The #1 challenge for design teams in the financial services and insurance space?

There are many challenges facing design team leaders in the corporate world, but I believe hiring the right talent is the first and most crucial.

Financial services in general, and the insurance industry in particular, is a risk-adverse environment.

Teams of actuaries and experts pore over data to ensure minimum transaction risk. It's really the core-business of the industry.

Now consider design teams.

They are hired to develop communications that stand out and get attention, not only from the hoards of competitor messaging, but even within their own brand (no one wants customers confusing financial products, do they?).

To even explore this territory requires a dramatically different outlook from that of the core-business. Each degree of difference raises the needle on the risk meter.

Even when the creative is strong enough to win the marketing team over, it still has to run the gauntlet of legal and compliance, people who are paid to shut down any degree of risk.

It's no wonder financial services marketing can be bland.

It's also a reason why recruiting and retaining quality design talent is so difficult. The majority of designers will run from what they see as a hostile environment.

If that describes your hiring/retention efforts, it's likely you are looking for the wrong abilities, and I believe this mismatch leads to the greatest challenge facing design team leaders today.

Designers who thrive in the corporate world need to be more strategy-focused than their agency (and in particular CPG) counterparts. It's the joy of finding creative solutions in the risk adverseness that motivates them.

Recognising these rare treasures is not easy. On the surface, they can look extremely similar to any other designer, and the difference is rarely to be found in their portfolio.

Strong work is important, obviously, but it needs to be deeply linked with evidence of strategic understanding of the challenge. The greater and challenge and stronger the work, the more likely you've found a keeper. Treat them well!

[If you could use some guidance on recruitment of design talent, hit the Free Discovery Call button above for a no obligation discovery call – no sales speech, no pressure!