Manufacturing Excellence - Inspire, Lead and Succeed with DEPENDABILITY!

"God does not begin by asking our ability, only our availability, 

and if we prove our dependability, he will increase our capability."

~ Neal A. Maxwell

"You can count on me." How often do you hear this today in our work environments? There are companies and departments that work together through difficulties and would never abandon a teammate in need, but these examples are rare. 

Dependability is a character trait demonstrating the reliability of a person by means of his/her integrity, truthfulness, and trustfulness, qualities that encourage others to depend on him/her.

When I speak to people, they often have the feeling that dependability and reliability are not too high on the priority list of most employees, and I would agree. However, have you ever asked yourself why? 

Most people are simply not aware how their actions may affect someone else's job, impact another department, or in the long run influence the end result. In many instances they don’t have proper role models and the actions and behaviours they see all around won't help them to improve their interpersonal skills. Have you ever noticed that people who are not dependable themselves ask other people to be more dependable? Never ask more of others than you expect of yourself!

I sincerely believe that the majority of people want to help and support each other but our corporate environments have unfortunately become very egocentric workplaces. When people observe that everyone is in it for themselves, their initial spirit disappears and what's left is negativity and frustration. 

If you cannot establish an environment of dependability, it not only makes it more difficult for you to do your job but  it also becomes difficult for your body, mind and spirit, which in the long run can affect your overall health. It is very important to have the cooperation of other people but this cannot be forced upon them. Dependability is a discretionary effort and I am not aware of any cases where people lost their job because they weren't overly dependable. 

Here is my simple piece of advice. Always do what you say and say what you do. If you are able to inspire people by demonstrating dependability first, others will want to follow your lead.