A colleague of mine runs a nonprofit that's staffed almost exclusively by people who are formerly homeless and seeking to stabilize their lives. The organization is both a training program that allows its employees to re-enter the working world and a social venture that runs a successful online business to support its operations.
The database that supports their online services recently melted down, resulting in several agonizing weeks of technical troubleshooting that my colleague said she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.
But she also found a silver lining in the experience: it was an incredible training opportunity in crisis management for her employees. She wasn't minimizing the frustrations that her team suffered or the negative impact on their business, but she was determined to see the upside as well.
The nature of her organization's work compels her to look at the big picture regarding the impact on her staff, but that's hardly the exclusive prerogative of a training program manager. It makes me wonder what opportunities the rest of us routinely miss because we're conditioned to focus on the downside of a crisis. I'm not advocating a Candide-like approach to management, but there's something to be said for looking at a bowl of lemons and realizing you're about to make lemonade.
Photo by Alanna St. Laurent. Yay Flickr and Creative Commons.
