In Dickens’ story of Great Expectations, protagonist Pip travels from childhood to adulthood, experiencing uncomfortable encounters and strange characters whilst discovering his true identity and values. This felt remarkably similar to a branding briefing call I attended last year, one that transported me into a weird and wonderful Victorian drama.

I’d been briefed by a communications manager on what seemed straightforward: a healthcare product rebrand with limited time and budget. The scope felt familiar – a contained project with assets and audiences I knew well. But when that green light lit up above my screen and the wall of squares revealed our call participants, things took an unexpected turn.

Within minutes, voices from those squares began animatedly discussing their huge vision. Everyone had wildly different expectations from mine, and I found myself doing my best to mask mild panic whilst searching the comms manager’s little screen square for signs of shared anxiety.

I’m not usually one for overused phrases like ‘being on the same page’ but it certainly rings true with my book analogy here. We definitely weren’t on the same page, chapter or even in the same genre. What followed was a protracted and onerous series of conversations, using up valuable time and budget to find a middle ground and agree on new parameters and deliverables.

Why uncomfortable briefing calls happen (and how to avoid them)

An uncomfortable briefing situation creates tension, disorientation, and anxiety for everyone involved. The good news is that it’s completely avoidable by creating, sharing and agreeing the brief. 

However, it’s not simply about writing a good brief. It’s about the process before and during brief creation. You might have an amazingly detailed brief, but if it’s based solely on your interpretation and perspective, you’re missing crucial voices.

A brief is a translation of objectives. This translation combines many views and voices, requiring careful stages of refinement and agreement. When we take a brief from a client, we know it’s our translation, influenced by previous experience, assumptions, bias and, on occasion, missing information. 

Like language translation, briefing is a two-way process. We need to translate the brief back to ensure it makes sense when we narrate it to you.

Creating briefs with multiple contributors

When working with multiple stakeholders, here’s what works:

Do

• Collect thoughts early. Gather input from all contributors before creating the brief. Work with your agency on this if navigating multiple stakeholders feels daunting.
• Have difficult conversations upfront. Address potential conflicts early, rather than hoping they’ll resolve themselves.
• Discuss parameters openly. Share budget constraints, timescales or other work the project needs to align with.
• Share concerns and opportunities. Make room for honest conversation about what might affect the project.
• Ask about expectations specifically. People often know what they don’t want more clearly than what they do want. Tease out any external conversations that might provide added context and deeper insight.

Don’t 

• Skip the briefing stage due to time constraints. It rarely saves time and usually creates considerably more work for everyone.
• Hope a vague brief might reveal itself or align on the call. If you’re bringing together different perspectives, respect those differences and provide a good set of references before the call.
• Rely on the element of surprise to win the day. Sometimes it’s tempting to start when you ‘think’ you know what’s required, or when asking tricky questions feels uncomfortable. Bold ideas and slick execution might get initial head nods, but without proper briefing, approval is usually short-lived.

Building success together

Agencies are used to collecting information from a wide variety of sources and distilling it into a collective voice and vision. This starts at the brief creation stage. When we build objectives together and work with collective confidence in composing the project framework, we avoid apprehension and discomfort, creating instead an efficient process with aligned expectations.

As Mr Jaggers wisely says in Great Expectations: “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”

If you’re thinking about a project that needs input from multiple sources, get in touch. We can ease the process and set your project up for success.