How We're Taking Flight: Exploring SOAR2024 and the Five Key Tips for Choosing Your Company's Yearly Theme

We kick off each year at JMG PR with a new yearly theme, a tradition that has been part of our company since its inception. As the CEO, it's invigorating for me to prioritize both the growth of the company and the success of our team.

The thought process behind the use of themes is to kick off the year as a unifying force and bring employees together around a central objective. Themes provide clarity and focus, setting a positive tone and aligning everyone within the company toward common goals and initiatives. Ultimately, they drive success.

Themes can also inspire creativity and innovation, speaking new ideas and approaches to achieving company objectives. In creating a yearly theme, you’re also helping to foster a sense of belonging and motivation amongst your employees. They feel connected to something larger than themselves as they are contributing to the company's overall mission and vision.

Like people who make personal new year resolutions, think of it like making them for your company—a fresh start to pursue your goals for the year ahead. Setting yearly themes is a powerful tool for guiding your company's focus and efforts.

Once you've set the yearly theme, delve deeper by breaking it down into quarterly sub-themes. This approach enables you to focus on specific areas that collectively contribute to achieving the overarching theme. It serves as a structured roadmap for pursuing the main objectives throughout the year.

This year I chose SOAR2024 for the official JMG Public Relations theme. The theme encapsulates the idea of rising, progressing, and reaching new heights. It is meant to inspire a sense of upward momentum and continual improvement throughout the year. Taking what we accomplished in 2023, we’re moving forward in our growth and this year it’s all about dreaming even bigger!

As we’ve begun challenging ourselves as a company as well as individually, we’re hyper focused on our quarterly sub-themes, all of which emphasize specific aspects of our core  theme.

The quarterly sub-themes we’re focused on this year are:

●       Elevation: Elevating our skills, our thinking, and our overall performance

●      Alignment: Ensuring seamless collaboration across all our platforms.

●      Vanguard: Our commitment to pushing boundaries and establishing ourselves as industry leaders.

●      Radiant: Embracing our team's achievements and providing each member with the opportunity to reach even greater heights

To consistently achieve success, you must continuously push boundaries and strive to “soar” to new heights.

As we prioritize our quarterly sub-themes and remain dedicated to pushing boundaries, it becomes evident that selecting the appropriate yearly theme is essential. Wondering how to choose the right one for your company? Here are five key tips to help guide your decision-making process.

Align Your Vision and Values

In choosing the yearly theme, ensure that it aligns with your company's long-term vision and core values as it is paramount to your success and sustainability. It should reflect what you stand for and where you aspire to go. The chosen theme should offer guidance, directing every aspect of the company towards a common purpose. When the theme resonates with your company’s identity, it becomes a powerful tool for driving motivation and commitment.

Clarity and Focus

When thinking about your theme, select one that provides clarity and focus on your most important objectives and priorities for the upcoming year. Your theme should serve as a guiding principle which will help your employees understand what they need to focus on and why it matters.

Aligning your theme with clear objectives provides a pathway for success, fostering purpose and direction, which drives productivity and alignment across the organization.

Actionable and Measurable

Prioritize selecting a yearly theme that can be translated into actionable goals and measurable outcomes. It's crucial to avoid vague concepts and focus on tangible objectives that can drive progress.

Additionally, consider breaking down the overarching theme into sub-themes and milestones that can be tracked and evaluated throughout the year. This approach provides your team with clear direction and solid objectives to work towards, fostering a sense of progress and accomplishment.

In addition, having measurable outcomes allows you to assess your progress and make any necessary adjustments to stay on track towards your comprehensive goal.

Adaptable and Flexible

When you decide on a theme, ask yourself, is it adaptable and flexible. As circumstances may shift throughout the year, a theme that can evolve and morph alongside these changes ensures that your company remains responsive and resilient. This adaptability allows you to pivot strategies, adjust when needed, and seize emerging opportunities without losing sight of your overarching theme.

Inspiration and Motivation

Whatever theme you choose, it should be more than just a directive; it should serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for your employees. A truly effective theme ignites passion and commitment, fostering a collective drive toward achieving our shared goals.

Additionally, a compelling theme can inspire dedication and commitment, compelling your team to exceed expectations in their efforts to achieve success.

As we embark on the journey of SOAR2024 and delve into the process of selecting our yearly theme, it becomes evident that the power of a well-chosen theme extends far beyond words on a page. It serves as a guide to rally your team around a shared vision and work together to pave the way for growth, innovation, and success.

Embrace the power of setting a yearly theme to chart your course, fuel your ambition, and propel yourself towards a year of growth and achievement. Here’s to a year of accomplishment!