My twelve year anniversary with Great Harvest is just around the corner and that has me in a reflective mood.
I have never done anything in my professional life for 12 years, so I have been thinking: What made Great Harvest different? What kept me here when my normal career path was five and done? I always got an itch professionally around year four in previous career stops and scratched them by year six. What has me still here and not itching?
The answer lies in six essential elements that I found in Great Harvest.
- Respect. I should write this six times, so just assume I am thinking it at the beginning of each point. This is an element present in Great Harvest that just isn’t there in many businesses. We all respect each other and get along because of that. We absolutely have our differences, but we work them out because we trust each other. People without this respect tend to move on after a few years.
- Fair play. This comes from respect. Because of the R factor, the level of teamwork in Great Harvest is remarkable. Companies can hold as many team building exercises as they want and never come close to having the team we do. The reason is we play fair. Flat organizational charts and generous territories mean that there isn’t really an incentive to get on top so we just share.
- Win-win. Another natural extension of the previous item. We work to make sure that we have mutually assured success in our company. We treat all franchisees the same. We treat all co-workers the same. We treat all partners the same. I firmly believe that sustainable business models don’t have a winner and a loser. They have just winners. Great Harvest lives that ideal.
- Leadership. None of what I have written so far happens without firm, directed leadership. It also requires passive leadership. And the wisdom to know the difference. I am far from perfect but I am able to be the Big Cheese at times, to tell people to make a decision and just keep me informed at times and to let franchisees make their own decisions. I like that even if it is incredibly difficult at times. And it isn’t all about me. Our franchisee group has a de facto voice of leadership among themselves that is heard. It isn’t the same on every point but it is there.
- Laughter. No career or job or business is perfect. To sustain success you have to laugh. At yourself. With your friends. With your advocates. If you don’t, why bother? It is just a job if you don’t love and laugh.
- Love. I am not going to lie -- I did get my normal 5 year itch in my Great Harvest career and had a serious discussion with myself over was it still fun and worth the energy. I got to yes and never looked back because of love and laughter. Love is an over-used word, but to really succeed in anything, you have to love what you do. Not like. Not tolerate. Love. There is a difference between succeeding and being successful. I had success in almost every career step I took before Great Harvest but I wasn’t successful. Now, I love what I do, who I do it with and what we are all about at our core.
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photo credit: Nemo's great uncle via photopincc
