Be a yardstick of quality.
Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
-- Steve Jobs
This isn't the first, and probably won't be the last time I quote Steve Jobs. Whatever you think of him in a personal capacity, the man was a design and marketing genius, so I do lend credence to his methods.
The above quote seems indicative of the workforce at the moment, certainly in New Zealand, and potentially throughout the world.
The global financial crisis has pushed many people to breaking point over the past 5 years (is it really 5 years!!?!?) Retrenchment and redundancies were a reality at many companies - some companies with front-loading of work are only starting to experience this now. The chosen few were expected to just work harder / longer / faster and sometimes for less pay. I'm pretty sure everyone expected this particular recession to be a doozy, - maybe 1-2 years long (shock ... horror!!!) but 5 years later, and there is still a sting in the tail of this beastie.
People are tired.... they are becoming apathetic. Excellence is a sad casualty in all of this mess.
So how do we move forward? Initially, for my company at least, when working with external companies, we would try to work with them.... "hey guys, we're all in this together! Not long to go now.. in fact I can see the airlift chopper on the horizon! HURAH!"
We'd try to give them a friendly nudge in the right direction.... give them more chances than would have been acceptable in the past... "Hey, you just shot me in the foot..... but that's okay... I have another one, and some bandages"
And like the seven stages of grief, you come full circle and end up being ill-tolerant.
Within Technical Solutions, we believe in excellence, and so we expect excellence from our suppliers and business partners.
The only way forward is to believe in excellence and quality, and in turn, expect or demand it in all your interactions.
I firmly believe in this, and the companies that are to survive this recession are the ones that produce the best quality of work, and create an environment of excellence.
It's time to be that yardstick.
by Gareth Newton