Growing Through Others’ Success

In What’s KILLING Your Profitability? I referenced how I frequently caught flack from our plant operations manager because employees across his areas routinely bypassed the chain of command by taking issues to behavior-based team members for resolution rather than their immediate supervisors. Through the work those steering committee members were doing to support me while I traveled, they were paying forward the mentorship culture I had experienced from Terry, Kevin, and Rod, and was attempting to provide for them. Nearly all of the steering committee members and many of the folks just volunteering to perform weekly observations had earned genuine influence with their peers by listening to their concerns and doing what they could to help drive resolution. I had been able to develop a few of the ones on that steering committee before I started all the traveling, but I would have never never been able to reach all the others had I been trying to do it all myself.

Having so many empowered team members taking initiative certainly contributed to the process being so effective, but it also put a spotlight on people who may have never been noticed otherwise. So many of the folks involved in that process had tremendous potential that wasn’t utilized in their normal roles and this gave them a chance to put that into practice. At the risk of missing a few, I’ll point out a couple now who I’ve kept in close contact with or at least maintained tabs on through the years since.

Jake’s primary role was welding when he got involved in the behavior-based safety process. As he got more involved, he became essential in the training process - both in a classroom setting with new observers and in helping even more experienced observers become more effective in providing feedback. Over time, the management team realized that Jake might be able to do the same thing with new welders; and he did! Jake was a decent welder but he was great at training welders, many of which became better welders than him. He continued to take on new roles in that company but was capped because he didn’t have a degree. I remember where I sat when he called me for input a few years ago. He had been offered a supervisory position in a new industry. I suggested he jump at it, and he’s continued to excel ever since.

Mike’s job was bending pipe when he went through the observer training. He joined the steering committee soon after and had an immediate impact. Not long after that, he bid on an assembly line lead position in a department where he had no experience. It just so happened that no one else applied so he got the job. That was a steep hill to climb but he never dropped the ball on what he committed to in the behavior-based safety process. He actually succeeded me in facilitating the process when I moved into human resources full time, and achieved things in that role I never did. He’s now in a key safety role with a large pharmaceutical company.

Steven had always put up great numbers in his home department but had been shunned several times when applying for open lead positions in that same department. That pissed me off every time because I saw how much value he added to everyone he interacted with through the behavior-based safety process. Not long after I left the company, he accepted a position managing two auto repair shops. Soon after, he and his wife purchased both and built great teams in each shop. While the decision-makers overseeing manufacturing operations didn’t think he had potential to lead, I was certain he did. Just a few years after purchasing the businesses, he was named “Business Person of the Year” by his local Chamber of Commerce. Make no mistake, I was very intentional in making sure his former operations manager was aware of the potential he let slip through his fingers…

I could go on with at least a half a dozen more stories like this but I’m guessing you get the point. Please understand, though, I’m not attempting to take credit for anything they’ve achieved. I do, however, believe from the bottom of my heart that fostering a mentorship culture made at least a small difference for each of them. And I can assure you that I was able to learn and grow by watching the successes they each had along the way. I’m confident that they’ve each actively mentored many others in the more than a decade since. While they all knew Terry, Kevin, and Rod, they had far less interaction with them than I did - with the exception of Mike with Kevin, since they worked together for several years. I’m guessing that each of them attribute certain things they learned along the way to me, just like their teams will attribute those things to them. The reality is that I learned much of what I passed on from the mentors in my life, and they likely learned those things from their mentors. With that in mind, we’ll wrap this up next time by looking at the power and the importance of creating a leadership legacy through mentoring.