![\"Woody](\"http:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/WoodyWatering_ORG1.jpg\" "\\"WoodyWatering_ORG1\\"")
<\/a>When I was a kid, if I wanted something (like a slot-car, or a pellet gun), I could wait for my birthday or Christmas and hope my folks could afford to buy it for me, but beyond that it was pretty much up to me.\u00a0 So I pulled weeds, sold garden seeds door-to-door, sold Christmas and greeting cards door-to-door, sold grapes on the roadside, delivered newspapers as a back up for friends who had paper-routes.\u00a0 Typical kid stuff for that day.<\/p>\nBut those little jobs never brought in much money for the amount of work, so I decided to get a “real” job.<\/p>\n
There was a plant nursery about a mile from my home, and they occasionally hired teens to water plants, move stuff, mix soil, plant seedlings into nursery cans, and similar nursery work.\u00a0 So, to make a long story a bit shorter: I asked for a job, and the owner of the nursery, Mr.\u00a0Smith\u00a0(his real\u00a0name), hired me.\u00a0 He knew my folks.<\/p>\n
Lesson One: Treat everyone nicely<\/h4>\n
The day I started, the Mr. Smith introduced me to Bill (also his real name).<\/p>\n
Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “It’s great to have you join us here.\u00a0 Bill is going to show you how to water the plants today – it’s not difficult, but there are a few important things you’ll need to know. You won’t have any trouble with it.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “However, another part of the job is for you to think about what you are doing, and look for better ways to do things.\u00a0 Keep track of your hours, and next Saturday when I pay you for the week I want you to tell me one way to do things better.\u00a0 Look for problems, and think about how we could deal with them.\u00a0 Okay?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I’ll do that”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Great! Bill will take you out and show you what you’ll be doing”.<\/p>\n Bill:<\/strong> “Hey Woody, I’m glad Mr. Smith hired you. We’ve been too busy to take care of everything and\u00a0we’ve got a very important job for you.\u00a0Let me\u00a0show you.”<\/p>\n We walked out into the nursery, and Bill grabbed a hose with a watering wand attached to the end\u00a0and handed it to me.<\/p>\n Bill:<\/strong> “You are going to water the plants. It might seem simple, and in some ways it is.\u00a0 But these plants depend on us for their lives – they can’t get water without us.\u00a0 We water most of these plants every two days.\u00a0 Each plant is in a can just large enough\u00a0to provide the room it needs for it’s roots.\u00a0 When you water a plant, give it just enough water to wet the roots completely, but no more – we don’t want to waste water.\u00a0 However, if you give it any less, the plant may possibly dry out too much by the next time we water, and that stresses and weakens the plant.\u00a0 Got it?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “Sounds good.\u00a0 How do I know what’s enough water?”<\/p>\n Bill: <\/strong>“Well, it’s a bit tricky.\u00a0 You\u00a0have to check\u00a0some of\u00a0the plants after you’ve watered a row.\u00a0 Go back and see that a little water is dripping out the holes in the bottom.\u00a0 That shows you the whole root-ball has gotten some water.\u00a0 Keep your eyes open.\u00a0\u00a0If some of the plants start wilting a bit – you know you have to adjust your technique.\u00a0 You’ll figure it out”.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “How do I tell if a plant is wilting?”<\/p>\n Bill: <\/strong>“Each species is a bit different, some need more water, some need less.\u00a0 It’s just something you get used to over time.\u00a0 You’ll figure it out.”<\/p>\n And so I did.\u00a0 I watered the plants.\u00a0 Hundreds and hundreds of plants. I dragged the hoses around, and I carefully watered each plant.\u00a0 I also went back to check some of the plants when I got to the end of a row\u00a0to make sure I was doing things right. I watched for wilting plants.\u00a0 I was careful to not waste water.\u00a0 IT WAS GREAT.\u00a0 I was outdoors all day, I was doing an important job and it gave Mr. Smith and Bill more time to work with customers, pot up plants, make deliveries and so on.<\/p>\n After about 2 hours on the first day, Bill came over to me and said it was time for a break.\u00a0 A break? This was great!\u00a0 I get to work, I’m making money, AND I get to take a break.\u00a0 This was heaven. [Remember, I was just a kid and had no idea what work was actually like – I was just excited to be working]<\/p>\n Bill: <\/strong>“Hey Woody, let’s take a break.\u00a0 We take about 15 minutes every few hours to get in the shade and have a soda.\u00a0 Let me show you the soda machine.”<\/p>\n Soda machine?\u00a0 I had no money with me.\u00a0 I had no money, period.<\/p>\n We walked over around the back of the nursery to one of those old fashioned refrigerated coin-operated soda bottle vending machines with bottles of soda you pulled from a slot after opening\u00a0the big, heavy, metal lid.\u00a0 They had rigged it so you didn’t need coins.\u00a0 Just pick out the drink you want.