TIME TO DE-CLUTTER
I moved house over the weekend. Apparently, moving is rated as one of life’s most stressful events – right up there with divorce or public speaking.
The amount of clutter was overwhelming. In the midst of the chaos I started musing on my imminent inaugural blog post. It struck me that there were parallels between the current disarray in my living room and the approach to strategic communications employed by some organizations.
For starters, it was abundantly clear there was ‘sod all’ planning – just a general desire to push through and get things reasonably orderly. There was no clear focus or overarching goal – aside from wanting to fall into bed at the end of the day. And there was no united approach – I focused on house stuff while my husband concentrated on getting the TV connected.
In a business context, this plan of attack yields poorly articulated strategy, diverging areas of focus, a tactical approach, and minimal results.
I wish I had a dollar for every time in the last decade I’ve asked questions such as “what do you want to achieve” or “what’s your overall goal”. Nine times out of ten, the answer is “ummm”.
Forget the bloated, over engineered approach. It’s time to clear the clutter.
Keep it simple. Ask only two questions: “why are we doing this” and “does this support our communications strategy”. If the answers are unknown, chances are the approach to strategic communications looks like my living room floor - messy.
The amount of clutter was overwhelming. In the midst of the chaos I started musing on my imminent inaugural blog post. It struck me that there were parallels between the current disarray in my living room and the approach to strategic communications employed by some organizations.
For starters, it was abundantly clear there was ‘sod all’ planning – just a general desire to push through and get things reasonably orderly. There was no clear focus or overarching goal – aside from wanting to fall into bed at the end of the day. And there was no united approach – I focused on house stuff while my husband concentrated on getting the TV connected.
In a business context, this plan of attack yields poorly articulated strategy, diverging areas of focus, a tactical approach, and minimal results.
I wish I had a dollar for every time in the last decade I’ve asked questions such as “what do you want to achieve” or “what’s your overall goal”. Nine times out of ten, the answer is “ummm”.
Forget the bloated, over engineered approach. It’s time to clear the clutter.
Keep it simple. Ask only two questions: “why are we doing this” and “does this support our communications strategy”. If the answers are unknown, chances are the approach to strategic communications looks like my living room floor - messy.
Sandra
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