Inspiration & Action: Weapons of Choice

So I took a moment…

What a great accomplishment, I thought.

And then I got to thinking about how we got here, and two things came to mind – inspiration and action. In that order.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
– Walt Disney

Closer to the time that I had decided my dad’s company needed a serious transformation, I was reading Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. I was also greatly inspired by Pour Your Heart into It by Howard Schultz. What stood out to me about both authors was their focus on making a difference through inspiration and action.

In my mind, inspiration is the root of everything good. It has this amazing ability to take over, push fear and doubt aside and give life to an inner strength that’s within all of us. Inspiration clears the way for you to do big things with greater confidence. More importantly, it helps us identify the importance of initiative and commitment, which power action.

Being recognized as an organization that is transforming the way people experience work is proof to me that inspiration really can shape reality. I look around and see how valuable this undertaking is and how much commitment to change it actually requires.

When you really think about what it takes to change anything in life, let alone the way an organization and its people function, change is demanding, and requires more than just inspiration. It requires sincere initiative and commitment to put action to thought – because without these elements, even the most brilliant acts can’t come to life.

From an employer perspective, workplace happiness wasn’t made a priority until very recently, and there are still a whole bunch of companies out there playing catch-up. I say that as someone who’s been an employee, but also from the vantage point of a leader. Having taken on the responsibility of being the CEO of a company, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that ignoring issues just because we don’t see their consequences very obviously is detrimental to success.

It’s taken years of social research and workplace analysis for leaders to really listen to employee feedback, and about two years ago, Hays Canada conducted a study on workplace happiness, which took look at how well people matched up with their company culture. The findings were grim – 47% of Canadian employees weren’t happy with their jobs. What kind of life is that?

People come into work every day and spend more time with colleagues and coworkers than they do with their families. And yet somehow, many employers continue to ignore this reality, feeding into the idea that home life and work life are two very separate things – and should be kept that way. It seems odd to me that many of us still think this way, because we’re human. We’re susceptible to negative experiences impacting us on all fronts and at any time, so when things are tough at work, we often take that stress home, and if things aren’t going well at home, performance at work can suffer.

This makes overall employee happiness a significant factor when it comes to success, and that’s something we place a deep focus on here at Roma Moulding. In my opinion, it’s the action we’ve taken to make employee happiness and work culture a priority that makes us a top employer. That action is also why we share a great sense of pride in the growth we’re constantly working toward and achieving. We aren’t just strong or innovative or any of those other cool buzzwords you see thrown around so often.

We’re open. Open-minded and open-hearted, which allows us not just to aspire to be something great, but to actually be something great.

It’s why we love learning together and becoming bigger and better every day.

It’s what fuels action.

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