I was waiting in the university library. Andy was lateas usual. It was the final week of the classes and we had made plans to work through a study guide for an Environmental Biology class we were taking. Since we were both Social Science majors this class was not one of our favourites but doing review questions together was helpful.
More than half an hour late, Andy came rushing into the library looking rather flustered--which for him was a typical state of being. He apologized again and again saying he'd just gotten out of a professor's office where he was asking for an extension on a term paper--again. This was a regular occurrence for Andy. He was always requesting extensions because he never seemed to get things done in a timely manner. He was a smart, inquisitive and well-spoken student but he was unable to meet a deadline.
The afternoon before our final in Environmental Biology I went to the library to do some studying and saw Andy sitting a table by the window. There were empty chairs beside him and I was happy to think that since we'd be reviewing the same material we'd worked on earlier, I would have someone to ask questions of if need be. But as I began organizing my pages on the table I noticed Andy didn't have environmental notes in front of him. Instead he was working on a Sociology paper that had been due before finals began.
I couldn't help but smile and shake my head. He was still finishing off work from the term while I was using those hours to prepare for exams. I wondered how he was going to find time for everything but somehow I knew he would pull it off. He always did. Successfully.
I had my study methods--he had his. I couldn't have approached a class the way he did. He never would have wanted to do it my way. That was okay. He and I were asked to plant a tree on behalf of our class during our Convocation weekend and as we did so I thought back on our journey through each semester. We'd earned the same degree, even garnering similar grades along the way--we'd just gone about it very differently.
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, shares the story of the early days at the e-commerce outlet. Book orders were coming in faster than anticipated and they were unprepared from an operational point of view to handle the volume. They quickly expanded into a 2,000 square foot concrete warehouse and would crawl on the floor to fill the orders. Bezos knew something had to be done remarking, "This packing is killing me! My back hurts, this is killing my knees on this hard cement floor." A solution was needed. Bezos had a brainstorm and said to the person next to him, "You know what we need? We need knee pads!'" The co-worker looked at him to see if he was serious and answered back, "What we need is packing tables." The next day tables were delivered and productivity doubled. Bezos listened to those around him, recognizing his way was not the only, or the best way, to get something done.
It's not always easy working with people who do things differently than way we do, but if we take a moment and set aside our notions and methods, perhaps even our stubbornness or pride, we may just find there are some pretty interesting ways to get to where we are going.
I spent many hours doing jigsaw puzzles at the kitchen table when my daughters were youngsters. My youngest would put the outside edge pieces together first, creating the frame for the puzzle (the technique I used as well) while the older would focus on a color or object and piece those sections together. The strategy was different--the end result the same.
Interacting and being with those whose approach is unique is kind of like doing a jigsaw puzzle as a team. If we each pick up the same piece at the same time and try to put it in place we aren't advancing very quickly. But if we come at it from different directions and acknowledge other ways to complete the puzzle--we will not only get it done, but perhaps even learn something new along the way.That's my outlook.
