The past 12 months have held a lot of changes for me and for Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists©. It has been fun and exciting. I think that is what I like best about change—new opportunities and innovation.

For many years, our family (my wife, daughter, and I) have vacationed on Vancouver Island. We have always known we would eventually retire there. About a year and-a-half ago, we decided not to wait, but instead to move sooner rather than later. (Retirement is still many years away!) So about nine months ago, we moved to Nanaimo, B.C. Most people reading his would not know that (in today’s world you can basically work from anywhere). But last fall, we settled into smaller city life. Our ten year old daughter left her school and friends behind to meet new friends and attend a new school. It was a big change, but it has been great.

Changes such as a move mean there are other changes—such as my travel, operations, logistics, etc. All of this has worked out great. I have been able to continue serving clients across the country by email, phone, and face-to-face on site. But travelling from Nanaimo to markets such as Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Regina means better planning and longer flight times. That took getting used to, but worked out fine.  Our head office and all corporate operations still reside in Calgary and our plan is to leave them there. But it is now a long-distance relationship with my Calgary-based team versus being right there—a big change.

With this move, I have also restructured the company with additional business advisors on our advisory group and have chosen to work more directly with clients—another big change. For the past 10 years, my primary role has been to run the company and do business development. I still have those roles, but I have chosen to make sure that I carry a client list and work directly with them doing inventories, valuations, policy work, mentoring, consulting, strategy development, and such. This has been a very welcome change.

We have also made changes to the WSC (Western Sponsorship Congress©). Right now, we are putting final touches on these changes and are excited to share them in the next few weeks! I feel re-invigorated. The company is moving forward and prospering, and most importantly, all these changes are based on client needs and serving them. The changes to the company allow me to spend more time with clients, which is fantastic and a win for everyone. The move to Nanaimo means more time with family while continuing to sever clients for years to come. The changes to the WSC mean more access to what has become the #1 sponsorship professional development and networking conference in Canada for more brands, properties, and agencies.

After almost 15 years of operating Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists©, it was time to shake things up, making changes that are good for our clients, company, and staff. Sure, we continued to make changes and be the thought leaders and innovators in the industry throughout our 15 years of operation, but this was different. It was a wholesale change, and strategic alteration to the company and the way we deliver success for our clients.

I thought long and hard about writing this commentary. In the past year, I have watched too many organizations stagnate. We are working with several clients as we take them through the review of their organization and determine what needs to change (if anything) for them to be more successful with their sponsorship programs. For too many, though, the CEO/ ED or director of development/sponsorship has been there too long, or they continue to do the same thing and expect different results. I watch as once amazing organizations with great leadership and a motivated mission move from the front of the pack to somewhere in the non-descript middle. They are coasting rather than being leaders and innovators. I share this “insider” information with you because I think it is important that we all take a look at our own organizations or departments and really look at who we are, what we have been, and what we want to be. Change is a good thing. It is inevitable, and when managed correctly, it will make us stronger and better.

Please, take a look and see what needs to change for you to be more successful. Charles Darwin once wrote, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change.”

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