Brand Strategy Workshop Errors

We conduct strategy formulation sessions or workshops on the following topics with our clients:

• Brand mission, vision & values
• Brand positioning and repositioning
• Brand architecture
• Brand extension
• Inside out branding
• Customer touch point design
• Brand storytelling
• Brand co-creation with customers
• Pricing strategy
• Distribution strategy
• Brand planning

I have personally conducted more than 400 of these workshops and I have also witnessed others conducting similar workshops for a wide variety of clients. Unfortunately, I have observed many errors in conducting these workshops. Here are some of the more common errors:

• Not having all of the key decision makers participate in the process.
• Not understanding the group's "culture" and operating style upfront.
• Being dressed inappropriately for the group and their culture.
• Using inappropriate language for the group (too formal or informal, etc.).
• Not preparing adequately for the workshops. Neglecting to conduct pre-workshop participant surveys or prepare appropriate "information sheets" and other handouts.
• Not having the room set up properly with the right chair and table configuration, easels, marker pens, projection systems, sound systems, etc.
• Serving food that is too heavy and that will cause people to be drowsy. 
• Keeping the room too hot or too cold. 
• Not setting expectations properly or at all.
• Not gaining the group's upfront trust regarding the process and the intended outcomes.
• Not providing the appropriate instruction, guidelines, tools and templates so that people will be guided and even forced to develop sound strategies. 
• Showing off one's expertise or bragging about one's background (versus letting it speak for itself).
• Not configuring the break-out teams with the optimal mix of people on each team. 
• Not keeping careful track of time and therefore running way over on time or not completing the intended agenda with the promised outcomes.
• Related to this, not knowing how to give each person appropriate "air time" without long-winded speeches, rehashing of things previously said or going down unproductive "bunny trails."
• Not drawing out the quiet people in the room. Not allowing everyone to be heard.
• Not finding a way to gently shut down people who would dominate the conversation.
• Not knowing how to handle disruptive or passive aggressive participants. 
• Giving in to unproductive requests that will derail the process.
• Allowing people to be distracted by email messages or phone calls.
• Not paying attention to the energy of the room and calling for breaks when they are needed.
• Allowing participants to come and go throughout the day so that previous group decisions would need to be revisited to include the temporarily absent people in the process.
• Not knowing how to drive people to consensus. Not having developed a wide enough array of techniques to do this.
• Not holding and feeding the energy of the room. This is a key part of a facilitator's role.
• Accepting group consensus on mediocre or poor strategies. 

People may observe a strategy session or workshop and think, "That's easy. I could do that. Look how easy it was to come to consensus." I would liken it to watching a couple's winter Olympic skating routine. "Look how easy and graceful they make that seem." Indeed.

Before you conduct a strategy workshop, make sure you have fine tuned your group facilitation skills, properly prepared for the workshop with great attention to detail, had a good night's sleep and proper nutrition and thought through what the optimal result might be. It is easy to conduct a workshop. It is less easy to conduct it well with a happy energized team and outstanding results.