Pay It Forward – Today and Every Day

Have you heard the story about the conscientious employee who, by being conscientious, prevented an injury from occurring to another colleague? Of course not, because typically we only hear dramatic stories when someone becomes injured. The reality is people are conscientious and do the right thing all the time – and is has a big impact!

Being conscientious and doing the right thing is a mind-set that needs to be encouraged, fostered, and developed, so it turns into habit. Regardless of reward or notice, or because someone was there to see it – if you knew your simple action might help a friend, colleague, or even stranger avoid becoming injured, almost everyone would do it.

Faith Technologies regularly discusses safe work practices and the importance of employees being conscientious of their surroundings, and the results are amazing. The mentality associated with doing the right thing for their own sake, and how this can impact others, is stressed, and each of them – whether they’re in the office or the field – then has the ability to impact their working environment in a positive manner every day.

And so do you. When you’re walking down a hall and you see a box that doesn’t belong there – pick it up and move it, or take the extra few seconds to ask where the box belongs and put it away. When you see something that has spilled, pick up a paper towel and wipe it up. These are examples of paying it forward. Others will see your actions, and it will start the momentum of others doing the same.

When I was 24, working at my first “real” job, my boss impacted me in this respect. One day, he and I were walking, when he stopped to straighten a floor rug. Wearing his expensive business suit, he got down on his knees to meticulously straighten out the large rug in the entryway of the firm. While doing this, he looked directly at me as he wondered out loud, how many people had walked past or stepped over the crooked rug. They all knew the right thing to do, and would have felt terrible if they knew doing nothing would cause someone else to become harmed; yet the rug had remained a crooked hazard. As he finished, he stood up, straightened his suit and tie, and said “my employees and my customers walk over this rug every day and when I can do something for them, I do.”

I still vividly remember this experience because of how sincere of a gesture and statement it was. Taking the time to do the little things, will cause others to do the same. It will positively impact them. Make your work a better place, and always take the time to pay it forward.