The right balance

There is a newer analogy about the age-old glass half full/glass half empty outlook. While those with a positive view take the former perspective and those with a negative view take the latter, a salesperson will say, “Let’s discuss ice cubes”.

Clearly, there is a point to be made here about perception and opportunity. But as we live amidst a horrible pandemic and extended lockdown, these are ideal times to reflect on such positive–negative values and also our work–life balance.

It’s very easy to get caught up in ‘professional’ life, driving forward our businesses and burning the midnight oil to ensure success, especially in an industry dedicated to improving the built environment, while living in ever-greater symbiosis with our planet.

But as the Covid-19 crisis has asked of us – have we truly considered every cost?

Maybe, just maybe, in that clamour for success in developing our businesses and our professional selves – with all the manuals on corporate best practice, motivational tools, self-help guides, leadership lessons, efficiency, streamlining and outsourcing – along the way we sometimes forget that we are all merely human.

That is shown in the fragility of our health, in the outpouring of gratitude for NHS and care workers, by selfless service to others, by fundraising and by recognition that every job – no matter how seemingly inconsequential or previously viewed with a haughty acknowledgement – is vital to modern society. These are clearly a reconnection with basic human values.

The Society’s tag line is ‘Your concrete community’ and there is indeed a real sense of community, especially through the Regional Network and its many events where work and play go hand in hand. But perhaps we all need to redouble our efforts with these sorts of events and extend that hand of community in every facet of work.

We’re all guilty at times of being stiff, formal and putting on the fa?ade of the ‘professional’, especially in the way we work with new unknown clients, supply chain partners etc. In working from home, in many cases while simultaneously home schooling children, that barrier between work and life has come crashing down.

From the few weeks of lockdown experience so far, it has given way to a far greater friendliness, concern and informality – in our companies and in those firms we work alongside, albeit via the wonders of communication technology.

If one of the outcomes of coronavirus is a renewal in the way we work, rest and play, and an acknowledgement that ‘professional’ and ‘human’ are not opposite sides of the same coin, then some positive has come out of a wretched situation.

And that can most certainly be viewed as glass half full.

Taken from Concrete May 2020. Visit: www.concrete.org.uk / https://bit.ly/2cjmEiM