 He said, "Burning Man changed my life. It changed my business. It fired up my imagination. It refueled my creativity. It made my life better." He would come back from Burning Man pumped, and want to tell everybody he met about his experience. He'd tell his story and people would glaze over, then move on. Then a friend said "Most people are asleep. It doesn't matter what you say to them. They're asleep. Then there are those who are dozing. If you can peak their interest, you may wake them up. Then there are those who are wide-awake. He said, go for those people and tell them all about it, because they are the people open to a new idea, they are curious, are actually listening and hearing, they want to explore a new idea. But most people are asleep." Since that conversation I have thought about most meetings, conferences, social gatherings, board meetings....and most people are asleep. Distracted, not listening, not asking questions, not probing, not taking notes... asleep. There's always one in the group who is wide-awake, asking questions, taking notes, asking a question, then a follow-up question, truly attentive, in the room, not distracted....there's always one person who is wide-awake. Most are asleep.
Thanks Christopher Kuzman for the shot from BM.
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 A car dealership in Adelaide has moved the service and parts area of the dealership to the front window.... you can see the guys working on your car. Driving past last week at night, instead of the front windows being lit up with new vehicles, they were lit up with cars on hoists, parts, toolboxes, all looking pristine, organised, and yes, it was behind huge plate glass windows on full display on a main road for all to see. Why?
I find it really curious when all of my life when you've dropped your car off for a service, you hand your keys to the front desk and your car disappears behind a large wall. It only reappears in a car park where you receive your keys back, your invoice and the pain of having to pay for what happened behind that wall. Now it's a feature, front and centre, looking clean, efficient, and seemingly something that's not hidden from view. Key take outs: The service part of the dealership is quite profitable I understand. Makes sense for it to be on show. It probably makes the mechanics feel more pride in their work to know that people can see their craftsmanship. It's contrarian to every other dealership who focuses on flogging cars. No doubt this will be something you will now start to see across the country as more dealerships start to redesign their dealerships to change the perception of service, the people who work there, the importance inside a dealership, and if nothing else .....to be different. I took a double take driving past to get my head around the fact that there were hoists and guys with toolboxes on the main road behind these massive plate glass windows and not brand-new cars with hefty price tags. 8 out of 10 people in every company globally are believed to be indifferent about their work. Love your work verses indifferent about your work. It's a great way to categorise where we are today with people and teams, and perhaps the basis of why so many people are disengaged according to Gallup, and happy to up and leave an organisation because they don't ... well, love it. Loving your work means you like the people you work with, you find true meaning in your work, you fulfil your own why, you can match your personal values with those of the company, having leadership you admire, having a direction to head in and trust in the leadership, they know how to get there, and a place where people feel trusted, a place where they feel safe. It's a lot to ask a leader to create that environment, but surely that's a good starting point as a checklist to say, "How do you have people love the work they do in your company?" When most are indifferent, the few are in love. What if you could...  |
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