Babita’s Blog: Never in a hurry. Always on time.

Woke up to Tweets the other day, about an early morning road accident that turned fatal.

We are a nation in a rush. We push, drive, run, edge our way through everywhere.

Always in a hurry.  Never on time.

I remember a meeting with a prospective start up client where we were greeted with the words “Good Morning. Hope you can cope up with our pace of working. We want everything yesterday”.

This has become the new normal. Shifting gears from one activity to another. We like to set the tone by establishing how timelines make or break the business. And we see visible relief when the assurance is in place.

We often do not take that pause to listen. To the consumer, to competition, to the voice of the market.

Tissue paper sessions are a thing of the past.  Cell phone screens have become the new meeting rooms.

We hardly ever go back to that drawing board, even if most people around the table know that there is a better idea waiting. We just can’t bring ourselves to make such an outrageous suggestion, when time is of the essence.

Talent interviews are over before we realise it. Unless it is just my mind playing up, I feel we even eat and talk faster than before, at work.  And I am as much part of this mad rush as anyone else.

Working against time is a reality today, one of the many changes engulfing us.  

But are we getting there on time?  Are we really ahead of the pack in our work and action? Or are we simply losing breath?

Chaos can lead to order with the right systems in place. Systems and structures that may jolt us out of our comfort zone.

It is important for us to take a pause and set this in place before the race begins. The best and fastest drivers are also the smoothest.

A few quick thoughts that spring to my mind as I write this.

Regular conversations, client-agency sharing of information on business challenges and opportunities, shared goals  will lead to work that is not from a brief to brief  short term perspective, but a complete brand and business solution.

A few good people who are the best in class. Avoids duplication, ensures clear responsibilities.

Collaboration. Not an option any more. With partner agencies- media, digital, on ground, research.

Crack teams for projects. Very similar to the way we work on a pitch.

Trim down layers of feedback and approval. Ruthlessly.

Trust and Respect for the team. A culture of empathy, inspiration, creativity.

Invest in technology. It empowers people and drives productivity.

There are many lessons to be learnt from start-up businesses like the one I mentioned, where resources - time, money, people - are limited. And “yesterday” is indeed what everyone works towards, very effectively.

There will be many more solutions. We just have to recognise that we need them.

So that we are never in a hurry. But always on time.

(The views expressed are the author's independent views as an ad professional and do not reflect the organisation's viewpoint.)