Here’s a story many of you can relate to: A high-volume operation, already down one person, loses a key team member at a peak moment of production. The void left behind seems almost insurmountable, as every person on the team was already stretched to (or past) his or her capacity. And the bigger problem: Customers don’t care; no one wants excuses. There’s a deadline and it needs to be met.
So, what do you do? Well, I can tell you firsthand; this story is about our team at Ratchet+Wrench over the last month or so. A lot goes on behind the scenes here to produce this publication each month, and honestly, we prefer to keep it “behind the scenes.” But I bring up this story for a very specific reason, which I’ll get to a little later.
First, our (logistical) solution: Just as you would likely do, we divided up the remaining work; everyone took on more and everyone pushed forward. But it’s never quite that simple. You can’t simply tell people who already work extremely hard to just work harder, put in more hours and figure it out. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not realistic. Instead, everyone decided to work smarter—and work together. They shared interviews, they tag-teamed stories, they picked each other up when they needed it. And, in the end, they got it done.
Now, here’s my reason for sharing: I am incredibly proud and constantly humbled to work with such selfless, motivated and talented people. At the rapid-fire pace we operate (and all of you do, as well), it’s easy to take success for granted. Don’t. Celebrate it. Appreciate the wins. Recognize performance. No amount of words here will be enough to do it, so I’ll just leave it with two more: Thank you.
