Back In The Day: A Trend Wave

"Back in the day."  That phrase is popping up everywhere.  Especially in print and especially in first person writing like columns and blogs.  I've seen it in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and even in the sailing magazine Latitude 38.   I've been seeing it everywhere, and so have you.  But the interesting thing is this:  Six months ago this phrase was nowhere to be seen.

"Back in the day" is a perfect example of a trend wave.  Trend wave is a concept we teach in our Workplace Campaign 101 training.  A trend wave is not the same as a trend.  Trends are forseeable and their life cycles are predictable.  Trend waves are more analogous to rogue waves in the ocean.  They are unexpected and unpredictable.

Almost every year we experience a trend wave in the Combined Federal Campaign and other workplace charity drives that offer donor freedom of choice.  A significant number of contributors unexpectedly select a charity or a class of charities that you would not have expected them to select given previous years' results, and they do so for no obvious or discernible reason.  Usually within a campaign season or two that support diminishes or even evaporates altogether.

Trend waves are one reason why an individual charity's workplace campaign income can fluctuate wildly from year to year.  Just when it looked like smooth sailing, a trend wave comes along and capsizes your boat.  Or speeds you to safe harbor.  Luck of the draw.