About 3 weeks ago, I took a step away from my desk – and into a pair of steel-toed boots. While it wasn’t the first time I’ve worked in a pair of safety shoes in my professional lifetime, it was the first in the past 6 years of my current role.
A 4:45 am alarm? Pretty darn early. Any lingering tiredness, though, faded quickly as I walked through the production employee entrance an hour later.
I met my supervisor for the day, grabbed a pair of safety glasses, and gloved up. After a few brief introductions to my new coworkers, I was ready for the challenge: Jennifer Porter, Parts Washer.
In my usual day-to-day, I’ve posted, updated, and promoted an open Parts Washer position on an almost monthly basis. Determined…Hard working…Attention to detail…An expert in preventing contamination…These were just words on a page before I spent a half day working in those exact shoes.
So, what did I learn – and re-learn – in the process?

1. Quality starts at the beginning. Quality isn’t something you can make adjustments for 50% of the way through a process. Yes, you catch or correct a mistake, but you don’t have to when you start correctly to begin with – with the cleanest clutch, with your very best work.
2. An assumption is the only result from judging what you haven’t yet experienced yourself. What did I think it was like working on a production line before I shadowed? Simple – and loud. What do I know it is now? Hard – and significant.
3. The mark of a leader is in their actions. Being a leader is a choice: a choice to help a new coworker when you’re not a “boss” in title, a choice to speak up when you see a business standard not being met, a choice to play by the rules for the greater good.
4. The most important part is every part. Sure, a transmission won’t function without a torque converter. Electronic communication won’t happen without a valve body. But when you can argue that every part is significant, they all are. In any company, no role is more important than another. Every job has its purpose – and without it, we’ll all fail.

Without the patience, guidance, and training of my peers, I would have learned only a fraction of what I did – and would have probably sprayed solvent in my eyes. But here I sit, with my full vision and new-found clarity. Do you really want to know the ins and outs of the business your hard work supports? Shadow a coworker. Come out from the back for an afternoon and work the front counter instead. Step outside of yourself and into a different kind of impact awareness.
 

The Woman Behind the Curtain stepped into some new [steel-toed] shoes to experience the Work Behind the Production Wall. Thoughts on what she learned and [re]-learned?  Share it below or with Jennifer directly.