Challenging one’s comfort zone is not something everyone likes to do. Often we are scared to take risk, to make changes in our lives or even to try a new café simply because of the worry that the coffee might not be as good and that that could ruin your morning! Sticking with what you know may be safe but you also run the risk of losing opportunity to growth and some solutions require a thinking outside the box.
Kiwi had shared an extraordinary transformational experience in the way he solved a problem. Kiwi is an engineer. He was brought into a workplace to solve the packaging efficiency of a Kiwi Orchard. He worked really hard to investigate and diagnose the cause of the low efficiency. He examined all the machinery and equipment to find the fault, hoping that he as the technical expert could then fix the problem. It took him 18 months to figure out what the cause of the problem was. “It was simply because workers didn’t have a reason to care about their work!” Does this sound familiar to you? Seeking solution from multiple lenses is not everyone cup of tea and that is why we need diversity in the team and that is why everyone matters because each of us has our unique strengths and perspectives – the variety of lens we need to see things through.
Kiwi stepped out of his comfort zone by mixing his engineering hat with a social science hat. Dealing with people’s emotion and psychology is certainty not comfortable for many engineers. The most important learning experience was what Kiwi did do to make them “care” about their job! He openly shared with me that “you need to provide them with opportunities to advance in their careers. It is important, you assess their skills – what they have and what they need in order to do the job better and provide the support accordingly”. COVID-19 has changed the way many of us work, and challenged as well as stretched our comfort zone. It is to me a perfect time to use this uncertainty and uncomfortable moments to our advantage for learning and growing.
“You need to provide staff with opportunities to advance in their careers. It is important, you assess their skills – what they have and what they need in order to do the job better and provide the support accordingly”.
Like ‘Kiwi’ did on the orchard, you need both male and female Kiwi plants in order to produce the fruit…You need both “soft – human” and “hard – engineering/technology” skills to solve the problem more effectively and sustainably. That is why everyone matters!
“You need both “soft – human” and “hard – engineering/technology” skills to solve the problem more effectively and sustainably.”