Partnering With A Client Is Always Unique

BUT WHAT FOLLOWS IS A TYPICAL REQUEST AND APPROACH

THE QUESTION -

“HELP ME BRING INNOVATION, INSPIRATION AND NEW BUSINESS TO MY ORGANISATION”

To bring interest to the business, we have to make something that will attract them. That might be an event, an inspiration/innovation lab, exciting new products, opinions, or content. The whole program will improve the culture and alter the mindset of the leaders and the workforce. The sky is the limit.

We have to define what’s in it for them. And we need to make it just as valuable for you. 

The ideal will be to create a theme that inspires everyone.

Let’s take the simple idea of a series of events; it could just as easily be a sequence of white papers, blogs or business breakfasts. So, here are some themes:

• Delivering. The Future

• Communicating. The Future

• Creating. The Future

The benefit of such a theme would be to take a strategic position. It will be an efficient platform to gather exciting content, write the talk tracks, brief external/third parties, stage talks, breakfasts, inspiring workshops, surgeries, events, etc. 

Themes such as these would not limit us and also give us a focal point.

Each of these three themes creates content for social media and opinion, designed to get people to start talking about us.

BECOMING A FEARLESS BUSINESS

For Example:

Four FEARLESS client events per year, 1 per quarter - in appropriate spaces for (EG:) 50,  80 or 100 people to sit down, chairs in the proper format for engagement, a panel session with guest speakers - topics to cover:

Focussed on your industry and sector but deliberately different how your competitors position themselves. Human As Tech, Future Content, Future Work, Future Culture, Storytelling, Mindset Change, New Leadership Techniques, VR/AR/MR, AI and Automation - Everything would be filmed, and the resulting content shared across social channels and syndicated - CRM email campaign etc. 

RELATIONSHIPS  - built with journalists and PR - work out who you would be relevant to chat to - Audit to be completed with relevant stakeholders and to identify publications.

IDENTIFY GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT AND APPRENTICE SCHEMES - Check to see what help in the form of government grants apply to how we plan to change the industry. Apprenticeship pots that could be leveraged, for example. We could also look into larger government grants for certain sectors or initiatives—an audit to be completed with relevant stakeholders.

INDUSTRY EVENTS  - Create a list of events to attend as a Speaker, Delegate, or sponsor throughout the year.

WEEKLY SURGERY - Half a day a week in your office for anyone to ask questions about their client work. What else could they be doing with their clients? Problems they may be encountering and need a fix, but they don't know what they don't know. This could be used to ‘make something happen that is innovative and would usually never see the light of day because people are too busy with their day jobs. 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - Look at the areas where our clients have asked for help and create more product solutions. These products could be spun up quickly and tested with the client base before scaling up production. We can also look to innovate and partner with other companies to bring something new to the market. A great way of doing this is to work with many smaller start-ups making waves in the industry. (See Semesters)

ATTEND CLIENT MTGS - I would become your ‘in-house’ Innovation Lead - good for PR, clients, and Idea Generation- half a day a week could be set aside for this.

PEER LEARNING - Connecting with other ‘Creative/innovators’ and Strategists in your eco-system and network to share best practices and learn from others. Ideas from this could be added to themed events and other content-creation ideas.

MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES - Establish an ‘Innovation Mentorship’ program for employees who want to take their skills to the next level. This could include offering them learning opportunities and challenges – even pitching their ideas to clients.

INSPIRE SESSIONS each week - compulsory attendance for their Learning & Development. This could be linked to remuneration and salary benefits for attendance. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday - join in person at a suitable time. Lunchtimes? End of the day? B’fast? 30 mins total. 

PROMOTE IDEAS - link to the weekly ‘inspire’ sessions. Each week a different ‘theme’ or topic for discussion could be set, and colleagues encouraged to submit their ideas. Risk-taking is also encouraged, as well as presenting different perspectives from different backgrounds.

SEMESTERS OF LEARNING - BASED ON A THEME - For example, we might meet 5- 10 start-ups/interesting companies a week, doing a project that the client will pay for, and then a big event day somewhere relevant - in London we have strong relationships with many unique spaces/places like Ravensbourne or Shoreditch House or Local School to end the semester - Pick two a year 

https://www.nicoleyershon.com/the-nyc-blog/innovating-at-scale

PHYSICAL TECHNOLOGY LAB

Each company could be featured on the tech lab website and showcase its products. This would be a great way to build relationships with the companies, as well as generate content that is client specific. Clients (and employees) could have access to this content to learn more about the technology they are using or even request a customized solution built with technology from one of these companies.

Additionally, the physical space can host events such as hack-a-thons, seminars, and workshops in which clients and technology/innovation companies can participate. 

https://www.nicoleyershon.com/the-nyc-blog/an-innovation-laboratory-2000-2016

ALL HANDS MEETINGS - ensure everyone has a voice. Make sure it’s not just the loudest voices that get heard - ensure everyone has equal chances to contribute and as much of their input as possible is implemented.

CHALLENGE REVIEWS - review time - hours, days, weeks etc., for progress. This could be done informally by setting goals together or simply by asking how's the progress. Reviews should be done regularly to ensure everyone is on the same page and to identify any challenges they may have. Regular check-in can prevent misunderstandings, allowing colleagues to review goals and objectives.