We exist to make a difference...
We exist to make a difference...
After what feels like an extended period of time, defending ourselves from the threat of disaster, I see an awful lot of exhaustion on the faces of mining and mining services company executives right now. After two - three years of cost cutting, delivering redundancy messages, taking money from people, keeping an unnaturally high level of pressure applied to managers and, (as always) price taking, it seems that the end is still not in sight. I know from personal knowledge through the privileged vantage point afforded by our work, as well as my own experience, that many people who are normally used to wining big, don’t feel like winners at all right now. We exist to make a difference ... During such times it is probably worth reflecting that we ALL need a break and we all need a ‘pick me up’ of some (any) form. Look around you, not just at the people who report to you, but also those that you report to. When was the last time you acknowledged them or thanked them in some small way for something good they have done or for simply being a positive contributor? When you’re feeling the pressure, it is so easy to forget that everyone else is probably also feeling it. When it all boils down to it, isn’t that what leaders are here for? After the strategy is set, the capital has been allocated and the ship pointed in the right direction, the job is surely then one of showing leadership through the tough times by sharing more of our human selves. On this same subject, this terrific blog piece by Kevin Roberts the CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi puts it way better than me. I received it completely randomly a few months back, from one of our staff members with a “Thanks for what you do at MPi”. It totally made my day! Enjoy making a day for someone else.