“Grace, Jim and I are excited to hear about the next phase of the Genesis Project”, began Shirley. “If you have been able to raise the creative consciousness of your workforce that’s something that we haven’t seen done before. Please tell us what you’ve done.”
“Before I get into the project specifics, I need to give you some background information. Several years ago, our local school board decided to give every child an electronic tablet once they could read. Children could take the tablets home, as well as use them in school.”
“I thought that was a wonderful idea. We already gave our office employees computers, so why not give our production employees a digital device. On those devices, we loaded job instructions. We gave them company news. We had testimonies from customers.”
“So, when Shirley told me that she had a number of stories of beginnings and of creative people, I decided to issue one of those stories each week. Along with the story, I posted a question asking for input on what we could do better.”
“Great”, said Shirley. “How did that work out?”
“Unfortunately, not well at first. The input I received was mostly negative; bitching about something or someone they didn’t like. But then, it changed. I received a note from one of our employees. Here’s a copy.”
“Let me tell you about a beginning that involves my dad. I’m sure you’ve seen movies where a train comes to a sudden stop and the wheels screech. That shouldn’t happen in the wheels are properly greased. My dad’s job was to grease those wheels. He would have to lug a heavy can of grease along the train track and grease the wheels on each car. The terrain was often very unsteady, and it made it difficult to walk while carrying that can of grease. Then he would have to bend over to apply the grease. His back was killing him.”
“He decided there had to be a better way. He created an early version of ATV. The grease can was attached to the back. He then developed a hose attachment with a quick connector to the wheel. He could apply the grease while standing.”
“When the local head of the railroad saw what my dad had done, he took it to corporate. Now my dad’s device is used in every maintenance yard. He never got any money or recognition for his idea. He wasn’t expecting any. He just wanted to do his job better. But I can tell you, he was mighty proud of what he had done.”
“Now I’d like to make my dad proud of me. Here’s my idea.”
Grace could tell that both Shirley and Jim were fighting back tears as they read the note. “What I did was to publish this note as one of the next beginnings, with the employee’s approval. But he didn’t want me to use his name.”
“And, what happened?”, asked Jim.
“I started getting many more of these stories. A fire was lit. I’m amazed at how many beginnings stories exist. But it seems like the telling of the story has stimulated that part of the brain you’ve been telling me about Jim.”
“But there’s so much more to tell you when we meet next.”
* * *
“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” – Bill Moyers