Challenge Yourself to Win

teady Progress Can Lead to Big Rewards

Blake, a Foreman for a plumbing company in Brush Prairie, WA, told Session 4B of Turbo’s Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

“In January of 2015, the company I work for launched a new idea for all of our foremen; an incentive program to encourage us to accurately complete all of our paperwork. While none of the paperwork was new in itself, the reward for fully completing the paperwork at the end of every day was. In an effort to urge us to complete these tasks, a $250 Home Depot gift card was on the line. The owner decided to hold a monthly drawing for one winner. The key, however, was in being eligible. To be eligible, daily logs needed to be done each day and time cards and safety meetings notes filled out correctly each week, for the entire month. I hadn’t been taking some of my leadership responsibility as seriously as I should have been, so I figured I didn’t have much of an opportunity to win. A few months had gone by in which I had been diligently doing all of my paperwork, and to my surprise, my name was drawn and I won the drawing. By now, completing all of my paperwork accurately by the end of the week had become a habit and by the end of the year, I had won again!! I was recognized as Foreman of the Year with $1,000 bonus. Boy, was I excited and proud.

“The lesson I learned from this experience is when I buckle down and hold myself to a high standard of excellence and do what is asked of me, I can be recognized and acknowledged. The fact that my company decided to implement the awards and incentives system made me realize how important our performance standards are.

“The action I call you to take is to commit yourself to high standards of excellence, do what is asked of you and don’t be afraid to go above and beyond your company standards. Set an example of performing to high standards for everyone in your world to follow.

“The benefit you will gain is the self-assurance that you are pulling your weight, doing your part and being responsible, which will be noticed.”

One of Turbo’s 15 Leadership Principles is “stimulate competition.” One of the ways to implement this principle is to throw down a challenge, make a contest out of it. The above story is packed with extraordinary advice for anyone looking for a way to create the winning behavior required to lower costs and increase quality performance. Don’t miss the points – “I saw more clearly how important the standards were” and “now I had a new habit.” Habits define culture, culture determines performance.

Are you ready to become an Engaging Leader?

Fall Leadership Development Labs are forming now in Eugene, Wilsonville, Salem and Vancouver.