Wine Freedom - Vinfrihet

We train very hard in our company. Being competitive in sport, dance or other active pursuits is a good sign that someone has the mental determination to succeed professionally.

Mental rather than physical strength is primary requirement for our current training program started a year ago.

We are not training for the Stockholm Marathon or Vasaloppet. The goal of our training is to create an agile, highly successful company where it is fun to work. And what we do believe is one of the secret ingredients for achieving this?

Straight, honest, respectful communication.

Sure, everyone says they are honest, respectful and talk straight. Brrrrrrrrrrr. Wrong answer. Few people do because it is so so so darn hard. And like solo tango dancers, it just doesn’t work with only one.

Giving and receiving honest, respectful comments is hard: Telling your boss he is meddling in your job; telling someone you were wrong and they were right; informing a colleague they have not delivered what they promised; thanking someone for a fantastic job well done; saying sorry for not delivering without making excuses; rebuking someone standing around the coffee machine for talking badly about someone behind their back or letting one of your employeees know that their current performance is not sufficient to achieve their career objectives.

And saying these things immediately, not later having stewed it over and the moment is past or a night’s sleep has been lost.

The hardest part of running a fast growing company is integrating new people into the team without disrupting their performance. This is not hard, it is almost impossible to achieve without honest talking.

You talk more than you listen; Yes you have a lot of experience to share but trust must be earned before people will listen to you; Sorry that I underestimated you, thank you for exceeding my expectations, I am impressed; If you dress like that you will not earn the respect as a senior manager; You are a very important member of our team and what can the company do to keep you motivated and challenged.

My good friend Les taught me many things, one of them was how to say difficult things in a nice way. Not sugar coating it, beating around the bush or implying or insinuating. But saying exactly how it is but in a respectful way and then giving the other person the opportunity to respond and to really show you are listening to them with an open mind.

Having been training for a year, the results are showing. Communication is quicker, clearer and it feels so darn free! We have erased the subtext in every meeting and conversation, hidden agendas are unveiled.

And we don’t just use it internally, we do the same thing with our customers and our customer satisfaction index rises like the northern sun in June!

So honestly speaking, it’s worth the training.
Cheers
Mark

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I would not be called a Curling Parent but neither am I one who does not care about his children. Sometimes they need to fall off the bike or scrape their knees to learn the lessons of life. When it comes to putting your children in harm’s way I draw the line.

It could be a cultural difference but I often find myself plucking other people’s kids up off the floor or out of harm’s way. Sure many parents in Australia and Sweden also do that but what always surprises me is the response of the parents.

When we are out I keep a close eye on my children. I don’t believe that just because a kid has a helmet on they are going to go unscathed while riding their scooter or bike. Common sense is often the best safety device!

Last week a parent was wheeling their kid on their big bike and as they crossed the road the child fell off – in the middle of the road. The parent didn’t notice and I was right there so I picked the crying passenger up and handed them to their parent when they finally turned around at the commotion.

During Valborg at the local bonfire a 2 year old was toddling along in the very crowded square without much parental supervision. The kid walked straight over someone’s bag on the floor and I grabbed them before he hit the ground. The parents saw me set the kid firmly on his feet again.

Today a parent of children at the same school as our kids was walking 50m behind their 4 year old hotrodding scooter riding daughter. She zoomed down the pavement and directly out into the street. She continued down the middle of the street until she turned into the school. It is not a very busy street for cars but there are loads of cyclists and trucks in the morning. As I walked past the mother I asked her if that was her daughter (she must have seen what happened) and told her what she already should have known.

Lastly, there is the parent whose kid was lost and crying and I stayed with them until their parents found them 5 minutes later.

What all these incidents have in common is the parents’ response to a) the child and b) my actions.

Nothing.

The parents say nothing. Not thank you, not a nod of the head, wave or acknowledgment of a stranger’s help.

They hardly even have any response to the children: “don’t scoot in the middle of the street” or “oh darling sorry you were lost in the supermarket”. Is silence the new parenting method? How can you teach a child common sense if you do not talk to them about things that happen? Is ignoring people who help your child the new form of love-thy-neighbour?

My daughter became lost on the supermarket the other day and she asked both Hemköp and Pressbyrån if she could borrow their phone to call her mother. Both said no.

Sad how society has become so impersonal. Even though they don’t seem to care about their children, I still do!

Have a safe weekend,
Cheers
Mark

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Ensuring that we maintain our company’s culture as we grow is one of the highest priorities of my role in Antipodes. While I am involved in all the recruiting decisions, I don’t always have the chance to get to know everyone who works here now. New people join us every week and after going through the introduction and training process it may be some time before I have a chat with them.

So last month I started my plan to have lunch with everyone in the company at least once a year. When the lunch invitiations first went out some people were worried (their managers were forewarned that the intentions were positive!) but all were keen to have my ear for an hour as I was to hear from them.

It filled up my schedule pretty quickly and I had to increase how often I work out but it has been so worth it.

We only employ great people and these lunches arereminding me that this is more than just words. It gives me a chance to hear the depth of understanding of our company, their integrity and what their own plans are for the future. They are full of ideas, well thought through questions and amazing pride for our company and importantly their contribution to its success.

During one of the lunches I was told tihs heart warming story: We had a team at a fair somewhere in Sweden and they all had dinner with employees from another exhibitor who were from a wine importer. There were 7 of us and 3 of them. During the dinner one of the other company’s employees said to ours “your boss must be pretty proud of what great people you have in your company.”

My answer was “darn right I am”.

Proof that we are doing something right and for the cost of a lunch a deeper relationship formed with our great people.
Cheers
Mark

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