A Boy and His Dog – But Unlike Any Other!
As I was eating breakfast this morning I read this story in the Lexington Herald-Leader:
“A boy with autism and his dog find a world in common”
I’m not sure what I could say about this beyond the fact that I’m amazed at the intelligence of this black lab, the love and patience of the family and therapists of this boy, and mostly the professionalism of the trainer of Mercury, the dog.
I don’t want to give away the story… so I better have you go read it first. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Now, my attempt to add something of value to this story. While it is inspiring to me to see the example of love and concern these people all have for Michael and for Mercury, I want to focus on Jo Brosius, the dog trainer. Did you notice:
- Ms. Brosius, while confident in what she did, was unsure of this new situation and surroundings, but plowed ahead anyway.
- She had “a million ideas. Some worked.” Obviously, some didn’t. But she kept at it. (And no one gave her a “poor [tag]performance review[/tag]” because of the things that didn’t work!)
- When she got stuck, she reached out for help - a sign of strength, not of weakness.
- She let others into her workspace without hesitation (by letting therapist Durham be involved with how to handle Mercury).
- She spends a couple hours a week doing this with no monetary reward (although I’m sure that would be nice for her).
Do your employees act like this?
Are they focused on your work processes, on your product quality, on your [tag]customers[/tag] like Brosius and the others are focused on Michael? “Oh, but Scott, that’s so different – these people are trying to help this lad; this is more than work to them.” Is it? Maybe that’s exactly why they do what they do – because they love it!
Workforce Expertise:
If you find someone like Jo Brosius who loves what they do this much…
- not just because she was donating her services,
- but because she is so willing to do “whatever it takes” to succeed
… don’t let them get away!
