New Year: Curtains up

Start the year on a positive note; bring your team together to appreciate their past efforts and share the business targets for the year ahead

The year 2022 reminds me of Catch-22, the novel written by Joseph Heller and later immortalised in the WWII film by the same name. It has now entered our lexicon to describe paradoxical situations. In that story, a bomber pilot tried to declare himself insane so as to get sent home. But the medics take the view that one needs to be sane to plot such a scheme. Another example of a paradox is ‘that in order to save money, sometimes you have to spend it’.

Despite the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the last two years, the temptation for businesses is to continue to save money. I want to encourage you to spend just a little money in order to make some more.

Everyone is fed up with the pandemic. We want life to return to normal as soon as possible. We, as leaders, have to do our best to face into 2022, with as much positivity as we can muster. Therefore, why not take time to reboot your system. Pull out the plug and put it back in again.

What better way to do that than with a curtains up event early in the new year. This is an event where the leadership takes time to formally communicate to the wider organisation and show the team that they are in control of the future. This event will give you an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts and sacrifices made by everyone in the last year and to present the business plans for the year ahead.

HOW TO CONVENE A CURTAINS UP EVENT

Use the ‘Ws’ to help you plan the event: who, what, where, when and why.

1. Start by considering your audience. The level, the tone and the content of your message will vary across different groups of people. Tailor your message accordingly. If you are planning a physical event and can’t fit everyone into the same room at the same time, consider how the message from the main event will be cascaded. Those on the frontline are often left out of such events and that’s not okay. I do appreciate that the cascaded message may sometimes be edited, but think this through.

THIS IS AN EVENT WHERE THE LEADERSHIP TAKES TIME TO FORMALLY COMMUNICATE TO THE WIDER ORGANISATION AND SHOW THE TEAM THAT THEY ARE IN CONTROL OF THE FUTURE