Reflections ... What I heard this week?

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As we wrap up the first month of the year, I have enjoyed the buzz in our LDC as we hosted New Superintendent Training along with the 7E & F Best Practices Workouts. I tried my best to use a couple of our APM Leadership Tools – MBWA (Management by Walking Around) and Ask Good Questions – to put on some big ears and listen more than I talk. Please allow me to share a three things I heard along with my reflections.

“This has been a great week. We should have done this a long time ago.”

True. There are many things I wished we would have done sooner. There is no changing the past; yet we can press on with resilience and a tenacity for continuous improvement. If there is anything that should have been done a long time ago, we can acknowledge it, learn from it, and then do it today. I am reminded of a Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

“Give a man ownership and he will be accountable.”

Yes! Everyone wants empowerment and accountability, and when it’s done well, it leads to pride and success. But a caution: not everyone defines those words the same, and not everyone applies them the same. They are loaded words, susceptible to be placed on a poster as a slogan without further clarity. What does empowerment and accountability really mean? What does that look like in action on a day-to-day basis? Our leadership team has spent time this month defining those terms in a concrete way. I look forward to sharing more with you on how we will define and live empowerment and accountability in APM.

“People are our core.”

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Amen! We are a people business. Thus it is vital to our success that we invest in the development of our people. And it is equally important that we listen to our people, both the vets who provide wisdom and the rookies who bring a fresh perspective.

When we keep people as our core, when we really live empowerment and accountability, when we have tenacity for development and improvement, then we have set ourselves up for success.

As we close January, having spent time with our people, I am confident we will deliver a strong spring outage season.

—Jake