Success comes from taking the initiative and following up...
persisting... eloquently expressing the depth of our desire. What
simple action we take today could produce a new momentum toward
success in our lives.
You
are essentially who you create yourself to be and all
that occurs in your life is the result of your own
making.―
Stephen Richards |
Time is neutral and
does not change things. With initiative and courage a leader can
change
things for the better.
When we believe in what we are doing and use our imagination and
initiative, we can make a difference.
There
is always room at the top for those who deserve to be there.
Each of the employees in the following narrative was assigned
the same task. Each one completed the job but with different degree
of initiative.
Employee "A" in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my
job is for the day? The manager took "A" to the bank of a river and
asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank.
"A" completed this task successfully and reported back to the
manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager
smiled and said, "Good job!"
The next day, Employee "B" reported to the same manager and asked him the
job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this
person also. The Employee "B' before starting the task saw Employee
"C" struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He
realized "C" has the same task.
Now "B" not only crossed the river but also helped "C" to cross the
river.
"B" reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said,
"Very good job!"
"The following day Employee "Q" reported to the same manager and
asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task
again. Employee "Q" before starting the work did some home work and
realized "A", "B" and "C" all has done this task before. He met them
and understood how they performed.
He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing
this task. He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing
the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks
to do the task efficiently and effortlessly. Using the methodology
he had written down, he crossed the river and reported The manager
said, '"Q' you have done an Excellent job!".
The following day Employee "O' reported to the manager and asked him
the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again. "O"
studied the procedure written down by "Q" and sat and thought about
the whole task. He realized the company is spending lot of money in
getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but
sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went
back to his manager and said, "You no longer need to assign this
task to any one."
The manager smiled and said, "Outstanding job 'O'. I am very proud of
you."
What is the difference between A, B, Q and O????????
Many times in life, we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at
play….. Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we
feel happy? Most probably, yes. However, we would be often
disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation.
Let us compare ourselves with "B". Helping someone else the problem
often improves our own skills.
There is an old proverb, "Learn to teach and teach to learn". From
the
company point of view, "B" has demonstrated much better skills than
"A" since one more task for the company is completed.
"Q" created knowledge base for the team. More often than not, we do
the task assigned to us without checking history. Learning from the mistake
of others is the best way to improve efficiency. This
knowledge creation for the team is of immense help. Re-usability
reduces cost thereby increases productivity of the team. "Q"
demonstrated good "team-player" skills.
Now to the outstanding person, "O" made the task irrelevant; he
created a permanent asset to the team.
If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated "team performance"
over and above individual performance; also they have demonstrated a
very invaluable characteristic known as initiative.
Initiative pays off everywhere, whether at work or at personal life.
If we put initiative in whatever we wish to accomplish, we will
succeed with flying colors. Initiative makes us the best of what we can be. It propels
us higher in whatever we scale in life. Let us analyze how
A, B, Q or O acted upon the task
and judge our performance in whatever we have accomplished so that
we will be more efficient next time we do it.
By Tim Pedrosa