February 2007
You Don't Bring Me Flowers...
You may have a communications program to run, but you still need to make time for roses and chocolates.
By Chris Zender
Valentine's Day is looming and, instead of thinking about hearts, flowers, and romance, I'm thinking about the holiday's dark underbelly: complacence. It's that particular kind of happiness or satisfaction marked by unconcern about danger or deficiencies.
You see, to me, complacence is the romance killer. Once that first blush of "something new" has worn off, it's oh-so-easy to slip into a mindless rhythm that will keep someone or something happy by producing the same results over and over again—lather, rinse, repeat—until one day, you wake up and your special someone (or your client) has taken the romance (or the business) elsewhere.
"At what point does keeping someone happy turn into taking something for granted?"
This idea of complacence has been on my mind because a long-term client recently gave Tendo the opportunity to take over a new piece of business. Our client's previous agency wasn't doing a bad job—they weren't overcharging or missing deadlines or turning out a poor product—they were simply in a rut. They hadn't put forward new ideas or new thinking or, frankly, new anything for at least a year, but they were caught unawares by their client's move. They thought that no news was good news. Not so, as it turns out.
So I've been thinking, at what point does keeping someone happy turn into taking something for granted? As communicators and creative types we owe it to ourselves to continually evaluate the work we're doing, but we need to find the balance between putting creative energy toward something that needs it and fixing something that isn't broken.
All kinds of relationships need constant care and feeding, and it turns out that communication programs are not that different from romantic relationships; taking either for granted can result in the same somnambulism. So, for this Valentine's Day, give some thought to your professional relationships. Are you bringing your projects the same attention and creative energy you did when they were new? Or have you dropped into a rhythm that produces good but predictable results (lather, rinse, repeat…)?
About the author:
Chris Zender is Tendo's VP of editorial. Email her or send her flowers.
