So many aspects of our lives have been upended in the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
失去了亲人. 失业了. 企业纷纷关门.
For many of us, our “normal” routines and activities have yet to return. In our workplaces, there are entire companies or departments still working from home.
We are approaching another holiday where we are asked to limit our travel and our gatherings for the safety of others. As with Thanksgiving 2020, Christmas may be quite different this year. 外围十大菠菜app可能看不到一些珍贵的家人或朋友. We may not delight in the company of our team members at a holiday party.
There are many important lessons to be learned from this past year, but one of the most important – especially in this holiday season – is to have a renewed appreciation for family. The family we choose and the family we inherit by birth or by occupation.
I’ve long referred to those of us at Barry-Wehmiller as a family. But I was reminded of the grand impact of that idea by Mike Curley, an Assembly Leader at our 气压秤Angelus 俄亥俄州公司.
Mike was recently part of one of the virtual listening sessions we’ve been holding throughout our organization during this unprecedented year to learn more about what we are doing right in our company and what we can do better.
Starting out as a temporary team member in the stock room, Mike has been with PSA for 28 years. He spent 15 of those years in electrical engineering and he’s been in a leadership role for the past eight years. Mike is also a graduate of Barry-Wehmiller’s communications skills course, 像领导者一样倾听, 以及外围十大菠菜app的领导力基础课程.
“Work is sometimes a continuance of our home life,” Mike said. “A lot of tools I’ve learned from our classes, I’ve been able to use at home and vice-versa.”
Clearly, Mike understands that the way we lead impacts the way people live. 作为一线领导人，他也明白这一点, he has the opportunity to make a significant impact on those within his span of care.
“外围十大菠菜app扮演着一个独特的角色，”迈克说. “We can reach out and it’s a good chance they’ll listen to us if we approach it the correct way. 但这要从外围十大菠菜app作为领导者开始. 如果你没有好的领导，你猜会怎样? 十有八九，东西都不会起作用.”
例如, 在大流行开始时, Mike understood that it was his job to make sure his people got home safely. But the precautionary measures we had to put in place to make sure that happened weren’t initially easy to accept.
“当然，一开始很艰难，”迈克说. “这对很多人来说都很艰难. 你可以看得出来. 再说一遍，外围十大菠菜app都在一起. 看看大局.”
Looking at the big picture was something he stressed regularly to his team. We were acting to not only protect the health of our people, 而是外围十大菠菜app生意的健康, 支持外围十大菠菜app的人民.
Barry-Wehmiller的财政年度将于10月结束, 外围十大菠菜app在这方面非常成功, exceeding our own expectations and those of our financial partners.
这一切的发生是因为外围十大菠菜app像一家人一样走到了一起.
“A lot of people want to be where we’re at,” Mike said to his teammates. “Not only are we still employed and working, we are also still making a profit. 外围十大菠菜app这一年仍然过得很好. 你们每一个人都是其中的一部分.”
Mike also regularly checks in with his teammates to see how they are doing.
“It’s amazing what a few-second conversation will do,他说.
Some of those conversations in this past year included talking about the social unrest in the country this past summer, 是围绕种族问题产生的吗. Mike said many of his teammates wanted to have a discussion about the issues, 他很乐意帮忙吗.
“I don’t want anyone to be afraid to have a conversation,” Mike said. “A conversation, as far as I’m concerned, is an opportunity of growth. 的教育. We all assume that everyone knows what they know, what they’re supposed to know. 但情况并非总是如此.”
Mike said that it was important to have those conversations, 不仅仅是外围十大菠菜app的工作家庭, 但在家里. It’s also an opportunity to utilize empathetic listening skills taught in our internal classes.
“I know everyone is affected by what’s going on out there in one way or another, 不管是直接的还是间接的,他说. “有时候，嘿，外围十大菠菜app不明白. 我的原则是，不要害怕问问题. I’m not an expert, but I’m one of those who says, ‘we need to get together and talk.’”
Mike said his family always wonders why he’s smiling in the morning when he gets up.
“我很幸运，”他说. “我和一些最伟大的人一起工作. They’re pretty much my brothers and sisters and that’s the way I look at it. Everyday, it’s pretty much like coming in to see my other family.”
That notion of family at work has helped to shape Mike’s leadership skills and it affects how he treats those on his team, from looking after their safety to having difficult conversations. And we’re blessed to have a leader like Mike in our company.
If there’s one thought I can leave to you in 2020 during this holiday season it’s this: be like Mike. Treat those you experience in life as someone’s precious child. 这包括工作中的人.
We aspire to create a society where people think of others first, moving from a me 以中心社会为中心 we 为中心的社会.
迟早，外围十大菠菜app都会重归于好. And we will take the lessons of 2020 forward and work even harder to build a better world in our own lives and for the lives of others.