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Who's Your Daddy Now?

By Art van Bodegraven | 01/20/2016 | 12:59 PM

The Kid came home from school puzzled and needing explanations. Let's see, he asked, if Sven (his bio-Dad and Mama's second spouse) is Bobby's (his older brother) stepfather, is Hector (Bobby's bio-Dad and Mama's #1) my stepfather? No, said Mama. Then, The Kid wondered, who is my stepfather?

There is a societal issue that deserves further attention on another day. In The Kid's world, his friends are watching and worrying about their parents' impending divorces - or are terrified of the behaviors of their stepfathers, picked up in the resilient recovery from earlier divorces.

The issues are, in fact, complicated. The answers to questions are difficult and awkward. And, the impact on young offspring, and its pull on them away from what should be the golden years of youth. Chipping away at their attention to what it will take to build successful relationships and succeed in life.

We see parallel situations in the workplace. Staff seem to lose focus, slide into error proclivity, and can't maintain consistent performance.

It is a leadership responsibility to understand the factors at work in the lives of their people, and how outside conditions might be contributing to a situation that seems to cry out for coaching and counseling. That leadership responsibility extends to team leads, shift supervisors, managers, directors, even to motivated colleagues who will be leaders on some future day.

You cannot begin too early to connect at a human level with those around, above, and under you. There's a lot at stake: unit performance, peoples' jobs, and your future as a long-term leader.

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About Art van Bodegraven

Art van Bodegraven

Art van Bodegraven (1939 - 2017) was Managing Principal of the van Bodegraven Associates consultancy and Founding Principal of Discovery Executive Services, which develops and delivers supply chain educational programs. He was formerly Chair of the Supply Chain Group AG, Partner at The Progress Group LLC, Development Executive at CSCMP, Practice Leader with S4 Consulting, and a Managing Director in Coopers & Lybrand's consulting practice. Concentrating in supply chain management and logistics for over 20 years in his 50+ year business career, he has led ground-breaking strategic, operational, and educational projects for leading US and global clients. Art was principal co-author of DC Velocity's Basic Training monthly column for a decade, and was the principal co-author, with Ken Ackerman, of Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management, the definitive primer in the field. His popular blog, The Art of Art, has been a staple of DC Velocity's web site since its inception.



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