Scott Belsky of Behance

It is difficult enough to make ideas happen in the corporate world, yet alone in a non-profit organization. Without the traditional financial rewards that keep people focused on execution, socially-conscious ideas tend to slip away. Often times, the passion of the founder is the driving force that pushes the idea to fruition. But sometimes passion is not enough to overcome the daily grind and tremendous uphill battle to make “good” ideas happen. Among the success stories we’ve observed, we have found that accountability from a broader community provides the pressure required to move the idea over the finish line. Read entire article.

Posted in Leadership

The Behance Team recently interviewed Ian McCallam, founder and creator of the website This Ain’t No Disco. Whenever we interview especially productive creative people, we always ask for their tips on how to organize, stay productive, and lead others in the pursuit of making ideas happen. Ian has some particularly helpful insights and observations to share on successful creative environments that combine inspiration and execution:

40 second meetings.
“An agency I did some work with had a great system of 40 second meetings. Only those who needed to be present were present. It was their job to ‘gather the facts’ before the meeting. Each person had 40 seconds to get across their point and updates. Members of the meeting had truly learned how to cut to the chase and make their point the most important. This skill followed through into their day-to-day work. They now have a stronger ability to identify the true action points from the clutter. Timelines for jobs have since been dramatically decreased.” Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, productivity

In an ongoing effort to interview some of the most productive creative leaders across industries, the Behance team recently had the chance to interview Anne Benedict, Director of Leadership Development for the Interpublic Group. As one of the largest creative agencies in the world, Interpublic experiences many of the challenges that creative teams typically face. Anne sat down with us to share her insights on effective leadership in creative teams.

Give feedback.
“More than just using a thumbs up/thumbs down approach, explain the ‘why’ behind your comments. Also, offer constructive feedback on the way the team is working, such as the processes they are using, as well as the quality of their relationships and behaviors that they are exhibiting.” Read entire article.

Posted in Leadership

Creative teams juggle multiple projects at once. The constant streams of ideas lead to more ideas. As energy is spread across projects like peanut butter, prioritization is all but lost. Energy Lines are a simple way to prioritize and use design to guide creative energy.

At any given point in time there are a few projects that are urgent, some that are just important, a few that need to be kept moving, and others that are idle. How much of your time are you spending on what? Are you focused on the right things? Amidst the everyday craziness of a creative enterprise, it is hard to keep energy in perspective.

The Energy Line is a simple mechanism to graphically display energy allocation. A simple line starting at “Idle” and going up to “Extreme” is drawn along a cork or dry erase board. Then write the names of all of your major projects on small cards. Place the cards along the energy line according to how much focus they should get. Be realistic and make the tough decisions on what projects need to live on low energy for a while. Read entire article.

Posted in productivity