytelling. Those with the ability to tell the most powerful stories have hacked the path of history.

The second theme is that stories are about characters. It’s hard to find riveting stories about artificial constructs or legal entities. We want someone to play the lead role, and others to join the supporting cast. PR comes unstuck when the human element goes missing.

So, the challenge for any PR, comms or marketing campaign is this: does it make the business more human? Are we telling a story that’s going to work for an audience of real human beings?

Sounds obvious? I can tell you from my experience working on both sides of the TV lens that it’s amazing how frequently the human bit goes AWOL in the business world. Either the spokesperson doesn’t sound like a human being. Or the ‘key messages’ are robotic and clunky. Or the ‘PR strategy’ is an ‘engagement grid’ or ‘stakeholder map’, with no organic and characterful story.

To my mind, Leadership and Communications are inseparable disciplines. PR only really works well when the CEO understands that they need to be the Chief Story Officer. They must personally authorise and enable the business story creation and delivery. Plus, they have to be able to articulate it – in pitches, speeches, media interviews, videos and articles.   

In my new book PR for Humans: how business leaders tell powerful stories, I uncover the principles of effective leadership communication and weave them together with my own stories. From the corridors of Westminster to the war zones of the Middle East, I’ve been searching for the most potent storytelling secrets.

None of this is to say that technology is irrelevant. Far from it. As digital tools become more powerful, and data creation accelerates, the most effective PR people will be the ones who can master the analytics and measure their activities accurately. But it will be the union of high-speed, high-tech story propagation with timeless human story creation and ownership that will deliver exponentially powerful results.

My message to business leaders – tell better stories as well as utilising new PR technology.

My message to businesses and their advisers – embrace human storytelling and the most advanced digital tools.  

Robots will never beat us on storytelling. Because they can’t know what it is to be human. And stories will always be about that deeper connection to the nature of our species. But without the machines, we can’t make sense of this vast universe of code that we’ve created or try to navigate it. 

And if you want to be a better, more credible leader, then the work usually starts with finding a clearer, more powerful story – for you and your business.

DBA Chief Executive, Deborah Dawton, will be speaking at the event alongside industry leaders from Visa, UCB Pharmaceuticals, Lloyds Banking Group, Siegelvision, GE and Space150 and more on wide-ranging topics such as:

    •    Maintaining your brand voice through disruption 
    •    AR, AI, and the next computing revolution
    •    Brexit and discontinuity 
    •    Design for prosperity

DBA members receive a 10% discount when using a members promo code. Login to the Members Area to access the discount code.

Find out more about the dmi conference, register and book your place.

Positioning is key

What makes a design business any different from the thousands of agencies out there? Does this sound familiar…

“We are a multi-faceted creative agency that love what we do for both small and large clients across all sectors”.

This is how 80% of the design sector describes itself. Saying you are great at what you do, or even that you love doing it, should not even be considered. Do to yourselves what you excel at doing for your clients – create a point of difference to drive customer choice. 

We’ll be exploring positioning at a breakfast event for DBA members on 2 April. Email events@dba.org.uk to register your interest to attend and be the first to hear when bookings open. 

Don’t compete on price

Only one business can be the cheapest, and the chances are it won’t be you. Be clear on the strategic direction of your business and evidence the value you can add to set your business apart. 

Be confident

Leadership is not always easy. But strong leadership will help your team to grow professionally, and your business to grow in stature. The profitability of an entrepreneurial business can be directly linked to the self-esteem of the owner. Explore ways to grow your confidence. If you know you can deliver, you know your value. If you know your value, you can stand your ground in negotiations.

Track your financial performance closely

Benchmark your financial performance with those of your peers and keep a close eye on the profitability of your engagements. This will help you to make better informed and more timely decisions to protect the interests of your business, like in the instance of a DBA member I was chatting to recently. They ended the relationship with their largest client (30% of their income) because the profit margin was so low. That brave decision freed up the agency to find several smaller clients with projects that were far more profitable. Profits jumped from 17% to 35% within the year.

Broaden horizons

Look further afield for new business. The UK is seen as the home of the best creative talent in the world. We have also traditionally been seen as expensive, but exchange rates are in our favour – suddenly the world can afford British design. Put your business in the shop window.

The DBA is working with the Department for International Trade on a trade mission to Hong Kong at the end of 2019, as the UK is the official partner country for the Business of Design Week Hong Kong 2019. If you are interested in growing your client base in Hong Kong and South East China email me to register your interest. 

Keep in touch 

The DBA exists to represent you and support your business. If you need a critical friend give me a call on 020 7251 9229. I am always happy to talk through any business issues you are experiencing and help advise on further resources and support.