Learning to Connect Early in Life
#ConnectionsMatter
Learning to Connect Early in Life
In spending the past two years writing The Connection Blueprint and really specializing in skills for leaders to connect with their employees, I realized that I learned to “connect” from my Dad.
My Dad was a wheat farmer in North Dakota. Farming is a very solitary occupation, and he was one of the younger farmers in the area. At least twice a week, he loaded our family – Mom, brother, sister, and I, up in a vehicle, drove to the neighbors for “coffee”. Most often, this was with our neighbor Johnny down the road or grandparents who lived a couple of miles away
These visits consisted of drinking coffee and talking about farming. If I would have paid more attention, I’m guessing he got great advice from them. There are not a lot of books about farming – you learn when to plant, fertilize, what crops work best, insuring against the weather, harvesting and maintaining equipment from experienced farmers. It’s a challenging occupation, a little like playing the stock market aggressively each year as you hedge your annual earnings against weather, disease, and price fluctuations
My son, my dad, and neighbor Johnny having coffee.
During these sessions, my siblings and I tried to learn to drink coffee with a tremendous amount of cream and sugar (early Starbucks?) and find something to do to entertain ourselves without being bothersome while they talked. Even though none of these neighbors had children our ages, we always found something to do and also learned to sit quietly while adults had a conversation.
Dad made a connection with those around him. They trusted each other for advice, called each other when they needed help and shared equipment. It’s taken me a lot of years to recognize that this time spent with the neighbors was key to his success as a farmer. The collaboration and respect built teamwork that although wasn’t required, was extremely valuable.
As time went on, neighbors stopped at our house for coffee too. My mom did lots of baking which was a great draw – hard to resist her chocolate chip cookies or fresh cinnamon rolls. I also know my Dad began to be asked for advice more as he did well in farming and his reputation grew as a hard worker and thoughtful decision-maker.
Today, we don’t often stop to connect with our neighbors and have coffee. I believe our 1:1 meetings with our employees can serve this same purpose.
Let’s slow down, get to know each other, learn from each other, and maybe have a cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie while doing so.
Keep up with Nodus & Nodus President
Debbie Waggoner.