Making value visible | Brand clarity lessons from a National Archives commission
Updated: 6 hours ago
When pressure arrives, an organisation finds out whether the people who decide can see what its work makes possible. A commission for The National Archives brought that question into the room at a national leadership summit.
A budget review puts up to a fifth of a team's posts at risk.
The team has done careful, valuable work for years. Now it has one conversation to show the person holding the budget why that work matters.
That was the scenario on the tables at the Leadership for Recordkeepers Summit on 4 November 2026, at Friends House in London. Archivists, records managers and conservators, from first roles to senior posts, worked through it together.
I recognise that scene from my work with founders and leadership teams. The details change: a funding round, a restructure, a board asking harder questions.
The test stays the same. Can the people who decide see what your work makes possible?
How the commission came about
The National Archives and the Archives & Records Association run a leadership programme for the recordkeeping sector, and the summit is its flagship event. They opened a tender for consultants to design and lead its workshops.
Story Of Me was commissioned to design and deliver Leading from where you are, the early-career workshop. I also co-facilitated the cross-career exchange.
The sector knowledge sat with the people in the room. My proposal brought identity strategy to the brief, under one theme: making the value of recordkeeping visible.
That theme comes from the question I put to every organisation I work with. Who are you, what do you make possible, and who needs to see it?
What the day showed me about brand clarity
Three observations, each drawn from the room, each one I see inside organisations.
Evidence comes before description.
I opened the workshop with one question: when did something go better because you noticed, explained, questioned or helped?
A job title says where someone sits. A moment like that shows what they make possible.
Organisations work the same way. A list of services, sectors and years in business tells people where you sit.
The evidence lives in the client who stayed and why, the decision a competitor would have made differently, and the work you chose to turn down.
That evidence gives a team something concrete to stand behind.
Clarity is measured by the person who receives it.
Each participant shaped one request around three points: why it matters, who needs to understand, and what they should do next. The test was whether a colleague with different priorities could hear it and know how to respond.
Leadership teams face the same test with every strategy they set. Persuading the people who wrote it is the easier part.
The harder test is whether the board, the funder or the client can see what it means for them.
Pressure reveals what an organisation believes about itself.
In the cross-career exchange, each table chose one stakeholder in the budget scenario, worked out what mattered to them and built a case to keep the team's posts.
The exercise demanded choices: which work to lead with, which consequence would matter to this person, and what the team would stand behind.
Organisations make the same choices when resources tighten.
A shared understanding of identity gives people a common basis for those choices. Without it, each decision becomes a fresh debate.
What the feedback showed
Thirteen early-career participants completed both the opening and closing check-ins.
Their average self-rated confidence in explaining why their work matters to someone outside their profession rose from 5.1 to 8.4 out of 10, and every one of them reported an increase.
Confidence in making a specific request to someone with influence rose from 5.6 to 7.6.
They rated the workshop 8.9 out of 10 for usefulness.
One participant wrote at the close:
"I now have a clearer idea of my request and what I am going to say."
These ratings were self-reported at the end of the session. The real measure is the conversation each person has next.
Reflecting on both sessions, James Heyworth-Taylor, Sector Training and Events Lead at The National Archives, said:
“Thelma made an invaluable contribution to the Leadership for Recordkeepers Summit, bringing professionalism, creativity, and deep expertise to the development and delivery of the early-career workshop and cross-career exchange. Her engaging and supportive facilitation style resonated strongly with delegates, generating excellent feedback and helping participants leave the sessions feeling more confident.”
In an early review of feedback from the whole summit, all 27 respondents said they would recommend the day to colleagues. That result belongs to the full programme and everyone who contributed to it.
Where this leads
The summit asked individuals to make their contribution clear. Organisations face the same question: what do we make possible, who needs to understand it, and what needs to happen next?
At Story Of Me, that means connecting what an organisation stands for with how it communicates, makes decisions and delivers.
For a leadership team, that may mean an identity and positioning brief, or a Clarity Shot to identify what needs attention first.
For a team, network or professional community, it may mean a commissioned workshop or programme built around the conversations their people need to have.
We begin with what needs to change, who needs to be involved and what a useful result would look like.
Frequently asked questions
What does brand clarity look like in practice?
Brand clarity means the people whose support matters understand who an organisation is, what it stands for and what its work makes possible. At the summit, that principle shaped how individuals made the case for their work.
What did Story Of Me deliver for The National Archives?
Following an open tender, Story Of Me designed and delivered the early-career workshop, Leading from where you are, and co-facilitated the cross-career exchange.
The summit took place on 4 November 2026 and was run by The National Archives and the Archives & Records Association.
Can this work be commissioned for a team or programme?
Story Of Me designs workshops and programmes for teams, networks and professional communities. The focus, format and preparation follow the brief, shaped around the contribution people need to explain and the conversations they need to have.
