My friend Susan called me the other day. She was bursting to share an experience she had at work that left her feeling powerful,successful and acknowledged. Susan had scheduled a meeting in the company conference room. Her team was making progress on a very important project and they needed some face time.
As her meeting began,other employees kept showing up to use the meeting room. She works for a large company and some of the people were actually vice presidents or other superiors she reports to. All believed they had reserved the room.
Nevertheless,she kept shooing them away. She was polite,purposeful and fully committed to the long range objective her team was tasked with.
The amazing part of this story is that although every fiber of her being believed she had reserved the meeting room,she hadn’t. Yet everyone who showed up was completely in agreement about her team using the room at that time.
In large companies with entrenched cultures,meetings are often the scourge of productivity. Maybe her colleagues felt like they just avoided jury duty and were glad to miss another meeting.
It’s more likely that Susan was being exceptionally clear about her mission and the long range results to the company from the team’s project. It turns out that like many companies,hers falls into the trap of operating out of its circumstances. Every problem seems like it’s is the most important and must be dealt with immediately –the economy, declining sales,productivity’s off,competitors encroach,and on and on.
Ever wonder what it feels like to be like most big companies? Just fill in your own circumstances and lose sight of what you’re committed to.
Susan rides a Harley. When she took her training course,they lined up a series of parallel cones for her to ride between. She and everyone else failed miserably on their first attempt. That’s because they were looking at the cones instead of where they wanted to go.
That’s the power of commitment. By focusing on where you want to go,you’ll miss most of the potholes along the way. Or,at the very least,you’ll create a meeting room for others to help you get where you want to go.
