“It’s like a cattle market here”.  never a truer word spoken!  I visited one of my local markets today (I have been doing some work with them), and, as I’ve said before, you don’t have to look or think hard to find lessons everywhere – every day is indeed a school-day!

“Ready and waiting!”

WILT – what I learnt today –

1. Auctioneers really do speak that fast and that incomprehensibly to us folk who are not tuned in.  Those in the know – all knew what was going on
2. It’s a real team effort to make sure there are no snags or disasters.  If everything runs smoothly, nobody notices
3. ‘Buying and selling stock’ – that is what you would say was the main business?  As ever, it is the people who make the business, not what it does.  From stock men to back office checkers, to auctioneer to the farmers – everyone plays their part – and it wouldn’t work without everyone knowing their job and knowing that everyone else knows their place in the jigsaw
4. A lot of being on the farm must be fairly lonely – these sorts of gatherings give people their human fix.  The networking was quite astonishing
5. Everything happened so quickly – as a newbie, I didn’t quite know what was going on, so it seemed even faster…
6. When the auctioneer took me around the place before the sale started – I couldn’t help but be impressed by his deep knowledge of all the people there – “Are they like I described them on the phone?” “Yes – thanks”. Then an aside – “They are down from Cheshire – and I know which lot for, so that will sell well…”
7. I felt welcomed, not intruding.  And the bacon bap (and tea) were definitely up to scratch.  (I am making a sensible assumption that the bacon was not Danish?!)
8. There was an awful lot of banter and playfulness – it does seem to help.

So we have, communicate at the right level for your audience; look after and include new people; knowledge and networking help to oil the wheels of commerce; people need people; people make organisations flourish.  And finally – having fun makes the world, and the world of work, go around.

(And someone did bid on a lot whom I was sitting next to – I really did not breathe or blink for 2 minutes!  Anyone know what I can do with two store lambs?) (Joke…)

(Thanks for looking after me, Simon and the team.)