The AD Way: Have Each Others' Backs
Good Morning! Welcome to week #29 of The AD Way!
HAVE EACH OTHERS’ BACKS.
Be there for each other and be willing to step into another role or help a co-worker when that’s what’s required for success. Reach out beyond your department or division to help each other succeed. Together, we win.
It doesn’t matter how great our members’ customer relations are, if they don’t have proper support from the suppliers that make the products they sell.
It doesn’t matter how great our suppliers’ products are, if our members don’t get them to market effectively.
And it doesn’t matter how good any of us are at our jobs, if neither of those things are happening or if the rest of our company is struggling.
We’ve got great people at AD. Amazing members. World-class suppliers. But without each other, we don’t win. It’s together, we win.
What do we mean by “together?” We mean it takes more than each of us doing our job. It takes looking out for others, sharing, covering, teaching, stepping in when needed.
That’s what people do on winning teams. That’s what people do in close knit communities. That’s what we strive to do, as AD Associates, every day.
And there’s something else . . .
There’s this sentence we should have included when we first wrote this fundamental. It’s something that took me a long time to learn. So I want to share it with you, in the hope of maybe saving you some time and pain.
It’s “Ask people for help when you need it.”
Growing up when I did, there was this macho idea of what made a person a real man. A real man was rugged, self-sufficient and individualistic. He didn’t talk about his problems. He suffered in silence. He rode alone. And that was the kind of man that many of us tried to be. Until life taught us that how futile and lonely that was.
The biggest problems I’ve had in my life, I didn’t solve them alone. I solved them (or are still working on them) with the help of others. The first word, of the First Step, is “We.”
The Bible says that we are made in God’s image. That is, we are made for relationships. We aren’t made to go it alone.
The relationships we have at work can often feel a bit superficial. I do my job. You do your job. We say hello when we pass each other in the hall. (At least we did, back in the day!)
But if you ever want to get a jolt of amazingly positive energy, tell someone at work that you may need their help. And watch how the superficiality of our everyday interactions turns into something deeper and much more gratifying.
You see it is only when we open up, when we share our needs and hurts and let others in, that the power of connection and the warmth of friendship is experienced.
So yes, let’s have our brothers’ and sisters’ backs. Let’s lend a hand. Let’s do for others.
But let’s also ask for help when we need it. And let’s let others have our backs, too.
Bill