Investing.

One of the most important things we do as leaders is invest, and while investing our money is great, investing in others is even more so. So what does investing in others look like? While I have had a number of people investing in me from a young age, I think I love the following the most as it caused an enormous amount of growth for me in a very short period of time.

When I first started at Home Depot, I was what you might call dead weight. I wouldn't admit it then, but I was cutting corners, doing the least, and generally had a pretty negative attitude when it came time to work. That was until I got the opportunity to help on weekends. See, when I started I was in a position that wasn't exactly the most fitting for me. The lack of people was wearing on me and I really started to dread the job, but when I was asked to help on weekends, it was pretty well customer service all day. I love being around people, and being helpful to people definitely floats my boat. To say the least, the opportunity to turn my job into one that was most strictly to talk to customers and help them solve minor problems was a major attraction to me. I was asked to switch to store side and really started enjoying being at The Home Depot, but that's not what caused me to grow.

The initial request from my assistant manager Sara for me to move to store side was the beginning of a major investment that store would make. Fast forward 6 months, a handful of homer awards, a homer bucket of complements, an assistant manager by the name of Mike Olenik and a store manager, Matthew Holmes, who would become coaches of mine, and store 4169 started seeing a major return on their investment. The once MET Team dead weight started buying in to the culture. I was coming in early, staying late, being helpful anywhere and everywhere, taking initiative, putting customers first, and being a welcoming face that made people want to come back to The Home Depot.

By the end of my time with The Home Depot, I think it would be fair to say they were getting far more than their share of labor out of me, but I never saw it that way. I just did it because I loved doing it, and I loved doing it because they invested in me consistently. The initial investment of an offer to help on weekends from Sara led to other opportunities for other managers like Mike and Matt to invest, eventually producing a Garden Supervisor and Manager on Duty working 60+hrs/week to help keep his department up to code, and a department recognition from the Regional Manager. When I left that store to go back to school though, the return didn't stop. They still get recognition when it comes to telling my story and my future endeavors because the growth they spurred within me has been exponential.

I am sharing this not to toot my own horn, but to show how investing in people can often turn out to be a much better deal for your organization than investing in material things. Coach your team, invest in their growth, and before long your return might be greater than you ever imagined. Whether they stay with your organization or leave to go to another one, the recognition for their growth will come around. My new job has verbally declared their appreciation of my presence within the company multiple times, and each time I can gladly redirect that appreciation to the people who have formerly invested in me. Invest in your team.