"New Year, New Us" and things like that

I find it so interesting that people can wake up 24 hours from the day before and feel like this is the start of something new and fresh, but the beginning of a new year does just that!

Most people wake up on the first of January each year full of new ideals and zeal to bravely declare to self, and sometimes others, that they are now new beings, with new energies, and new possibilities. Who can blame them? Hope is one of life’s greatest limitless supplies.

According to a Forbes Health/ OnePoll a "survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in October 2023 found that nearly 48% of respondents noted that improving fitness was their top priority, with just 36% focusing on their mental health” as their resolution.

We recently ran a poll on LinkedIn asking our community if they believed that new year’s resolutions help them stay focused on their goals and stuff. A resounding 71% of respondents admitted to making new year resolutions (see below) and they believe that resolutions keep them focused.

Another interesting fact from a Lead Read Today publication states that research shows that over 91% of Americans who make new year’s resolutions fail to achieve them.

It would be interesting to get a sense as to what most of their goals for this year are. Another interesting factoid would be to run another poll to see how many of them would still be on track to achieving their resolution goals at the end of June and by end of December 2024.

Does the Chapter make any new year's resolutions?

As a Chapter we also make resolutions.

Maybe not on the first of January, but we do. We call these resolutions "STRATEGY". Strategy is a co-created plan designed by the leadership team and a great way for the chapter to articulate focus areas and goals, given certain constraints.

Strategy forces us to think on programs, people, key results and the investments we need to make to ensure that our “goals'' come true. But like new year’s resolutions, strategy design is way easier (and more prettier) than strategy implementation.

According to a white paper by Intellibridge, quoting David Norton & Robert Kaplan’s The Balanced Scorecard, over 90% of organisations with a strategic plan fail to execute it successfully. Quite sobering!

This weekend, 2-4 February 2024, the new Executive Board, immediate past board members, and our Regional Leadership corps are meeting to collaborate on a new strategy design for the 2024-2027 chapter years.

Our strategy design has to take into consideration our Africa-wide agenda – a subject I am passionate about. If Africa wants to realise her potential, the way in which we implement change must get better. This is where business analysts, and change partners, are the greatest unrealised assets.

We have to push for a sea change of "change by design" if we want to build Africa “brick by brick”, as my friend Francis Mumbi likes to say. One business analyst at a time.

In our deliberations, we would have to take into account all of the factors that play to our unique strengths (which we should strive to leverage) and areas where we are not necessarily as strong as we would like to be (which we would try to find mitigation strategies for). I know you know I am talking about the SWOT & TOWS analysis…very smart ??

Let me declare, upfront, that a lot of things are going to change. But, also, a lot of things are going to stay the same. Internally we have completed an assessment of things that are working, and things which we think need improvements. The details of our strategy choices would be made public at our upcoming AGM (Annual General Meeting)...look out for the invites.

In Conclusion

Although we would like to wake up on the first of January each year and boldly declare “New Year, New Us” or stand at the end of that year and say "Mama, we have made it", the truth of the matter is that if we fail at strategy execution, we are going to wake up next year, stand in front of the mirror, and still very much look like a replica version of our current self.

Welcome to my first newsletter of 2024…thank you for joining.

Chat soon,

Tshepo Matjila | Chapter President

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