Grayling Blog

Have we all been flying in circles?

Posted on 20.04.2010 by Unknown User

Like many people, I’m sure, I’ve spent time over the past week trying to work without air travel and imagining how different life might be if Eyjafjallajökull decides to continue to spew ash into our fly zones. Could society adjust? And as someone responsible for a wide territory, how would I need to adjust to manage my business and my people?

It’s an interesting debate. We have long taken for granted the ability to travel at will, even in those countries where a generation ago this was not an immediate right. Much of Europe now exists without border controls – unthinkable to the previous generation. Living in Budapest and working across the CEE and Eurasia region, I have become accustomed to flying every week; a short-hop flight to Prague or Moscow has become as easy as boarding a bus or train. This week, though, I’ve been grounded and had to cancel trips to Warsaw and Frankfurt, and next week and beyond looks very uncertain. This has lead to an evaluation of my often hectic travel schedule. I’ve been inconvenienced by the hiatus, yes, but has it made me less productive or effective? I’m beginning to wonder.

Obviously the negative impact of the current travel crisis is immense. The airline and tourism industries are losing billions by the hour. Countries relying on tourism to propel them out of the Crisis are suffering. Perishable goods are rotting on-the-spot as they await transfer the world over, wreaking financial ruin or even worse on those whose livelihoods are affected. Families are separated, people are awaiting life-saving organs from donors, holidaymakers marooned, the list goes on…

But we now have a natural disaster that has not claimed lives and provides us the opportunity to take a good hard look at how we work and communicate. If we are able look beyond the short-term impact, I wonder whether we have all contributed to an over-reliance on air travel that has resulted in specific styles of people management and communications? While technology usually offers us the easy and fast way out, I think we are all often guilty of abusing the tools that are meant to make life easier, whether it’s by travelling unnecessarily, becoming bogged down in endless incoherent e-mail threads or being unable to find the corner shop without the SatNav.

Having said that, the use of new media throughout the last few days has been astounding. Facebook is connecting fellow strandees and Twitter offers a constant flow of vital travel information. Somehow we are geographically further apart but we have a new generation of tools bringing people closer together. If we spend more time looking at ways to replicate such an approach into our businesses, the results could be stunning.

I’m not advocating a rejection of technology or air travel, therefore, but a re-evaluation of how we embrace both. As a leader of a team and clients spread across multiple countries, I know how important visibility and face-to-face meetings are. But I also know how easy it is to get trapped in a never-ending cycle of routine flights – not quite George Clooney in ‘Up In The Air’, but you get what I mean. I am rethinking how I can better use social media to help manage and motivate my staff in far-flung territories. I am thinking more about the need for longer-term planning in the countries I manage so that weekly in-person meetings could be replaced with longer-spaced updates regarding progress and results.

In communication terms, one of the most important aspects of the current situation has been hearing tales of genuine human kindness, as stranded travellers have looked to help each other and locals have come to the aide of those marooned. If any good is to come out of the current crisis, then I hope it leads people to reflect on how they do run their lives – fast and frenetic is not always rewarding or efficient.