Have you ever found yourself keeping busy with something insignificant because you were procrastinating on a big project or afraid to tackle something difficult? How often do we confuse activity with accomplishment? Sometimes we just need a win, so we get busy with something that can be completed. But, without clarity of purpose, we can find ourselves having spent our days without achieving anything at all. Purpose is important because it gives us a goal and singular vision.
At ADMO, our purpose is to produce quality parts and develop and maintain strong relationships with our customers, vendors, and each other. Mr. Krieps, The President of the company gave us a litmus test this week that can be applied in our decision making. When trying to decide a course of action, ask the question, "What is in the best interest of ADMO?". This should point us to that purpose and give us clarity as we proceed. Hopefully, we begin to understand that each decision we make affects the organization as a whole. So, let every decision be in the best interest of ADMO and our purpose will be realized.
This week as part of our Leadership Workshop, we were scheduled to tackle the idea of "Building the Bench" in "Chess Not Checkers". But, we have found over the last few weeks that Communication is our biggest obstacle to overcome. As we were planning for the lesson, we discussed ways to show the challenges in a silly and memorable way.
We decided to give each class the challenge of giving someone instruction to make a peanut butter sandwich and see how well that went. We didn't make a video of how our groups did, but here's a funny video I found of someone else taking the challenge:
When we made our sandwiches, only 2 of 4 classes had a recognizable product. One class didn't even get anything edible! While this is a fun and hilarious experiment, it makes a serious point. We have to be clear in our communication if we plan to succeed. At ADMO, many issues arise out of unclear communication. The leadership team needs to be setting the pace in getting messages across clearly.
As a reminder from an earlier lesson taught by Jodi Wozniak of Real Change Global, Inc., we talked about the Communication Complex. Communication only happens when it is actually received from the communicator to the responder. Many things make that difficult. Everything we send and receive in communication goes through a myriad of filters, many of which, we may not even consciously recognize. We also have challenges of noise, distraction, and language that can often be a barrier.
If communication is key for success, and we believe it is, it is a skill we must practice and continue to improve.
As we moved into the area of the lesson about "Building the Bench", we had some great conversations about how the leaders in the room progressed through their careers. Some were motivated by goal-setting bosses. Others, surveyed the landscape of their situation, saw a need, and stepped into it. Still, others were shown how to succeed by someone above them. In all cases, someone gave these leaders an opportunity and empowered them to stretch into their next assignment.
Our goal is to build our bench, just like a sports team, so that we make "transition a non-event" (Randy Gravitt). High Performance Organizations are constantly looking to the future and planning for promotions and attrition. Each leader is looking to identify and encourage an apprentice and emerging leader they can mentor and give opportunities to stretch.
It's exciting to see how our team is embracing these ideas and working to make ADMO better. With each week, we see more engagement and improvement!
How can you empower the people in your team to stretch into something new? What a gift we have to mentor and share our own experiences! I'd love to hear more stories about how you were given opportunities to grow in your career. Feel free to tell your story in the comments below!
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