Hard Work

What can a young team of hay buckers teach us?

Seeing a committed team all working hard toward a common goal is an inspiriting sight. This is my hay-bucking team from a few days ago. They un-stacked 200 bales, loaded it on a trailer, and restacked them my barn.  We had a few adults (my 74-year-old Dad, my brother-in-law, and brother) but as you can see, they were mostly kids (my children and their cousins) who were able to move 15,000 lbs. of hay in three hours. 

Three things about this high-performing team impressed me. First, they were working toward a crystal-clear goal.  We started at 7:00 am and hustled to finish before it became unbearably hot. They could visualize their goal and see their progress as one stack shrank and the other grew.  Second, everyone was working together. The bales weighed about 70 lbs. It is a challenge for adults to lift them but impossible for kids. The only way was to work in pairs and count in unison as they swung the bale up to team members higher up on the stack who then did the same. Finally, I was amazed at how little talking there was. There was no debate, no questioning, just the sound of resolute counting as they swung their bales higher. I believe my little band can be an example to leaders and even our nation.  Talking out problems certainly has merit, but so does coming together and rolling up our sleeves to work toward common goals. 

Hay bales are held together by two strings.  Every bale I have ever seen has strings of the same color.  For some reason, this farmer used one blue string and one red string.  Someone quipped “there is no red America or blue America, just hay… America!”