Against the Tide

Good morning all! Thank you for everyone who prayed and reached out last week. That truly meant a lot. We have a healthy baby boy and momma, so we are super grateful!

I have been criticized because I prioritize my time differently than my peers.

I work in a low volume manufacturing facility where there are parts working in various stages of a manufacturing process. Our support groups and site leadership almost exclusively have an Engineering background.

I also have an Engineering background, but I recognized something early on in this role. Many of my peers spend significant amounts of time knowing part status and understanding any technical issues that arise. It is comfortable and in their wheelhouse.

It is critical that people know and understand those things, but it doesn’t need to be everybody.

As a team, we can rely on other team members. My department needs to have knowledge of part status but that doesn’t always mean I do. When I need to speak about it, my team is a text or call away.

Side note - This also shows trust in your team and can be empowering.

The risk you take in prioritizing other things is appearing disengaged. The solution to that though is to spend your time solving important problems.

Over time, you will make a bigger impact by going against the tide.

Questions for Consideration

• What are you spending time on at work or in life that doesn’t make an impact?

• What do most people spend their time on?

• How could you approach your role differently to make a bigger impact?

Other Ideas

Your salary reflects the difficulty of problems you solve.
If you want to make more money, solve harder problems.

This is one reason I promote staying with a company over hopping around.
Having company specific knowledge helps you solve bigger problems.

A salary is an investment made by the company.
The expectation is a return on their investment.

An easy way to justify a higher salary is to quantify their return.
Provide a high return on their investment in you.

Don’t get caught up in other ways of justifying a higher salary.
Degrees, certifications, and years of experience are only leading indicators of the problems you can solve.

Be sure to focus on problems that increase revenue or decrease expenses.
These are the most meaningful problems to the decision makers.

To spot the problems, listen for this key phrase...
“That is above my paygrade.”

That phrase is a siren for opportunity.
Solve the problem, and it just may become your paygrade.

Have a great week everybody!!

God Bless,
Matt Virgin