DBA Members’ Forum | January summary

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink was recommended as an insight into meaningful work, in summary you can watch his TED talk here.
• Both of our speakers are B-Corps, a movement that is growing in popularity in our sector as a group of businesses that want to be a positive force for good; to create inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic systems for all people and the planet; and there was a lot of advice about working through their framework. Get in touch if you’d like us to connect you with other DBA members who have been through the process; and you can watch our previous webinar on the subject here. 
• Uniting their teams under a common purpose was a key theme that our speakers felt led to the undertaking of meaningful work. Knowing the core values of the business and working with them always in mind makes for a more cohesive team and easier decision-making when working with clients. Using clear channels of communication from the outset to get their teams on board was very important.
• Clear values have also helped our speakers to decide which clients to work with and which to say no to. Both acknowledged that saying no is a privilege and having clients that are a good fit with their purpose generates more meaning from that work for the team. Occasionally the meaning comes from a great budget but both speakers also used pro-bono work to expand on their impact in their local communities, with projects that interest them to not only raise their profile but also to challenge their teams and develop their skillset beyond their fee paying work. 
• While it might not be possible to directly attribute new business from the pro-bono work that stretches the team and enables people to work on their passions within their working life, it’s raising their profile as a values-driven-business. 
• Challenging clients to reform is also important to create more meaning from their work – from the use of materials through to manufacture and beyond, being able to make small changes along the way will ultimately add up to a much larger impact than only working with clients that 100% align with their values. 
• Comments from the group touched upon AI, the B-Corp process and client respect – join us next time to be part of the discussions.

Our Members’ Forum takes place on the first Monday of each month, at 4 – 5pm. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

Our next members forum will be taking place on Monday 6 March at 4pm GMT.