Go Fish!

The workplace is a very complex environment to navigate. Just like the ocean you have all sorts of creatures.

There is the old whale that willingly mentors you along your development through the ranks. The faithful turtle that will walk with you and patiently listen and absorb your concern, often without any advice and just out of a sheer desire to listen.

Then there are the schools that flock together and only allow those of a certain breed to enter their circles. Who can forget the baby fish or the strange creatures that are new to environment and are now learning how to fit in.

You also have the sharks who are only out for their own survival at anyone's expense, who are capable of everything from mysogyny, sexual harassment, theft, pilferage and drug abuse.

You also have the wobbly jellyfish who never seem to know what their role is and are obviously in and above their heads but get away by just following instructions.

Then there are the flying fish that do all they can to get passed the surface but are always pulled back down to reality by a combination of gravity and lack of support from within the organization.

Of course there are the clams whose mouths never stop going with gossip or the company cocktails.

Despite their differences they all often have to swim with the same tide and as life would have it self-preservation becomes the domain of all at some point or the other.

It is unfortunate that just like fish in the ocean, management and staff, even during the unpredictable swells of the current, often fail to hold each other's hands to preserve their collective species.

What becomes clear when all settles is that those who are most pliable and adaptable often live to tell the tale.

Follow this blog for regular updates on Lyrical Lava's perspectives on marketing and public relations in Barbados.