What do you do if your advertising team lacks confidence in taking risks and embracing innovation?

This happens in cases where the advertising budget is a factor of sales OR advertising is supposed to garner 'x' sales. This approach reduces the ability of an advertising or creative professional to take risks or abstract approach. They prefer to then switch to routine and mundane stuff that lacks clarity and ambition. Its important to consider advertising as an investment and not as a spend. Eventually, creative advertising generates interest in the brand, grabs eyeballs, aided with good marketing helps bring in traffic that translates to business.

I’m an advertising attorney and in my experience clients are pushing me to take more risks, in which case I explain the risks and then try to adjust the ad so that we have mutual agreement regarding assumption of risk. Sometimes my clients need my reassurance that their perceived risk of an ad is really not a legally risky as they may think. When my clients are unreasonably concened about advertising risk, I remind them that we can produce an ad that is a little edgy, but still compliant.

a. Senior management should lead by example by demonstrating a willingness to take risks and embrace innovation themselves. Share success stories of innovative campaigns or initiatives and highlight the positive outcomes that result from thinking creatively. b. Involve clients in the creative process from the outset by soliciting their input, feedback, and collaboration. Help them understand the rationale behind innovative ideas and how they align with their business objectives and target audience.

Un líder ense?a con el ejemplo. Dicho esto, la búsqueda de innovación, la pasión por las ideas, activar el pensamiento lateral e inspirar debe partir del líder. Cuando un equipo ve a su líder seguro, apasionado y con las metas claras confía. Hay que empoderarlo, pedirles nuevas ideas sobre la mesa. Insitarlos permanentemente a pensar, a conocer un poco de todo. Es muy útil traer ejemplos, de otras marcas, de otras categorías, de otros países, de un libro, una película o de la vida cotidiana. Ejemplos de cómo hacer algo de manera distinta funcionó. Las tendencias, ideas, e innovación están a un click, nutrir nuestra creatividad hoy es muy fácil. ?Quieres un equipo que arriesge y cree? arriesga y crea tu primero.

I have often seen everything done to stimulate all team members to propose ideas, even with internally created, proactive briefs, etc. But too often this was handled as a competition between the various members. Competitiveness and challenging are very useful, but in situations like these which are more "didactic" it is better to keep the choice phase more open and rather than praising one person and making the other feel defeated, the ideal is to give constructive proactive feedback to everyone so as to get the most out of everyone.

Offer Professional Development: Provide workshops or courses in the latest advertising trends and technologies. Analyze Case Studies: Encourage analysis of successful innovative campaigns to understand strategies and risks. Foster Knowledge Sharing: Create an atmosphere where knowledge is prized and shared among team members. Build Confidence: Instill a culture of continuous learning to help team members gain confidence in embracing new ideas.

To boost your advertising team's confidence in taking risks and embracing innovation, foster a culture of continuous learning and experimentation. Encourage them to explore new ideas and technologies, and highlight the value of learning from both successes and failures to drive creative growth.

Encourage learning, keep learning till you master your art. Ask questions from senior professionals. If possible attend courses and conferences. It will help to build your trust.

Motivate your leadership team to not only manage but mentor.l and foster a culture where mistakes can be made and learning moments are facilitated

Having a peer recognition session where you take a few moments to give shoutouts in each meeting has enabled my team to grow We're taking a small slice of time to show our teammates we care about their success.

Celebrate successes and achievements resulting from innovative ideas and risk-taking behavior within the team. Recognize and reward individuals or teams who demonstrate creativity, initiative, and resilience in pursuing innovative solutions. Similarly, encourage a culture of learning from failures by discussing lessons learned, identifying areas for improvement, and applying insights to future endeavors.

Acknowledge that celebration comes in different shapes and sizes. It's not always champagne and party that gets the message across

Accepting failure and building trust are linked - If you run a team (no matter the business size) you need to figure out your own tolerance for failure and what constitutes failure then make sure the team know the parameters. Psychological safety (Amy Edmonson) plays a huge role - communicating to a team what risks they can take and how failures will be discussed, assessed and ultimately logged as learnings for future success are vital to make everyone comfortable with calculated risk taking. As far as I'm concerned failure is just another data point to learn from - I'm sure there's a quote out there somewhere about a light bulb ??

A radical idea would be to of course celebrate hugely the successes, but also celebrate the failures, especially during a transition period. If we celebrate that they tried and hold a "What did you learn" session with the group and treat that person as a SME in the new method/innovation for having tried it, we should be able to build an environment where we're comfortable with the growth period. Especially if we relate it back to previous learning experiences, we all started somewhere.

after accepting failure , Address any fear of failure or risk aversion within the team by reframing failure as a natural part of the innovation process. Emphasize the importance of learning from failures, iterating on ideas, and using setbacks as opportunities for growth and improvement. Encourage a growth mindset that embraces challenges and sees failure as a stepping stone to success

"Accept failure" feels like an oxymoron in advertising. If you are not failing daily in advertising you are doing something wrong. If you think you are not failing you are also doing it wrong. Failure should be a fundamental tool for building a meaningful strategy. Make sure your team understands this.

Failure is one of the best ways to find what works. You cannot innovate nor can you expand without the acceptance of risk. Never phrase failure as a negative, all you have done is find a boundary and gathered data. That data will help in taking a more calculated risk the next time.

Transparency. Throw the need-to-know-basis out the window and share the full scope at all times so people can take ownership and gain perspective of their role.

One framework that is helpful here is the “one-way door” versus “two-way door” approach. When making a decision, it is crucial to understand the type of decision in scope. One-way door decisions have lasting effects and are often difficult to reverse. They carry significant weight and can influence your project’s trajectory, or even impact your entire organization. In contrast, two-way door decisions are reversible and have a smaller impact. They provide opportunities for experimentation, learning, and iteration. Recognizing these differences is vital for guiding your team and fostering an innovative, risk-conscious culture.

One of the best things you can do to prove to your team taking risks and embracing innovation is worth it, is to do it yourself. Take on a project, or manage a campaign, and show them what managing risk looks like. Telling them is one thing. Showing them your risk tolerance and they benefit of taking on risk is another.

When an advertising team struggles with confidence in taking risks and embracing innovation, creating an environment of trust and open communication is essential. Establishing a safe space for idea sharing, supporting brainstorming sessions, and allowing experimentation can inspire innovative thinking. As a leader, demonstrating a willingness to embrace new ideas, and taking calculated risks shows the team the value placed on innovation. Providing support through guidance, and training opportunities enables team members to explore new approaches confidently. Recognizing and celebrating small wins boosts morale, it also reinforces the importance of embracing creativity. Promote growth and help them see setbacks as learning opportunities.