The month of August proved to have its own challenges with the country moving back to level 2 and Auckland to level 3 bearing the brunt of the effects of business and school closures. It makes it hard to look forward, to plan and to execute goals set for the year when setbacks keep us at a standstill. March 2020 was the month where I was to start a new part of my role, venturing out of my home office to visit our members throughout the country – however we all know this never happened. So, when we came out of lockdown, I kicked my plan into action and set August as the month where I was to start my visits in my own backyard – Christchurch and North Canterbury.
Although we were in Level 2, and the processes of visiting sign business got harder throughout the month, it was worth every effort. It was fantastic to catch up with the familiar faces and meet new members along the way. The overall response from our local sign members so far was positive, all sign business were keeping busy in one way or another – either with large projects on the go, taking the opportunity to refurb their premises or look into upskilling their staff or taking on apprentices – all good, positive stuff.
I really appreciated those that meet with me and giving me constructive feedback – which I welcomed. As the saying goes, “We can’t make it better if we don’t know what’s not working”. So only after one region, and one month of visits, there were a few common themes from feedback given, which we are currently working on implementing for the very near future.
In September the regional towns I will be visiting are Ashburton, Timaru and South Canterbury and I am very much looking forward to meeting some more members that I have spoken to over the phone and heard about that are doing great things in our communities and for the industry.
Melissa Coutts, Secretary
