How to kick off a web strategy (or any) workshop – Introduce your team by Native Genius
Do you ever find differences in your workshops with clients? I mean major differences? Sure you have different people in the room, but your process and questions are the same right?
In the last 2 months, we’ve had 2 web strategy workshops with 2 different clients – one has gone really smoothly, the other not so smoothly.
I won’t name names, but sincere thanks to both clients (they’ll recognise themselves) for their genuine feedback – you can’t improve without it.
I want to pick one aspect of the feedback that really stood out as a difference.
Client Feedback
As chair for both of these meetings, I have to take responsibility for the introductions of the team members:
- In the workshop for client 1, I introduced our team and their technical skills.
- A few weeks later with client 2, I introduced our team then described their Native Genius.
The latter worked so much better.
Client 1 said: “I just wasn’t sure about X and Ys skill set and what they brought to the workshop.”
Client 2 said: “It was absolutely clear for us what everyone in the room was responsible for, and why they were there. Everyone commented how well you knew each other’s strengths and how clear your team’s roles were.”
It’s not rocket science to pick which project went smoothly.
What is a Native Genius?
It’s a concept from Liz Wiseman’s book Multipliers (thanks again for your influence Liz) and definitely not to be confused with a technical skill:
A native genius is something that people do, not only exceptionally well, but absolutely naturally. They do it easily (without extra effort) and freely (without condition)…They get results that are head-and-shoulders above others but they do it without breaking a sweat.
[I wrote a blog post on How to Discover Native Genius if you’re looking for more info.]
We list each of our team’s native genius on our website:
- Adam – connecting with people
- Toby – helping get the best for other people
- Angela – supportive organiser
- Lesley – making ideas actionable through planning
- Sam – solving problems to make life easier
- Sarah – telling stories
- Angus – improving something
- Shanon – helping others solve problems
Why was Native Genius important?
Sure it’s not the only reason the projects went smoothly or not, but in the contrasting workshops, the subtle difference of introduction had a huge impact on the perception by the client.
Communication is one of Bluewire Media’s core values and brand promise, and I now realise that communicating the strengths of our team involved in a workshop (or any meeting) is critical to its success.
It means that you’re able to work to each other’s strengths. It means everyone, especially the client’s team, understands us and our roles much more clearly and can direct questions and comments accordingly.
Workshop quality = Communication quality.
The outcome? An action item for me: Update all of our agendas to include Native Genius introductions.
PS: I’d be really interested to hear your comments on what differentiated a great workshop/project in your experience.
