Identifying your business intellectual property can be harder than creating it. You work with your ideas, processes and expertise every day, which makes it easy to overlook the value sitting right in front of you.
I saw this play out during my recent Winter Warmer Retreat with my Thriving Women group.
During our first session on day one, we were exploring intellectual property, often shortened to IP.
Some women could immediately see the IP they had developed. Others found it harder to identify and define theirs. This made it difficult for them to move into the next part of the exercise and consider how they could leverage it.
The IP was there. Many of the women were simply too close to their own work to see it clearly.
Your IP may be hiding in plain sight
When people hear the term intellectual property, they often picture a trademarked framework, a signature methodology or a product with legal protection.
Those are all forms of IP. Your business may also contain valuable intellectual property in the way you deliver your work.
It might include:
- The questions you ask clients
- Your client onboarding process
- A template you use repeatedly
- The steps you follow to solve a particular problem
- The way you explain a complex idea
- A model you use to help clients make decisions
- A process you have refined through years of experience
- A distinctive approach your clients regularly mention
These assets can feel ordinary when you use them every day. To someone else, they may be the reason your work is effective.
During the retreat, we got stuck in the weeds. Even some of the most experienced women in the room felt uncertain about their positioning and what they were known for.
So, I changed the plan.
A 30-second exercise changed the conversation
We did a speed-dating-style exercise.
Each woman had 30 seconds to tell someone else what she believed that person’s unique positioning was.
It was fascinating.
Some women had their suspicions confirmed. They heard other people describe the strengths and qualities they already believed were central to their work.
Others saw themselves and their businesses in a completely different way. Their peers could see patterns, strengths and points of difference that they had overlooked.
The exercise took us over time, and it has already received some of the strongest feedback from the retreat.
It also rocked me.
I nearly rewrote the second day
Later that evening, I sat in my room wondering whether I should chuck the day two content in the bin and spend the night rewriting it.
The first session had gone in a direction I had not expected. The group had found the work challenging, and I questioned whether they were ready for the second part.
I chose to stick with the plan and trust the process. I knew they needed part two, even if they did not feel ready for it yet.
The next morning, I told the group that I had questioned myself.
Sharing that opened up a deeper conversation. They shared their uncertainty too, and we moved into day two with a collaborative mindset.
We could work through it together.
Good facilitation leaves room to respond
A plan gives a facilitator structure. Paying attention to the people in the room helps you decide how to use that structure.
Sometimes the group needs more time with an exercise. Sometimes a different question will help people move forward. Sometimes you need to pause and acknowledge what is happening before continuing.
Changing the exercise on day one gave the group what they needed in that moment.
Trusting the plan for day two gave them the opportunity to keep progressing.
Both decisions came from paying attention to the room.
Vulnerability can create better collaboration
Telling the group that I had questioned myself helped create a more honest conversation.
As leaders and facilitators, we can feel pressure to appear certain at all times. Sharing a genuine moment of uncertainty can give other people permission to talk about what they are finding difficult.
That openness changed how we approached the next session. We entered it ready to collaborate, ask questions and work through the discomfort together.
Preparation gave me something solid to trust. Vulnerability helped the group engage with it.
Other people can help you see your positioning
One of the most valuable parts of the retreat exercise was hearing how other people described each business.
We spend so much time inside our own work that we can lose sight of what makes it distinctive. Clients, colleagues and peers often see the common thread more clearly.
If you are struggling to define your business intellectual property or positioning, ask a few trusted people:
- What do you think I am known for?
- What do I do differently?
- What do you come to me for?
- Which part of my process feels most valuable?
- How would you describe my work to someone else?
- What do you think I make look easy?
Pay attention to the words and themes that appear more than once. They may point you towards IP you can name, develop and use more intentionally.
Sometimes the clearest view of your business comes from someone standing outside it.
What do other people say you are known for? It might be worth asking them.