Month: January 2019

About a year ago our business started growing and as much as everybody was excited about this growth, there were so many changes and challenges we needed to overcome as a team. At one point it became clear that our leadership team needed profiling and coaching in this exciting period of transformation, otherwise, as absurd as this may sound, the company would literally not be able to ‘survive’ this growth.

 

We have contacted Mosaic Partners, a coaching & mentoring company and started a cooperation with them. The first step was understanding the profile of our leadership team. We have analysed the company culture together, identified the gaps within the executive team and after just a few sessions, Mosaic Partners provided a list of recommendations. We started implementing these recommendations and Kate was there for us every step of the way, with her insights, advice and the passion she had for everything she was doing.

 

Surprising things I have learned

 

I will skip the part about what it takes to be a good leader and won’t dwell on the qualities like integrity, flexibility, honesty, communication and so on. If you want to read about this, I’d recommend a TaskQue post, it perfectly summarises and explains the most important qualities of a great leader. I’d like to focus on the 2 most surprising (and core) things I’ve learned that helped me develop as a leader.

 

 

 

Leaders are not born, they are made

 

I have read so many posts and books about personal qualities of a leader and after reading these I got an impression that leaders are born, not made – you can not learn to be confident or have integrity (some of the qualities of a great leader) – you are either born with these or not. Admittedly, deep down I felt that people had the potential to develop in these areas, and that gave me some hope. On the other hand, I’ve heard so many times about someone being “born to be a leader” and that made me feel discouraged because I needed this leadership course, so I obviously was not born a leader. But Kate convinced me otherwise, everybody can be made a leader if they are willing to start making decisions and take responsibility for them. So, the first decision you need to make if you want to become a (great) leader is the decision to grow, both personally and professionally. This brings me to the second most important thing I’ve learned.

 

Being a leader means you have made a promise to grow and evolve

 

People who have made this promise have everything it takes to be a great leader. How? Well, people who want to grow and evolve, people with a growth mind, are honest enough to admit they are wrong when they are. They are confident enough to admit that they are not perfect and that they can still learn, even from interns, which actually enables them to grow and evolve. People with a growth mind inspire others and empower them because they’ve decided to listen. And they have decided to listen because that is the only way to hear, learn and thus grow. These are just some examples and when I think about every quality of a great leader and analyse it, I can very easily find its root in one single thing – commitment to constantly develop and evolve.

 

So, put it simply, to become a good leader, you need to do 2 things: you need to believe that you can do that (that good leaders can be made) and you need to decide that you will use every opportunity to grow and develop. These are the most useful (and surprising!) things Mosaic Partners have taught me.

Creating and growing a brand can be quite a challenge. One of my first branding projects was Connect Insolvency Ltd, a firm of liquidators & insolvency practitioners based in Newcastle upon Tyne and I created a simple, clean and professional brand for them using vibrant colours. Years later, I still help companies with branding and I successfully do that by following the rules below.

 

 

Competitor Research

 

Competitor research is an important step in the whole process and it does not help you only with creating a successful brand, but with starting a successful business too. By doing this, you can get some interesting ideas, understand the market and find this unique touch that will set you (or your client) apart from the competition.

 

Understanding your target audience

 

Target audience is the audience that your brand should best speak to, so, understanding what they like, what they do not like, their age, goals, interests is very important – or let’s put it simply, you need to identify buyer personas in order to create a brand that speaks to them best.

 

Simplicity – Less is More

 

Yes, keep it simple, stupid. Creating a clean and simple style and following it through when creating all corporate materials is very important and you need to remember that simplicity is key to success. Do not get carried away and overcomplicate the logo – as much as this might seem interesting, it will confuse your target audience, trust me. If you are tempted or think about adding more elements to a logo, think about Nike, McDonald’s or any other successful brand that uses a simple logo.

 

Consistency

 

So, creating a simple logo and following the style consistently will help your brand send a unique message and be recognized. Starting from the style, fonts and colour palette you will set standards that should be followed in order to ensure brand consistency. Creating brand guidelines is something you should do in this part of the process as this will help you immensely with managing your brand too.

 

Communicate with your target audience

 

One of the main goals you need to set for your brand is to speak with your target audience. Understanding your target audience is the first step towards this goal and after you have found out their age, interests, likes and dislikes, you will be able to use this knowledge and implement it when choosing the font, colour palette, mission, vision, values and slogan.

 

Brand Management

 

Managing your brand is an ongoing process that you should be actively involved in. Once you have created your brand, you should not stop there. So, how will you be heard, how will you share your story with your target audience and differentiate your products or services from your competitors? Managing your brand might lead you to rebranding even and do not be reluctant to do that is it turns out to be necessary.

 

 

 

Hope the tips above help you with your branding project. If you have any questions or need help with branding, contact me, I’d love to chat with you!