Hey, got a minute?

Colleagues,

MVP: Investing minutes with people is a pre-requisite to growing them

Two decades ago, I worked at the Putnam County Educational Service Center. One of my colleagues (who became one of my closest friends) was Bill Newsted. 

Every morning, he would come into the building and visit each office space. We had an open office design, so there were three different rooms each with an administrative assistant and some specialized administrators/coordinators/directors.

Bill would make the rounds, stopping to ask each person how they were doing that day. Some of these interactions took only a few seconds. Other lasted a couple minutes. 

In my misguided mind, I estimated that Bill wasted 20 minutes every morning.

Only later was I able to appreciate that each minute was an investment.

If we can’t invest a few minutes with the people we work with, what’s the point of showing up at all?

People are the purpose, and to be good enough to grow them, we must invest time.

Not a lot – sometimes only a few seconds or minutes.

The investment is non-negotiable.

Thanks again to IXL for sponsoring today’s episode.

Cheers!

Frederick