Bringing Home a Change

There once was a mechanic that belonged to his local BNI chapter.  Now this mechanic was very good at what he did, and even better he was business savvy, which really shows by how much networking he did.  Each and every week this wonderful mechanic would stand up and tell everyone that he was a mechanic and if the knew someone looking for auto repair that he was the man to do the job.

For quite a while the mechanic was satisfied with his results, until one day we visited another chapter and he saw the referrals flying.  He got so excited, he wanted his chapter to look like this.  He immediately approached the president after the chapter and inquired about the group.  He wanted to know exactly what they did as a group to become such a powerful referral source for its members.

The president explained how they built the group on purpose.  Choosing members based upon what referral partners were needed in the group.  The president actually spent well over an hour talking with the mechanic about the visitor’s days that were hosted, and all the hard work that the group put into growing.

The mechanic promptly returned to his chapter and told the story, hand jesters and all.  He became so animated while describing the energy, the vibrancy, the number of referrals moving around the table.  The well meaning mechanic wanted his group to look and feel like the group he visited.

Yet, here he was with the idea of what he wanted to happen in his group and a group that was having difficulty buying into his vision.   He did finally manage to get his group thinking that this kind of change would be a good thing.

So the group began making plans.  They scheduled a day specifically to bring visitor in and they were ready to grow.

Six months later they had added some members, the group passed more referral, and yet it still was not quite the same as the group the mechanic had visited.

As the mechanic sat back and reflected on what the president had told him, and he thought about all that his group had done in the past few months, he tried to figure out why the results were so different.

In the end the mechanic realized that he could do everything exactly the same as the group he visited, but there was one thing different.  The people.

The people factor is tremendous in how it effects the turnout of any change.  Does the people factor mean that the mechanic is doomed and he will never see a group like the one he visited in his own group?  Not necessarily.  What the mechanic now needs to do is embrace his group and understand its own dynamics.

This, of course, is a classic story of the grass is always greener in the other group, but the tale does not have to end with either leaving the new pastures, or staying in a brown ugly mess.  What this does mean, is that with proper tending the grass can be just as green in your own group!