When I was 19 years old during my retail days at CompUSA, Inc. I had a supervisor who said something to me that many of you have probably heard before; “When you decide to point the finger of blame at someone or something, make sure that you are aware of the 3 fingers pointing back at you.”
At that age, a lot of my problems seemed out of my control and as a college student stocking cables for a living, I felt frustrated.
Why?
It wasn’t that I was overworked or the $7 an hour that barely got me by. It was that I was so underutilized that really made me restless.
Over a year passed before I left the warehouse and earned my spot on the all so elusive yet all so revered sales floor. Box facing turned into people facing. Stocking turned into selling. My time in the big league had finally come. Yes!
At that moment, as if almost in a blink of an eye I shined. Boy, did I shine. You name it. Every award category out there was attained over the course of my 4 years with the company. I was a rockstar.
Like the caterpillar who thought the world was mud and bugs until it grew wings to share the sky as a butterfly, I truly shined and had some of the best years of work that to this day I look back on with sheer ecstasy.
I’m not saying this to brag. After all, CompUSA Inc. went bankrupt partly due to an acquisition with Circuit City that brought this retail giant to its knees (poor strategy execution, Carlos Slim).
I retell this story of success because if company leaders and business owners are to blame their team for poor results, many times it’s not the team to blame, it’s the captain on deck–the error of utilization.
Today, few leaders can ignore the fact that it is people that matter. Business research today will go further in saying that it’s the right people that matter and I will add to that and say the right people doing the right things are what matter.
Yet still, so many leaders fail to take the time or responsibility for this.
How many people feel underutilized in their roles today? Countless I’ll bet. Overworked? Perhaps not. Just a disguise for being truly underutilized by management and in dire need of a change.
I’ve worked and walked into plenty of corporations and I can tell you that when I’m brought in to create motivation and change, the first thing I measure before measuring my own success is the satisfaction through utilization of the team.
When leaders treat their team rotten, the business smells. When leaders treat their teams like monkeys, they shouldn’t be surprised if they start eating bananas! If captains don’t assign the sailors the right duties, then they cannot expect the results they are looking for.
The same can be said for those we choose to work for. We too must take responsibility on ourselves!
Ask yourself, what is it you’re really good at? Communicate that upwards, flat, and sideways in your organization until you’re given your chance to shine. Chances are if it contributes to the bottom line of the company, people will listen.
If it falls on deaf ears and you find yourself pointing the finger of blame you too must then tilt your head slightly to see those same 3 fingers pointing back at you.
The solution then, as always, starts with you.
Ramy Ballout
Entrepreneur & Business Coach