CEO's Flow Down Hill

Do you see how the water is so smooth and the color so bright at the top of this mountain. It looks as if everything is running very satisfactory. But then I look at the overflow or the runoff and I see how different the water looks as all that power moves down to a different level. 

I am a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker and I worked in the Auto Industry as well as for the Government . I remember working my way up through the company holding every job until I reached the level of becoming a journeyman after a 5 year apprenticeship .

 I worked through a lot of issues and watched people on both sides management and production, as well as suppliers, and customers, and everyone else in the process, bump heads. I say bump heads because they could never get past their agendas to see that they were working against each other instead of together for the common goal.

One of the biggest frustrations was to have a manager making decisions about things they were not educated to do. They were strictly there to manage people but refused to take advice from those who did the work and were responsible for getting out a quality part.

When you give someone a job to do, you give them the training and the tools to accomplish the job and then when they tell you there is a problem and they tell you what needs to happen in order to fix the problem, and you choose to not listen, you have broken a trust you have created a breech. You have stifled the moral and even created a hostile work environment. You cannot expect people to do a job when they know they are not valued for what they know and do. And how do you do your job when supervision removes your ability to make choices. I could turn this into a training program but for the moment i want each of you at the top to realize how it would feel to give you a title with out the power to fulfill it. This is not about your emotion but about wisdom in realizing that people who are demotivated and devalued will never reach their potential and neither will you. Listening and being open to allow those with the knowledge to prosper you is your most valued asset. Listening is the number one thing that leads to trust and shows you value people. Start there first.