Doing More Than Paid For in the Rebuild

The definite decision I made in late August 2017 to leave my full time position and join Cindy in our business took a while to play out. With Cindy’s backing, we indeed had unwavering courage - even if our definite plans left a bit to be desired. I worked out the full two months I committed to; it took that long just to identify and onboard someone to fill the role I had been in. Still yet, anyone starting a new position, especially one covering the wide range of safety and human resources, needs support while they get their feet under them so I stayed on in a part time capacity for yet another month.

As a quick side note, October 2017 was the most productive month we had seen to that point in our own business. For the third consecutive year, we hosted a full day leadership event locally. That had grown to near-capacity, and we had opportunities to facilitate a couple of similar private events in our area geared specifically at raising money for and promoting non-profit groups. We also hosted a similar public event about an hour away. That offered a whole new set of adversities to find seeds in so we’ll come back to that more later.

Once I worked out the full notice and had those events in the rear view, I started providing what I thought would be light safety and human resources support to another small business locally. Like each full time position I had held since leaving manufacturing, I soon learned that they needed more than I anticipated. I worked for them in a W2 capacity for an average of fifteen hours each week, handling the bulk of their hiring process and helping them get up to speed on a number of compliance issues. Between the two part time roles, November 2017 had little space for developing much definiteness in any plans we were building in our business - the business we hoped would soon keep our lights on.

Hill’s sixth leadership attribute, willingness to more than paid for, was alive and well. Juggling all that through the month of November provided around the same compensation I would have earned in my full time role and each individual scenario offered a level of flexibility I had never experienced, the change also meant I no longer had any type of benefits package; something I had since I was 17 years old. About the same money, more work, and less benefits - but a different kind of hope. That hope, as naive as it may have been, was what drove my willingness to assume full responsibility for our future, Hill’s tenth leadership attribute. Bold shifts forge the exact traits needed for values-driven leadership—uncertainty becomes a competitive advantage.

All said, we were excited about the overall direction. In spite of not having the definite plans we probably should have prior to making such a leap, we were developing a picture of where we wanted to go, albeit a vague picture at that point. But like everyone will encounter at one time or another, there were some family struggles going on at the same time. We’ll look at how we navigated those adversities and the seeds we searched for through them next. Before we do, think about a recent decision you were faced with; where did courage or extra effort lag? What steps can you take to strengthen that decision moving forward?