I’ll be discussing creativity and innovation with other bloggers in this field at the Innovation Bloggers Virtual Forum on 26 April, organised by Jeff de Cagna at Principled Innovation.

The event will take the form of two audio roundtable discussions - numbers are limited but the tickets are free! I’ve got 20 tickets to give away, to the first 20 people to leave a comment on this post.

You don’t need to be a blogger to get a ticket, but if you are, we’d appreciate it if you would also link to the Innovation Bloggers Virtual Forum page.

I’m looking forward to a stimulating discussion and intrigued by the prospect of a live audio forum. I had a lot of fun doing a live virtual conference session on creativity at Successful Blog earlier this week - there’s nothing like speeding up the blogging conversation - so it will be great to do another live session.

Here’s the lineup of bloggers - some very interesting blogs on the list, well worth having a browse:

Morning Forum Roundtable (11 am EDT)

Renee Hopkins Callahan, IdeaFlow
Chuck Frey, InnovationTools
Jeffrey Phillips, Innovate on Purpose
Dave Pollard, How to Save the World

Afternoon Forum Roundtable (2 pm EDT)

Dominic Basulto, Endless Innovation
Sanjay Dalal, Creativity And Innovation Driving Business
Mark McGuinness, Wishful Thinking
Joyce Wycoff, Heads Up! on Organizational Innovation

(I’ll work out the GMT times nearer the day, once we’ve all got used to the new DST in the States.)

Thanks to Jeff for organising the event and inviting me to join in. I hope you will too!

Here’s my simple definition of business coaching:

A focused conversation that facilitates learning and raises performance at work

The ‘coach’ can be either a manager or an external consultant. The ‘coachee’ (yes, I know it’s a horrible word, I’ll avoid it as much as I can) can be anyone who wants to get better at their work.

While coaching sometimes takes place in designated ‘coaching sessions’ it is also used by many organisations as a style of management, and takes place in a series of informal discussions between managers and their staff as they go about their daily business. In Eric Parsloe and Monica Wray’s words, this is coaching as “the way we do things round here” (Coaching and Mentoring*).

There are many other definitions in the business coaching literature. Some focus on coaching’s collaborative, conversational style:

Coaching is a collaborative, solution-focused, result-oriented and systematic process in which the coach facilitates the enhancement of work performance, life experience, self-directed learning and personal growth of individuals from normal (i.e. non-clinical) populations.
(Anthony M Grant, Solution-Focused Coaching)

Other definitions emphasise the dual function of coaching - improving performance and facilitating learning. For example:

“A manager’s task is simple – to get the job done and to grow his staff. Time and cost pressures limit the latter. Coaching is one process with both effects.”
(John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance)

“• Coaching is an approach to management – how one carries out the role of being a manager
• Coaching is a set of skills for managing employee performance to deliver results
Being a coach means that you see and approach the role of a manager as a leader: one who challenges and develops your employees’ skills and abilities to achieve the best performance results.”
(Marty Brounstein, Coaching and Mentoring for Dummies)

Here are some of the distinguishing characteristics of business coaching conversations.

A collaborative style

The words ‘coach’ and ‘coachee’ are slightly unfortunate in implying that the coach is a senior person who is there to dispense wisdom and advice. In fact, coaching can take place between peers and even ‘upwards’ with a more junior person coaching a senior, as well as in the classic manager-team member relationship.

Coaching is a collaborative process, in which people have clearly defined roles: the coach is responsible for keeping the conversation focused on a clearly defined goal, facilitating the other person’s thinking, keeping track of progress and delivering constructive feedback; the coachee is responsible for generating ideas and options, taking action to achieve the goal, and reporting progress.

One of the commonest ways for coaching to get ‘stuck’ is when these responsibilities are confused - for example, if the coach becomes attached to a particular way of doing things, and starts to tell the coachee what to do. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the questions I get asked most often is “So what exactly does a business coach for the creative industries do?”. My research project has also highlighted the fact that coaching is not really ‘on the radar’ for managers in most creative businesses.

So this is the start of a series introducing business coaching - what it is, who does it and how it works. I’ll be placing particular emphasis on the role that managers can play as coaches for their teams, to manage their performance and help them learn on the job. This is an often overlooked and undervalued role, since many people associate coaching solely with an external consultant (like me).

I also explain why coaching skills are particularly useful for managers in a creative businesses - such as an advertising agency, a design studio, a computer games developer or a TV production company.

Chris Ritke at 49 Sparks has recorded an interesting interview with Neil Tortorella, one of the founders of Business of Design Online. Neil talks about how the idea evolved for a site dedicated to helping designers master the business of running a design studio, as well as the people involved and plans for the site’s future.

As a guest author on BoDo I’m pleased to hear about the buzz being generated by the site, and Chris and Neil do a great job of outlining what it’s all about. BoDo and the interview are worth checking out even if you’re not a designer - the business skills they cover are relevant to most creative professionals.

