Will it be doom and gloom, or will the New Year headlines be full of high notes and ongoing celebrations in the construction sector?
Writing this in December, our thoughts are on what the next few weeks requires of us ahead of the Christmas shut-down. But we are also turning our minds to the seemingly ‘distant’ deadlines the new year will bring, and the knowledge that in a matter of days we will be in 2017, with new beginnings planned and New Year’s Resolutions asserted.
We will also, at various points between the beginning of January and the end of March find out from the Office of National Statistics, and media outlets including the BBC, Building magazine and Construction News, via a few well-placed and well-versed commentators, what construction activity looked like at the latter end of 2016. Our printed media and e-news sources will bombard us with the wit and wisdom of economic and commercial analysts keen to impart their interpretation of the statistics, and it will certainly be interesting to see if earlier predictions are spot on or a world away from the true picture.
But let’s look at what we know now. Saturday 31 December bade farewell to 2016. The world kept turning, and the sites we abandoned for Christmas are still waiting for the construction teams to return. Planning committee meetings – which will hopefully result in Approval decisions, rather than delay development proposals while appeals are lodged – are imminent, and we are back to those pesky tender documents sitting on our desks with the clock ever-so-annoyingly ticking down to that deadline, now a couple of weeks nearer.
2017. New Year; New Beginning.
Well, not quite. Here at Results Communications, it will be business as usual, with our commitment to doing what we say we will, when we will, and – where we can – exceed expectations. But we are conscious that we are at the start of a new year, and that the possibilities of what the next 12 months will bring are endless.
A new year doesn’t necessarily mean you need to make a new start, or create new beginnings. The smallest of tweaks can bring about the biggest changes and impact in a business. Why not try doing something differently? Or at a different time? How about giving someone else in the business a chance to step up and show what they are capable of?
Some of our clients have already started preparing for the changes they will be making in the New Year; developing their marketing strategy ahead of time so they are not on the back foot; anticipating the work required in a stakeholder engagement campaign as we approach the planning committee meeting when our project is likely to be the main (if not only) discussion point. Others are planning the growth of their businesses, exploring recruitment, internal development and expansion, getting their ducks in a row, and talking about how that looks from a marketing and engagement perspective.
We’ve been making our own preparations; while working client-side we’ll be implementing a few ‘refreshes’ internally, implementation of the business development strategy for the next 12 months and hopefully welcoming another new face to the business. Either way, we’ll be wishing everyone a happy and prosperous year.
Results Communications delivers bespoke and strategic marketing, stakeholder engagement and bid writing solutions to public and private sector clients regionally and nationally. By doing this, we can help smooth the path through the planning process by integrating those affected by infrastructure projects, remove the conflict from construction, and help access contracts and funding.
