Reasons to be cheerful; 1, 2, 3...

Far from being a year to forget, I think 2020 should be a year to remember, and to learn from; without dismissing the huge challenges many are facing, here are 3 positive themes from organisations and businesses I've worked with this year.

A reinvigorated focus on what makes organisations ‘tick.’

Lots of my conversations this year have been with organisations who have lost their way and become disconnected from what they exist to achieve and what keeps them moving.

Call it ‘purpose’ or ‘vision’ if you like, but it is what is left behind when you strip away all the short-term pressures and see what is left behind.

When Covid-19 ripped up the annual plans and forced everyone back to the drawing board many businesses found themselves looking at a blank canvas, rather than a blue-print.

It has been difficult, and painful, but many businesses now have a much clearer answer to some vital questions, “what are we here to do and what drives our business?”

A deeper understanding of the resources available to organisations, people, money and time.

With the focus on core-purpose has come a deeper clarity on available resources of people, money and time.

The value of the people in a business is higher than ever before. “Our people are our biggest asset” is another one of those phrase often spoken, but rarely acted on. It is fantastic to see how businesses are spending more time and energy understanding their people, their capabilities, and their capacity, both as employees, as well as human beings.

Financial challenges have abounded, but the conversations I’ve had with colleagues and connections in the finance community this year have been some of the most enjoyable. In a world of automation, computers and algorithms seeing finance as an extinction risk is an easy trap to fall into. Actually the reverse is true. Is there a better example of human and financial resources combined than a good relationship formed between a finance business partner and the areas they partner with?

I really think time is an organisations most underappreciated resource. Many business have realised that they are suffering from both short term challenges inflicted by the pandemic, but also because of a lack of long term investments.

This has been in many functions – human-capability, technological and logistical infrastructure, customer / consumer understanding, and more – and it will be a crisis well exploited if those longer term investments now start being put in place.

A wider appreciation of the role businesses and organisations play in the world.

As the pandemic has played out, so has the appreciation that businesses don’t exist in a microcosm, but as a much broader part of society.

Some of this realisation has been internal, and most businesses have a better understanding of their employees and stronger appreciation for their lives beyond work. Where relevant, the shift to home-working has been nothing short of transformational, and has grown a fantastic level of trust between employee and employer.

There is also a bigger and louder dialogue about the role business has in society beyond the confines of their own organisations. Despite the crisis being a pandemic respiratory disease, Sustainability, Diversity and Mental Health have all remained huge issues in the public conscience. Indeed, while there is masses more work to be done I actually think the acknowledgement of the challenge has grown stronger and better as a result.

The pandemic has forced everyone to focus on what is important to them both as individuals as well as members of local and global populations. If we didn’t know that we “are all in it together” before, we certainly do now.

This is admittedly a half-glass-full view of the world.

In the other half of the glass the picture is incredibly worrying. Communities, livelihoods, families and individuals are under incredible strain, and we all have a role to play in helping them recover.

More than anything though, it is also the view of an eternal optimist.

It will be alright in the end,

And if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.

I am a marketing consultant who helps marketing teams become leading business drivers.

If you want to understand more about what could make marketing a leading function within your organisation, or you need an independent marketing brain and an experienced pair of hands, message me via LinkedIn, or email [email protected]