When I look back at the people who inspired me and gained my respect, they are the ones who looked out for others rather than themselves. The self-promoting, egotistical ones are remembered too, but not as they might hope.
When the best leaders scaled an obstacle, they did not pull the ladder up behind them and gloat at their achievement, they lowered the ladder down to help others climb up too.
We are not all built the same and I have to confess that in my early life my natural inclination was to be ambitious rather than seeking to help others, but back in the early 1990’s when I worked for an architectural practice as a CAD & IT Manager, I did something that made me realize the importance of letting the ladder down.
I had a small team of CAD technicians who turned hand-drawn architect’s sketches into CAD drawings using AutoCAD Release 10. A recession hit and we started to lose people, so I devoted my lunchtimes to training the architects to use AutoCAD. Most didn’t want to learn because they looked down on CAD and CAD technicians, but a few came to my sessions. I recall one questioning why I was doing it, he felt that I would lose my team of technicians and undermine my position in the business. He was right about one thing, I lost my whole team and the practice shrank from a business of 35 staff to 7. Aside from the Partners, those that survived were ones who could drive AutoCAD.
There are plenty of reasons to feel low at the moment but helping others by lowering the ladder down to help them up can both help another person and raise your spirits.
Postscript
At that difficult time, it was essential to up-skill the workforce and find efficiencies, including new technology, as the business had to lower its costs to compete in a difficult market.
We are here again, and the same principles apply. You will need to upskill your staff and automate parts of your business to both increase your operational efficiency and reduce risk, as your competitors are already doing it.
Symetri have a plethora of low-cost tools for automating your business processes that will enable your business to both survive and grow. Excitech Mail is designed to protect your business by providing easy access and visibility across your project communications along with self-service training to give staff the snippets of knowledge they need to overcome day-to-day hurdles.
