This is From The Balance Beam

[TheBalanceBeam] - Harvest Time

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THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 3 No. 13, November 26, 2002
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
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"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: HARVEST TIME
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
This week we celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., the time of the harvest and of giving thanks for all that is good and meaningful in our lives. In this issue of The Balance Beam, I offer you my memories of the harvest, and the inherent lessons for everyday living in our families and in our businesses. One of the things I'm thankful for is you, my readers, who invite me into your world every few weeks to share some thoughts and a simple connection. I truly value this, and wish every one of you a time of peace, reflection and gratitude for your holiday!

If you are interested in reading earlier editions of The Balance Beam, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
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Today's Topic: HARVEST TIME

In my dreams, I have this fantasy clip of having been raised on a farm, one of eight children with rosy cheeks, freckled noses and a penchant for chasing each other through haylofts and cornfields. The reality of my personal history is that I grew up a city kid, migrating with my family across regions to various hometowns, all having the common denominator of more asphalt than tilled soil.

I have this fond memory of the one year of my life that Dad decided we should try rural living. Mom wasn't crazy about it, but my brother and I were in seventh heaven. We had endless woods and fields to explore, a little stream, and a barn across the road that came complete with horses (not the carousel variety), pigs (as in animals, not banks) and real chickens (unlike the tie-dyed variety that we used to find in our Easter baskets).

The proud owners of this little slice of Americana were our closest neighbors. They lived at the bottom of the hill and had four kids, including two girls who were around my age. I remember watching with fascination how this family marshaled its energy in late October and early November for the harvest. They were a mass of synchronized activity as they picked and clipped and cut and baled and rode their tractor with all kinds of attachments on the back. The kids would complain some about having to do so much work - like it was their obligation as kids to make sure that everyone knew how they felt about the matter. But they groused with smiles on their faces and a sense of satisfaction that mirrored what I saw in their parents as harvest time came to a close, and they were able to see the fruits of their labor.

Harvest time. It's a concept that conjures up images of home and hearth, of freshly baked apple pies and wreaths decorated with bittersweet and rust-colored leaves, and Bible stories about reaping what you sow. When I think back to the harvest rituals of that family down the road, it also calls to mind the analogy to a finely tuned work team. Whether the activity happens on a patch of fertile ground or within the confines of a steel and concrete office, there are similarities in the essential elements that lead to a good harvest and a fruitful bounty.

Author Stephen Covey recognizes this analogy in a leadership training video called "The Law of the Harvest." In this program, he points out that farming is a process largely dictated by Mother Nature, and therefore very unpredictable. Many forces come to bear on the ability to produce a good crop, and the smart farmer is one who strategically plans for best case - worst case scenarios. Sounds an awful lot like the business landscape we've been experiencing for the past couple of years, and points to the need to be diligent and mindful in planning and executing both individual projects as well as broad business strategies.

So what are the lessons from the harvest that we can learn and apply to the work of leaders and teams in our organizations?

1. Be thorough in your preparation and planning. A strong harvest depends on effective crop rotation, soil preparation and careful planting methods. Likewise, a business needs to be crystal clear in establishing its vision, developing a strategic plan to get there, and laying the groundwork for strong production.

2. Emphasize collaboration and leverage strengths. Those large farm families don't simply issue a command to hit the fields and expect coordinated activity. Instead, they take time to establish who will do what by first considering what each person does best. Imagine the benefits to a team of systematically identifying individual strengths, and then defining roles on the basis of what will best leverage those gifts and talents.

3. Avoid shortcuts. There are numerous steps in the process for taking a crop from freshly turned soil to a field bursting with ripe vegetables for harvesting. If you try to skip the fertilizer or the pruning or staking up the tomatoes, you're asking for trouble. The same is true in business. While it's perfectly appropriate to look for ways of streamlining processes and creating greater efficiencies, trying to get by with band-aid fixes or lick-and-a-promise solutions will catch up to you in no time. And it won't be pretty.

4. Incorporate change. Just as the farmer has to be prepared for an early frost or mealy bugs or lack of rain, smart leaders tune their radar for unforeseen circumstances that may show up. They build in contingency plans ahead of time, and revise their approach to accommodate shifting developments with the potential to impact on the work of the team.

5. Celebrate success. The growing season on a farm requires many steps, careful tending and a lot of hard work. What makes it all worthwhile is the harvest, and the ability to tangibly see what all that effort and energy have produced. Farm families know how to celebrate what they have produced, and they use it as an occasion for joy and pride and coming together. Celebrations are equally important in business. In environments that are constantly striving for results, the opportunity to stop, acknowledge and rejoice in what has been created is essential. It reinforces people's hard work, provides momentum for the next big undertaking, and honors the human element in accomplishment.

Now that late fall is here, we're in the season of the harvest. On our farms and in our businesses, it's time to reap what we've sown. Do so with love and joy and respect, and be mindful of how you will begin preparing your fields for the next planting.
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Words to live by:
"Best of all is to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song."
--Konrad von Gesner

"On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence."
--William Jennings Bryan

"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!"
--Henry Ward Beecher

"Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night."
--Irving Berlin