In the last 5 years I've learned that water isn't always a good thing. We moved into our current home in October of 2013. During the buying process we did the inspection thing BUT the inspector missed something.
Many months later I was in the crawl space and something got my attention. I pulled away some insulation and discovered that I could see the bottom of the tile that was the floor of our master bathroom. That's not good. All the subfloor had rotted away. It was in an odd spot, not near drains or a faucet which is why the inspector didn't see it. Water had made it's way to a spot that was in the middle of our floor and started eating away at the wood.
When we bought the house we had thought we might redo the bathroom eventually, so this just expedited that thinking.
Fast forward 2 years. Early one morning I got woken up by Kaylyn hollering my name. Water was spraying everywhere from under our sink in the bathroom. Because I'm only half awake I tried everything except turning off the valve under the sink. Water was covering the bathroom floor and soaking the carpet in our bedroom. And there was even more water in the crawl space. I think it took 4-5 days for ServPro to completely dry the area out.
Another new floor in the bathroom...
What did I learn? 2 things. 1) Water can cause alot of damage. 2) While I watched the people work on our bathroom, in both cases, they didn't seem quite as stressed about the problems as I did. Part of that could be that I was the one paying BUT there was something else. They knew what to do. They knew what tools they needed and they knew how to use those tools.
Fast forward to a week ago. We had a list that was getting longer and longer of little projects at the house that I hadn't been able to complete. Squeaky step, light not working, door not closing, loose step on the deck, loose shingles on roof... I called up a handyman to come and knock this list out because clearly I wasn't getting it done. When he came out I walked around with him and talked with him while he was fixing things. I never once saw him do something I couldn't have done. And, it didn't seem to stress him fixing each of these things that had been a frustration to me. What was the difference?? He knew what tools he needed and how to use those tools. Check out the difference in the tools in these two pictures above. One is a picture of my solution and one is a picture of tools of a pro.
Leadership seems to work the same way. When I watch a great leader, they don't seem to get stressed with things that can cause me stress. Why? They know what tools to use and how to use them.
Some people say leaders are born, not made. Not true. Just as I could learn to be a plumber by learning what tools to use and when, anybody can learn to lead by learning what tools to use and when. We all already do this everyday. How do you get places? Driving a car? There was a day that you didn't know how to drive and getting places was more difficult. Now you know what tool to use and how to use it. How about cooking? Same thing. Grilling? Brushing your teeth? Heck, there was once a time that each of us had to learn when and how to use a toilet.
Leadership is no different. Once you learn the tools and when to use them, leadership becomes more routine. Just like remodeling a bathroom for a professional builder.
ESRC
SBI
SERVE
How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes
Just a few of the tools we have available. They only have value when we know how and when to use them.
