It is July. I very rarely look backwards but has June taught us anything? The freak weather is not freak. We have to get used to living with these heat waves. I wonder what you learnt? I stopped feeling guilty about having air conditioning and realised that it is an essential in my life if I am to get anything productive accomplished. I also leant that I care about the people in my support network and was not expecting them to do things I would not do. If the temperature is above 30 degrees after giving out the Magnums (other ice creams are available) and iced water I send people home. So where are you on all this? We have duty of care to people around us. Are we exercising it reasonably?

So as we go into this month of Wimbledon and Henley and no doubt more cricket what are you thinking about?

I continue with the theme of duty of care.

I came across a nasty case in the human care world recently where a person misjudged a transfer with a client and that client ended up on the floor. Fortunately the client turned out not to be hurt – what a blessing. However due to the temperature induced problems plus usual accidents etc. they were on a tiled floor for nearly six hours waiting for an ambulance crew.

So what are the duties of care in all this?

The carer failed as the transfer failed. They took immediate responsibility for not looking after the client.

The employing care company had completed training but the carer was not confident about what they were asked to do when it came to doing it. The carer did not speak up and tell the employer this. Did the employer check properly with the carer either at the end of training or when making the assignment that they were confident in their ability to do this; or did they just assume?

The client admits to not trusting their instincts about the situation and speaking up. They trusted a long term relationship with the care company.

So where does fault lie? With all parties but mostly with the care company which has a reputation to maintain and a duty of care to it’s employees and clients.

Do you face similar situations in your business? It can be very hard to handle. When your service or product has dangers associated with it. We should never take danger lightly, it has to be flagged up especially if it is about how or where to use the product. Our clients trust us to safeguard them. Please do look out for that less than confident employee who does not have the confidence to speak up and say something.
And how do you deal with whistle blowing if someone sees something which is not safe but can only feel confident taking the anonymous reporting route?

Sorry, not a single smile this month but against the background of a tragic rail accident this is a very current subject. We buy a train journey not just confident that we will be transported from A to B but that it will be safe, on time and with functioning air conditioning. Lots of unspoken contracts in every business transaction aren’t there.

Your job is to make money and grow your business and I never lose sight of that and neither must you. However reputations are built on many pillars and safety through expertise is one of them. Indeed it is a selling point.

One of my beliefs is that very few businesses have a USP. What they have is a founder / owner/ board of directors who bring all that they are to deliver something in a unique way. It is about hygiene aspects as well as motivators. If you really want to let your business develop to its fullest extent by trying this holistic approach then let’s talk. I love speaking with people so why don’t we have an off the meter conversation? We might want to work together in this exciting business world we both inhabit or we might not. Just to meet each other would be good and if I can help you explore possibilities for making your aspirations a reality that would be great.

Now I am off to replenish the water bottles in the fridge in case next week is warm and the couriers need them.