Friday, March 30, 2012
Best place to work
At ABC's Region 2 meeting yesterday we heard from Diane Hendricks of ABC Supply. She has quite the motivating story about starting a business from the ground up and growing it into world class success story.
The big take away I got from her story was her husband, Ken, and her desire to become the best place in the world to work at. Everything they did in the past and do today was with that goal in mind. She pointed out that you have to make money to be able to reach that goal but by staying focused for decades they were able to reach that goal.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The weather is nice but I need a better sign of Spring
A few days agoI turned on my TV and right there in my living room was the sweet sounds of Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy announcing the Red Sox-Twins game. (the Twins lost)
I should have continued reading "the Speed of Trust" by Stephen M. R. Covey but I couldn't resist watching this meaningless game (the Red Sox won) but sure sign of spring.
Watch a joy.
How you treat people
Last month I was visiting with a long time friend and fellow electrical contractor about how things were going within our companies. I shared with him a story about a past employee that I always got along very well with but now that the employee had left Willmar Electric I was learning more about how co-workers viewed that same person.
My friend shared with me a great story about a past employee of his company. For the purpose of this story I am going to give the people involved fake names. Let's call my friend "Troy" and his employee "George."
For years Troy had gotten periodic complaints about how George treated people within the company. People said that George was arrogant and was solely concerned for himself. But what Troy saw was a guy that said he was concerned with others and always treated Troy and the other partners in the firm with the highest respect.
As the incidents of people coming to Troy and complaining about George grew. Troy discussed the issues with his partners and fellow owners. And after that discussion Troy felt like he needed to address the issues with George.
When Troy went to George and mentioned the complaints, George said that "of course he treated Troy and the other owners differently. It was only natural. Troy and his partners were the owners of the company." Troy said George's face showed that he was confused that it was even a problem.
Troy asked George why he treated others the way he did, George said "are you implying that you think I should treat everybody within the company the same way I treat you and the other owners?"
Troy said "yes I do. You should treat everybody like they are an owner!"
George could believe it. As a matter of fact George couldn't live out the advice either. Shortly after being confronted by Troy, George had to leave the company. He had been exposed and with that everybody within the company, including the owners, know that George wasn't part of the team. In fact George's behavior had been tearing done the team for years.
Fakes aren't always easy to see but listening to my friend's story sure did open my eyes and perk my ear quite a bit.
My friend shared with me a great story about a past employee of his company. For the purpose of this story I am going to give the people involved fake names. Let's call my friend "Troy" and his employee "George."
For years Troy had gotten periodic complaints about how George treated people within the company. People said that George was arrogant and was solely concerned for himself. But what Troy saw was a guy that said he was concerned with others and always treated Troy and the other partners in the firm with the highest respect.
As the incidents of people coming to Troy and complaining about George grew. Troy discussed the issues with his partners and fellow owners. And after that discussion Troy felt like he needed to address the issues with George.
When Troy went to George and mentioned the complaints, George said that "of course he treated Troy and the other owners differently. It was only natural. Troy and his partners were the owners of the company." Troy said George's face showed that he was confused that it was even a problem.
Troy asked George why he treated others the way he did, George said "are you implying that you think I should treat everybody within the company the same way I treat you and the other owners?"
Troy said "yes I do. You should treat everybody like they are an owner!"
George could believe it. As a matter of fact George couldn't live out the advice either. Shortly after being confronted by Troy, George had to leave the company. He had been exposed and with that everybody within the company, including the owners, know that George wasn't part of the team. In fact George's behavior had been tearing done the team for years.
Fakes aren't always easy to see but listening to my friend's story sure did open my eyes and perk my ear quite a bit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)