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Initiative makes an impact

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Mark Des Cotes, I exercised my right to vote this week, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk about small things that make a difference.

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Today’s Fun Fact of the Day: Did you know that in 2012, German freediver Tom Sietas held his breath underwater for 22 minutes and 22 seconds, besting Dane Stig Severinsen’s previous Guinness record by 22 seconds.

Here’s What I leaned yesterday.
At a very young age my dad taught me that if you’re going to do a job, wether for yourself or for someone else, you should always take the initiative and put in a little extra if you can. Because in the long run it always pays off. He also taught me that when you put in that little extra, you appreciate the outcome that much more.

At the time he gave me that advice, my dad was VP at a large electrical supply company. As VP, he was known for going out of his way to do little extras whenever he could, for both their clients as well as their staff.

A great example I can think of is Randy, a mechanic my dad hired to maintain the fleet the company owned. My dad had one of the company’s loading bays converted into a garage complete with hoist and the other tools Randy needed to work on the company’s vehicles.

One day, while out walking the plant visiting with the employees as my dad often did, he stopped to talk to Randy to see how he liked the new job. Randy told my dad he was enjoying the job but he didn’t like the unpredictable hours and was considering of looking for work elsewhere. When my dad questioned what he meant, Randy told him he was being sent home any time there were no company vehicles in the shop. Some days he was told not to come in at all.

My dad had seen Randy work and recognized a good employee when he saw one and had no intention of loosing him. So my dad told Randy not to worry, he would fix the problem.

My dad took the initiative and implemented a new company auto repair program. Any employee who needed work done on their personal vehicle could drop it off with Randy while they were working. Whenever there were no company vehicles to maintain, Randy would work on employee vehicles. The employees were charged just enough to cover Randy’s hourly wages plus parts. This turned into a triple win situation. The employees received auto repairs at a fraction of what a local garage would charge them, Randy was able to work full time hours. Plus, it didn’t cost the company anything extra since the employee’s repair costs covered Randy’s salary.

People remember those who take initiative. Several years later, the electrical supply company was bought out by a large chain and shut down. Everyone, including my dad lost their jobs. When that happened, Randy decided to open his own shop and most of the hundred or so former employees continued to bring their vehicles to Randy for repair. Even when he raised his rates to match his competition’s.

This all happened before I ever got my driver’s license. But until Randy retired last year and closed his shop, he was the only person I trusted to look after my vehicles. And he’s never stopped thanking my dad for what he did for him, and he still looks after my dad’s car in his spare time.

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I’ve told you before how my first job was as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. And how I worked for 15 years in the design department of a local commercial printer. What I’ve never told you before was the 7 years in between I spent working at the Sears retail store in my home town.

The restaurant was a fun job, but I was a 15 year old kid working with a bunch of 20 year olds. I never really fit in.

When my mom heard from a neighbour that Sears was hiring I took the initiative and dropped off my limited resume. I was called for an interview and was soon hired to work in the shoe department. I needed to wait a month for the next scheduled orientation and cash register training. As luck would have it, while waiting for orientation an immediate position opened up in the warehouse department and I was asked if I would work there instead. If I didn’t like it I could still go through orientation and work in the shoe department.

I loved the warehouse. I could wear jeans and a T-shirt instead of a shirt and tie and I didn’t have supervisors and clients constantly watching over me.

The job was simple. One of the regular duties was that every morning around 6:30 am a tractor trailer would be dropped off with new merchandise for the store and the trailer from the previous day, now loaded with returns and store transfers, would be picked up.

The merchandise needed to be unloaded from the trailer and either put in its proper place in the warehouse or loaded onto large wheeled cages and brought out to the various departments.

Now it didn’t take me long to figure out that most of the people that worked in the warehouse were not ideal employees. Two workers should be able to unload a 53 foot trailer in under 3 hours. But often times when I would come in after school for a 4 to 9 shift, the trailer was still half full and my coworker and I would need to finish it.

I remember during the summer or on weekends when I would work the morning shift my counterpart would often tell me to slow down and take it easy. There was no rush since the evening shift could finish the job. I never listened to them. Often times I would empty the entire trailer myself. I didn’t like coming in at 4 to find a half full trailer, there was no way I was going to do that to someone else.

Now the second part of emptying the trailer was delivering the merchandise to the various departments. This was fun because we got to walk around the store and see and talk to people.

Each department had a stock room where we would unload the appropriate boxes before moving to the next department. When the job was first explained to me I was told to pile the boxes inside the stockroom door and the floor staff would then place them where they belonged on the shelves.

After a couple of months I took the initiative to learn the layout of every stockroom in the store. They weren’t that big, so why not take an extra 3 or 4 steps and place a box on its proper shelf instead of just piling it on the floor. It may take me a minute or two extra per stop but then the salespeople wouldn’t be tripping over boxes nor taking time away from the floor to place boxes on shelves.

Soon, without my intention, word had spread throughout the entire store of how hard I worked.

It’s funny, the warehouse manager actually called me into his office one day to tell me I was making the other workers look bad. He appreciated my initiative but he asked me if I could tone it down a bit.

I was stunned. Instead of telling me I was doing a good job, he was asking me not to work as hard. I told him no. It wasn’t my fault the others were lazy, and I kept doing what I was doing.

It became known amongst the warehouse staff as well as the rest of the store that I was a hard worker not afraid to show some initiative. Warehouse staff working the shift after me knew they would have it easy since the trailer would be empty and most of the other work would be done. Floor staff calling the warehouse for merchandise started asking for me because they knew I wouldn’t keep them waiting. And before I knew it, I was in demand whenever a department needed a warehouse worker for something. Some floor staff even held off asking for help until they knew I was on.

When I handed in my notice and left Sears, word quickly spread. During my last few shifts many of the floor staff and floor managers came to the warehouse to see me to wish me well.

I haven’t worked at Sears in over 20 years. And yet I can’t walk into that store without the old timers, those from my day that are still working there calling out to me and asking me how I’m doing.

I made an impression on them that lasts to this day. All because I took a little initiative.

Here’s what I learned.
It doesn’t take much effort to make an impact. My dad took the initiative to prevent one employee from leaving and in the process created a plan to benefit all employees. One that greatly impacted the one employee he was protecting and made a friend for life.

I myself just did the job I was told to do, in the manner it should be done. I took small initiatives when situations arose and those initiatives had a huge impact on other people.

We didn’t set out to impress or win over people. My dad and I just did our jobs and put in a little extra when we could. And those initiatives unintentionally paid off in the end.

There are so many people in the world who are satisfied with the status quo. They do what they need to do, what is expected of them and nothing more. If they don’t benefit from it, they don’t do it. That’s sad. I hope you are not one of these people. What am I saying? Of course you’re not. Someone like that wouldn’t listen to a podcast like this.

I bet you’re the type of person, like me, who isn’t afraid to show a little initiative from time to time. Not only at work, but in life.

It doesn’t take much. Holding a door open for a complete stranger. Helping someone without being asked. Taking on a task you weren’t asked to do. Sometimes, just being there for someone who needs you. These are all forms of initiative. They make an impact on those around you. Even if that’s not your intention.

And as my Dad told me, in the long run these initiatives always pays off. And when you put in that little extra, you appreciate the outcome that much more.

I’m Mark Des Cotes and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.

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