Reactivating old contacts

Managing a creative business is like running a steeple race. There are heaps of changing direction, pivots and hurdles to overcome, each one slightly different to the last.

As business owners, we’re used to the continual hustle and shifting sand. Often the business we have now, is not the business we started. And that’s OK for us, we’ve got our hands on the wheel steering, but I wonder if it’s OK for our passengers – do our employees and clients know the destination has changed?

Keeping others up to date

We’ve had a whirlwind few years and there’s a fair chance everyone is feeling a wee bit unfocused. Perhaps it’s time to regroup and reshare your vision, your values and thinking with others.

What a new onboarding for old employees and existing client?

Here’s what it might look like:

1. The easiest action is to invite them for a on-on-one cup of tea. Face to face has impact. It’s the easiest way to make a fresh start, or start a new conversation. Share your wins, and your latest ideas and better still, hear theirs. Everyone now works at least some of the time independently – maybe they’ve found new ways to work, or new likes and dislikes.
2. Don’t be afraid to share a version of your elevator spiel – the succinct ‘who we are and what we do’ you would deliver to someone who didn’t know your studio and what your vision is for this year. It may be very different to the story they heard when you started working together.
3. Talk superpowers. Share your superpower with clients and ask employees what they think is their superpower. (That may differ from your assessment – it may even differ from reality – that’s the value. It’s the one way to manage expectations.)
4. Inhouse: gather the studio together for an afternoon of Personal Journey maps. A Personal Journey map is based on a Customer Journey map and is a perfect tool to help identify your distinctiveness.
5. Finally, clarify your expectations. For clients this might be a social contract. For employees, a studio values statement. Relationships often lessen because boundaries or expectations have shifted. Manufacture a way to ensure everyone understands what you expect..

Take away

Progress is great, but it’s easy to forget to keep everyone informed of new thinking. Leadership is about communicating change and bringing people with you. Onboarding existing clients and employees is an intentional way of keeping everyone aligned with your vision.

Carol Mackay
Co-founder Design Business Council.

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About Carol Mackay

After 30+ years running a graphic design firm, Carol pivoted from client-focused projects to consult to the design industry.

Carol’s special power has always been an ability to use design to translate difficult to understand or complex messages. She believes design brings clarity to complex issues. From clarity comes understanding, and understanding leads to knowledge.

As a designer she used those skills with clients like The Magistrates, County and Supreme Courts; Ombudsman schemes and Emergency Service agencies. At DBC she uses the same skills … she helps designers de-mystify the complexities of managing a small business.

Outside of DBC Carol mentors graduates and is a Board member at Never Not Creative, a community of creatives pushing for change in the creative industry.

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An archive of Carol’s previous career is at mbdesign.com.au.
Current work can be viewed at designbusinesscouncil.com and designbusinessschool.com.au.