Aug
2010
Choppy waters ahead
I don’t think I’m alone in not being able to work out the current business environment.
Our experience this year has actually been pretty positive. We’ve been lucky enough to meet lots of new clients and to grow the business quite aggressively. Which has been great.
Understandably clients are rightly being cautious with their diminishing budgets. They are looking for value. They are engaging us on specific (often very challenging) projects. Which is exciting.
But these short-term assignments often make it difficult to predict the future – even in our small part of the business world.
So imagine what it’s like if you’re the Governor of the Bank of England who is trying to look at the macro-economic picture. He has had to revise (downwards) the forecasts he was making just a few months ago.
As a communicator I both admired and was slightly alarmed by his description of “choppy waters” ahead. In the US talk has intensified of a “double-dip” recession. And in China factory production is grinding to a halt.
All of which leads to greater uncertainty. And a lack of confidence making it difficult to take a longer-term view.
The challenge for business leaders and communicators is to actually deal with this ambiguity – not ignore it. We have to actively navigate our way through these choppy waters.
We can do it by developing a compelling strategic narrative. And by being clear and consistent when we refer back to it. And by encouraging our leaders and line managers to put it into local context in a relevant and meaningful way.
We can’t predict the future. But we can smooth out the bumps along the way.
