Today where I sit writing this, we’re having another snowstorm. There have been an unending series of them leading to all kinds of difficult situations. Closed schools and businesses, tens of thousands of cancelled flights, people stranded everywhere or even worse…in accidents and injured or killed. The cost to individuals, companies, and the country as a whole is enormous.
And yet, with the exception of a few unable to grasp that this is beyond their, or anyone else’s control, everyone takes it in stride. There are some frayed tempers and irritated would be flyers but also happy children and lots of new snowpeople.
In a day or two all will be back to normal and this will become just another story to share over a beer. People are very resilient, able to overcome quite an array of difficult things and get on with life.
I left my house before the storm hit to attend a very early meeting, at 6:30 in the morning. By the time I left the meeting at 10:30 the roads were horrendous. Luckily most people had stayed home so there wasn’t too much traffic. Still, it took me several times as long as it normally does to get home.
As I crawled along avoiding cars abandoned by the roadside or sliding sideways in front of me, I was struck by several things.
First off, everyone was being incredibly polite. People were carefully giving each other lots of room. No one was racing past even though the two highway lanes going my way had a single lane of cars in the middle reaching a top speed of around 25 miles per hour. I did not hear a single horn blaring in spite of cars sliding all over the place.
Then I got thinking about how employers were doing such a good job of looking out for the welfare of their people. Stay home and be safe rather than come to work in spite of the conditions. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll catch up with what was missed.
It occurred to me how sad it is that it takes a huge storm or similar disaster to bring everyone together working to ensure all are taken care of. How is it that suddenly we become one big family working for the good of all and forget that which separates us.
We talk about business culture quite a bit. Culture: the way we actually do things rather than the way we say we do things.
The saying part always is about good things. Customers come first. People are out most important resource. The highest quality in all we do.
The doing part is a different story. Sometimes the things said are meant and exemplified but all too often they are merely talking points, advertising hype, aspirations rather than actualities.
Perhaps what companies need is to operate as though in the middle of a storm where the only path of safety is for all to work together for the common good. A good storm has a way of focusing your attention on the important things and ensuring that the saying and the doing are aligned. A good storm does have a way of cutting through the verbiage and getting right down to the actions.
