Influence Earned in the Rebuild

The grind of rebuilding required many things; I had to earn the respect of my coworkers while learning as much as I possibly could (as fast as I could) about the operations of that new company, and I needed to intentionally invest some of the off-time this role provided into my relationship with Cindy and our kids. Renee had been married for a few years at that point so the long, long days in my last role weren’t something she noticed so much. Matt had just graduated high school and was making the transition to being on his own. While I certainly can’t blame it all on the long hours I was working, our relationship was strained, at best, at that point. The extra time around one another after I started with the smaller company allowed us to be around each other more, but that wasn’t always a positive thing. I did, however, have so many more opportunities to be present for Cindy. The challenge there was that she had also accepted a new position and was working longer hours than me, but it still helped.

From 7a to 5p, Monday through Friday, I jumped at every opportunity I could find to learn the ropes; not just as it related to my role but in every aspect of the organization I could get close to. That frequently involved jumping in a truck with other management team members to visit the various work sites or blocking time on my calendar to learn different parts of the process from folks working near my office. I remember one of them being apprehensive when I showed up at his work station and asked to watch for an hour or so. He thought he was about to be fired! He told me the only time he had seen anyone in HR previously was when someone was losing their job. I was able to set him at ease immediately, but I realized that was something I’d need to address right away with everyone else I asked to spend time with.

In complete transparency, much of that time investment on the job was to become familiar with the processes so I could be competent in the hiring process. Regardless of what drove me to do it, investing that time provided seeds to tremendous opportunities through what was a relatively minor adversity. In Leveraging Leadership Growth, I referenced a conversation a friend and I had with a young man who asked us for the top things we did to start and grow our businesses. His response was “Show up” and mine was “Give a shit when you show up.” When I did those two things, with my new coworkers and with Cindy, the return on investment was remarkable! The influence earned in the rebuild served me immediately and it’s opened doors to more opportunities that I could have imagined.

Pivoting after a pay cut, one that hurt my ego even more than it hurt my wallet, yielded a situation where I learned the power of earning authentic relational influence. Quiet consistency during transition earns trust no title can grant. Had I attempted to ride the meager title I held or the experience my new teammates wasn’t even aware of, I would have failed miserably - in earning their trust and respect as well as in fulfilling the responsibilities of my role.

As a quick side note, my lighter workload coming just as Cindy’s schedule grew busier was yet another seed to far greater opportunities. This likely comes as a huge surprise, but I’m fairly high strung and don’t sit still very well. She recognized that just a few weeks into my new role and pushed me to look for ways to sharpen my saw and pursue the purpose she saw me draw in all the years I worked in behavior-based safety. The first step tied directly to my job: I worked through an extensive prep course and was part of the first group on the planet to earn a professional credential from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and I’ve held that ever since. Immediately after that, she encouraged me to get licensed to teach John C. Maxwell’s content. She and I had studied his work closely for fifteen years at that point and I had been passing what we learned along to anyone who would listen, so she saw this spare time as an opportunity to develop even more clarity around my purpose.

The wins I experienced in my new role as well as away from work seemed small at the time, but they were definitely compounding. Each transition I made helped turn what felt like a tremendous loss in August 2014 (when I saw my first pay stub after my “promotion”) into strategic preparation for what was to come. We’ll look at that more next. Now, though, list a small piece of your transition story and share it with someone you trust. Be sure to look closely for the ripples that have followed.