Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asks for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it.
The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.
“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”
Very motivated for the boss? The woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only brought 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.
“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”
Stephen Covey (Source: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
RB realizes that its employees need to sharpen their axes in order to live its core values - (team spirit, entrepreneurship, ownership and achievement).
RB conducts training and development sessions to improve employee competency (sharpen their axe’s) and organizational performance. Such sessions have the potential to align RB employees with corporate strategies. Fortune magazine noted that extensive and ongoing training and development is second only to stock options as a primary means of attracting and retaining talented workers. That is why RB gives its employees training depending on business need.
Let me tell you about our recent training. At the training session we gathered to sharpen our axes (i.e to remind ourselves the importance of these core values).
We had a full day training session; participants of the sessions were middle and higher management.
Indoor and outdoor activities were designed in which employees understood the importance of our core values. We were divided in to 5 teams and given different tasks to perform.
Let me give you an example of one activity in which we were given newspapers, magazine, scissor and tape.
All the teams were asked to be as creative as possible and make a dress with the material provided within 10 minutes.
Now this activity seems fun but also had an important lesson with it i.e how to perform as a team with scarce resources and limited time.
This activity reminded us of core value team spirit. Similarly other activities reinforced our belief in our other core values.
The training activity was based on the notion of learning with fun: And there is no doubt this training session has sharpened my axe!
