Second chances are awesome! The people that receive them are often grateful. And, they can be the answer to filling, that missing piece on your team.
One of the best parts of being a leader is to provide that opportunity. To give someone a pathway to shine, a new way to succeed. A great leader will always see, focus on, and enhance potential.
Jim Collins writes of the importance of “ getting the right people on the bus . ” We think it is far more important to have a safe bus and make sure that the person driving the bus — the leader — knows how to take the people to a better place . It can be quicker and easier to replace people than to develop them . But the sustainable human solution is not to remove from the “ bottom ” and add to the “ top ” ( which are highly subjective judgments anyway ) ; it is to bring everybody up . At a societal level , that is the only workable answer . Business should not be about elites serving other elites ; it should be about giving all of our people ways to develop and express their unique gifts . Every person has such gifts ; great leaders know how to uncover them .
Chapman, B., Sisodia, R., & Menasche, S. (2017). Everybody matters: the extraordinary power of caring for your people like family. Unabridged. [United States]: Gildan Audio.
In my current role leading at Coolphase I’ve been lucky enough to have a team that’s been able to take challenged kids, tired professionals and budding entrepreneurs, then turn them into the cogs that keep our engine running. An engine that’s constantly feed through training and growth. Our results continue to be amazing.
Here’s a few of our success stories:
Tim: A kid (30 YO) that’s been with us since he left school. Tim started with us as a refrigeration apprentice but found the struggles of college just a little too demanding. So Tim wanted to resign. He was a great kid, we had to come up with a solution that kept him working. We repurposed Tim as a trades assistant and factory hand. 10 years later and Tim has started another apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker. He’s grown up, he’s comfortable and is thriving!
Kayle: A trades assistant who desperately wanted an apprenticeship. He came to us for help and were able to be there for him. Two weeks ago Kayle successfully finished his time. It was a great achievement. Kayle repaid our faith in him by immediately signing a new employment contract.
Wayne: Wayne has run a successful electrical company, thrived in numerous positions. But when we found him he was tied up with paperwork in a rail yard. Such a great training and electrical mind should never be wasted. So we plucked Wayne from obscurity and had him build one of the best commercial refrigeration electrical teams in Queensland.
It’s not over
There’s a hundred more success stories all as unique and special as the above. Something that anyone in any industry can strive to build on every day. Keep an open mind. Sometimes people deserve to be on the bus and sometimes people don’t, sometimes people just need to change seats, and sometimes people need guidance and help felling comfortable and confident in any given seat.
Second chances are awesome! Be brave, offer as many as you can.
GRAVITIC 