One of the most valuable things I ever learned...

For highschool, I went to a very small boarding school in New Mexico where students were expected to work 1/2 day at some industry and attend school the other half. As a student, you could choose between the farm, the dairy, a furniture factory named Academy Industries, and a number of other options.

My senior year, I chose Academy Industries and was assigned to the finishing department. There, we took assembled furniture, stained it either maple or walnut, gave it a seal coat, sanded it, then gave it a coat of laquer.

I have always avoided positions of leadership. I consider myself to be one of the worlds best followers, but have never wanted to be out front. However, while working in the finish department of Academy Industries, I learned something very interesting about leadership that I would like to share...

One day, I complemented someone on our team about how fast they were able to get the assembled furniture into the stain vat and how good they were at wiping the excess off (which, believe it or not, does take some skill). I noticed that they seemed to immediately get even faster and more skilled.

I wondered if the compliment had anything to do with it, so I devised an experiment. I decided that for the next several days, I would find something each team member was good at and tell them I noticed. Every time I did this, they seemed to get even better. I devised a theory that when you tell someone they are really good at something (it has to be a true statement, you can't just make it up), they would do everything in their power to prove you right.

Within weeks, our whole team was out performing others so much that I was promoted to be in charge of the finish department. I found that when I called someone out for doing something wrong, their work suffered, but if I first showed them how to do it, then complimented them every time I saw them get it right, they always got better and very shortly, were out performing everyone else on the team at that thing.

That was 1973, my senior year in highschool. A couple days before I graduated, the general manager of the factory called me to his office and told me we were the best team he had ever had in that department, possibly the best he ever had in any department, and asked me how I did it. I told him, I was just vocal about calling it out every time anyone on the team ever did something right and counted on the fact that they would not want to prove me wrong.

Today, I work at a Credit Union where that is the culture. It was the culture long before I ever got there and I am sure it will always remain so. I am so proud to be a member of their team, someday they willl have to drag me out kicking and screaming the whole way.

I'm not a leader and never will be. However, our leadership team seems to have learned the same lessons. They run ahead, pave the way, and remove obstacles that might keep us from doing our best work. But most importantly, they have learned that the best leaders tell you when you are doing things well rather than calling you out for your failures. And, in doing so, they have created a culture of cooperation and support where everyone strives to do their very best work every day because we don't want to prove them wrong.