How to manage and lead a creative business
A half-day, inhouse, customised workshop to help creatives build confidence as they transition from doing to leading.
This workshop is for:
Designing and managing are very different skills
Designers often morph into managers and leaders when they grow their team and start to employ others. Often it’s a juggling act, one hand ‘on-the’tools’, the other wearing an art direction or studio management hat. That can be problematic because the role of managing and leading needs a completely different skill set to ‘doing’.
Luckily, managing creatives without micro-managing is a learned skill.
This workshop will save you the time, and the hassle, of learning-on-the-job. In just half a day, you’ll get resources that build the foundation of a skillset that took us years to develop.
What you’ll learn in this program …
Leadership identity
You’ll move from being uncertain about your management style to being confident in your unique leadership approach that fits both your personality and your team.
Business mastery
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by business decisions. This workshop will have you make strategic choices to drive studio growth.
Financial confidence
Many creatives avoid numbers and financial conversations. We aim to have you confidently discussing budgets and making profitable decisions.
Client partnerships
Many creatives live life reactive to client demands we’ll explain how to lead conversations and building strategic client relationships.
Creative balance
Most creatives juggle creativity and productivity — we’ll explain tools and tactics to make it easier to run a profitable studio while maintaining creative excellence.
Team dynamic
Creative leadership involves motivating creative personalities and helping them to delivers consistently while maintaining a good work:life balance.
Studio systems
We’ll share how to avoid chaos and missed deadlines by introducing processes and procedures that smooth operations and fee time for strategic thinking.
Growth strategy
New business strategy is part of any leadership position – we’ll help you strategically choose the right clients and projects for your team’s interest and skillset.
I just wanted to say a massive thank you for yesterday’s session. It’s daunting to sit down and lay everything out on the table, but I felt welcome and safe with the environment and process you’ve built for the program. I mentioned to Greg as I left, but I truly feel in good hands with you both. Plus, it’s exciting and motivating to be investing back into the business like this!
Jack O’Sullivan, Founder & Designer, Side By Side Studio
We’ll share practical insights about…
- the financial management needed to support a creative businesses
- pricing strategies and profitability
- business development and growth planning frameworks
- risk management and legal considerations
- ways to build, manage and lead creative teams
- different business models used by creatives
- performance management and feedback
- talent development and mentoring
- managing creative personalities
- strategic client management
- managing expectations and boundaries
- negotiation skills
- building long-term partnerships.
This course is specific to skills needed to manage and lead Australian creative businesses.
It is created by Australian design practitioners for Australian designers.
You'll leave this workshop with ...
Clarity around how to improve your management and leadership skills
Before this workshop:
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Struggling to balance creative work with management duties
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Unsure how to motivate and lead creative personalities
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Overwhelmed by financial decisions and business metrics
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Learning management through costly trial and error
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Caught between client demands and team needs
After this workshop:
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Clarity around different leadership styles
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Confidence in making strategic business and financial decisions
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Proven frameworks for managing creative teams effectively
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Systems to balance creativity with productivity
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52 factsheets to access as a resource library.
Why Design Business Council?
Because we’ve lived your journey – from designers to studio owners to industry mentors.
Our 30+ years running Mackay Branson design taught us what works (and what doesn’t) in creative leadership. And since, for the past decade, we’ve helped countless design leaders make this same transition successfully.
We don’t just teach theory — we share battle-tested strategies that work in the real world of creative business
The investment of
$5,000 +GST includes
a pre-workshop assessment to ensure you’ll get the most from the activity.
the half-day workshop in your studio with as many of your team as you like.
a bespoke workshop specific to your interests, skillset and pillars of excellence.
a one-month follow-up session to answer any of those niggling questions.
the frameworks, the tools and knowledge to implement what you’ve learnt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here's some answers to questions we think you might be asking... got another? Just email.
While no formal preparation is needed, we encourage you to reflect on your current leadership challenges and where you want to be in 12 months.
The clearer you are about your desired transformation, the more value you’ll get from our time together.
We’ll send you a brief pre-workshop assessment to help focus our discussion.
You’ll walk away with:
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A clear leadership identity and action plan
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Practical frameworks for managing creative teams
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Financial decision-making tools specific to creative businesses
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Systems to implement immediately in your studio
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An archive of 52 factsheets covering every aspect of creative business management Most importantly, you’ll have the confidence to step fully into your leadership role.