They say good leaders speak last. But has anyone told your clients?
Here's a thing I started doing during presentations that can improve the value of the feedback you get. It allows all participants—from entry level to C-suite—to share their opinions in a way that helps everyone and makes your work shine.
When I first started naming brands, businesses, products, etc, the toughest part would be opening it up for discussion of the creative. The CEO would jump in: "I don't like the letter 'R.'" or "I only like the short names." or "Makes me think of soup."
Inevitably, those further down the corporate ladder fell in line, not wanting to disagree or share personal preferences that might contradict their boss. That meant missing out on perspectives that could spark new conversations and solutions.
So, I introduced a secret ballot. Here's the simple process:
Let's say you're sharing 20 brand names for a new cell phone. Drop the names (or ads, or whatever you're presenting) into a Google Form. Right after you've shared, and before asking for feedback, send the survey link to all participants (assuming this is via Zoom/Teams/etc).
Allow people to take a few minutes to privately review and choose 5-7 with which they have some positive affinity. Then bring up the results in front of everyone. You'll have a lot more to talk about when people have a chance to cast their own "votes" without being influenced by the opinions of higher-ups.
Rather than starting with the most popular, I focus on the names that get at least two votes, and ask "For those who chose X, what did you like about it?"
Discuss only the positives. Move on to the others. Repeat. It's cool when an Assistant Junior Marketing Coordinator says something about a name that has the CMO seeing the idea in a whole new light—that may not have happened had the bigwig nixed it without hearing from others.
This survey approach gives everyone a chance to share their thoughts without judgement in the moment. It makes your work look more effective. And there is more for your client to chew on when they go back and "sit with it" as a team.
