Sam and Boris were having lunch. Boris candidly told Sam that he admired his creativity and innovation. Boris was pretty risk-averse and never wanted to be the nail the stood out and got pounded down.
Sam mentioned that he didn’t always think that way. He learned to acutely observe the traits, ideas and concepts of others, and incorporate them into his own professional style.
Here are five rules that influenced him.
Find someone to model
Sam remembered that one of his bosses, Earl, would always call out the elephant in the room. On occasion, a senior person in a meeting was misinformed. Many in the room would be reluctant to correct the information. Earl would consistently and respectfully point out the disconnect. Once the issue was discussed, the path forward could be more clearly decided.
In the workplace, pay attention to your coworkers and your leaders. Specifically, pay attention to the ones that stand out, in a good way. Ask yourself, what makes them special?
When you model someone, don’t be afraid to literally copy his or her behavior. It isn’t easy to exactly imitate someone. Your version of them will be your own, or it will quickly evolve to your own style.
Find someone else to model (and repeat often)
Sam realized that, in his career, he met many unique individuals — bosses, peers and subordinates. From the ones who truly stood out in a positive way, he tried to discern what he could do. For example, Ric believed in reassigning employees to growth roles when they got too comfortable and stopped growing. Sam incorporated that trait in his leadership.
Bad role models can be helpful, too. Sam had a manager named Bob who did something that frustrated Sam.
Bob was an extreme micromanager who was always looking over Sam’s shoulder. Bob never gave Sam the room to do his work. Sam felt like he wasn’t being trusted. Going forward, Sam avoided micromanaging his people.
Seek outside sources of inspiration
Sam was a voracious reader. He read books, blogs and magazines. He kept up with industry trends and also trends from outside his industry. He was really just open to new ideas and always striving to improve the products and processes in his workplace.
Combine two seemingly unrelated ideas
Earlier in Sam’s career, the concept of concurrent engineering became popular. Sam also participated in a process called Design For Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA). DFMA involved having Manufacturing review designs for producibility before they were finalized.
Sam took a risk on a small program he was managing and took DFMA to another level. He invited Manufacturing to participate in the design process from the beginning. This saved the cost and schedule impact of completing a design iteration after the DFMA.
Sam received kudos for his innovation but the change did not catch on throughout the company. Not all tries will succeed. Even those that succeed, may not become widespread. But the trial and error enhanced Sam’s reputation as a creative thinker. He was regularly invited to be a member of teams formed to improve company processes.
Ask “What if?”
Sam believed in challenging the status quo. Why do we build our products this way? What if we started with a blank sheet of paper? What would our new process be like? Is there a cost-effective way to benefit from the results of this exercise?
Every company’s culture is different. Exercise your judgment as to how much you challenge the status quo. But if you don’t play the “what if” game, you will not see opportunities to improve your workplace and advance your career.
Walt Grassl is a speaker, author, and performer. He hosts the radio show, “Stand Up and Speak Up,” on the RockStar Worldwide network. For more information on Walt Grassl, visit www.WaltGrassl.com.
