Published on January 5, 2023 by Jennifer Leider
Picture this: you’re 15 again and running late for the bus. You have an overdue paper shoved in the bottom of your backpack and are desperately cramming for an exam. Your friend slides in next to you – they have all their assignments turned in, their exam studied for, and they’re working on an assignment due two weeks from now. You may hate them now, but deep down, you know you want to be them.
Unfortunately, not all companies and employees ditch the habit of getting bulldozed by their work. It can be a tricky cycle to break out of “trouble mode,” in which you always feel like you’re running to catch up.
What does trouble mode look like?
- Constantly fixing problems and being reactive to situations
- Letting past issues catch up
- Leaning into radical or desperate solutions
- Using the wrong resources because it’s too late to find the right ones
- Being unable to grow as a company in finances, clients, etc
If company leadership goes into trouble mode, the company has no guidance. No driving force for goal setting or staying on mission. If a DBA goes into trouble mode, there might be a few different repercussions. First, leadership might get pulled away from leading to help with the “in-the-weeds" issues; now everyone is in trouble mode. Second, your company might struggle with connecting with new clients, as there’s already an overload of work from previous clients.
We’ve been Debbie Downers long enough. What does growth mode look like? (It’s pretty great)
- Being proactive
- Foreseeing future problems and solving them before they happen
- Company growth
- Future investments and payoff
- Not being bogged down by stress, frustration, or fear
- Ability to think creatively
In a recent case study Solvaria received specific feedback on how we took our clients from trouble mode to growth mode. Before partnering with us, Tesla was in trouble mode. They were unable to keep up with the scaling and growing complexity of their databases. Their success was simultaneously growing and becoming hindered. Tesla tried bigger RAM and newer, faster servers, but without any DBAs, they couldn’t keep up with a rapidly growing company.
Solvaria worked with Angel Smith, VP of Client Engagement, to find the right DBA match and start assessing the next best steps. Angel now reaches out to Tesla at least once a month about needed changes, if databases max out, etc. – it's now Solvaria’s job to scale and accommodate growth. Being in growth mode lets Tesla focus on its clients – they know their databases are taken care of, optimized, and scalable when needed.
If you or your company is in trouble mode, let us know – we can get you to growth mode in no time.