Truth of life 1: People’s policies matter, company policies don’t

I’m having some car trouble right now. Actually, my almost 5 year old car has had a series of serious mishaps in the last 12 months, and when I don’t have a car, just getting to and from work every day becomes a nightmare. I live in an area that is not served by public transportation and is remote enough that taking taxis to and from work is financially prohibitive.

Now, being quite the resourceful soul, I came up with what I thought was the perfect solution to my transportation difficulties. At work we have a ‘site vehicle’ which, as a sales rep, I have access to during working hours. However, when I asked if I could use the site vehicle to get to and from work while my own car was in the shop, my business manager’s response was a resounding “no.” When I asked why, he said it was a “company policy” and the vehicle insurance does not cover him or me for private use.

So after an exhausting and frustrating week of boring coworker trips and getting creative with the site’s car rules, something wonderful happened. One of my coworkers overheard me talking to my father on the phone and turned down his generous offer of $110 a day to pay for my cab fare to and from work. He stopped in front of my desk and mouthed the question: ‘Do you need a car?’ Within two minutes I knew she had a family ‘bomb’ currently sitting unused in the driveway. It was mine for the week if she wanted it. Which of course I did!

My work colleague, Mary is her name, offered me her family ‘bombshell’ for no other reason than that she is kind and generous, two qualities that are often devastatingly underestimated in our world today. She didn’t care if I could go to work or not. She would have continued her role and her duties regardless of my presence or absence. My BM, on the other hand, would be seriously compromised by my absence, as would our site and our business results.

It was then that I realized, with a ferocity that took my breath away, that what really matters is people politics. And while companies are made up of people and wouldn’t exist without them, it seems sadly acceptable that company policies don’t serve people.

Company rules made without heart, without regard for kindness or generosity, can never be implemented with either of those qualities when they are really needed. Mary, on the other hand, approached me with both qualities in spades, and I was reminded of an invaluable truth: people’s policies matter, company policies don’t.

And while most of us don’t give a moment’s thought to enforcing or complying with a ‘company policy’, how often do we think about our own ‘personal policy’ on a given topic?

So where are you standing? Is your ‘personal policy’ like that of an impersonal company, or like that of my friend Mary? Do you expect more than you give, criticize more than you praise, set “rules” when you could practice kindness, judge rather than forgive?

As an experiment, try the following for three weeks and see what a difference it makes in your own life and the lives of those around you:

1. Say ‘thank you’ to at least 10 people on your day.
2. Say “I’m sorry” to five people you’ve hurt or upset.
3. Forgive five people who have hurt or bothered you.
4. Practice one random act of kindness a day for 21 days.
5. Name five people you are grateful for each morning and another five each night.

Think of this as a spiritual exercise for your heart. And in the process you may even rewrite your own ‘personal policy’.