The lights dimmed. The bench creaked as Andrew fidgeted. Several rows back, someone tried to stifle a cough. A baby whimpered across the room.
As much as Andrew wanted to watch his children in the school play, he fought to focus on where he was. He’d just gotten through the most chaotic week at his business. As he struggled to quiet his mind, he heard the whisper of an idea: “Pay attention. You might find something here for you.” He didn’t realize he was about to have an insight that would change the way he did business.
In the silence, he heard the shuffle of young feet and the banging of stage props being moved. The moment the noise stopped, the lights came back on. He saw his youngest son with a few of his friends, clinging to the sheep to make sure they wouldn’t run away. Then, his daughter walked onto the stage with her classmates. They burst out singing, “Go, tell it on the mountain!”
Moments later, the lights dimmed again. Andrew sat up straighter. It was coming to him now. He started planning out the management meeting for next week. Minutes later, he felt his wife’s hand on his leg. He hadn’t realized that he’d been bouncing it up and down.
| Somewhere backstage, processes were going on that could work in Andrew’s business. |
The Management Meeting
Andrew always opened up his meetings with a little bit of small talk. He enjoyed getting to know his team members. They felt like family.
“Well,” he told them, “I got in trouble with my wife last week. I couldn’t hold still during the school play.” He then went on to explain.
“It’s not that I did anything terribly wrong or embarrassing, but I did have trouble keeping my mind on the play–and keeping my leg from bouncing!”
“You see, an idea was coming to me. I felt there was something about the play that we could use here at the company.”
“Here’s how the play works. It’s precise. It’s rehearsed. It’s planned. Then, you’ve got people setting up the stage for the people doing the work. And when they’re done, you’ve got a cleanup process. There’s a timing and schedule for everything. Did anyone else notice how well it all went?”
Everyone nodded.
“We need to apply those principles to our workflow.”
At that, he started laying out his ideas:
- We’re going to treat every job like a choreographed performance. (His team was as surprised as he was that he used such a fancy word!)
- The foreman’s job is to make sure that the stage is set, all the props are ready, and the cast members know their parts.
- And when everything’s done, we dim the lights. Get the mess out of the customer’s sight. The only thing our customers will remember is how smooth and nice the work goes.
Jerry, Andrew’s most detailed manager, raised his hand. “How are we going to do this, on top of everything else we’re doing?”
Andrew smiled. “I met this gentleman at our annual business conference. He’ll be able to help us out. Jerry, you’re going to be my right-hand man to make sure this gets done.”
The team breathed easier. Anytime Jerry was involved, things went smoothly. The rest of them wouldn’t have to worry about pulling off another of Andrew’s wild ideas.
Andrew described the new system to his team.
The Grand Reveal
As Andrew promised, the project didn’t take away from everything else. The team noticed Andrew and Jerry spending more time on phone calls. They had longer conversations with Rhoda, the secretary. They spent more time hunched over the computer screen, sending off emails.
But the team didn’t care until one Monday, a few months later.
“Team, we want to show you what we’ve been working on lately.”
Andrew walked them through software that he had customized for his business. “I want to walk you through what happens after a deal closes.”
“Every week, Rhoda will check in on all upcoming jobs. She will call them up and make sure that everything is ready to go. She’ll let them know what time to expect you on site. You will be able to see that she called, along with any notes she took.”
“Andrew will be responsible for making sure all materials are available. Two weeks beforehand, he’ll verify we’ve got all the supplies on hand. We’ll also have a second trailer for each crew. It will stay parked in the shop when it’s not in use. Andrew will make sure it’s loaded and ready to go. You guys show up, clock in, and roll out.”
“The customer sheet will be on the trailer, with the address and all details about the job.”
“When you’re done, you’ve got a QR code you can scan. You’ll take pictures of the job. You’ll take a few minutes as a crew to talk about what went right, and what could have gone better. You’ll put those notes in there. And you can be hard on Jerry, too!” Andrew winked at Jerry across the room.
“Because of how we’re doing this, we’re going to track how many hours we spend on each job. As part of our monthly review, we’ll look over our jobs. We’ll look for things we need to do better in our quoting. And we’ll make sure we’re on track with our pricing. This will also make sure that we can keep you guys busy, but still let you have vacations.”
Silence fell over the conference room.
Then, a spattering of applause filled the room. Andrew could feel the energy shift. He could sense how excited these guys were to put this into play.
A year later, Andrew found himself back at the school play. He smiled. He’d never had so much fun in his business. Everyone had taken to his ideas faster than he’d imagined. Crews had come to Jerry with little improvements. Rhoda had freed up so much of her time that she started getting bored. She’d even asked if she could get training to take over more of the accounting.
Best of all, this year he’d been able to leave his work behind. Whether with his team at work or his children at school, watching a performance like this never got old. He smiled as he settled back in for another telling of the nativity story.
