The Power of Meaningful Suggestions

The Power of Meaningful Suggestions

By Marc Blackman

At Gold Eagle, we often talk about work place culture, finding your purpose, innovation, continuous improvement and leadership.  We also talk about putting people first.  Indeed, one of Gold Eagle’s core values is being a People First Organization.

A key to being a People First Organization is to value each other, listen to and respect one another and seek input and ideas from everyone.

I often ask for team member suggestions.  But what is a meaningful suggestion?  Is it cost savings, time efficiency, new sales ideas, process improvements or new acquisition opportunities?  All of these?  Yes, and so much more.  Meaningful suggestions start deeper.

I believe “Everybody Matters” and that everyone’s opinions, suggestions and input matters.  We must look inward at ourselves and hear suggestions from all of us, both inside Gold Eagle as well as from our customers and stakeholders.  And we must do so with love, respect and care for each other.

Sounds simple, right?  Not really.  One of the wonderful aspects of Gold Eagle Company is that we’ve had team members who’ve been with us a long time.  10, 20, 30 years of employment is fairly common here.  As wonderful as this is, there is also a feeling of “We’ve always done it this way.”  “That’s worked for us in the past.”  “I’ve been here a long time, and I know what works.”  There is also a wide range of experience levels, industry backgrounds and skill sets within all aspects of our company.  Manufacturing, blow molding, quality assurance, sales, marketing, human resources and finance are just some of the areas undergoing significant changes as new and legacy team members join together on our journey.

Although this can be challenging, this gives us a great opportunity to hear meaningful suggestions.  If a new team member has a suggestion, we should hear it with care and respect.  If a more seasoned team member has a meaningful idea, here too we must be open minded.  Not every suggestion can be implemented, but we do want to hear all meaningful suggestions.

What is a meaningful suggestion?   How about YOU tell ME.  I’m listening…

Marc