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Business as usual, or business as unusual
Share your story:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” [Alice asked.]
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Nobody signed up for this. On New Year’s Eve, no one held up a glass and sang “Auld Lang Syne,” accompanied by resolutions around pay cuts, furloughs, airplanes without passengers, and hotels without guests…
But these are the times we find ourselves in. It’s natural to reminisce about history, even if that’s five months ago, but we can’t stay there. The world has changed.
We’re here now and, unlike Alice lost in Wonderland, we must decide where we are going to go. And it does matter what we choose: We can get up—or give up.
What was business as usual just a couple of months ago has radically changed—now it’s business as “unusual.” Leaders around the globe and in every industry are facing gut-wrenching decisions. As one executive said recently, “They’re all bad decisions. I’m just trying to pick the least worst ones.”
Yes, uncertainty abounds, but we can’t wait for the clouds to clear. Here are a few thoughts:

 

  • Isolation but not insulation. If you don’t know what day it is, its Blursday.  When Monday feels like Friday that feels like Wednesday!  Joking aside, people are feeling isolated.  Being at home or by themselves day in day out, not seeing their usual circle of colleagues and friends – but we can’t let them become insulated!  The antidote to insulation is visibility.  If people know they are being noticed and as leaders we are visible and present to our teams, people feel connected.
  • Get up or give up. Theodore Roosevelt once said: ‘In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing’.  We all know as leaders, that you have to put something in the bucket before you can take anything out.  Don’t let procrastination or indecision be your road block.  Winning in this environment is hard work, particularly when your opponent is a virus.  Invisible, but we have to believe, not invincible.  You have to believe to achieve.  You can’t teach hustle, but you can motivate it!
  • Planting not harvesting. A crisis is really an excellent breeding ground for building strong and healthy relationships.  With leaders starring down the barrel of losses and uncertainty, all too tempting is to leverage your position make a quick buck at the expense of someone else – the bitterness of a damaged long term relationship remains long after the excitement of short term profit.  Focusing on planting seeds, spreading your connections, helping people and building trust with all stakeholders will produce the most beautiful harvest in years to come.

Colorminium remains firmly behind its offer of help and assistance to anybody within the construction industry.  We’re really enjoying connecting, advising and resolving.  Reach out so we can share and learn together…

Stay stay, stay positive, stay connected.

Warm Regards

Roscoe Price
Managing Director