Orange Trees

In this article I’m sharing an email I got for Samantha Fleig the Production and Fulfillment Lead at 3D Mail Results, a business I own with my son Travis. If you don’t know about 3D Mail Results you should go to 3DMailResults.com and get Travis’ free book. He even pays the postage on the book.

Here’s the email from Samantha

Hi Keith,

Since having Noah as a production assistant I’ve started to recall a lot of the training I had at Home Depot as a supervisor, when I was training to become an assistant manager.
There was a lot of focus on growing within the company and therefore a big focus on training and leadership classes.

The other day I told Tara one of my all-time favorite lessons from Home Depot and she said it was extremely eye-opening. I then told Noah, and he said the same thing!

I thought it might be an interesting focus for an article in your newsletter, or at least a nice little tip/trick that you throw in somewhere.

It’s the story of The Orange Trees…

There was a Home Depot store located next to a major freeway and it was being visited by a new regional manager. The RM was coming to assess ways to attract local customers & suggest improvement, and the first thing he noticed was how uninviting the building was. With it’s entire back to the freeway the only walls that drivers could see from either direction were blank concrete walls. So, after some creative thinking the RM addressed the store management with his new vison, “I want you to paint huge orange trees all down the backwalls, and I will come back in a few weeks to check it out”.

A few weeks passed and the regional manager returned to check out the store’s new look, only to be surprised, disappointed, and soon humbled by a very important lesson he would learn.

The walls were not what he expected at all, and in his mind he couldn’t figure out why the store’s management didn’t follow his directions properly. On the walls in front of him were a few hundred feet of evergreen tree-outlines in bright orange paint. He then recalled the instructions he gave before he left… “I want you to paint huge orange trees”. He then realized the miscommunication was his fault… how was the store supposed to know that his entire vision was to cover the walls in luscious orange fruit trees?

The moral of this story (and hopefully I’m explaining it well) is that no matter how upset or disappointed the regional manager was at the mix-up, he had no one to blame but himself. The instructions and details you give to your staff are not only important, but crucial to getting the output that you want.

People can’t read your mind and they will only have the information you give them, so proper communication is key to business success. I can name countless occasions where I was in the position of the regional manager, upset and disappointed that someone didn’t follow my directions correctly. Only to realize that my instructions could easily be interpreted many ways, and that I should have clarified certain parts. Always remember to be detailed, provide all the information and be clear about your expectations.

I told this story to Tara because we’re often moving a million miles-a-minute and VERY often rely on our ability to “read each other’s mind” and know what the other is thinking – and we’re very good at it. But you cannot rely on this!

Just like I can’t rely on having good communication skills with Noah, because no matter how well we understand each other I cannot assume that he can read my mind or know my thought process. No matter how accurate your assumptions tend to be, getting clarification on something will always be easier than going back to fix a mistake.

I use this story to remind me to stay aware of how I communicate, but also as a reminder about personal responsibility. Taking responsibility for the information that you relay and how you relay it, but also taking responsibility when receiving instructions and asking for more information. I remind myself of this story on a constant basis and have given an extra look at my communication style ever since.

Communication is key.

Hope you liked the story! Just thought I’d share. Sam

Here’s my reply, which was sent to everyone in the business.
I love this and I will use it in a newsletter!!!
Ya’ll – Read Sam’s email below.

Not only is this important in business, it’s important in every part of life.

I’ll give you an example of what I mean.

This is why I try, and not always succeed, to over-communicate. I know sometimes that leads to people thinking, “What kind of idiot does he think I am?”

In my almost 40 years as a business owner miscommunication has been the #1 culprit when we make mistakes.

Thanks for this Sam!!

I love this email from Sam in so many ways. It reinforces lots of concepts in The Make-You-Happy Management System.

1. It shows that she’s concerned with everyone doing a good job and serving our clients as best we can.
2. As the lead in her department, she’s being a “coach” and giving me the opportunity to “coach” the rest of the team with a message from her. It’s one thing for this message to come from me. It’s better if everything doesn’t come from me.
3. It’s a great real-life story and lesson to share with you.
4. Sam is in tune with the type of lessons I want to share with you.
5. It gave me the opportunity to tell my team that I know I can be obsessive about communication.
6. This from Samantha is fabulous… I use this story to remind me to stay aware of how I communicate, but also as a reminder about personal responsibility. Taking responsibility for the information that you relay and how you relay it, but also taking responsibility when receiving instructions and asking for more information. I remind myself of this story on a constant basis and have given an extra look at my communication style ever since. That’s a leader! Admitting she’s not perfect.