How do you create a brief that inspires your team?

1 Know your audience

Before you start writing your brief, you need to understand who you are writing for. Who are your team members, and what are their roles, skills, and motivations? What are their strengths and challenges, and how do they prefer to work and communicate? Knowing your audience will help you tailor your brief to their needs, interests, and styles. It will also help you avoid jargon, assumptions, and confusion that might hinder their understanding and engagement.

2 Define the problem

The core of your brief is the problem that you want your team to solve. This is where you explain the context, background, and purpose of the project, as well as the goals, outcomes, and measures of success. The problem should be clear, concise, and specific, but also open-ended enough to allow for different approaches and solutions. A good way to frame the problem is to use a "how might we" statement, such as "How might we increase brand awareness among millennials?" or "How might we improve user retention on our app?"

3 Provide the essentials

Your brief should also include the essential information and resources that your team needs to work on the project. This might include the budget, timeline, deliverables, constraints, target audience, competitors, brand guidelines, research findings, and any other relevant data or insights. However, be careful not to overload your brief with too much detail or direction that might limit your team's creativity or autonomy. Provide enough guidance and support, but leave some room for exploration and experimentation.

4 Inspire with examples

One of the best ways to inspire your team is to show them some examples of what you are looking for, or what you are not looking for. These could be examples of similar or related projects, best practices, trends, or benchmarks that illustrate the quality, style, or tone that you want to achieve. You can also use examples to demonstrate the challenges, opportunities, or gaps that you want your team to address. Examples can help your team visualize the problem and the solution, as well as spark new ideas and inspiration.

5 Invite feedback

Finally, your brief should not be a one-way communication, but a dialogue between you and your team. You should invite feedback from your team throughout the briefing process, and be open to their questions, suggestions, and concerns. Feedback can help you clarify and refine your brief, as well as build trust and rapport with your team. It can also help you identify any issues or risks that might affect the project, and plan accordingly. By involving your team in the brief, you can ensure that they are engaged, aligned, and motivated to work on the project.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?