Drew Janz is the third generation of his family to work as an electrician at Willmar Electric. He is currently our Project Manager in Oklahoma. He loves to tell people, “Willmar Electric has been putting food on my plate every day of my life.” It is a great line, but his Grandpa, Dad, and he deserve the credit.
Thank you, Drew, for being humble.
Drew credits two coworkers, Jerry Stinson and Greg Fletcher, with teaching him everything he knows about being an electrician. Whenever their names arise, he highlights the role each played in shaping his career.
Again, this is another humble move by Drew.
On several occasions, Drew has told me how it all started.
When Drew was starting in the company, he made a mistake (or two). His supervisor at the time decided that instead of mentoring him, he would mock him. Seeing this, Jerry took it upon himself to mentor him. He pulled Drew aside and showed him how to do the tasks. Jerry didn’t leave it to his family to teach him and could see firsthand that the supervisor wouldn’t do it.
People aren’t born natural electricians. They are made through the careful mentoring of others. The same is true of nearly every profession.
As time passed, Drew became Greg and Jerry’s supervisor.
Last week, we had our quarterly company training session for everybody in Oklahoma. Typically, our Project Managers lead a session, and this meeting was no different. Drew was assigned to lead a class covering our standards for installing conduit and pulling wire, the two most basic things we do.
As I watched Drew teach the class, I noticed Jerry staring at Drew in the middle of the room and taking it all in. I was amazed. There sat a man taking in the teachings of a man who claims to have learned everything he knew from him. (I realize that was a circular sentence that might be hard to understand.)
Wow. It drove home a point for me: Mentorship matters. We all have something to learn, and we can learn from each other. Regardless of our relationship, if we are humble enough to understand that we can learn from each other, we can benefit from each other.
When I see someone taking the time to mentor another person or recognizing they have something to learn from someone else, I reflect on my situation. What am I doing to help others improve? What motivates me to mentor someone else? Is it to serve and support them? If so, then everything goes well. If not, I will feel frustrated.
I also need to reflect on what I am doing to improve myself. Do I spend time with people who make me better and improve me?
Most importantly, have I thanked the people who have mentored me? Do I credit the people who have made me who I am today?
The modern world quickly uses the people around us to excuse our shortcomings. We would be better off if we took a positive tack and thanked those who helped us get to where we are today.
