A typical summer Sunday afternoon, I was home with the kids yesterday, monitoring their comings and goings while my wife was out running errands. When she got back she told me about an odd encounter at one of the local upscale markets she had visited:
Like many "fancy" grocery stores, a vendor had set up a station with free samples. In this instance it was stocked with two kinds of sausages: one plain and one with mushrooms mixed in. When my wife approached the woman at the table, the vendor- in typical "sales" fashion- was very friendly and asked my wife if she'd like to try one of the mushroom sausages. My wife replied that she'd like to try one of each. Instantly, the woman's demeanor changed. The smile left her face, replaced by a sullen, somewhat angry look. The friendly tone departed from her voice and she- obviously grudgingly and with apparent misgivings- reluctantly indicated my wife could indeed try both.
The sausage-lady's transformation was so pronounced, my wife was taken aback. It affected her enough to immediately relate the incident when she returned home. She said she actually felt bad taking one of each... She certainly didn't buy either one, just moving on as quickly as possible. Somewhat distraught, she asked me what I thought had happened- Was it that offensive to try multiple samples?
I've seen this kind of behavior before, so I offered an explanation. The woman became too wrapped up in procedure. She had, as I see it, two tasks: 1) Maintain a supply of samples for patrons to try as they entered the store; and 2) Answer questions and promote the product so people would actually buy it, not just munch and wander off.
Unfortunately, the woman took task # 1 so seriously that she neglected task # 2. Task # 1 (maintain a supply) was the means to sell the sausage (task # 2). It really wasn't her mission to act as a quartermaster- that was just her job. Her mission was to sell the sausage! No matter how efficient she may have been at task # 1, by failing at task # 2, she just outright failed.
Procedures are important. They help us learn our jobs and they give us a framework in which to do them. But, our role isn't to perform routines; our role is to achieve results. If routines assist us, that's wonderful. But if they don't, they become a hindrance. My wife is of Polish descent and enjoys kielbasa, bratwurst and similar foods. If she hadn't been treated like a freeloading criminal, she very easily could have been swayed to purchase either or both sausages at the store. It's unfortunate the vendor focused so much on her job that she lost sight of her mission. What she misunderstood is the job itself is just a means to accomplish the mission.
At my company, Stewart Title, the corporate mission is "Deliver a magnificent customer experience through innovation in the real estate transaction process." I like it. Any mission statement that includes both magnificence and innovation promises not to be dull. It's a reminder that- even though there are a lot of checklists in our daily routines- the end result is not about signing papers. The result that matters is satisfied customers. However- alas- I'll be undertaking my mission today without any sausage...
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