Xmas meeting of Trimo employees - General Manager's speech

Trebnje, 21 December 2009 – At the traditional Xmas meeting of Trimo employees last Saturday we awarded recognitions to Best employees of 2009, and the authors of the boldest ideas - and this time Trimo awarded them with a 3-day survival course. The meeting also included a talent presentation by Trimo employees. This entertainment part of the event was organised by colleagues, either singing, playing different instruments, reciting poems, or swinging; and it nicely reflected this year’s motto: “Just do it. The best you can.”
General Manager Tatjana Fink, MBA, addressed employees:

“Ladies and gentlemen,

since the beginning of time this world has constantly undergone change. Since our birth we are constantly changing – willing or not.

Immediately after we are born our physical appearance starts to change. Parents follow the baby’s growth, every little detail, especially in the first years of the baby’s life. We are worried about the first falls and scratches, because the toddler stepped into mud, wet grass, or their favourite big dirty puddle.

We all remember our childhood, when adults warned us not to touch the hot stove, because we will get burned. But how can a small person, who is not familiar with the concept of heat or burns, understand and act according on the advice of those with experience, even if they only want to protect them from an unpleasant experience?

We had to experience what burning ourselves feels like. This pattern seems to repeat itself during all stages of our lives. How many failures and how much pain, success, and victories have we experienced in our lives? It depends on our age and, especially, on how much experience we have gathered in different areas. More experience means that we get better at foreseeing the course of events in our life, if we take a certain action, or not.

The most difficult stages in our lives are also those in which we grow personally and learn the most. No pain; no gain. The important part is that this experience serves as the basis for us to adjust, not merely as individuals, but as social beings in our personal relationship with ourselves, and the people we work and live with.

If we stubbornly stick to old patterns, we will continue to get burned – metaphorically speaking – in our relationships, situations, actions, which need to be adjusted according to the situation influenced by time, circumstances, and changes.

In time, when people gain experience and knowledge, they can raise their threshold of pain. You probably know someone who starts whining at the slightest change, stating that everything is bad, while you might not even have noticed that this was especially difficult or demanding.

But this person is not pretending that a certain task is difficult.  Their level of
understanding and acceptance of change, and threshold for pain, is lower, as they simply have not gained enough experience on their path through life, especially the type needed for the difficult times on this path. 

It is interesting to see how people adapt differently to seasons. Light clothes in the summer, winter coats for low temperatures, such as on this winter day. It seems obvious to us.

But it is a bit less obvious that we have to similarly adjust to the market conditions. They are changing faster than seasons. Metaphorically this means that we have to be equipped to survive at plus 30 degrees, as well as at minus 30 degrees Celsius.

We have to become tougher, resistant, and able to adapt to changing conditions and the new wind blowing on the market. Some felt it as a fresh breeze caressing the face, because they were sheltered; whilst those directly exposed to it in the market may have felt it as a storm, that wants to turn everything upside down.

It may have tried to knock you off your feet, but you did not let go. We successfully passed the first test of the intensity of the storm on the market. This was the most demanding year of this decade. We survived and gained new experience that will help us face new tests on our way towards 2010 - head on, firmly, boldly, and without hesitation.

The weather forecast for 2010 does not include favourable conditions, which is why we have to prepare for a wind that will clear and blow away everything that has to be eliminated, and only blow in favour of the best.

It will blow away all bad habits, all those unconfirmed and inflexible, the whiners, and all the extra work and junk we carry with us. The wind will help all the nice, simple, flexible, competent, practical people; those, who are focused, uncomplicated, and always searching for simple solutions – in communication, technical solutions, technologies, customer relationships, and relationships with colleagues.

I want to thank everyone, who was prepared to gain experience in these difficult marketing conditions and was not frightened by them. Thank you to everyone, who knew how to react fast and accurately, and help your colleagues solve many complicated problems easier and faster.

May the coming Christmas holidays be filled with warmth, tranquillity, peace, and joy, and may you spend them surrounded by your loved-ones. I hope you will be able to accept the situation as it will present itself in 2010 and adapt to the circumstances. This will provide the necessary calmness, precaution, and bring good results; and it will also be the most important source of health, which I hope you have in abundance in 2010. 
 
At the end of 2009 I am grateful to all of you who helped create this year’s results.
We are facing a new period, one that will be suitable to everyone who is prepared for the unexpected.


Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year. Have a very happy 2010.”