In gratitude of goals and achievements
The end of any year so often feels like a race to the finish line, frantically making sure that everything is closed off before business shuts down for the festive season. This is especially the case in Australia where it’s also the heralding of the long summer break. Add to that a myriad of end of year events and we can all be forgiven for counting down the days until we can just switch off for a couple of weeks.
But, the end of the year is also the perfect time to reflect on what you have achieved in the last 12 months, either personally or professionally. It’s a great habit to get into before you set that out-of-office responder, forget about this year and turn your thoughts to the next year, or decade as we happen to be heading towards. My good friend and amazing business mentor, Angela Raspass calls this reverse gapping, and always makes a point of highlighting this important activity with her clients as often as she can.
But why is it so important? On one level, the personal level, whether you’re a business owner or an employee, its importance is in reminding us that we have the ability to set and achieve goals and, therefore encourages us to continue to do so. It also helps us to tap into a feeling of gratitude for all the great things in our lives which, at a psychological and emotional level alone encourages us to keep striving to achieve.
At an organisational level, reverse gapping is also vital in terms of strengthening your business community from both an internal and external perspective. By recognising the achievements of your team and highlighting your achievements as an organisation over the last 12 months, you are demonstrating that you see their value to your organisation and you’re depositing significantly to that all-important emotional bank that exists intangibly in all relationships.
So, with all of that in mind, I would like to acknowledge the 2019 achievements of the Underground Communications team, each of which significantly underpin our values as an organisation.
I have set considerable stretch goals for our organisation from the time we started in 2012 and I couldn’t have achieved any of them without having the backing of creative, talented and, above all else, supportive people around me.
Without my team we wouldn’t have been recognised as a 2019 Best for the World Honoree – Community by B Lab. And, without their commitment and dedication we wouldn’t have won the NSW and National PRIA Small Budget Campaign Award or been awarded a Highly Commended at State and National level for the Thought Leadership category.
As a small agency, these are significant achievements and it’s important for me as a leader to acknowledge how proud I am to have a team of young, eager and enthusiastic minds around me to help us achieve them.
So, before we move onto the shiny new opportunities that 2020 may offer, I would like to rest for a moment in gratitude for the opportunities that our clients and the B Corp community have given us in 2019.
I hope that you also find at least a moment to recognise your achievements this year and, if you have a team, recognise theirs as well.
Nobody understands the virtue of forward planning quite like a communications professional but, 2020 isn’t quite here yet!
Thank you to everyone who has been part of 2019, whether professionally or personally. I appreciate you all, and I wish you all the best for the festive season and into the promise of a new decade.
