Page 7 - CSA INDEX - Winter 2019

Chairman’s

Say

o business is winding down for the Christmas holiday but that always means a furious attempt to get
Severything done and dusted before you turn off the office lights for the last time that year. I have my
work commitments, my CSA commitments, my home commitments and too few hours in the coming
days to tie up all the loose ends before I kick back and relax over the Yuletide season. But here’s the
thing, we have to slow down, take a minute, and breathe in deeply whilst reflecting on the year’s
achievements; after all, we’ve worked damn hard and executed so many plans that we should individually
and collectively pat ourselves on the back. It’s so important to take stock and praise those involved in
the projects that have happened in the last twelve months. Especially at this time of year. Christmas is
about community and support. Within families it’s all about love and sharing, at work it should be about
professional respect, appreciation, and letting your team know they’ve done an overall great job.

It’s so easy to get side tracked into the machine like mind-set of production production production, and
pay no mind to the humanity of the workforce around you. It’s easy to trap yourself in the same
mechanism. But we do need to take off those blinkers from time to time and observe the positives of

the last year’s efforts and do so communally. Everyone responds well to praise and it needs to be heard.
Take your team out for a pint, do a Secret Santa, make a small token gesture towards each other and
enjoy the rewards of a job well done for another year.

January will be upon us soon enough and we need to hit it hard from the first day back at work. The
Christmas hols are a period of much needed rest and restoration and a time to refuel ourselves to be
ready for the coming year. Make a simple resolution and make it specific and achievable then in the new
year stick to it until it’s done. It can be anything as small as getting your timesheets in on time or you
can go further and resolve to overhaul something that’s been problematic in the company for a while.
When it’s done, pat yourself on the back for making your first achievement of the heat and take that
motivation it gives you and use it to smash those new targets, close those deals, win those contracts,
and make those new connections and leads work for you.

2020 is a blank canvas and it’s up to us individually and together to make it a great work of art. We’ve
got this. Now go home and enjoy the festivities!

Mark Todd – CSA Chairman & Director of Ashford Environmental Services Ltd