How a “One-Day Contract” Mentality Can Answer a Greater Calling

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Why are the some of the most committed and productive individuals at industry leading organizations seemingly not in it for the moneym but rather the gratification to see a job or task executed to the best of his or her ability?

And how is it that their mentality can affect positive change to the company culture and often times help contribute to industry leading profits year after year?

As the Christmas season was fast approaching, I began to reflect on those questions, as well as what 2016 meant to Home Services from a financial and client experience standpoint. In addition to doing this, I also looked back to evaluate my own personal performance for the previous year with the goal of discovering improvement opportunities that would make a positive difference for the coming year.

Are we asking the right questions?

In Home Services our Senior Management team has a two-prong overarching goal to which all our activities are directed: to foster a culture-driven environment that honors God, as well as perfecting the client experience. When pondering these things, two important questions came to mind: Did each of my employees and colleagues know how deeply I cared about them and their continued success at Lee Company? And did they feel firmly supported in all their endeavors as a result of the effort that I had taken in the last calendar year to ensure that they are in a position to win every day?

More about what we can accomplish in the time that we have

In my mind the ability to answer yes to both of those important questions requires a “one-day contract” mentality. Simply put, as the great basketball coach Rick Pitino states, a one-day contract is “less about what you get paid, but more about what you can accomplish in the time that you have.”  But before we adopt a one-day contract mentality, Pitino says that we need to understand there can be “no excuses, no procrastination, and no bad attitudes.” Conveniently these principles overlay perfectly with our core beliefs as a Home Services Management team.

Embrace the responsibility to inspire

Now just like my colleagues, each day when I come to work I understand that my role here as a leader is to train, equip and empower all of those that are around me to reach their full potential as well as inspire them to conduct themselves with the highest levels of integrity and transparency in all that they do.  We collectively feel as a Management team that if this behavior is repeated daily, we as a company will positively affect our community and in turn it won’t feel like work for any of those that do it.

Purpose sustains enthusiasm 

But to fully take on the one-day contract mentality the feeling of working for a company with a larger purpose needs to be there.  Specifically, at Lee Company, this realization that each person’s individual contribution moves forward a Christ-centered agenda to be intentional in the community will sustain the high levels of enthusiasm that are required to perform at our best for long periods of time.

Be the change that we seek

To me it has always been crystal clear that those who work for something greater than themselves can accomplish more, withstand more adversity and feel more connected to their company than those just merely punch a clock to get their forty hours in. I feel that is our “secret sauce” and that the correct response to this privilege of being a part of the story is to embrace the one-day contract mentality.  You see as stewards of this special organization, we have the power to either add to or limit the company’s ability to make more of an impact by our individual efforts. Our call to action is to embrace that responsibility and further the mission by owning that eight-hour shift while serving one client at a time.

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Posted In: ACCA Now, Customer Service