Jon Isaacson
  • Home
  • Words

Relevant.

3/21/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureThinking you're cool vs. being cool.
If your organization is discussing relevance, odds are you aren’t. BUT, if you are willing to admit that you may be closer than you think to the solution. Relevance has long been a waste bucket that get’s all the blame for why organizations are not connecting with the culture or the market. If we can blame relevance for our lack of market engagement than we don’t have to dig any deeper into our vision, mission, systems or delivery. To be relevant means to be, “Closely connected or appropriate to what is being done.” Being relevant means taking notice of what is happening and connecting to those values and actions that keeps the system in motion. If you recognize that you don’t understand, you can begin your journey to engage by observing what is happening, finding those whom you trust that are active in the movement and then figuring out where your core values, knowledge, experience and skills can contribute to that organism. Confront reality so that you can connect with the culture and collaborate to make a difference.

An organization, whether for profit or charitable, is by definition irrelevant when they discuss the culture from the sidelines and lament that their product or service is not being well received. If you are saying, “No one is coming. No one is buying. No one likes us.” Or whatever fancy speak you use in the confines of your secret huddle sessions, the nature of your conversation is holding you back because you are asking the wrong questions. Instead of why is no one coming, ask yourselves – what are they doing? For example, if a church is noticing declining membership and blames it on relevance they might remark, “People are not coming because they aren’t going to church.” This isn’t an answer as it is first shortsighted confirmation bias from a very narrow survey group, it is a redundant reflection where your group has merely reframed the observation from question to statement and the conclusion is not based on digging beneath the surface. They aren’t coming is an effect, what is the cause (see more on effect vs. cause HERE) and like a disease, if you do not chase down the cause you will never reach a solution for the effects. Things are getting done and organizations are making positive impacts around the world, relevance is asking the right questions to connect with the work that is underway.

As we dig into causes for the effects that we do not find appealing, we notice that we have to get our hands dirty in the soil of the culture in order to extract answers. As an organization you may need a guide, you may need interpreters and you may need new tools. If you recognize that the culture or market is has (or is starting to) pass you by then you need to understand that you are in unchartered territory, everything around you has changed while you were blaming relevance. Again, admitting that will get you closer to the remedy than refusing to recognize this reality. Please remember, the key to relevance is not discovering how you can get people back to your organization but how your organization can recognize, connect and engage with what is already in motion. The market changes but businesses who want to says, “We’ve always done it this way, the market will come back around when they realize the new methods aren’t that cool,” that organization is dying. What is happening and how can we help. If the culture or the market is not engaging you, maybe you need to confront the reality that you aren’t helping. The economy is still in operation and there are businesses that are growing, relevance is finding where you fit in the puzzle to collaborate to make the world a better place.

If you think that I am wrong, you are right. Enjoy your power sessions on relevance. If you are earnest about wanting to be relevant, the first thing you need to do is take that term out of your vocabulary. Start with confronting reality and say it out loud, “I am not relevant. We are not relevant.” If you can do that, especially if you can do it as a team, you are finally on the right path to reaching what you say you want. Ask good questions so that you can discover what is in motion around you. Find a way to connect with stakeholders in the movement that you want to engage in and simply ask, “How can we help.” As you change your mindset, evolve your approach and put your hands to work, you will find that you are closer to being relevant than you ever were in your relevance conferences.

Connect. Collaborate. Conquer.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    The DYOJO Podcast

    Author

    Thoughts on personal and professional development. 

    SUBSCRIBE TO THE DYOJO
    SUBSCRIBE
    Jon Isaacson, The Intentional Restorer, is a contractor, author, and host of The DYOJO Podcast. The goal of The DYOJO is to help growth-minded restoration professionals shorten their DANG learning curve for personal and professional development. You can watch The DYOJO Podcast on YouTube on Thursdays or listen on your favorite podcast platform.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    February 2021
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Advice
    Analysis
    Authenticity
    Awkward
    Best Practices
    Blame
    Branding
    Business
    Business Solutions
    Care
    Career
    Character
    Claims
    Clarity
    Coaching
    Collaboration
    Commitment
    Communication
    Community
    Conflict
    Conflict Resolution
    Connect
    Connection
    Consistency
    Construction
    Controversy
    Creative
    Creative Solutions
    Criminal Justice
    Culture
    Culuture
    Customer Service
    Delusion
    Development
    Discipline
    Disgruntled
    Disruption
    Diversity
    Do Good
    Dysfunction
    Education
    Efficiency
    Emotional Intelligence
    Empathy
    Employee Development
    Employee Engagement
    Endurance
    Engagement
    Entrepreneur
    Environment
    Equipment
    Estimating
    Events
    Example
    Experiments
    Failure
    Family
    Fear
    Feedback
    Fitness
    Food
    Fun
    Funny
    Goals
    Good Cause
    Growth
    Growth Mindset
    Happiness
    Health
    High Horse
    Hiring
    Honesty
    Humanity
    Humanize
    Identity
    Incentives
    Influence
    Innovation
    Inspiration
    Insurance
    Intelligence
    Inter
    Interview
    Introspective
    Investing
    Issues
    Leadership
    Lean
    Listening
    Loyalty
    Management
    Marketing
    Meetings
    Mentorship
    Millennials
    Momentum
    Money
    Motivation
    Music
    Networking
    Non Profit
    Opposition
    Optimization
    Organization
    Parenting
    People
    Podcast
    Preparation
    Presentation
    Prioritization
    Process
    Process Improvement
    Production
    Productivity
    Profitability
    Progess
    Progress
    Project Management
    Promotion
    Property Restoration
    Publication
    Published
    Purpose
    Quality
    Racism
    Reform
    Relationships
    Respect
    Review
    Risk
    Safety
    Sales
    Scheduling
    Service
    Simple
    Social Media
    Society
    Soft Skills
    Speaking
    Status Quo
    Structure
    Success
    Symptoms
    Systems
    Team Building
    Tools
    Training
    Transparency
    Trauma
    Trust
    Truth
    Turnover
    Unity
    Values
    Video
    Vision
    Volunteer
    Water Damage
    Website
    Writing
    Xactimate
    Youth Sports

    RSS Feed

    ​<script type="text/javascript" src="//downloads.mailchimp.com/js/signup-forms/popup/unique-methods/embed.js" data-dojo-config="usePlainJson: true, isDebug: false"></script><script type="text/javascript">window.dojoRequire(["mojo/signup-forms/Loader"], function(L) { L.start({"baseUrl":"mc.us5.list-manage.com","uuid":"b9016446bd3c6a9f0bd835d4e","lid":"83282ffb9e","uniqueMethods":true}) })</script>

Jon Isaacson

The DYOJO 
The DYOJO Podcast
The Intentional Restorer

Connect. Collaborate. Conquer.
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Words