When times become difficult in life, it is important to be able to adapt to change.
Evolution set out the rules for this. Those species that were unable to adapt to changes in their environment, be that climate change or the arrival of predators, would dwindle and disappear.
It is exactly the same in business. Over the last ten years, and in particular have seen some significant changes to the way we operate, and specifically how we communicate.
I have written about this before, pointing out that the best way forward might be to agree a communications policy with a prospect or customer, involving the frequency of contact and the mix of media involved.
The questions are important, as are the answers to these questions.
For some, things have developed further. According to a number of good contacts, there appears to have been a significant drop in the availability of some people in business. Others have observed that their contacts arrange to communicate at a certain time and a certain way, but they fail to appear.
When asked about it, they seem to be only mildly apologetic, not realizing that their counterpart has put aside that time specifically for that purpose.
Other observations related by my contacts:
- Reliability is down – some are not doing as they say they would.
- In interviews and meetings, no-shows are more common – apparently, they felt that not turning up was the best way to show they were not interested.
- Ignoring communications as they are ‘too busy’.
- No-one is making the tea – it is ‘below their pay grade’.
- Commitment, belonging and responsibility appear to be going out of fashion.
These are just some of the comments I have heard along these lines.
I am not a total doom monger, and I know there are still a great number of good, helpful and hard-working people out there! However, many appear to be disturbed by the increasing evidence to the contrary
Have you evidence or experience of this? Is society changing along these lines? I would be very interested to hear what you think!
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