An Employee Fairy Tale

To the leaders of our industry and those of you who might consider yourselves motivational professionals, I humbly request your indulgence in reading this fairy tale come true.

Once upon a time, in a desert far away called Tucson, lived a shy untapped talent by the name of  Ms. Lindsey.  Each day she diligently arose, assisted her children with their morning routines, gave her soul mate Rodney a kiss goodbye and reported to her place of employment  in a timely fashion.  At the end of the day, she returned home to her loved ones, confident that she had completed her required tasks.  As she tucked her Princess Sydney, Prince Jerran and Princess Emma into bed, she knew the day's events would surely repeat themselves the following morning.  Having lived this life for quite some time, she had grown comfortable with the security of the daily routine.  She subconsciously recognized that her role as a mother was the most important, her role as a life partner equally important and her role as Community Manager, a mere financial requirement of life.

One morning upon reporting to work, she was confronted with the news of pending new ownership.  In the days that followed hoards of people converged upon her once predictable community, all liberally offering up ideas of change and endless criticism.  As the long days of investigative due diligence continued, Ms. Lindsey returned home each night hiding her concern for the future from her loved ones.  Temporary relief was felt when the investigative teams parted, but then the tedious waiting of potential ownership transfer began, though quite sure of the inevitable.

Her desert felt smaller than ever before, limited of options.  Though her future path seemed lined with great cactus, full of unavoidable pricks (pricks to remain nameless) during her unsure journey, she held on in hopes of a comfortable mirage. Ms. Lindsey knew, she must travel outside of her comfort zone, hope for the best and face the day of takeover with courage.  This dreaded day came and went, infinite changes awaited her each day and turmoil seemed to fill her dreams each night.

One morning she bid her loved ones farewell, gave her soul mate a nervous kiss and braced herself for a new corporate visitor ... a Vice President, she had yet to meet.  With golf carts waxed and shined, unit keys carefully selected for tours and stacks of reports prepared, she took a deep breath nervously awaiting another day of interrogation.  Soon maintenance radios echoed warnings of his arrival, and the team prepared themselves to deliver their well rehearsed greetings.

The Leasing Center door opened and a tall semi-slender man entered.  He was well groomed, nicely dressed and appeared to be somewhat of the typical professional.  As he made his way across the room Ms. Lindsey took notice of his salt & pepper hair, his sincere smile and his honest blue eyes.  Something was different about this corporate representative, but what was it?  On alert, she monitored his every move.  As he introduced himself and shook each employees hand, she noticed he placed his other hand over theirs, using both of his hands like a loving guiding grandparent.  She also took notice that he did not use this moment for an impressive elaborate introduction of his personal achievements, but instead used it to thank them for staying on board and welcoming them to the corporate family.

Alert to the differences, she still prepared herself for the inevitable looming interrogation.  But instead, she found herself, upon his request, temporarily closing the office and forwarding the phones for a brief meeting with the entire management team.  As the meeting began, it became evident that he was not posing questions entirely to her, but was actually gathering experienced historical advice from her and her team.  He asked the question, "If you were to invest $100k in this community, how would each of you invest it - of course after giving yourself a raise".  His humor and sincerity brought calm to her team, and surprisingly to herself.  However, her calm was short lived when one of her team members brought up the stupid idea of building an asphalt path throughout the community for small children (specifically her son) to ride their tricycles on.  Expecting a reprimanding Executive lesson on how to spend investment dollars, she was surprised to hear him say, that he understood how that certainly held personal importance to her as a desired amenity, and diplomatically moved on to brainstorming more ideas.

Upon the conclusion of the brief meeting, the property tour began.  But this tour was different, this time the tour seemed comfortable.  Compliments of landscaping, compliments of cleanliness, compliments of make-ready quality were freely provided by this once dreaded visitor.  Golf cart time was spent brainstorming creative ideas on how to improve employee workspace as opposed to making mental lists of required changes.

Upon arriving home that night, tucking her loved ones in, and curling up next to Rodney - Ms. Lindsey wondered if dreams could come true, if brainstorming ideas had possibilities of reality?  Little did she know, weeks later she would find herself in the exciting thralls of renovation and gratefully moving her and her team into desperately needed and beautiful offices designed especially for them.  Team motivation soared as job security increased.

Her career dedication quickly grew, she stepped outside of the safety of her protective shy shell and began to offer her opinions to her new trusted corporate confidant.  She was secure in knowing that her good ideas would be recognized, and her errors would be turned into diplomatically handled lessons leading her to higher levels of success.  Her paranoia of making mistakes, turned into healthy concern of disappointing someone she respected.  And most of all, her once accepted status quo position, offered hopes of growth, which ignited her professional motivation.

Soon Ms. Lindsey found herself taking her family to exciting new lands of challenges, confidently wrangling greater expectations and reaching higher levels of success.  Once easily defeated by failure, now secure in her abilities to re-attack and conquer ... with insured corporate support.

While her intriguing Vice President moved on to other lands, she was blessed with the guidance from his most respected mentor, carefully placed and residing in her career world.  She receives occasional correspondence from her respected role model, and eagerly expresses her gratitude for his sincere attention.  She eloquently shares endless stories to her staff, in hopes of gaining a portion of the motivation and dedication he was able to inspire from her.

She goes home in the evening, confident in her decisions, but ever gauging how she could have improved, envisioning his face, asking the question, "What would TD do"?  She opens her laptop, holds Princess Emma in her arms, and creatively turns his blogs into oral stories of folklore.  Her double duty, as sleep inducing story telling mom and career professional brings most evenings to a fulfilling, yet exhaustive end.

Little does she know.........................................

TD goes to bed wondering what great successes she must have accomplished today.  He wakes each morning thinking how lucky he was to have had the unique opportunity to work with such an incredible professional.  He wonders if her team realizes how lucky they are to have her as a leader.  He goes to bed each night, dreaming of the day, that she, Rodney, Princess Sydney, Prince Jerran and Princess Emma shall re-enter his professional life - but taking great comfort in knowing they shall always be in his personal life.

As a leader in a corporation or an industry, shield yourself from focusing on your personal success.  You do not have enough talent, skill or intelligence to independently secure this position.  Instead, focus on mentoring those around you, instill confidence in their self-recognition of talent and prepare them to take your position as they establish justification for your move upwards.  Their growth and success is what will surely elevate yours.

I dedicate my blog tonight to Ms. Lindsey, a constant inspirational and motivational colleague and friend in my life.  I am honored and thankful to have had and continue to have the opportunity to mentor this exceptional individual.  On this night of her birthday, I hereby name her "Queen Lindsey", ruler of the land of "Exceeded Expectations"!  For those of you wondering if I have the authority to name her Queen, you obviously do not know me well enough to be aware, that I am certified and well proven as being experienced in delivering the title of Queen.  More importantly, you must have forgotten, that you are reading this blog in "Trainer Don's World" where the land of "Exceeded Expectations" is part of my realm!

So, to one of my most respected colleagues, "Happy Birthday", I bow down on my knees to you "Queen Lindsey", in appreciation for your friendship and trusting in me as a mentor.

TD

PS... tell Rodney, Sydney, Jerran and Emma, "Trainer Don" said, they better be on their damn knees too!