Win-Win

Most of my days are devoted to finding win-win outcomes. Everybody serves themselves, what an individual in my position must do is foster and describe situations in which someone is able to feel they have gotten what they always wanted while providing benefit to the brewery.

The secret to finding a win-win, in my estimation, is finding the upside to a situation, no matter how disastrous. This could perhaps be embodied in one of my tiresome (to others, not me, obviously) quips; ‘I love when we crash vehicles, we pay for insurance, it would be a shame not to use it’ Hence, a win-win when Ross rams something, or many things.

Tyson wants to take vacation? Win:Tyson; he gets some much needed time away, Win:Brewery; his staff is left to test their competency and feel more vested.

Our rockstar hard-working head brewer gives notice. Win:Brewery; Unleash the potential of remaining staff. Win:Tyson and the production staff; Promotions and Raises abound.

A big ass motherf*&@ing piece falls off the bottler. Do I yell at the bottling crew for not noticing? Nope, we make a contest and boost our web presence. Win:Brewery; Sweet marketing initiative. Win: Bottling Crew; Discovery of a new maintenance and oversight process.

We are outsourcing Human Resources. Do we need an hr department? In ways you can’t imagine. Does everyone hate hr? Sure seems that way. Win:Brewery; We actually comply with laws and take care of people. Win:Cousins; They are free to openly hate the human resource department, talk shit about it while still being supportive of all their coworkers.

Other times, win-wins emerge out of pure selfishness. Because we are a growing company I am always looking for people to take on new tasks and responsibilities, because I don’t want to do them. The process starts with me imagining the job and its attributes and running down the list of people available who might be a match. It has worked so well that we decided to semi-formalize the process: Ask our staff what they like to do, what they are competent at and what special training they may have. Win:Brewery; Tapping into the vast reserves of assets available to it, no extra charge. Win:Cousins; They actually get to do things they like and feel competent at.

Got a situation you think could never be a win-win? Try me. I’m pretty good. And modest.

Hugs and Kisses,

Greg