How does our desk, home, and life get cluttered? What leads to this mess and how can we take thoughtful steps towards changing those habits? These are all questions we will be discussing in today’s blog on how to move from cluttered to clear.

When an organization has unclear messaging and several pathways they want to pursue, our first task is always to reorient to their mission. That leads us to our first approach: 

Pursue the pathways to your mission.

Oftentimes, over the years, we stray away from the heart of why we started our business and brand. Don’t worry, this is completely normal for organizations across industries and size. We put our head down and chug away at the everyday tasks and keep grinding until one day we look up and realize we are out of alignment.

Just a few degrees difference from your mission over time can lead you and your organization far from your target. Which is why a yearly (and even a quarterly) check-in can help us build rhythms into our calendar to lift our head and reflect on what is working and what isn’t.

Now what that check-in looks like is totally up to you! At Flourish we like to use the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). This enables us to break down our goals into boulders and stones. We track our rhythms/campaigns and make sure it is in alignment with our annual projections.

Get rid of the noise that no longer serves your organization.

Okay great, once we have clarified where we are headed, we are ready to reflect on what is no longer serving us — from our calendar to our feed, to-do list to our mindset. This could be extraneous meetings or content rhythms. 

For example, if you are a food pantry and have been putting lots of effort and hours into creating recipe reels for Instagram and have seen greater engagement online but have not seen growth in funds/volunteer sign-ups now is probably a good time to check back with your mission. Could that time be put to greater use in another area on your team? If so, cut it out.

It is important to not only value your time, but also those you lead. This will help avoid any unnecessary burnout and will show your employees/volunteers that you truly value their time and contributions. You can apply this strategy to all areas in your organization including unnecessary meetings etc.

Strengthen the messaging that works.

Chances are you have some great content and rhythms that are working well but get lost in the mess. Now that we have cut away the extraneous cords you have more resources than you realized that can be redirected into what is already working.

Is your newsletter popping off, or a story series on IG that is really resonating with your brand connectors? Brainstorm with your team on how you can grow these avenues. Make sure you invite in the team members that are responsible for this growth and who have a heartbeat on it. If it’s just you on the team, invite in some stakeholders for the brainstorm sesh often times our best ideas come out of sessions like these.

When you leave this meeting, you should have a few ideas churning, now is the fun part! Try some out, see what sticks and keep pursuing that. 

**Extra tip: Think about how to move the conversation forward, to open up more intentional spaces. This can be continuing a conversation from social media onto a zoom call round table or podcast. Always be thinking of ways you can nurture engagement, not stifle it. (Beware not all approaches work equally so test out different ones to find what resonates with your people!)

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If you thought this blog was helpful, let us know in the comments below! At Flourish we believe in cultivating community over competition. 

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