Strategic Planning
Each week as this adventure in our world continues, I reach out to many people in our industry to check in. My main priority is making sure everyone is healthy and safe, but also it’s nice to get insight and inspiration along the way.
This week, one of my contacts provided some thoughts that really connected with me. I was talking with the brilliant Lindsey Rowe-Parker of Rowe Fenestration. Lindsey has an incredible and vast skill set, so she brings some additional perspectives to our piece of the world that others do not. Lindsey and I were talking positively about when we see the other side of this crisis and what happens then. She stopped me when I was going too far into the future and noted that now is really the time to be strategic planning and have that next step(s) laid out versus waiting for “the time to come” sort of thing. And you know what? She’s right. Yes, we all have to be mindful of what is going on now, but if we are not constantly in motion with plans for the future we are missing out. Eventually things are going to break here―do you want to be chasing that curve or on top of it?
I think the message in all of this is that strategic planning―which in my case means marketing and communications―needs to be something you are working on now and ready to release and execute fully as we see the eventual openings take place. Now we just have to get to that point of those openings, right? Anyway, that’s my mini-sermon for the week, and thanks to Lindsey for getting me fired up about being strategically proactive!
Elsewhere…
- One my favorite contests each year is the Vanceva World of Color Awards from Eastman. Love the buildings that get nominated and the use of laminated glass is jaw dropping and awesome. Here is the link to participate this year, and I already have some favorites. Get your votes in and we’ll see who wins it!
- An update on 2022 and the potential of it being “The Year of Glass” was released, and the effort received a nice endorsement from UNESCO, which is the science arm of the UN. This is a big and exciting step. Decision coming this June! To show your interest, go here and add yourself to the interested parties. In tough times like this it’s the hope of the future that can keep us all going!
- If you are an NGA Member―and right now being a member is crucial to stay ahead of the issues out there―there’s another Thirsty Thursday Webinar this coming week. The topic this week is wire glass and where in the world it actually plays. Why not expand that knowledge base and jump in and join it? Learn more here and join NGA if you have not yet done so.
- Good read here on how this current crisis is changing design. And I am telling you for the 1000th time, with many more to come, that glass is going to be a player in the new world. A big one.
- Last this week: just a nod to all of the glaziers and glass shops that have quickly mobilized and are installing sneeze/cough guards in retail establishments. Those stores (pharmacy and markets among others) need to stay open, but the folks there need to have that safety. Our product, thanks to great companies who quickly sprung into action, are supplying and installing those must needed barriers. To all of you doing it― thank you and keep up the good work! And a special H/T to my friend AJ Carr of Glass Contractors of Kentucky who I know has been burning the midnight oil to get it done!
