The Prerequisites

Honesty

It is obvious that employees should not steal from the Company, but honesty in communication is equally important.  When information is conveyed it must be the whole truth.  Our definition of a lie includes intentionally leading someone else to the wrong conclusion, even if all the information communicated is true.  This prerequisite greatly reduces the guessing and game playing that dominate many organizations.  It allows a tremendous level of faith and confidence in what everyone says; everything is aboveboard and can be taken at face value.

Integrity

Each employee must be someone others respect.  They do not necessarily have to be liked by everyone personally, but respect is vital in order to have confidence in the team members.  An employee who is not respected demoralizes the whole team.

Loyalty

We are all part of the Sunrise Company team; information regarding the Company cannot be shared with outsiders because of the possibility of it helping the competition and thereby damaging the Company.

Reliability

When someone agrees to complete a task by 5:00 p.m. Friday, the supervisor of that person needs to have complete confidence at 5:01 p.m. that the task has been completed.  If for any reason the task cannot be completed by the agreed-upon time, the burden is on the employee responsible for its completion to contact the supervisor as soon as it is obvious the task will not be completed on time (but certainly before the agreed upon completion time) to explain why it cannot be done and to agree upon a new time for the completion of the task.

This is a revolutionary idea in management.  It eliminates the need for follow-up by the supervisor and greatly increases productivity.  It also eliminates the necessity for the person who accomplished the task to telephone or write a memo to the supervisor advising that the task has been completed.  Confidence in the reliability of each member of the team is vital.

Curiosity

It is important to think constantly about the task you are doing and try to figure out a better way of doing it.  Ask why, how does it work and how can we do it better.  Be a constant learner.

Anticipation

It is important to think ahead and not be surprised by circumstances as they occur.

Positive Yet Realistic Thinker

Nothing slows down the functioning of and demoralizes an organization as much as a negative thinker.  It requires great negotiation and persuasion to convince a negative thinker to do what needs to and can be done.  It is also time consuming and terribly inefficient.  A positive thinker, on the other hand, approaches tasks from the viewpoint of “how can it be done” instead of “why it cannot be done.”

If a positive thinking employee responds that “it cannot be done,” the supervisor need not negotiate or try to persuade the employee otherwise, but can trust and accept the response and examine what other options can be pursued.  Likewise, if an employee thinks an idea will not work but the supervisor insists it will, a positive thinker will go about the task with the same energy that would have been brought to the task had it been the employee’s own idea.

In the end, if it turns out the supervisor was wrong, the supervisor will not have any doubts about the employee “sandbagging” the assignment and can accept the results as having been given a 100% best effort.  Conversely, if it turns out that the task could be done and the supervisor was right, the employee needs to have the confidence to recognize this and learn from the experience without feeling threatened, inadequate, inferior or guilty.

Rational and Logical Thinker

The exercise of good judgment and, therefore, good decisions depends on being rational and logical in order to consider all possible courses of action, weighing the probabilities of each outcome and the benefit or detriment of such consequences.  Being an organized person is an important ingredient to the thoroughness of “thinking things through.”

Team Player

Everyone on the team must do each delegated assignment with a 100% effort, even though they may question or not understand why or be in disagreement with the assigned project.  There will be reasonable time to discuss the assignment, but once the team leader makes the decision, everyone must perform with 100% effort.  Loners, no matter how talented, cannot be effective in a task that requires team effort.

Self-starter

Each person must be able to see what needs to be done within his or her area of responsibility and then get on with getting it done.  People who require excessive direction, instruction or guidance from their supervisory personnel create inefficiency, not only for themselves, but also for their supervisors.

Pursuit of Excellence

There must be a constant striving on the part of each employee for individual, personal and business improvement; increased efficiency; and increased competency.  It is legitimate to question every assumption and every conclusion in an intellectual, non-emotional manner to be certain that what we are planning to do is the best way to proceed.  New ideas and ways must be considered and tried in the “evolution of excellence” to which the whole Company is committed.  A constant learning process must exist for each employee — learning from both successes and mistakes.  The repetition of the same mistake is inexcusable.  Take pride in your accomplishments!  Be a thinker, not a blind follower.

Self Confidence and Self Esteem

The most common cause of failure is an employee’s unwillingness or inability to recognize or admit that the task assigned is not one that he or she can accomplish and/or that the employee does not know what he or she is doing. This situation results from the employee’s own feeling of insecurity.  All supervisory personnel should be happy to lend a hand to help the employee learn, grow and accomplish his or her tasks.  Failure to ask for help demoralizes the employee; eventually the truth comes to light and it’s all over!  Be confident enough, both in yourself and in the security of your relationship with the Company, to admit what you do not know and ask for immediate help.

Passion

It is important that each employee is knowledgeable and has pride in his or her contributions to the Company.  Don’t just go through the motions of doing your job — have enthusiasm for your job!  Learn every aspect of your position, department and our Company so that you will have the knowledge required for high performance.  When you enjoy what you’re doing you will do a better job.

Conclusion

We have found that people who possess the prerequisites are givers instead of takers and are usually more concerned about the welfare of the Company than their own self-interest.  This places a great responsibility on the Company not to take advantage of them, but to reciprocate with a genuine concern for the employee’s well being.  We continue our commitment to these ends.  No self-sacrifice is required, only mutual progress towards mutual goals.