Inspired by last week’s Ansel @ Alamo piece, Dan of Hubbard Family Swim shares this story about two Millennials, Erin and Erin:
John, I witnessed a QBQ! moment at our swim school …
Our child check-in system—an important tool that enables us to deliver swim lessons in a safe, non-chaotic environment—sometimes fails due to internet or software glitches.
Knowing our system was down, I visited our front desk customer service reps, Erin (18) and Erin (23), and noted they’d printed the names of all of that day’s customers. With highlighter pens and big smiles, they were diligently checking everyone in manually.
Our “service delivery” didn’t miss a beat! Not one parent noticed the computers were offline.
Nor was there any complaining or blame from the “Erins” such as:
“Really, the computers are down again?”
“Sorry, Mrs. Adam’s, they can’t seem to get it right.”
“When are we going to get better systems around here?”
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Dan, excellent example of outstanding service driven by personal accountability.
It’s commonly accepted that management creates an organization’s culture, but in Parenting the QBQ Way we write, “Our children are a product of our parenting.” So, one question regarding young Erin and Erin:
Are the attitudes and actions of these Millennials a result of good management or good parenting?
Comment below!
6 Responses
I think it’s both! Good parenting and good management! I believe growing up my parents taught me how to be proactive and take tasks in my hands to get them done. But, sometimes when you go to work you can get lazy because things are overlooked or nothing is done by them. Having a manager that encourages you to be proactive and a critical thinker helps you maintain that attitude in the workplace.
Kate, I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for sharing!
Kate, great answer … thanks!
As a systems architect, I like this example because it is a reminder that no matter how reliable we want to make things, we always have to enable the work around for when the system is down. Always leave the users with the ability to work the process when the system is down, and enable the users to understand the status of the system in case it does go down. Enable them to make the process work, and do not tie their hands to force compliance to a process that will fail. That is what I can do as a systems architect.
Jason, so true. And this work-around by the Erins worked!
Jason, great wisdom from you. Thanks!