If You’re not at the Table, You’re on the Menu! – By Arnie Wohlgemut
One of my college professors said: “There are two ways to increase your income. First, you could wait for inflation to drive it up or secondly, you could move to a position that paid more.” Hmmm. That made sense.
At the time I was a young impressionable supervisor searching for ways to become promotable and earn more money. Yes – I wanted to be upwardly mobile.
Where did that come from? In part, a lot of self confidence and in part, fear of being stuck in a job that was not satisfying.
So I focused on delivering reports and plans to the big boss. That meant I had little time to maintain the working relationships I had built with the front line staff. I was seldom seen on the job or outside my office door.
Soon things began to change.
I was out of touch with the day-to-day. My colleagues called me a “butt kisser”. I not at the “table” and but I was certainly on the “menu”!
I sacrificed relationship for personal gain.
The road back was long and hard. Repairing relationships was hard. Was it worth the promotion?
That’s when I decided that I needed to be present. I focused on helping others.
I learned that if I served others, helped them be successful, helped them get what they wanted, the rewards would follow. And they did.
I am happy to say that once I took the focus off my selfish gain to help those hungry for growth and personal development, I experienced real rewards. The real reward was to see my staff, my colleges flourish.
How about you? Are you serving others or have you sacrificed that for personal gain?
If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu!