MANAGEMENT INTELLIGENCE CONSULTING
PRESS RELEASE
April 21, 2010.
TRAINSPOTTERS TAKE ON THE VOLCANO – AND WIN.
Employees who tackled the Icelandic ash travel crisis head-on and battled their way home and back to work could reap the reward of a huge career boost.
Bridget Biggar, managing director of talent assessment and leadership development organisation Management Intelligence
www.miconsulting.co.uk, has described the fallout from the European-wide flight ban as the biggest, toughest and most accurate aptitude test ever.
“My message to employers is to get the gossip going, hear the stories, find out how people dug deep to find a way home and then maybe re-align your opinion of the bolshy and apparently over-confident middle manager or the shrinking accounts clerk: they could be the successors you’re looking for,” said Bridget.
“The approach people take to finding a way back to work, battling through, round over or under the obstacles the European flight ban has created, could be a great indicator of an employee’s true resourcefulness, capability and potential.
“The travel chaos could be, for some people, the greatest thing that has ever happened to them – completely changing their lives and life approach.
“Taking able-bodied, capable, intelligent business people and workers, there’s basically four types of individuals stuck abroad: those who’ll simply sit and wait to be rescued, those who’ll suddenly react out of fear, those who might be described as trainspotters, and those who’ll not stand for any nonsense and will tackle head-on the inconvenience created by the volcano.
“The real dynamos are the resourceful thinkers and risk-takers who relish the challenge of finding a way home, and enjoy it as an adventure. These are the guys who will think laterally to get round obstacles, and will simply find a way. That’s how they conduct their business. Those junior managers who find a way home ahead of the rest are showing signs of being high-fliers and high-achievers.
“They’re the ones who hit the laptop or the phone the second they smell an issue, and are first out of the closed airport and grabbing the initiative, making the judgement call – waiting for nothing or nobody except any group they may be in or have formed – and snatching the first hotel room, cab, bus or train available and making sure they gain position or advantage.
“They think laterally – literally. They’ll quickly gain spatial awareness, understand where they are, and be fast to work out that heading north may not be the best way to actually make big progress north. They’ll examine every option, fast – but they’ll also use their credit card limits as battering rams.
“The ‘trainspotters’ are in their element. They know every rail timetable in Europe - or know where to find them - and will know how to make a travel plan click into place while keeping a tight grip on budget. Knowledge of timetables gives them location awareness. Fantastic organisers, but much maligned for their eccentric enthusiasm. But what they bring is certainty – barring French rail workers’ strikes – which has massive value when people are absorbing huge doses of uncertainty.
“When major obstacles are presented, creativity is key. People who are scared, worried or anxious narrow their field of thinking, but those who relish the challenge of beating something even as big as a volcano find fuel in the thought.
“The risk-averse, with no imagination - will simply sit there, accept what they’re told and wait to be rescued. They’re out-and-out followers in the workplace, with no initiative.
“But there’s also the risk-averse who suddenly spur themselves into doing something because they’re scared of getting into trouble by missing work. This sort of challenge could change their lives because they suddenly discover they have latent potential and capability, and develop a sense of purpose. They’re the true potential winners who will benefit from their Eureka moment.
“Employers could learn more about their staff from the exercise of simply getting home than any amount of assessment in the office. Not everybody is a fantastic communicator, and most people will either massively overstate or modestly understate their belief in themselves in a review.
“But the challenges presented by the flight bans arising from the volcanic ash cloud could, for some people, be the biggest and most accurate psychometric test they’d ever face: dumping somebody in the middle of Europe, the Far East or North America and then telling them to find their way home would be an utterly impractical exercise in the course of normal assessment.
“It may seem like idle office gossip, but employers could do much worse than tap in to the chat about how people stranded abroad during the travel crisis managed to make it home and then to work, and learn from the determination, ingenuity, problem-solving, communication, judgment calls and resourcefulness their staff applied.”
Management Intelligence helps maximise talent, productivity and business success by enhancing the performance delivery of individuals, teams and organisations, driving improved profitability through better business processes and developing employee engagement.
It has offices in London and the Middle East, and is part of All About Brands plc (AAB plc – www.aabplc.com), the brands and marketing services group.
Ends
Further information:
Iain Macauley
07788 978800