Roger von Oech has just posted a terrific interview with David Armano, Creative VP at Digitas and author of the Logic + Emotion blog. That’s right, Roger von Oech the creativity guru is conducting the interview, so you get two creative heavyweights for the price of one!

Lots of you will already be avid readers of Logic + Emotion - if not, you really should have a look, it’s packed with ideas and experiences about creativity, communication and running a creative business. Some of my personal highlights are T-Shaped Creativity, Influence Ripples and Anatomy of the New Creative Mind.

Back to the interview. As a business coach I’m particularly interested in the questions about David’s approach to management. In places his answers read almost like textbook descriptions of the coaching style of management. Now I’m not for a moment suggesting that David learned his approach from a book or a course - it’s obviously an extension of his authentic communication style, and he’s frank about the mistakes he’s made while learning the trade. But - as with the managers in my research project interviews - I’m fascinated by the similarities between coaching and the natural approach of a successful manager in a creative business.

For example, here’s David’s description of his role as a manager:

I view my role as a “persuader.” I can’t force my teams to do great work. I also can’t force clients accept our ideas and executions at face value. I need to convince my teams and clients that pursuing the right kinds of solutions is a worthy effort.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a new site that should be of interest to any creative professional looking to balance creative enthusiasm with business know-how: Business of Design Online. Created by Cat Morley of Designers Who Blog fame and her colleagues Neil Tortorella and Jay Wickham, it looks set to be a fabulous resource.

Here’s the lowdown:

BoDo blogs about the business of design including: starting your own design business (online or off); marketing; dealing with clients; working with printers, photographers, copywriters and other surrounding industries; pretty much anything to help a design business grow.

I’m delighted to say I will be a visiting author on the site, writing about creative coaching and the ‘people dimension’ of running a design business. If you look at the range and level of expertise amongst the other visiting authors, you’ll see why I’m so pleased to be included in their number.

BoDo is a brilliant idea - given the range of skills that are required to run a design studio or freelance design practice (or come to think of it, any creative enterprise), it makes perfect sense to gather together a set of resources and authors who are focused on helping designers deal with the business of design and get on with the business of designing.

But a brilliant idea is nothing without execution - I know Cat and the team have put a huge amount of work into the project over the past few months, which is why I’m so pleased to see it up and running this morning, and eager to recommend it to you.

Have a look for yourself - don’t worry if you’re not a designer, I’m not and I’m sure I’ll learn plenty from the site.

See you there…

Last week I travelled to Brighton to talk to David Amor, Creative Director at computer games developer Relentless Software, for the latest interview for my research on Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries.

In an industry where, according to Gamesindustry.biz, “insane crunch times and endless overtime hours … are considered to be a standard part of working in the development sector”, David and his business partner Andrew Eades are remarkable for having had “the crazy idea of a development studio that works 9 to 5 with no overtime”. Not only that, they strictly limit internet and e-mail access during working hours, and recreational games are banned from the office. Their approach has elicited protests about such ‘draconian’ measures, mixed with incredulity when they explain that in 3 years of production they have never missed a deadline or asked their staff to work evenings or weekends.

David and Andrew founded Relentless Software in 2003 to make Social Games on traditional games consoles such as PlayStation2. Their first product, DJ: Decks & FX, was published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) in September 2004 to critical acclaim and was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA. DJ: Decks & FX is a music-mixing product that gives users a virtual DJ rig and a set of over 100 genuine dance tracks to play. It allows the user to perform live at parties as well as record their perfect mix for later sharing and playback.

In 2004 and 2005, Relentless worked on SCEE’s London Studios titles, EyeToy: Groove, EyeToy: Kinetic and SingStar. PopworldEyeToy and SingStar are SCEE’s internally developed social games that have collectively sold tens of millions of units. SCEE are world-leaders in developing and publishing this genre of products and Relentless is pleased to work closely with SCEE in this increasingly important market segment.

In October 2005, Relentless Software and SCEE released Buzz!: The Music Quiz, a music based quiz game set in a TV studio that includes four bespoke buzzer peripherals. Buzz!: The Big Quiz was released in March 2006 and Relentless continue to develop new Buzz! games for PlayStation platforms including Buzz!: The Schools Quiz and Buzz! The Mega Quiz. The Buzz! franchise has sold 4M units in its first year and continues to be an important brand in the Sony catalogue.

Relentless was honoured with Best New Intellectual Property and Best Innovation in conjunction with SCEE at the 2006 Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Later in 2006 it went on to win a BAFTA for Best Social Game. Relentless was also named 3rd highest UK independent game developer in the recently published Develop 100 which lists the top 100 developers by revenue generated in the UK. At a global ranking of 43 with a single Buzz! product, above Microsoft and Sega, this demonstrates the potential of social games and the ability of Relentless to achieve success in this area.

