I don’t know about everyone else, but I have had trouble sleeping recently. Ever since Thursday I have been horrified by the events unfolding in Ukraine. How can this happen, these days and change just so quickly? What is happing is just awful, the invasion needs to stop.

This is not to say that these events don’t happen elsewhere, they do and some are still happening… but watching events unfold, on our doorstep in Europe and with so many posts in English, has really brought it home… shattering a perceived sense of peace and stability.

Weekly video

So on Thursday, I could not post my normal video, it just did not seem appropriate… and with the situation on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday really not getting much better (worse actually), I have been finding it increasingly hard to concentrate, knowing what is happening elsewhere.

Suddenly concerns over the COVID pandemic, the energy crisis, inflation have all been put into a new priority. Daily chores such as doing the shopping, fitting in the school run, even cleaning the house now seemed more important… normal life and normality is something we clearly need to treasure more.

Start of a new week

With today being Monday, I have cheered up a bit. Not that I am normally cheery on a Monday, but with work to throw myself into it has been a distraction…

But, I did ponder if other people may also have been feeling the same. It is not a cheery subject I know, but in this always-connected, always-on, other people who may also be feeling like this – if you do, you are not alone.

Talking and sharing can help and if you have a team at work, it may be worth checking in with them today or tomorrow too.

What can we do?

And… although we may feel powerless to meaningfully help, there are things we can still do, no matter the conflict and whatever country we are in… be vocal on calling out inhumanity… be intolerant of it whenever you see people being treated badly… make your views known… stick up for those that are in less fortunate situations… help if you can… not always easy I know, but I also know we have to try.

For now, I am praying for safety for everyone in Ukraine and for the fighting to stop.

Pets do seem to be playing an increasing role in many of our lives. Indeed there seem to be quite a few folks I know who acquired a dog during lockdown, who are now becoming features on work video calls and no-one minds anymore too. It is great.

‘Dogs have owners… cats have staff’.

In my house, no dogs, but there are cats… 2 cats. Now, I would not say I am a cat person… but somehow they do wiggle their way into your heart, so that you no longer mind when they walk all over your keyboard when you’re composing that important email to your boss or start scratching at your door, which you shut to concentrate for that important video call, all because well, the door was shut… it is, after all just a cute thing they do.

Now with a single pet, this human interaction undoubtedly is charming… but with 2, a new layer of interaction unfolds. Not only do you get your interaction, but you also get to watch how they interact with each other too.

And, having spent way too much time, at home, with pets, during lockdown, what I have come to release is that there are extra layers of cat politics and dynamics I simply did not understand before.

Reality check

In my human reality, for years I simply thought one of them was timid, running away at the slightest noise I made… yet now I discover that maybe the real problem is not me, the human… but actually the other cat…

This is the friendly one, but in cat world I am beginning to suspect may actually be just the pushy one, intimidating its way around the other just to get more food. Through observation, my perspective has changed.

And, needless to say, with increasing age, and a less active lifestyle it is leading to weight gain… (for the cat this is!)… the result being they are now fed separately on calorie-controlled diets… with the pushy-one, has now taken to rattling the door petulantly, making noises to get the food it desires. Whilst the other, now simply meows at me politely and gently to get fed.

The result, one now gets fed the right prescribed amount at the right time, the other pretty much gets fed on demand, has doors opened and generally gets whatever it wants… and this situation has forced the observation back to the human world.

Being kind can create soft power

Yes, I know, maybe it is not fair and maybe I am showing favourites, but more subtly what my reaction it does go to show is that sometimes being kind and gentle, can be more powerful than being pushy in getting what you want.

It really is an illustration of ‘soft power’ and influence… all in my living room.

Have a good week everyone.

Those of you who know me or have followed this column for a while will know that I have an interest in observing some of the little things, and how lessons from one industry can be applied to another.

This week I found myself once again in the supermarket… this shopping for food thing seems to be becoming a bit of a habit! 🙂

With only a relatively small shop, this weekend I decided to use the self-serve checkout. This is something most of us are pretty familiar with these days, and as always it was a relatively smooth process.

However, I was struck by, not the wonders of automation, but actually by the level of trust that is embedded into the process by the supermarket.

Now yes, I know there is an attendant there and I am sure lots of cameras recording my every move, but they’re also must have been, at some point, a conscious decision to trust customers to scan, pack and pay for their own groceries…

Somewhere there must be a cost-benefit analysis demonstrating that the cost saved from fewer check out staff, minus the loss from products taken, not scanned or paid for (ie stolen) is positive. It has to be for these automated checkouts to be rolled out so widely.

Trusting Customers

And, I think that this experience really underlines is that in the vast majority of cases customers are trustworthy, honest, willing to do the right thing and be fair to the businesses they deal with. People are generally good people.

Of course, working in Collections, it can be possible to easily see the world differently. Customers tend to be behind on payments and after a few tough experiences, it is all too easy to become cynical, start to see flickers in the shadows, and think that everyone is deliberately avoiding making payments.

What the supermarket teaches us, is that is not really the case. By a huge factor, the vast majority of customers do try to do the right thing. The same is true in Collections and Recoveries.

Customers in arrears often have other things going on in their life, and where our worlds do overlap with our products, we can help them find solutions… indeed this customer support mindset has been a great area of regulatory focus recently and one that has been well-received by collections teams too.

An expert opinion

The other thought this week was in listening to the debate over the pandemic and just what to do next… needless to say there is ‘some’ debate.

On one hand, we have epidemiologists, trained to look at the bigger picture, developing broad policy and influencing decisions to benefit society as a whole.

On the other, we have doctors, whose concern is for patients more at an individual level, ensuring they have the right treatment customised for their needs and situation.

Sometimes the needs overlap and we are all happy, but sometimes they do not, leading to conflict. Ie Sometimes a broad policy does not make sense for some segments of the population or individual patients… and sometimes getting treatments for segments of individuals correct, can actually undermine a wider message on what is needed more generally.

It is mainly polite and scientific, but there can be disagreement amongst scientists, and all of this before politicians get involved.

A principles-based approach

And here, maybe, there is an analogy with financial services.

On the one hand, we have credit risk, trained to look a the bigger picture, setting broad, portfolio level policy to benefit and protect the company as a whole.

And, on the other hand, we have the collections team, looking after the individual needs of customers, advocating the right treatment for them at an individual level.

Yes sometimes, just like above, different points of view can arise, creating points of conflict that need to be managed. And, increasingly, rather than take a rules-based approach, a more principles-based one is taken… one that yes, points to broad policy but also provides a framework to enable decisions at an individual level, minimizing customer harm and do the right thing for customers.

It is not perfect… but nevertheless a powerful, yet subtle, technique that seems to be generating positive change and being adopted in other markets and industries too. Maybe this is something we will increasingly see a flavour of more publically and more widely too.

Err… enough said on this topic I think… have a good rest of the week everyone.