Happy (I'll repeat that) HAPPY new year

I love New Year.  I find it a fantastic time for reflecting on what I'v'e learned and gained over the last year and setting out what I'm hoping for from the year ahead. I dig out some of my coaching tools to do it, so I've got collages up on my noticeboard and I've subjected friends to the Wheel of life and had them sitting and standing in various places around my living room to try out my favourite 'perspectives' exercises. 

So, after an absolutely lovely New Year's Eve and Day, I woke up on January 2nd, switched on the laptop, and the first headline that confronted me was 'UK faces its worse recession for 30 years.'  Followed rapidly by a pageful of similarly uplififting titles.

'Happy new year'. I thought to myself. 'That's going to give lots of people enough confidence to go and spend a bit of money in the sales.' So I switched it off and headed to the shops. First to well-known-high-street-seller-of-very-nice-food. Where I, along with most other potential customers, emerged with nothing in our baskets (despite going back there 3 times) because their delivery was late. Second to well-known-high-street-furnishings-shop to order a blind. A very plain, simple, uncomplicated roman blind. Which took 90 very frustrating minutes between tills going down, IT systems on the blink and a saleswoman who was very nice but plainly totally flustered, had no idea what she was doing and was getting absolutely no help from her colleagues.

I headed home, late for imminently-arriving friends, wondering how much of the communication to staff in those two companies had already been about 'it's going to be another tough year', 'have to do more with less', 'cost efficiency' etc. whilst the basic processes in both had obviously fallen over. 'It's going to be an even tougher year', I thought to myself 'if you don't sell anything because your customer service is down the pan and your processes won't work'.

Now, I'm no head-in-the-clouds Pollyanna type and I know newspapers have to report what is, but I also know a number of people who are so similarly fed up with the non-stop diet of doom and gloom that they, like me, have just switched off. We don't watch or read it anymore. I wonder how many employees are so fed up with a similar diet internally that they, too, have switched off.

So three cheers for McDonalds, and to their stance that 'in these challenging times, it's more important than ever to invest in your staff as they announced this week that they'll become the UK's biggest provider of apprenticeships. And three cheers for Mark Robinson at RSA's MORE THAN, who I found so friendly and helpful on a basic sales call today that I'll be taking the time to find out who his team leader is to make sure he gets recognised.

What would most help you want to go to work, put your best foot forward and do your bit for company performance? A non-stop diet of doom and gloom? Or a company that recognises the situation but still, visibly, keeps a focus on its staff? Or one that keeps a focus on the basics that keeps customers coming back and staff getting recognised for doing a great job?

Yes, it's a tough old time out there at the minute. But life goes on. Let's keep a balance (my neighbour said New Year's Eve was the first and only time in ages that she watched the news, because there was actually some positive stuff in there alongside the drama) and keep people switched on to what we're saying, with some pride in their jobs and an interest in turning things around for the better. If not, we're in danger having workplaces full of people looking like the three wise monkeys ...

Sue

Comments

[Find a Diet]

Honestly, it seems like McDonalds cares more about their PR in other countries than in the states. Here, they grow like crazy despite everything, so maybe they don't care how they look, but it seems like overseas they treat their employees and customers with more respect.