The beginning of the year is often full speed ahead. You’re up against it as you try to launch a big new programme. You’re grappling with the must-do activities that got forgotten in the midst of the Christmas party season, and in all honesty, you’d rather be sitting on your sofa eating mince pies!
BUT, before you get caught up in business as usual, it’s important to try to take a step back from the day-to-day: to take some time to look forward to the year ahead and check that the activity you’ve planned, the initiatives you’re launching, and the projects you’ve decided to focus on will really make an impact.
External Communications
Externally this is the time to revisit your communications strategy:
Are you focusing on the right things this year?
Are your central themes linked to your wider business strategy and priorities?
Are the campaigns that you’ve got planned going to hit the mark?
What awards are you going to enter this year and are they the right ones?
From a media relation perspective, I use January to do some planning and a bit of horizon scanning:
What are the big topics and issues that could impact your business this year? Are you prepared for them?
Are your issues and crisis management plans up-to-date?
Have you got the right spokespeople in place that will enable you to promote your business in the right way and protect its reputation if required?
Internal Communications
With everything going on in the world, plus a shift in people’s ways of working, communicating effectively with your people has never been more important.
Now is the time to think through your planned internal communications activity for the year and explore:
Are the communications channels I have in place working for our people?
Have we asked our people how they want to be communicated with recently?
Am I cutting through the noise? Are people reading and acting on the communications we’re sending them?
Are we listening to our people? Have we created multiple opportunities for a genuine dialogue with our employees?
Do our people understand what we stand for as a business and what our business strategy is? Do they feel like they have a part to play in achieving our goals?
Taking time out to reflect and plan can be difficult, but doing so and acting on your findings will prove invaluable to you, your business, and your people.