You may have noticed that Starbucks decided to close all there stores for 3 hours to retrain employees.
I love the idea of a Full Stop. I love it when a company takes a few minutes to think.
It is something I wish arts organization would do more often.
How often have you seen the follow situation?
It's the middle of a theatre's season.
The last 2 shows have been box office failures.
The Board is falling apart and working poorly.
Morale is a mess.
And what does the theatre do? They just go on to working on their next show . . . with no real reason to believe that this show is going to go any differently then the other.
I can't count the number of times I have suggested to these companies that they shut it down for a while. Take a Full Stop. Spending a few days, a few weeks, hell a few months to really . . . really . . . think about what the hell is going on in your company.
When my advice is shot down it is often because the arts organization believes that they can't afford not to produce work.
This just ain't the case.
The world will go on if a theatre or dance group shuts things down for a while IF they communicate the public the purpose of the shutdown.
So don't hesitate to consider a Full Stop.
Comments