An open letter to a potential Ground Crew Member:

You see it all starts with you. If you want to impact your company - YOU have to create the impact. It takes lots of willing shoulders with a common vision and a common goal to make sure that a company is on the right track.

Then there is your own personal growth and development. I love my job; I love what I am doing, because I learn more and more every day. Each one of you that I interact with challenges me, my pre-conceived ideas, my habits, my way of doing things. If you want to grow - you need to allow yourself to be challenged all the time. Otherwise you learn the same lesson over and over again.

That's why the quality of the group is dependent on the quality of the participating people. Note I said "participating", not attending. This process is all about you contributing your ideas, your experiences, your thoughts, your worries, and your challenges. That's what makes the circle so rich. Each one of you has got to where you are via a different route, has a differently mapped brain, and has his own special environment in which he has to operate.

The mix is vital! We need different ages, different backgrounds. Young, very young and slightly less young. Maybe even some maturity around the table to add a different angle to the discussion. The young ones will learn from the slightly more mature ones (nothing to do with age) and the more mature, or seasoned, will be challenged by the less seasoned ones, who will try and convince them that "it is possible, against all odds".

If we only have very young ones, or middle young ones, or not so young people - we will miss a vital ingredient, the challenge. So, each one of you is important, each one has something special to give. But you MUST GIVE - by asking questions, stating your opinion, arguing the point, listening with open ears and an open mind, especially if the opinion offered sound far fetched.

In the end it not just what you learn during our time together, but what you do with that new found knowledge. Only knowledge converted into action will bring progress. With that in mind we will focus on the resultant action and will spend a considerable amount of time on feedback on the actions you wrote down. We will want from you a commitment to do what you say you are going to do. We want you to really do it - even if you don't succeed first time round. Even if it was a bad idea, you have to try. If it was a bummer, tell us, we don't mind, as long as you tried something differently we will have all learned from your experience.

You see, at The Boardroom we say - "Only the Fool learns only from his own mistakes, the Wise Man learns from others" (and their mistakes). We want to internalise that philosophy as one of our core beliefs. It absolutely amazes me how many mature people still insist on having to learn by burning their own fingers time and time again.

A few ground rules - each one of you has been especially chosen to participate. It is vital that you participate each month.

It is vital that you come prepared.
It is vital that you do the things you have on your action list promptly and do not try to do it the evening just before the meeting.
It is vital that you have cleared that morning on your calendar and are prepared to clear your mind totally of the current challenges. If you are pre-occupied with today's problems - your mind will have no space to take up anything new.
It is vital that you bring your challenges to the table, seek an opinion from the follow Ground Crew members, a different point of view. Use them as to bounce things off. They often have a different perspective and don't have your restraints on what can and can't be done.

Keeping all of that in mind - I look forward to meeting with you.

Regards

Wolf   

<<Back