Do you ever have those moments where you’re sitting in a meeting and someone says something and you realize: ”That’s it! That’s what’s been rolling around in my head and I just couldn’t put it into words!” That happened to me recently, and here’s what my friend said: “Nothing for me, without me.”
Think about that for a minute. Now, think about the last time you launched a new initiative, started a new program or created a new system. Did you engage the audience for which it was developed in designing, testing and launching it? Or, did you assume you understood their needs and desires and made it for them? All too often, we take the second approach – because it’s faster, easier, cheaper and mostly because it doesn’t occur to us to do otherwise – and as a result, our efforts are less successful.
In today’s changing world, where new tools make it cheaper, faster and easier than ever to engage your audience, we should all find opportunities to make things with our audiences, not for them. Marinate on that a bit. It may help trigger your next “ah ha” moment!