Breaking the Emergency Glass
Sometimes a reset is needed, and waiting too long only increases the risk of failure.
You've seen the signs on the fire extinguishers and fire alarms, right?
"In case of emergency, break glass?"
That phrase is seared in my head from my youth. No idea why.
Well, sometimes in business, you have to break the glass.
And we broke the glass a few months ago at Trinity Renovation.
The Emergency
Not sure if you noticed, but things were a bit dicey out here in the ol' business world in late 2024 and early 2025. Consumer confidence was down, prices of materials were skyrocketing (still are), and the economy, partly due to the pesky interest rates and some dramatic stock market turbulence, was in a weird sort of "hold."
Ever tried using airplane Wi-Fi in a desolate third-world country? Everything loads super slow? Well, that's the economy we were seeing.
So things over at Trinity Renovation (parent company of kitchen & bath CRATE and Trinity Builder Solutions) were wonky. Some great things were looming on the horizon, but we weren't meeting our goals, especially at TBS. It was dragging the ship down, and we were taking on water. (Thankfully, the positive forecasts are coming true, and things are improving by the week...)
The line of credit balance was too high, monthly cash flow issues were pervasive, and our inability to capitalize on opportunities due to financial constraints was frustrating.
No bueno.
The "Broken Glass"
So, a few months ago, we had to make some significant adjustments.
We had to release a solid team member, not due to performance issues, but because we needed to consolidate roles.
We had to move a different team member into a new, somewhat temporary role to align their skills and abilities with the organization's current needs.
These movements required 3-4 other team members, including me, to take on additional responsibilities.
It was time for a reorganization, and I admit, I hated it. But we had to do it.
"Courage is Having Been Here Before"
The more we navigate challenges like this, the better we become at facing them head-on and accepting that it's part of the "game." We also come to realize the associated fallout is 1) often beyond our control and 2) never a reason to avoid necessary bold decisions.
I admit, I struggled knowing this glass needed to break for a while.
And I also admit, taking action 3-4 months earlier would have put us in a better spot more quickly. Alas, all we had to decide upon was what we had at the time. So while I made the wrong call in retrospect, I made the right call at the time.
And sometimes, that's all we can do.
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Hard choices but good leadership.