“Intention” is defined by Webster’s
dictionary as “a determination to act in a certain way.”
When we know the leader’s intention, we
know what is expected.
When we hear or read the leader’s
directions, we know what we are expected to do.
When you see actions being taking by the
personnel in an organization, you know they’re carrying out the instructions
given by their leader.
Or do you?
Recently I heard an interesting story about a customer who had bought two steel tool cabinets at a retail store. Because the store did not stock the items, they had to be shipped from the nearby area warehouse, the customer was told to return the next day and pick up his purchase.
Next day, when the customer showed up at
the store he was directed to the customer pick up kiosk. A sign in the kiosk instructed
him to use the scanning machine and either scan his receipt or the credit card
used for the purchase. Because he had not brought the receipt, the customer
scanned his credit card.
No store personnel were evident. And
reading farther down the sign, the customer saw the store “Minute Guarantee: his
purchase would be delivered to him in five minutes or less. In fact, beside
this sign was another framed sign proudly stating that for the last month 99%
of the orders were pulled and delivered in less than five minutes.
This is good.
Leadership, aware of the importance of
time and how customers have come to expect not 2-day delivery, but 1-day delivery
and even same day delivery had devised a plan for 5 minute delivery.
This is good plan. Or is it?
Time on the “game” clock passed. At four minutes and forty five seconds a warehouse employee came through the door and asked the customer for the last four digits of his credit card. The customer promptly provided the four numbers.
Without any additional conversation, the
employee disappeared into the warehouse. Another seven minutes pass and the
customer begins to think what’s going on.
During the seven minutes another
customer appeared to pick up his order. As the first customer watched, he saw
the customer scan his receipt and wait. While customer one looked up at the
time clock, he noticed something unusual. His order processing time had stopped
at four minutes and forty five seconds. That was eight minutes ago when the
warehouse employee had appeared and asked for the last four digits of his
credit card. Surely something was amiss.
After a short time the warehouse
employee reappeared and asked for the second customers last four digits of his
credit card. Quickly looking at the processing clock, the first customer
noticed that the timing clock for the second customer had stopped at three
minutes and five seconds.
Time can be elusive. When we’re having a good time, time seems to past quickly. When we experience frustration and delay, time drags. Yet, in positive or negative situations, time is time. The customer timing clock on the wall was neutral, neither positive nor negative. It reflected elapsed time. For the first customer the clock stopped four minutes and forty five seconds into the delivery process. For the second customer, the clock revealed an elapsed time of three minutes five seconds.
Time had been suspended and neither customer had received his order.
One of the great things of human brain
is that it is able to compute what is happening. To make good on the leader’s intent—orders
deliver in under five minutes—the timing clock had to be stopped prior to the
five minute mark.
While the leader had created an
excellent customer service strategy, the warehouse employees were unable to or
did not care to execute the plan as designed.
An idea to highlight fast customer service and build good will had been
turned into a way for employees to provide tangible proof (the timing clock
report) that they were fulfilling their mandate.
This article is about the leader’s
intention, it was good.
This article is about the warehouse
personnel’s execution, it was disappointing.
This article is about customers who will
shop somewhere else and the leader will never know why.
This article is about why this business will
soon be out of business.
Three Point
Success Summation
SUCCESS
THOUGHT: Make certain that you get the results you intended. A
good plan may be poorly executed due to misunderstanding, under training or
lack of assets to carry out the plan. It’s a funny thing about intent. To get
what you intended, the execution of the intent must be as intended.
SUCCESS
QUOTE: “The best laid plans of mice
and men often go astray.” —Robert Burns
SUCCESS
ACTION: Follow up on all plans,
orders and instructions to insure they are being followed as you intended.
BOOK REMINDER: My success and motivational ideas book, Mentor In The Mirror, is available on Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble. Go to: www.waynenalls.com or www.mentorinthemirror.com for additional information and a free review of the book.
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