“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” - African proverb
This is the perfect sentiment to look back on a session we had a few weeks ago when our marketing team was graciously hosted by the strategy team at our creative agency to talk about importance of clarity in communication briefs and emphasizing the partnership between our two teams, and how we’re here to work together to solve problems.
I walked away with some great (and easy) actions that can strengthen my brief writing, which will ultimately focus their efforts and strengthen their output.
Here are 3 goals I think all corporate employees should set for 2023, I’ll be using each of these:
➡️Take more time away from your desk to build relationships and learn what your peers are working on, and how we can work through these opportunities together.
➡️Ask question & listen to the answers! The more we know, the easier it is to find the right problem statement. Asking about history, opinions, ideas, challenges. Don’t ask questions with the intention of responding, but with the intention of learning.
➡️Reduce the noise. This takes me back to my first year university course and the repetitive answer to “how long should our paper be” and our professor would respond “as long as necessary, and as short as possible”. It’s stuck with me, although I am still long winded.
As someone who inherently thinks creative, I’m always looking for ways to maximize our output. It’s a good reminder to align on a single problem we need to solve. The more focused we are, the easier it is to create a breakthrough solution. (Even when we want to get two, three or even 4 birds with one stone!)
Removing barriers, and building relationships encourages collaboration and stronger results. We’ve got some great work in the hopper, with even more exciting projects to come! Here’s to clear goals, and bigger successes in 2024!