You’re about to give a presentation. Everyone’s talking. No one’s paying attention. You stand up. A hush descends. You look around the room.

Take a deep breath.

And, loudly say, “Orange.”

Half the room thinks you’re talking about a colour, the other half thinks about a fruit. No one thinks they’ve misunderstood you. But you’re referring to a phone company.

If that example feels overly simple, let’s look take a different word: brand.

Talk to marketers about brand and some people cannot think beyond logotypes and icons, colour palettes and straplines. While others will think of something deeper, a promise to be delivered.

Or if brand is not your thing, let’s talk about integrated campaigns. It’s an odds-on bet that whichever marcomms discipline you specialise in, you think integrated campaigns are ones where other specialisms support your campaign.

In all of these examples, people are using the same words but they mean different things.

There two examples look at fairly mainstream terms. What happens when we’re talking about more technical terms like optimisation, measurement and efficiency?

The truth is that, despite being in the business of communication, there are probably a significant number of conversations that digital folk and PRs and marketers have everyday where they do not understand one another without knowing it.

How to achieve clarity

I coach minis rugby on weekends and one of the techniques that I’ve taken from the rugby pitch into the office is asking people if they understand what I mean. It’s amazing how useful this can because it forces me to explain something in a simpler way. It’s massively helpful because, more often than not, this simplified explanation can be used when discussing the same topic with other people in the future.

If you’re producing written documents, a useful technique can be to define key terms in a glossary. This is particularly helpful when sending documents to people who do not work in communications connected industries, but I’d argue it’s just as helpful when sending documents to your peers.

So the next time you’re discussing a topic, take a moment to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Digital marketing is incredibly data-driven. We’re constantly trying to refine how we identify potential customers, how we target and retarget them. The obsession with numbers can sometimes lead to a lack of focus on creativity.

Now, we all know that how you say something matters as much as saying it at the right time. As such, it’s important to ensure that the value of creativity isn’t underweighted. But that creativity should stretch to the data too. People using the same tools in the same way everyday often fall into a pattern of just going through the motions. This is great in accounts payable – you definitely don’t want people toying with those numbers – but in marketing you want to relentlessly push forward.

So how do you foster a creative culture in digital teams?

Mind set

The primary focus, for me at least, is to focus on encouraging people’s curiosity. This is easier said than done. In fact, I’ve known people who believe you either have an inquisitive mind or you don’t. I disagree.

Questions that start with the words “how might we…?” can be really useful.

I think you can encourage people’s latent curiosity but you can only do it by giving them work that is challenging, that stretches the mind and where the process is uncertain.

Uncertainty, in particular, is crucial. Working on things that might not succeed, or lead to a dead end, these are the tasks that encourage investigation.

Questions that start with the words “how might we…?” can be really useful. For example, you could ask: “How might we approximate purchase intent using Facebook’s demographic targeting?” The answer is uncertain but so is the process. How do you go about working this out?

Safety net

Setting tasks that are innately uncertain is all well and good, but it only works if there’s a safety net. Do your team trust that you aren’t setting them up to fail? Or that if they do fail, you’re not going to get mad? Do they think you’re setting them challenging work because you want to produce great work or do they just think you’re massively unreasonable?

So a creative culture has to be one where people are able to fail. And when they do, they shouldn’t get hurt.

Start small. Test things out. Scale up what works. Above all, if a project is steeped in uncertainty, your expectations need to be curbed. You cannot ask for the moon on a stick.

Craft

The third element in fostering creativity, that I’ve been giving a lot of thought to, is an appreciation of craft. Do people appreciate the difference between something that’s been done well and something that’s just ok?

Writing is not a specialism. Copywriting is a specialism.

Writing, for me, is the obvious example. Marketing is not short of writers. Everyone’s a “wordsmith” or they “do words” or they “scribble”. And yet, none of that is particularly useful. Writing is not a specialism. Copywriting is a specialism. Writing words that sell is massively useful.

So encourage an understanding of the craft of selling. Is that ad good? Why is it good? What elements work? How could it be stronger? And go beyond the ads and content. How was your experience in that shop or restaurant or hotel? Did anything make you spend more than you planned? Are you likely to go back? What’s the draw?

Workplace culture is notoriously difficult to change or manage. However, I think managers can never spend enough time on it because it is critical to achieving goals and targets. These three areas are where I’ve got to so far in thinking about building creativity into a team’s culture, but I’d love to know what you think. Do you agree or stridently disagree? What am I missing? Where should I be bolder?

Last night, the Labour Party announced an eye-catching and unexpected plan to nationalise BT’s Openreach business unit and provide free broadband to every home by 2030.

It’s a big business story, so the FT immediately wrote it up and popped at the top of their homepage.

BT’s chief executive, who is currently overseas, told the FT that it: “was an “appealing” idea for customers but that it would need to be thought through carefully.”

So far, so normal.

Later in the FT piece, they quote Neil McRae,  BT’s chief network architect, as tweeting: “Labour plans broadband communism.”

Oh dear. Corporate communications will not be pleased. Understandably so.

A quick search on Twitter will easily find the tweet and Mr McRae’s account. His profile doesn’t mention his work. His feed is nothing out of the ordinary – a mixture of current affairs and personal interests.

I have huge sympathy. I don’t mention my work on my Twitter account either. I happily give away some of the credibility and status that comes with company and title for some separation and freedom.

But it’s only a little more separation. I know my profile and views can easily be followed back to my employer. Because of this I avoid expressing strident views on topics close to work. It is not a terrible hardship. Do I always get it right? I don’t know. I hope I do.

You only have one life and it cannot be split out online by not mentioning work or using pseudonyms.

The outline of a lockforward’s head is the same as a pint of Guinness?

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Some words are so common that blend into the background. They don’t register with the reader. They paint no distinct picture of you. They’re generic. They make you generic. They are wallpaper.

I’ve decided to try and capture these words. The wallpaper below will go up over time – I’m fastidious about lining up the pattern.

(Click on the image to view a larger version)