Relentless continues to make games that everybody can play and has developed considerable expertise in the new Social Games genre that allows people to enjoy video games without having the gamer expertise required by other products.

Talking to David, I was struck by his emphasis on the hard business value of ensuring his staff have a good balance of focused work and time away from the office. In his view this is not just a case of being ‘nice’ to people, but of providing the optimum conditions for efficient work and reducing some of the uncertainty inherent in creative production.

Relentless are currently hiring - e-mail David if you think his approach to making games could be for you.

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

 Standard Podcast: Download

I’m very pleased that Mark Earls is the next interviewee in this series on Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries, as his book Welcome to the Creative Age was one of the inspirations behind the project - particularly his concept of the “accelerator manager”, whose job is to “help my people get a better job next time”.

Mark Earls is one of the leading thinkers about brands, marketing and consumer behaviour. He has been described variously as “one of the Advertising scene’s foremost contrarians” and “the Christopher Hitchens of advertising and marketing”. But mostly he just refuses to accept received wisdom and is determined to make us all think a bit harder to get better results.

Mark has been an account planner for most of his working life. He has held senior positions in some of the largest and most influential communications companies in the world - his last job was as chair of Ogilvy’s Global Planning Council, prior to which he was Planning Director at the revolutionary St. Luke’s Communications. He was Vice Chair of the The Account Planning Group and has judged a number of awards competitions in the UK and abroad for communications and marketing effectiveness and innovation and even collaboration between arts and business.

His written work has regularly won awards from his peers and is considered by many to be amongst the most influential being written today. His first book, Welcome to the Creative Age, was widely read and discussed and has been translated into several languages. Dominic Mills of Campaign Magazine called it, “the book that Naomi Klein should have written”.

His latest book, Herd: how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature challenges our Western received wisdom about mass behaviour and develops an alternative model rooted in our ‘Herd’ nature and has already received strong endorsement from other leading practitioners and theorists both in the US and the UK. The story continues on Mark’s blog, a welcome recent addition to the conversation.

Mark is in much demand as conference speaker around the world – in recent years he has spoken in the UK, USA, Argentina, France, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Spain. He lives in North London and is currently preparing his next book and doing the odd bit of consulting for interesting companies and people.

The video is of “the greatest try ever scored”, by the Barbarians v the All Blacks in 1973. Mark refers to it in the interview as an example of both good coaching and the limits of the coach’s influence, pacing on the touchline while the players are out on the pitch.

Mark’s interview is a great way to draw the research project to a close for 2006. Early in 2007 I’ll publish the research report here as a free download. Many thanks to Mark and all my other interviewees for being so generous with their time and expertise.

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

 Interview with Mark Earls: Download

This interview for my research into Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries was with Matt Taylor, Director and Producer at Fat Beehive and Fat Beehive Films.

Fat Beehive is a small web developer based in the heart of London’s New Media cluster around Hoxton Square. Established in 1997, it has built up a strong reputation for creating accessible and engaging websites for charity, NGO, Faitrade and sustainability organisations. Its client list includes The Sustainable Development Commission, Crisis, GamCare, Global Witness, Compass Network, People Tree and Union Chapel.

Matt is one of the founding directors of Fat Beehive - there are now seven members of theteam including fellow director Tom Moreton. They have recently launched Fat Beehive Films, taking advantage of their film-making skills and the growth of the corporate film marketing, driven by the expanding broadband network. As well as the actual filming and editing, Fat Beehive Films offer video hosting and live webcasting services. You can see a selection of their films on their website.

I spoke to Matt in the relaxed surroundings of a cafe on Hoxton Square, where he described the importance of social skills and peer learning in a small new media agency. He also offered some amusing observations about the way management terms such as ‘coaching’ are regarded in the Fat Beehive office!

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

 Interview with Matt Taylor: Download

This interview for my research into Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries was with Terry Childs, who has the dual roles of Managing Director and Creative Director at Silver Chair.

Founded in 1998 Silver Chair has developed into an agency with international experience in creativity and media, working on brands such as BMW, Barclays, Kellogg’s, Sears, BT, Norwich Union, HSBC and Land Rover. 2006 saw the agency expand with the launch of Silver Chair Digital.

Terry is the Managing Director and Creative Director at Silver Chair and has spent over 15 years in the marketing communications industry. During this time he has worked for both agencies and clients including Ogilvy & Mather, WWAV, Leo Burnett, BT, Norwich Union, Safeway, BMW and has recently developed campaigns for tic tac, Yamaha and the Department For Education and Skills.

Terry gave an entertaining account of the challenges involved in managing creative professionals. He also described Silver Chair’s internal mentoring programme, and highlighted the importance of using appropriate terminology when ’selling’ a development initiative to a creative team.

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

 Interview with Terry Childs: Download