Written by Kimberly Rensel, Director of Business Development & Marketing for CDT3
I used to go whitewater rafting quite a bit. I loved the challenge involved, the team work it created and the tumultuous rapids followed by pools of tranquility. Unfortunately, I was that person…the one who always got thrown out of the raft. Not on purpose, mind you. They tell you that when you get thrown out, put your head back, let the helmet protect you, put your arms across your chest, feet up, look out for and grab the safety rope if possible, but if not, let the water take you to safety. No time were these words more potent than in Costa Rica, 2005. I was thrown out and headed for a 7ft. waterfall, unbeknownst to me. The rest of the rafters were meant to guide their boats to the shore and walk to the bottom of the falls. Being a person of efficiency, I apparently opted for the shorter, more death defying route and took on the falls with just me, my helmet and the words of wisdom stated above.
So many difficult situations in life have had me reflect on the above wisdom. Keep your head up, protect your vitals, feet grounded, look for and accept the help, but if it doesn’t come (or if you are me and missed it completely), trust it will be alright and life will offer you a refuge at some point. Then you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, tend to your wounds and get back in the raft.
COVID has kept thrusting many of us over the waterfall again, again and again. It’s like we can’t even find the raft anymore and we’ve lost our oar sometime back in March, 2020. How do we locate our pool of tranquility? I mean, it just has to be around the corner…doesn’t it?
In the work place, we have planned, prepared, adapted, started going back to whatever “normal” is these days, reverted back to planning mode and then just allowed the water to take us to wherever it was designed to take us so we can pick ourselves up, access the damage and rebuild. I don’t know about you…but most of us are exhausted. Do we go back to the vibrant business plans of 2019? Do we still have the people in place to accomplish what we had once set out to achieve? What exactly is our “new norm?” What goals are currently in place? Who are we as a company?
Where are your employees now? Are they still in the raft with their oar working as a team? Are they perpetually going over the falls and pulling others down with them? Are they just floating along watching others do all the work? Did they get out of the water completely and are just clinging to a tree hoping for a miracle?
It’s time to reassess your most valuable assets; your people. Where are they mentally? How do you get them all back in the boat, oars working in sync as a team and headed for the triumph?
We don’t know what corner our serenity pool is around. All we know is who is in our raft. We need a game plan on how to navigate our way forward, whatever path we find ourselves headed with the assets we currently have.
CDT3 offers Corporate Consulting Services to help your business realign its employee goals, help individuals reach their potential, improve engagement through leadership and performance management and achieve success! Contact us at 844-846-2383 or info@CDT3Training.com for a complimentary consultation.
Time to start rowing and traversing your company’s future…create your own wake and cultivate your corporate legacy.
