It’s that time again! It’s the close of the year and a time when the HighPoint team reflects and gathers our collective thoughts on the year to come.
2022 was a year of connection. The past twelve months have been notable: After two years of pandemic, stores and (some) borders re-opened (mostly), folks accelerated flight travel (largely unmasked), and people returned to offices in person (that part is still complicated). Our consulting teams resumed selective travel to client sites after a period of almost exclusively remote partnership.
Things felt more normal-ish in 2022…albeit there were changes with the Ukraine war escalation, global energy crises and food shortages, and accelerations in inflation / cost of living. Despite these challenges, we celebrated many wins. We’ll share a few, alongside our thoughts on what’s coming and how to prepare.
HPA Celebrates 20 Years in Business
For HighPoint Associates, this past year marked our 20th in business. Two decades! We’ve had a lot to celebrate, including another year of growth vs. pre-COVID years, that built on the successes of the previous year. We hired more team members than ever before, made donations to several non-profit organizations with your help, kicked off our HPA Stories series and our Speaker Series, and jump-started partnerships with tens of new clients.
A Recession is Coming
It might seem like the world hasn’t had a break in the 2020s, after many good years in the 2010s, and a recession feels like tough icing on the cake. Yet winning firms can take action to weather an economic storm. Not every business will be impacted in the same way, yet every business can prepare. We’ve outlined a few inroads to help get you there:
Strategy Now More than Ever
Volatile times remind us of the importance of aligned choices around your pointed strategy, and how critical it is to remain sharp on these choices, revising where necessary, in the face of economic uncertainty. Questions center on: a) What are your 3-5 strategic imperatives, and b) What are your 5-10 areas of disinvestment? In other words, are you aligned around the hard strategic choices? Here are sample seminal pieces on this topic:
Reshaping Strategy Around Supply Chain Resilience
Four Principles for Successful Strategic Planning
You Have a Strategy. How Do You Activate?
With that strategy and set of hard choices in place, it’s all about execution for maximum results. Culture, and yes, execution, eat strategy for breakfast if the follow-through is subpar. We’ve outlined the power of Strategic PMO, and making change work, in several pieces, including those below:
Keep the Change: Making Business Transformations Work
Yes, Labor Will Still be an Issue in 2023…and Beyond
The U.S. labor situation is ever-evolving. What’s really been driving the labor shortage that started well before COVID? Stay looped in with our insights, including HPA’s recent webinar featuring labor experts Dave Gilbertson, senior executive at UKG, and 20-year labor operations guru John Frehse, with our Founder & Managing Director Sumeet Goel hosting.
While 2022 had its bumps, and recessionary projections loom, we saw a marked shift in the trajectory of post-COVID life, and remain optimistic as we continue to move forward. There will continue to be bumps in the road, but with connection, choice, and healthy change at the core of what we do, we continue to see opportunities ahead.
From all of us at HPA, wishing you and your family a season and beyond of health and happiness.
