The first four blogs of this series covered:
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- “If You Aren’t an Expert, Hire One”
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- “Are You Using the Right Gear to Get the Job Done?”
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- “Do You Know When to Shift Gears to Excel in Your Job?”
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- “Do You Have a Backup Plan?”
Over the years, I’ve learned the importance of the above tenants which can be as easily applied to fishing as they can to managing a department, running a company or reaching your annual, quarterly and monthly goals. The fifth in this series is “Are You Positively Flexible in Your Work”.
In early July, I fished with my dad, for a week, on Lake of the Woods in Canada. He is a pro and a fishing guide in his retirement. We typically cast for muskie in the rocks and weeds along shore. In fact, 90 percent of the time, while in Canada, we fish for muskie, the king of fish.
My dad is always prepared for problems in the boat, this is a real-life example of being flexible in your work. It is a good thing because his trolling motor was acting up over the previous couple of days. It would work perfectly and then it would quit. Then it would mysteriously start again and quit. He changed the batteries in the remote controller (he had extra batteries) and he ensured the boat batteries were fully charged. Still, we had problems with the trolling motor. For us, this was a crisis because we use that motor to steer while making pinpoint casts into the rocks and crevices where the muskie lurk.
Finally, while drifting in the middle of the lake, we determined that a piece of metal broke within the outlet the trolling motor was plugged into. We did not have a backup for this challenge. Let’s face it, it is impractical to have a complete backup of a fully rigged boat. He even tried to hot wire the motor to the electrical supply but that didn’t work.
With two days left to fish before heading home, what could we do? It is not our practice to troll for fish but that is exactly what we did. With a positive attitude and will to catch muskie, we started the big motor, put the baits in the water and started down the shoreline. Boom! Within 10 minutes I caught a muskie, my second of the day! It was not a trophy muskie but it was a muskie, nonetheless. We called this a success. We were successful because we were flexible in our approach to fishing. (I’d share a picture of this catch but the muskie and hooks got tangled in the net and I immediately released the fish to minimize stress on the fish.)
In the long-term (for us – two days), we ordered a new part for the electrical outlet. In the short-term, we still enjoyed fishing and our time together. When stuff happens, are you flexible in your work? Do you have a positive attitude toward the challenge? Do you look for other ways to accomplish your goal? Be open-minded. A new way might even be a better way than you originally planned.
Over the years, Talencio has offered a lot of flexibility to our clients. To learn more about how other medical device, bio-pharma, health IT and healthcare companies have partnered with us and tapped into our skilled professional talent pool, contact me at 612.703.4236 or email me at pnorbom@talencio.com. Talencio has been the preferred provider of vetted, accomplished professionals to the Life Sciences community for over eight years.