Diamonds in your Field (by Kenneth Whiteside)

Furniture World Magazine

Are you tapping into every available resource --those hidden deposits just waiting to be mined? Admittedly most of us lack the sensitivity necessary to recognize the assets contained within those around whom we work. We never fully discover these hidden treasures, more accurately defined as profits. Therefore we miss out on an opportunity to increase our earnings and our perceptions. Eventually this insensitivity not only reduces our profits, but also threatens the viability of the enterprise itself. If life is a learning process, why is this process so often excluded from the workplace? When we refuse to expand our perceptions, we forfeit an opportunity to improve the workplace. Moreover, we also prevent ourselves from really knowing those who labor among us, as well as those with whom we come in contact. Much of this insensitivity is a result of our mental and emotional framework. We are creatures of tasks and prisoners of unproductive habits, Resigned to learning from ourselves only, we write our policies in stone, unmindful that the can be improved upon with a little insight from others. Can you imagine what would have happened to the Pilgrims if they had not learned from the Native Americans? Their progress would have been short-lived or minimal at best. Wisdom and knowledge are two way streets. We meet people coming and going. Innovation, at its best, is a lateral and a horizontal process. In fact, during the Industrial Revolution many of the inventions were created by the workers who were actually doing the jobs. They were the ones with the insight to improve processes and thus increase productivity. Until. we employ each person's ability, we will not reap the benefits outlined in our well-polished marketing plans. Until then, we will miss out on the valuable lessons that our forefathers embraced, tapping into those diamond minds. We must never stop creating ways to increase profits by limiting workplace creativity. The portion of the profit pie increases whenever the creativity of everyone is engaged. Start looking for those diamond minds. Encourage them. Reward them. Only a master cutter can increase the value of the diamond. Become a master! (Kenneth Whiteside is a sales consultant at Dabbs Furniture in North Carolina.