Hard Work
A couple of weeks ago I was sharing a list of the favorite quotes I’ve assembled over the years with Kimberly and she encouraged me to send something out each week until I’m done in January. I don’t usually think I have that much to say or great insights into things, but I thought… “what the hell, I’ll give it a go”. I’ll try to group topics together each week with quotes, stories and lessons learned/advice. Think of it as assembled ramblings from my 30+ years in services and almost 50 years of employment.
This week’s
topic is “Hard Work”. It’s one of my favorite topics. I started working
at age twelve to help support my mom, brother and myself. I did Mike Rowe-type
dirty jobs… nasty, smelly and hard. The types of things others didn’t want to
do – clean public bathrooms, empty and clean restaurant grease fryers and
traps, clean walk-in freezers, retrieve lost golf balls in water hazards at the
public golf course (BTW, they paid 5 cents/ball), etc. This gave me a
foundation of hard work and an understanding that there is no job beneath me.
Every job, every position is important. They all serve a purpose. You may have
heard me say at one point or another that the Janitor is as important as the
CEO – treat them that way. Since I’ve been in IT, I’ve always thought of myself
as a blue-collar guy in a white-collar world.
I think this openness and understanding has given me the willingness and ability to connect with people in all parts of the business (ours and our clients). I get insights that others may not by talking to different people. I get a larger perspective on how people are thinking about the business. Whenever I would go to a client site, my first job was to make friends with the receptionist. If s/he didn’t like you, you weren’t getting anywhere. That person usually knows everything that’s going on and can get you what you need or block you from what/who you need (and, oh yeah, I did that job for a period of time as well).
Hard workers are key to our business success. Each of you are a hard worker. That’s why you were hired and why you’ve continued to succeed in the business. We look for our new Services coworkers to be: humble, hungry and smart. I don’t think you can teach these things so they need to have these traits coming in. The hungry part is this hard work topic I’m talking about. How do you interview for this? How do you know someone will work hard? You need to ask open ended questions around things they’ve done in the past:
- Tell
me about a project where you were frustrated and didn’t know what to do
next. How did you approach?
- Tell
me about a time where you had to give up on a task or take a different
route.
- When
do you call it quits (give up) on a task or a coworker?
- Are
there key things you look for?
- How
much time are you willing to give it?
You have to be careful here as well. Someone can spend too much time trying to solve the problem. Did they pull in others? Did they evaluate options? Did they think about effort vs. reward? This is also part of the “smart” trait we look for along with sharing knowledge/asking for help.
Speaking of interviewing, attached are some of my old templates for interview questions. I tried to determine exactly what we were looking for to fill the role (what skills are needed, what are the candidates tenets of leadership/work, how will they fit with the team, etc.) and select questions from the list based on that. Is the candidate going to be honest and vulnerable or will they try to BS their way through telling you what they think you want to hear? Good solid honest and introspective answers with lessons learned and changed behaviors are awesome to hear and show the human side of their potential. My biggest learning in interviewing/hiring was to not find a connection with the candidate, but understand how they will fit the culture, role and team. And don’t worry, everyone makes bad hires – it’s how you handle it from there that makes a difference in the outcome.
Note: When I give the candidate things to put in priority order, their priorities don’t have to match mine. However, they have to have good sound reasoning behind their priorities. Internal candidate should have done their homework and have specific examples and questions. The more specific the questions, the more the candidate has put themselves in the role and thought about it.
Hard work is the reward for hard work. - Unknown
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas A. Edison
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. - Vince Lombardi
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter F. Drucker
Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. - Spurgeon
Hard things are put in our way; not to stop us; but to call out our courage and strength. - Anonymous
Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson advising his daughter Martha; 1787.
I want to remind you that success in life is based on hard slogging. There will be periods when discouragement is great and upsetting; and the antidote for this is calmness and fortitude and a modest yet firm belief in your competence. Be sure that your priorities are in order so that you can proceed in a logical manner and be ever mindful that nothing will take the place of persistence. - Publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in a letter to his son.
Random stomping seldom catches bugs. - Unknown
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn - Jim Morrison
You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be; do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose. - Abraham Lincoln
Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower; dries off; and does something about it that makes a difference. - Nolan Bushnell
Comments
Post a Comment