A bit of a departure today. I’m big on listening to our customers. Certainly, this keeps our focus on the customer. Today, I want to shift to focus on talking to customers. Our messaging. This time, it’s about us.
I know all of us are experiencing the pandemic differently. Our experience is unique to what is happening in our areas. The amount of disease and the supply/rollout of vaccines. The work that we do and how the pandemic has changed it. Moreover, the impact on the people in our lives. (I can only really speak from my own experience. We are facing another stay-at-home order coming into effect this week in Ontario. Uggh!)
However, even though our experiences are unique, I believe a lot of us are at a moment of endurance. A climb.
I borrow that phraseology from Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez’s book Illuminate. Illuminate is about communicating through change and transformation. Something I think that marketer’s do all the time in our messaging. In the words of the Beatles… We all want to change the world.
I love everything that comes out of the Duarte Group. They deeply embed the use of story and story arcs into their guidance on creating presentation. For marketers, this resonates across all our content creation. (btw Resonate is another book by Nancy.)
In Illuminate they discuss recognizing where you are on the transformation arch of Dream, Leap, Fight, Climb and Arrive. And then adjusting your speeches, stories, and ceremonies to fit that stage. The moment of endurance signals the Climb stage.
For me endurance is about regaining my enthusiasm for what I am doing. After the last year, I am a little battle weary. Moreover, the year has has had its disappointments. Currently, I am working on my next course, with lots of lessons learned being applied. I know it will be successful. However, I must admit that at times my energy reserves are a bit thin.
Still, I need a second breath. To remember the dream and leap of faith I took at the start of 2020. But I also must remember what I’ve done to move past resistance in other projects. The point in the race where you feel you hit the wall in terms of energy reserve. Or whatever was the equivalent of zoom fatigue. What kept us going when the going got tough. I’ve had to remember that I do it by chunking work. Doing things in small pieces and then letting the eventual progress create it’s own momentum.
I think it’s important to dig into those stories of past moments of endurance. How we turned the corner on an impossible goal when it seemed almost out of reach. Better yet, how our customer’s managed to do it with our products and services. And start to tell those stories now. To our customers and to our teams.
Its important to meet the moment that is now. We know that customer centricity is about meeting the customer where they are. It’s time to change our messaging. To recognize the world is at a moment of endurance.
Do you agree? Are you and your customers at a moment of endurance right now? What’s the current challenge for you?
