Any time there’s valid disagreement among team members, someone is bound to call for compromise. What exactly does that mean? Instead of choosing one way or the other, conventional wisdom suggests that we work towards something in between. This way each party gets something they believe in — but they also have to give up something in return.
It’s almost a win/win situation, but not really. I see it as more of a meh/meh situation, which typically yields an acceptable, if mediocre, outcome. And apparently, it’s pretty hard to achieve.
Why creatives don’t compromise.
When creative team members work out solutions to their clients’ problems, they do have to work together to find the best solution. They may also have to put their egos aside and let go of ideas they really feel proud of. But instead of trading one element of their solution for an element of another team member’s solution, they push further. They build on one another’s solutions until a third idea is developed, which is better than either of the original ideas. This is creative problem solving, which yields a greater result than either of the two parties could ever have imagined.
Kind of a win/“hell, yeah!” situation.
Hold out for the best, perhaps unforeseen, solution.
If you’ve got conflicting ideas about how to go about your marketing efforts with respect to achieving your business goals, please don’t compromise.
Please don’t execute several different ideas to “test them out” and see which one “wins”.
And please don’t wait too long to decide.
Gather everyone’s thoughts into a “bucket”, and hand the challenge over to a marketing consultant who understands the power of creative problem solving. Use their experience, objectivity, and skill to bring you a marketing angle that supersedes everything you’ve been able to gather thus far.
The high cost of compromise.
This is more important than most CEOs realize. Positioning your company in compromised, complicated, or non-committal ways means that your internal team will be cross-conflicting, confused, and vague about the real value your company is offering. Therefore your target market is left guessing. Which translates to unrealistic expectations. Wasted time. Disappointment. False starts. Abandonment.
Avoid this messy fallout by doing the hard work of Discovery at the beginning of the creative process. Stick with it until the best ideas are brought to light. Only then will you get everyone on your internal team on the same page, projecting a clear, positive, self-qualifying promise to your target market.