What do you do if your creative strategy is being unfairly evaluated due to biases?

1 Identify the biases

It is essential to be aware of the various biases that could affect your evaluation of a creative strategy. These include confirmation bias, anchoring bias, halo effect, framing effect, and availability heuristic. All of these can have an influence on how the creative work is perceived. Therefore, by recognizing the biases that may be influencing your evaluators, you can tailor your creative strategy presentation to address them and prevent any potential issues.

2 Provide context and evidence

The second step is to provide context and evidence for your creative strategy. Doing so will help evaluators understand the background, goals, and rationale of your creative work, as well as see the results, impact, and value. To provide context and evidence, you can use storytelling techniques to engage emotionally and intellectually; use data to support with facts, figures, and metrics; and show examples of how your creative strategy is applied to different scenarios, platforms, or media. By providing context and evidence, you can make your creative strategy more credible and persuasive.

3 Address feedback and objections

The third step in the creative strategy evaluation process is to address feedback and objections from your evaluators. Although they can help you improve your work, these comments can be influenced by biases. To address this feedback and objections, you need to listen actively, ask questions, and respond constructively. Listening with an open mind and a respectful attitude will help you understand the perspectives, concerns, and questions of your evaluators. Asking questions to clarify, verify, or challenge their feedback or objections will help you uncover the underlying reasons behind them. Lastly, responding to the feedback or objections with confidence and professionalism is important. Thank them for their input and acknowledge their points while providing additional context or evidence to support your creative strategy. By addressing feedback and objections, you can show your evaluators that you value their input and that you are able to handle criticism and challenges.

4 Build rapport and trust

The fourth step is to build rapport and trust with your evaluators. This is essential for effective communication and collaboration, and it can help you overcome biases and establish a positive relationship. To do this, you can use empathy, humor, and reciprocity. For example, use empathy to connect with your evaluators on a human level by conveying your understanding of their needs, goals, and emotions through positive body language, eye contact, and tone of voice. Use humor that is appropriate, relevant, and respectful to lighten the mood and reduce tension. Finally, show your appreciation of their time, attention, and feedback through reciprocity by offering them something of value such as a tip or resource. By building rapport and trust, you can influence your evaluators' attitudes and behaviors toward your creative strategy.

5 Seek diverse perspectives

The fifth step in your creative strategy is to seek diverse perspectives. This can help broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and improve your creative work by countering the biases that may be affecting your evaluators. To gain these diverse perspectives, you can consult experts for their opinions and advice, collaborate with peers who have different backgrounds and styles, or test your strategy with users who represent your target audience. By seeking out different perspectives, you can validate, refine, or innovate your creative strategy.

6 Keep learning and improving

The sixth step is to continually learn and refine your creative strategy. Doing so will help you grow as a creative strategist, overcome biases, and adjust to changing expectations. To keep learning and improving, you can reflect on your performance, seek feedback and mentorship, and explore new trends and tools. When reflecting on your performance, consider your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Ask people for honest, constructive feedback on your creative work. Also, stay up-to-date with relevant sources of information and experiment with new techniques. By keeping learning and improving, you can optimize your creative strategy and reach your creative potential.

7 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?