I was onsite with a client earlier this week and making small talk before the meeting started. The young lady I was talking to had had a few issues with her house and being (a little) aware of this I asked if these had been resolved.  She described having a fire start in her bathroom and the damage resulting in very hefty repair bills.  Obviously she was feeling stressed about this so I decided to lighten the mood and focus on something more positive.  “How are your wedding plans going?” I asked.  “It’s off” was the short reply…

My efforts to focus on something positive failed miserably though I admired the resolve and grace with which this particular young lady was shouldering her problems.  The meeting that followed was productive and I came away feeling that both the client and I were a lot clearer on the requirements for a new piece of work that is to be undertaken.  However my thoughts kept coming back to the pre-meeting chat and the need to have perspective.

We are particularly busy at the moment with a number of new clients engaging with Flexi-Grant®.  With this continued positive growth and uptake in Flexi-Grant® we are working hard to extend and improve functions and striving to achieve our vision of delivering the world’s best online grant management software.  Whilst growth is positive this can, at times, bring many stresses and tempers can occasionally get frayed.  Ok, I admit it.  My temper gets frayed.

Perspective is key.  As the old saying goes “when you are up to your ass in alligators, it’s difficult to remember the original objective was to drain the swamp!”.  We regularly like to take stock and ensure that all work is scheduled and allocated to staff so that we are really clear on who is doing what and by when.  Every day is different and keeping our vision in mind, particularly on the difficult days and when busy, helps keeps perspective.  Our shared vision is delivering the world’s best online grant management software (I might have mentioned this before… :)).  This is what we need to keep coming back to as it reminds us why we exist and what we must make time for.  It is the perspective that underpins all of our work in Flexi-Grant®.    If you have ideas on how we can make Flexi-Grant® better then please do share these with us.  Views are always welcome (even when we don’t know how to address them!) and help us validate our perspective of Flexi-Grant®.  Please let us know what you think.  By ‘phone, email or carrier pigeon.  Whatever works for you.  Ultimately our perspective and vision of Flexi-Grant® should be shaped by the people who matter most – Flexi-Grant® users.