Resolution: Do Things Differently

Geri Denterlein gathered the team for a toast to start the New Year last week and inquired about New Year’s resolutions. I’ve had several going, but it wasn’t until put on the spot that I realized they all had something in common: do things differently.

For me, there is a lot of power behind the “muscle memory” that comes with nearly 25 years of consulting in public relations and corporate communications. Even as the tools change, the speed gets faster and the challenges trickier, a lot of the fundamentals of great communications and story telling remain the same. Since the day I met Geri back in the mid-90s (yikes!), I saw how good she was at connecting the dots and coming up with creative solutions and new ideas, all based on a lot of years of diverse experience as a journalist, government press person and consultant. And all these years later, that’s a powerful resource and skill set that I draw on everyday.

BUT... there is always room to do things differently. A few that I want to explore:

— Listen, quietly: One of the key rules of good consulting is to listen first (another wise lesson learned early in my career from Geri). But I am assuredly an active listener, often asking questions, inserting ideas, making connections. And while lots of good may come out of those interjections, I suspect there is also something to be gained by letting the story, problem, or opportunity unfold a little more fully before jumping in. I’m curious to see what comes when I try to reorient the way I listen to find the right mix of quiet and active.

— Lead by following: No surprise, I love my job and really, really love solving problems. (As most of my clients, our team and my husband can tell you, at the drop of a hat I can offer three options for addressing almost any question and back them up with a few bullet points and next steps). But we’ve worked really hard to cultivate an awesome and talented team that includes VPs with great perspective based on decades of experience and account staff with amazing energy and a voracious desire to stretch their strategy muscles. SO instead of immediately offering my POV, I’m going to step back and bring up the caboose. I’m interested in what I’ll learn from the team.

— Think visually: I’m a words person, through and through. But our business is getting more visual by the day. So I’m going to challenge myself to think about how I would tell a story visually BEFORE trying to sketch out the narrative in writing. The visual thinkers on our team should prepare themselves for lots of bad hand-drawings that they’ll need to turn into infographics, storyboards, videos and photos — and they’ll probably need to gently point me away from some bad ideas. That said, I think starting with the picture instead of the words will be a fun opportunity for me.

— Pursue the bold: I’ve always tried to be bold for our clients — what’s the biggest, best option to get the job done. It’s time to carve out the space to do that for me: how can I make an impact on our business, our community and the causes I care about. That also means carving out time and energy to focus on these topics. A Myers-Briggs test a few years back told me that I always put client priorities first, so I am going to pick a bold idea or two to tackle and make them into personal clients (maybe even adding them to our time tracking software).

There are some variations on these themes that will carry through to other aspects of my work, my relationships, family life, and personal goals. (Our five year old will assuredly benefit from my resolution to rethink how I manage my non-office time). But it all boils down to asking myself at every turn: are you doing it differently?

Ask me how its going when we bump into each other next. And offer any ideas or experiences you’ve had on doing things differently in your career and life. I’ll take all the help I can get, while listening quietly, visualizing the solution, and being bold!