\u00a0 SWEET! And they had Vernors Ginger Ale.\u00a0 I was living high on the hog!<\/p>\n We sat and talked about plants, and the weather, and how wet you get watering plants.\u00a0Bill was sincerely welcoming me.\u00a0 He treated me kindly that day, and every day I worked with him. We were all there to work together, each of us depended on each other, and it was expected we would be polite and respectful in all things.\u00a0I felt like I was part of the family already.\u00a0 And that never stopped.<\/p>\n At the end of the week, I went to Mr. Smith to get paid.\u00a0 I handed him my notebook where I had written my hours for each day.<\/p>\n Mr. Smith: <\/strong>“Well, how was your first week?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I loved it”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Thanks for keeping track of your hours. Please add them up, and multiply by $1.25 per hour,\u00a0and then go get your money out of the cash box under the front counter.\u00a0 Write down the total on a slip of paper and put it in the bottom of the cash box\u00a0\u00a0– I need it to do the taxes.”<\/p>\n I am not kidding.\u00a0 Maybe\u00a0it was a different time back then, but I have a feeling it was much more than that.<\/p>\n Well, I got my money and went back to Mr. Smith.<\/p>\n Mr. Smith: <\/strong>“So, how did it go this week?\u00a0 You getting a feel for the work?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “It went pretty great.\u00a0 I really like working with Bill.\u00a0 I like being outside all day.\u00a0 I like the pay.\u00a0 I like everything.\u00a0 I think I figured things out, and I made sure every plant got plenty of water without wasting any.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith: <\/strong>“I’m glad to hear that.\u00a0 We’re glad to have you here – it’s really helping us out. There is one thing we need to work on. I noticed you are very diligent, and you didn’t allow any of the plants to dry out, or even get stressed.\u00a0 That is exactly what we need.”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong>\u00a0(I\u00a0couldn’t say anything I was so proud, but I was BEAMING!)<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong>\u00a0“But… Bill and I can each water the plants in about half the time it takes you. I’d like to see if you can do it in about half the time too.”<\/p>\n Lesson Eight: Let The Worker Figure Out How To Do The Job Better<\/strong><\/p>\n Me (a bit saddened, but only a bit):<\/strong> “I thought I was doing a good job. I don’t want to kill any of the plants.\u00a0 How do I deal with that?”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Well, the trick is to give each plant the exact amount of water it needs.\u00a0 No more, no less.\u00a0 We can’t measure the amount, because each plant is a bit different even for the same species: slightly different age, slightly different soil mix, a little more sun here, a little more shade there… that sort of thing”.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “So how can I tell?”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “You’ll figure it out.\u00a0 Next week, I expect you to be able to water\u00a0the whole nursery in half the time.\u00a0 It took me time to learn – it will probably take you time too.”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I’ll do my best”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “I have a feeling that your best is going to be better than my best.\u00a0 Let’s see how you do. So, remember I asked you to keep your eyes open for problems?\u00a0 Did you find any?””.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I\u00a0remembered to look for\u00a0problems, and I noticed that there was a leak in several of the hoses. It was wasting water and making the paths muddy.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith: <\/strong>“What should we do?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “Well, I showed it to Bill, and he showed me how to fix the leaks.\u00a0 We did it yesterday”.<\/p>\n Mr. Smith: <\/strong>“That’s great.\u00a0 Let’s go get a soda.”<\/p>\n The next day, I tried to figure out how I could work faster\u00a0and still\u00a0water all the plants. One problem was that I still didn’t know how much “just enough” water was.\u00a0 I knew when the plants had too much water – it ran out of the can, and into the gravel –\u00a0but without letting the plants get under watered, how would I know what too-little looked like?<\/p>\n My solution was to set\u00a0aside\u00a0one plant out of each 100 or so, a “test” for me to\u00a0experiment with.\u00a0 I set\u00a0them next to the edge along\u00a0the row,\u00a0and gave those plants\u00a0about half the\u00a0amount of water I had been giving all the other plants\u00a0– 1\/2 because I was taking twice as long as Mr. Smith needed.\u00a0That seemed like a good starting point. At the end of the day, I checked those I had set aside along each row (about 200 plants or so overall) to look for wilting, dry soil, stuff like that.\u00a0 I lucked out.\u00a0 Each was fine.<\/p>\n The next day, I checked the “test” plants, and most of them were doing just fine… so, I had my solution: I had been\u00a0overly\u00a0concerned\u00a0about too little water, and it was taking too much time.