Standing on a wet and windy railway platform is one of the joys that commuting over the winter months holds for UK passengers. Indeed, given the changing British weather, travellers often have to endure such conditions well into the summer.
To make matters worse, trains are often late and little if any information is ever given about the expected length of the delay or why it has happened.
This is the most infuriating part of having to stand around and if train operators were better at keeping passengers informed, they would not have to face quite so much of their understandable anger.
Information is power and once people have that information they can then make decisions for themselves and begin to see past the problem in hand.
As commuters travel to work, this is a lesson they should be taking into the office and especially those working in the challenging conditions of today's mortgage market.
Employees, clients and commercial partners need to know what is going on. At a time when there is already a good degree of anxiety around, adding to it through poor communication is the wrong strategy.
Looking initially at communicating with staff, keeping them informed is essential. The unfortunate truth is that the industry is currently being forced to take on redundancies as volumes fall back. Redundancies are an unpleasant part of commercial life and serve only to protect the long-term survival of the underlying company in difficult times.
Those that have to make cuts should therefore make sure they are doing so in a way that will benefit the organisation as a whole and that the uncertainty staff go through while decisions are being made is short lived.
Those that remain are more important than ever to the company and communicating this message is essential to keep up confidence and morale.
Redundancies are very difficult for any firm to manage successfully, but through clear communication of the issues involved and the action being taken, at least those who have to seek alternative employment can do so quickly, and those who retain their positions can focus on their day-to-day job again. Protracted periods of uncertainty serve nobody's interests.
The situation is similar for commercial partners who may be nervous about the security of future business. The changing market conditions have forced many companies to reappraise their operations and change the focus of their activity. Some have pulled back from the market altogether while others have sought to change direction. This in turn has had a significant impact on existing partners who have been affected by these decisions.
Commercial partnerships are the lifeblood of the UK mortgage industry and getting them right is the difference between success and failure for many organisations. For those changing tact, it is therefore important to keep their partners up to date with what they are planning.
Again, these changes are being made for the underlying benefit of the companies in question and by keeping partners well-appraised of issues as they arise, it is easier for everybody to make suitable arrangements that will see them through both the short and medium term.
In many cases where partnerships are put on hold, the intention is to re establish them at a later date and only by handling this change in focus properly in the present will it be possible to regenerate business in the future.
The firms that communicate changing strategies best with their partners are likely to be those who have taken the time in the past to research and develop plans for dealing with different scenarios.
In the same way as the credit risk department of a lender will stress test its book of business, communications teams should have well-designed plans to deal with various situations that may arise.
Of course it is impossible to predict the challenges we will face in the future, but by going through likely and potential scenarios it is possible to get an understanding of how different techniques and strategies will deliver. At the heart of all of these should be a commitment to provide factual, informative and quick data to those that need it most.
On top of the communications that go out to staff and commercial partners, keeping customers informed is also understandably essential.
Having spent time and money creating a brand, making sure it survives in the long-term is imperative and customers want to know what is happening and whether they will be able to access the services they have become used to.
In troubled times, advertising and marketing is not just about products and services, but also about informing people of how the business stands and how it seeks to weather the storm.
Many firms simply go down the 'business as usual' route, but increasingly customers want more if they are to be genuinely convinced.
Good business processes come to the fore when times are difficult and this is particularly the case with communications. Delivering an effective and factual message on an ongoing basis is incredibly important to any business navigating a difficult sea and those who do it best are less likely to flounder on the challenges they face.
