OK so this is a little unusual for a blog …but I wanted to share this, I’m coming out of the second most stressful time I can recall since I started SCS in 2001. Last year we grew 38% – it was too much but we bought on quite a number of new clients and concurrently a number of existing clients went OFF (way beyond expectation) so we had to simply buckle in and perform, this meant insane hours for most of us, a few burn-outs and casualties, some clients experienced degraded KPI metrics for the first time ever, staff morale issues were created as a result of an exhausted workforce and inadequate/time challenged recruitment process which created (potential) union issues that needed to be managed, the growth created cash-flow problems, we introduced our first labour and bulk freight increases ever, family challenges also arose as well as some supplier issues (it never rains…). We’re all good now, we’re nearly through the other side and I’m looking forward to getting my weekends back, metrics are all back up into the high +99.7 percentile, staff morale is good to great, customers are back to enjoying class leading service consistently and the business has adjusted to the new size.
A concerned friend sent me this link, had I seen this before I experienced the highly stressful period I have no doubt it would have helped and added value to my coping strategies. I don’t normally have the time or inclination to watch this sort of stuff, but this is good. We care about our clients and we take great satisfaction in lightening the burden operationally as your logistics partner, there are some good strategies in these videos to lighten the burden in terms of stress management strategies that will help many of my clients and good lessons to teach our kids too.
All my clients have periods of stress as well, sales dont eventuate, agencies/ranging deals get taken/threatened, the dollar moves the wrong way, staff problems, contract challenges, issues with suppliers etc… these videos will help, the 4th video has some key lessons around stress based on recent science (I watched the other 3 and they were interesting for their own reasons). I hope you make the time and watch them, at least the 4th one.
Cheers
Brad