\u00a0 Now I had “dialed in” the right amount.<\/p>\n So… the rest of that week, I used the new “correct” amount of water.\u00a0 I made sure to stay alert and keep my eyes open for wilting and drying – and it went well.\u00a0 Every now and then I’d spot one that was starting to stress, and I’d give those plants a bit more water with a watering can I carried for the purpose.\u00a0 Overall, it went very well.<\/p>\n At the end of the week, I went in to Mr. Smith to get my pay, and report on improvements I wanted to suggest.<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Hey Woody.\u00a0 I was watching you this week.\u00a0 You really did a great job – all the plants look healthy with just a few dry ones here and there, and you got your time right where we need it to be.\u00a0 Thanks!”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “Thanks for noticing, Mr. Smith.\u00a0 I was really glad I was able to figure it out.\u00a0 I was worried I wouldn’t be able to”.<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Well, I had no doubt.\u00a0 You care about the job you do.\u00a0 You pay attention, and learn from what you see.\u00a0 So.\u00a0 What did you figure out we can improve on this week?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I’ve been dragging that hose all over the place.\u00a0 There are only two faucets, one in the front and one in the back.\u00a0 I have to drag the hose back and forth, and up and down each row.\u00a0 I think it is taking a lot of time and effort just to do that, and it is wearing out the hoses.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “How will you fix that?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “You want me to fix it? We’ll need to dig some ditches and lay some pipes, and put a faucet at the end of each row, and get a hose for each row.\u00a0 That’s a lot of work. I’ve never done that before.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “Can you figure that out?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I guess so. But it will cost a lot of money to do that.”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “How much time do you think it will save?”<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> “I think I’ll save a lot of time – maybe an hour\u00a0or two each\u00a0day”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “How can you prove that to me?”<\/p>\n Me (after thinking a while):<\/strong> “Well, I could put in one new faucet for one row, and keep track of how much time that saves me.\u00a0 Then multiply that for each row.\u00a0 Will that work?”<\/p>\n Mr. Smith:<\/strong> “It might. Give it a try”.<\/p>\n That is just the start of the things I learned about the workplace and the way things should be.<\/p>\n I could go on like this for a long time.\u00a0\u00a0This was my first two weeks working\u00a0at the best job I’ve ever had. Kind people, trusting\u00a0people.\u00a0They\u00a0were trustworthy, and expected me to be trustworthy.\u00a0\u00a0They worked hard and expected me to work hard.\u00a0 Even more, they worked smart, and expected me to work smart.\u00a0 I was 13 (or 14, I don’t quite remember).\u00a0 I was just a kid.\u00a0 They treated me as an equal, and expected out of me as much as they expected out of themselves.<\/p>\n Worst thing: This spoiled me for all other jobs.\u00a0 I worked there after school and on weekends all through high school, and after high school I continued on and off for a few years.\u00a0 I learned a lot – about plants, and more importantly, about work, how to treat people, how to “manage”, and how to “lead”.\u00a0 And how good it could (and should)\u00a0be.<\/p>\n I haven’t been able to live up to my memory of Mr. Lawrence Smith, and I have fallen\u00a0short of\u00a0what I think he expected of me and my life, and in how I treat others.\u00a0 I miss him still, all these many\u00a0years later (he died long\u00a0ago.)\u00a0 God Bless You, Mr. Smith – you were, and are to me, one of the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is\u00a0 a little story about how I learned the right way to manage people My First Job: Age 13 or 14 When I was a kid, if I wanted something (like a slot-car, or a pellet gun), I could wait for my birthday or Christmas and hope my folks could afford to buy it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agile-stuff","category-boring-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuill.us\/WoodyZuill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lesson Two: Continuous Improvement<\/h4>\n
Lesson Three: Give people a sense of the importance of what they do.<\/h4>\n
Lesson Four: Most People Are Smart Enough To Figure Things Out.\u00a0 Let Them\u00a0Do That.<\/h4>\n
Lesson Five: Make Everyone Welcome, Not Just Feel Welcome, But Truly Welcome<\/h4>\n
Lesson Six: Trust People<\/h4>\n
Lesson Seven: Give Meaningful Feedback<\/h4>\n
Lesson Nine: Continuous Improvement Continued:<\/h4>\n
Lesson Ten: Reflect, tune, adjust<\/h4>\n
Lesson Eleven: Continuous Improvement Revisited, And Listen To What The Worker Says, And… More Lessons<\/h4>\n
Lesson Twelve: Engage And See<\/h4>\n
Lessons Thirteen Through Infinity<\/h4>\n
So, What Happened Here?<\/h4>\n