It isn’t summer anymore!

I have always believed that a little showmanship helps get a point across, especially when talking to a group.  Twenty five years ago, our manufacturing business used to be quite seasonal, much more so than now.  From the middle of June until late December, things were especially slow, suddenly picking up about the first of the year.  During the summer people did not have to work too hard to keep up with our orders. Everybody knew that summer was the time to “goof off” without fear of reprisal from top management (me).

One year by late January we were slipping ever further behind in meeting our customers’ expectations for delivery and it just seemed to me that people were still in summertime mode.  I scheduled a general meeting to talk about it.  We had company-wide general meetings every three or four weeks just to keep people informed and to answer any questions they might have.  

As the meeting time approached, I knew a needed an attention getting gimmick. In a last minute, desperation driven, panic to find the perfect opening for the meeting, I grabbed an old pair of blue jeans I kept in my office and cut the legs off to make shorts.  Then I spotted an old tee shirt that had been too small for a few years. With the shorts, tee shirt, and no shoes or socks, I was clearly out of place for the cold January day in our old (and cold) factory.

When I walked into the meeting on the factory floor, it was apparent something was up.  I announced that “It isn’t summer any more” and went on to explain that we had to shift into our winter "high productivity" mode.  And we did!

This was the same group of employees who would (and did more than once) work until midnight or even 3 a.m. to finish a large order for a customer truck to pick up the next day.  They were not slackards and needed only a reminder of the time of year it was!!