“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
-Aristotle
Something is inspiring and invigorating about a fresh start. Remember when you started a new job or joined a new team? Or when you kicked off a new project? A new year with a new gym membership? Or the clean smell of a fresh new notebook at the beginning of the school year…”this is the year I get straight A’s” or “lose 10 pounds” or “stay ahead of my assignments.” That fresh start feeling of hope and excitement with a little bit of anxiousness?
That’s what our new employees and interns are feeling. They are coming into our companies and organizations hoping that they will do great things, and we hired them because we believe that they can do great things. And guess what? We are both right if we are intentional about it. Intentional means commitment and focus. It means deliberate and calculated.
This week we hired three new employees. An intern, a recent graduate, and a Junior Engineer with 2 years of experience. They are putting trust in our organization to help guide them on their career path. We have a choice, together. We can make this transactional or transformational.
A transactional relationship looks like the employee gets a paycheck and some project experience, and MCFA gets some work done and makes a profit. That’s what business is…transactions, right?
WRONG!
Not at MCFA, and I hope not at your organization. With every customer interaction, every project, every partner, and every employee relationship, we have the chance to be transformational in the improvement and growth of that individual or organization. We have the chance to inspire people and places.
Now, it’s not just on us as leaders to make this a transformational relationship…it takes two to tango, as my parents used to say. A relationship requires investment from both parties. We aren’t just trading an employee’s time for company money. We are intentionally investing our time as leaders and our company dollars into the development, training, and growth of the employees we hire. And we are looking for them to invest their talent, passion, hard work, and grit to support the company’s objectives and our clients’ projects & problems.
Back to intentionality – how focused and deliberate are your conversations with employees? How intentional are your plans to help them grow? If you aren’t helping them grow, how do you expect them to help you grow? A lot of summer internships are kicking off. One day those intentional internships could turn into excellent executives.
Are you grooming executives or managing man-hours?
Leaders make the difference.
BJ Kraemer, President