Becoming a Picker-Upper-Person

“Best friendships are good for business. Companies are coming to discover that, yet are at a loss at what to do about it.”

USA Today

I’ve Been Thinking . . . a lot about relationships recently -- seems to be a common label on my mental file folders.

Several years ago, a Harvard business school professor wrote an open letter to the nation’s graduates. He told them that in one sense they needed to forget what they had learned in their academic training. He indicated that schools tend to put too much emphasis on the belief that success is dependent on passing tests and is based on individual performance rather than on ground effort and collaboration, the professor pointed out that in the workplace high performance depends largely on learning to succeed through what he called a “Web of Relationships”.

The secret to personal success extends far beyond individual accomplishments to the inevitable need for interdependence with those around us. “It’s All About Relationships!” I frequently use that phrase in meetings, one-to-one conversations, social situations and yes, even airplanes. The older I get the stronger my bias that life enrichment, and job success are tied directly to relationship development. Brian Tracy believes, “85% of our job, happiness in life comes from our interaction with others.”

Who are Picker-Upper People? They possess a number of enviable qualities. Consider the following characteristics that positively impact people’s lives. Maybe there is one or two you could work on refining in your life.

* Accept people unconditionally. Accept people for who they are; not what they could be if only they listened to you.

* Seek to understand life from the other person’s perspective. Get inside their world.

* Listen with sincerity and an open mind. Learn from others. Show genuine interest in other people’s lives. Talk less. Leave your ego at the door.

* Respect what is important or valued by others. Respect other’s opinions.

* Be enjoyable to be around. Kind. Gracious. Polite. Tactful. Don’t get uptight by little things that bother you. Make it possible for people to say, “I like myself better when I’m with you.”

* Refrain from criticism. Overlook people’s faults. Overlook minor or petty differences.

* Cherish conflict – momentarily. Quickly and sincerely attempt to resolve any conflict. Learn from the experience.

* Freely provide recognition and appreciation. Encourage and support people. Go to great lengths to make people feel appreciated.

* Get excited about other people’s success. Congratulate them. Share in their exuberance. Be their best cheerleader and promoter.

Here’s a relationship jump start. For the next ‘30’ days, treat everyone you come in contact with as the most important person in your life. Place every greeting, phone call, interaction and goodbye with a heightened level of respect.

Everyone you encounter wants to be important to someone, to be loved, respected and considered special. It could very well be you were placed in their life at this moment in time to add value and significance. What a great opportunity!

There is a side benefit to this approach. People who make treating others as the most important people in their life often find that others begin treating them the same way. It’s funny how life tends to give us back what we give. One thing is for sure, those you touch will not remain as they are – and I doubt you will either.

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

George Washington Carver

Doing the Little Things

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”

Betty Reese

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the little things that separate excellence from mediocrity, the best from average and World Class from run of the mill. I understand there are a multitude of factors that set people and organizations apart from each other. Just for now, let’s think about the little things.

Every once in awhile my evening television channel surfing lands me on the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs. In one episode host Mike Rowe was talking to an industrial painter whose work he was trying to duplicate. “There’s really no glory in what you do,” he said. “No,” the painter agreed, “but it’s a job that needs to be done.”

You see, that man paints the inside of the Mackinac Bridge towers in Northern Michigan. His unnoticed job is done to ensure that the steel of the magnificent suspended structure won’t rust from the inside out, compromising the integrity of the bridge. Most of the 12,000 people who cross the Straits of Mackinac each day aren’t even aware that they are depending on workers like this painter to faithfully do their jobs well.

This painter understood the impact of George Washington Carver’s comments several years ago, “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

My children lived near the bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed into the Mississippi River in August of 2007. Thirteen people were killed in the unfortunate incident. It made me wonder if the “unnoticed bridge painter” had done his job on this bridge.

A wise unknown (or at least I don’t know who it was) person once said: “Never leave a nail sticking up where you found it.” Imagine the irritation that can be caused by hoping someone else will remove the nail or assuming nobody will step on it or just hoping it doesn’t cause “too much” pain. It’s such a little thing – right?

What do the windows in your entryway look like? What is the first impression of someone walking into your building? What is the first impression of your team’s (and your) personal appearance? Do others see us spending an extra few minutes to help a coworker with a ‘little’ task that will make a dramatic difference? How about the on hold music? Does it set you apart?

These little things are HUGE. . . and the list goes on and on and on and on. Are you doing the little things that make a huge difference?

I recently stayed in a hotel that charged what I consider to be ‘a lot’ for a room. I must admit I expected top of the line service for the money I was paying. Settling in to the room, I noticed we had a shampoo and two conditioners but no body lotion. I stopped at the front desk before we went out for the night and asked if we could get some lotion in our room. “Certainly” the desk clerk responded.

Returning to the room later that night, I found a shampoo, no body lotions and three conditioners (not necessary for a nearly bald man). I made the same request the next day with unsuccessful results. Each day I would ‘steal’ lotion from the maid’s cart so we could have some in our room.

“My goodness, it’s only a little lotion,” you say. I know but it’s the little things that impact people, especially when the expectations are high.

How many of you have ever been bitten my a lion? How about a bear? What about a mosquito or fly?

See, it’s the little things that get you!

We are committed to treating every person we come in contact with as the most important person in our life. Sometimes we’re really good. Other times, we fall short. The difference between success and not being so good is ‘doing the little things.’

I recently received an email from one of our quality partners that reinforced our passion to treating people special. Here is a portion of the message:

“I travel quite a bit and often I find myself in four different communities in the country each week. Being "on the road" for over two years now, I can honestly say I never experienced the hospitality, organization, and overall enthusiasm from any company as I have at Vetter. I joked at the fall conference when I said I knew your mission/vision statement by heart because you stressed it so much. The truth is I know and understand those words because you clearly live and breathe them, it’s not just lip service.

Cameo, as well as Mikeal the first training, and Aaron during the conference, were so prepared with EVERY LITTLE detail, I am still speechless. They make my job effortless. When I say DETAIL, I am referring to my favorite candy, my name tag, a Spartan coffee mug/helmet (go greeeeeen!), hanging my coat, making sure I know where I'm going, and the most important part of all: preparing staff for what's to come with iN2L! I could literally go on all day. I can't tell you how much that "little" stuff matters.

If your goal was for VHS staff to be whistling the same tune inside and out, mission accomplished. It is hard to feel at home when you are traveling all but a couple weekends a month, but I genuinely feel "at home" when I walk in your doors. I thank you for the opportunity to present and train, and know that I will fight other trainers for the opportunity to come back to VHS any day.

Carla Sieczkowski
International Training Director
It's Never 2 Late

Now, that’s doing the little things that exceed expectations.

How many times a day does the unnoticed, silent or at least rather quiet things you do impact those around you? What are the little things that can become big things on the path to World Class?

Never underestimate the value of what you consider to be the insignificant part of your job. In fact, identify a few of those right now and pledge to do them better than ever before because someone is going to be impacted. I appreciate the advice of Charles M. Sheldon when it comes to excelling at the little things. He said: “Always seek to excel yourself. Put yourself in competition with yourself each day. Each morning look back upon your work of yesterday and then try to beat it.”

“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”

Colin Powell