10…9…quick turn off the Wii…8…7…switch to a station with the countdown…6…5…not that one, the one with the ball…4…3…hurry, wake up your mother…2…no problem…beer is fine…1…Happy New Year!
That sounds about right…pretty much the same pattern for us over the last couple of years…I think I sometimes miss the old days….dressing up WAITING for a taxi, then finally getting a taxi and heading to the New Year’s eve function and WAITING to get in, then finally getting in and WAITING in the coat check line, then finally checking your coat, and WAITING in the drink ticket line, then finally purchasing a drink ticket, and WAITING in line at the bar to redeem that drink ticket, then finally getting that drink, turning around and yelling Happy New Year! to the stranger at the bar beside me…WAIT what did I miss again?
As we move into a New Year, a new decade for that matter…I begin to think about the past…things that I would have liked to do differently, lotteries I should have played…how come they always pull my numbers when I forget to play?…I swear I won tons of money in my mind…we all can espouse the popular maxim’s ‘hindsight is 20/20’… or the classic ‘if I knew then what I know now’…I probably would have made the same mistakes however, I don’t think I would have changed a single thing, everything that I experienced…good, bad and downright ugly, helped shape the individual that I am today…from playing multiple team sports…to releasing a record..yes I know I am showing my age and it was vinyl …to becoming a business consultant. All of these individual experiences churn and coalesce, each piece having its own spot like a experiential game of Tetris. All of these diverse experiences proliferate throughout SNERGY consulting growing with each new client, project and resource.
This type of critical introspection should be a cyclical practice among companies…Do you still believe in the same things as an organization that you did last year? Is the organizational vision still 20/20 since your last check-up? Is senior management all on the same page? Is the raison d’etre clear and does it still permeate throughout the rest of the organization?
As an organization you should be asking yourselves
– Why were we created?
– What is our main objective and mission statement?
– What is our value proposition?
– What do we do differently that separates us from our competition?
– What are our organizational goals?
– What is our future vision?
Remember when I mentioned earlier that Transformation has 3 Rs? I did not mean literally…I meant figuratively…Reassess, Realign and Revitalize.
– Re-Assess – Companies need to truly step back and determine whether or not they are still on brand or still believe in the original vision – Identify the need for transformation.
– Re-Align – Once there is a consensus vision and full leadership buy-in, the next step is to confirm organizational readiness. Re-evaluate Branding, assess and optimize people, process, data, technology and measurement, this ensures that the business and technical infrastructure is primed for success – Prepare the organization for transformation.
– Re-Vitalize –In a staged implementation, update branding and logos, develop new products, access new target audiences, create innovative multi-channel campaigns, refresh marketing materials and literature as well as enhance all inbound and outbound communication touch points (customer service, websites etc.) – Complete and communicate the transformation.
If we believe in the 3Rs and contrary to popular belief, Reading Writing and Arithmetic do not all start with an R…we can ensure that organizationally we are always on the same page and can adjust to the evolving marketplace.
Wife’s asleep, kids asleep, time to conclude my earlier introspection…I am definitely still on plan and if I could do it all over again…I would not change a thing….quick question…How the heck old is Dick Clark anyway?
