It’s all about the People I’m currently sitting on a plane on a long haul flight and for the first time for a while I have had a chance to reflect on what’s happened in our world over the last few weeks. Like many of you Polson Higgs has been affected by the Christchurch earthquakes. Our staff have been relocated to temporary premises and we have been working incredibly hard to look after our clients in challenging times. We are operating out of a golf club and private premises in what can only be described as character building circumstances. Like you we faced a multitude of challenges immediately following the quake; Where are our people Are they and their families safe Where can we operate from What will operating look like Where can I find 48 desks, 48 chairs, 48 laptops etc What does the fine print in our insurance policy actually mean How do we communicate with everybody What IT can we get working and many more ............ I have just finished preparing a presentation I will be giving this week on our response to the quake. Reviewing this presentation provides a great deal of satisfaction at how our people and the firm have come through. What I have been reflecting on is why this is. The conclusion I have come to is the quality and attitude of the people involved in our organisation. Many people have stepped up and contributed to helping each other get through. Yes we had recovery systems in place but it was the individual attitudes of people that made them work. This started with people helping others whose houses were damaged. Then it surfaced in helping people get to work, offering to help where client needs required extra effort and supporting people who were finding it tough. The rest of the firm located outside Christchurch also went out of their way to help. This ranged from Lynn’s home baking drive to hosting a team from Christchurch in Dunedin for the weekend and allowing their rugby team to win. The IT team built an office and a network based on one broadband connection, around a wedding – and it works fine. To be fair it hasn’t been easy and the adventure of "camping" at the golf club is well and truly over. The chant of "breath through your nose" is working but we are ready for the next stage. There are stresses and we are working to support people through these but my observation at our national training event this week that we have come closer together as a firm and are stronger for this. On reflection it is obvious that we are a firm of people and that is what makes us who we are. This group should be very proud of what they have achieved. << Back to May 2011 Blog Archive   Last updated:  Wednesday, 11 May 2011  |   12:07:17 p.m.