I took this photo from my seat on an airplane, sitting on the tarmac, waiting to take off. As I sat there I saw no less than 5 employees walk, drive or dance around this suitcase, without one of them taking the time to do anything about it. Two guys drove a luggage cart right past it without stopping to see if it should go with them. The next pair came by with a gasoline tank and hoses – I could almost forgive them, they did have their hands full after all. And finally, someone with those directional flashlights scampered by on her way to direct another plane to the proper spot. She literally danced around it like it was put there for her amusement. But no one seemed concerned about getting this suitcase to its’ proper spot…..and it got me to thinking…..
What would happen in my business is something of relative importance was just sitting around? Would everyone walk around it? Consider it someone elses’ job to take care of it? Ignore it like it wasn’t there? So the day after I got back, I planned ‘Operation Suitcase.’ (That was code name for leaving a box in shipping and seeing how long it would sit there without someone attending to it as if it were their own precious luggage…) Well, I’m happy to report, it didn’t sit there for two minutes before folks were shouting out, “Who left this box here?” “Where does this ship?” “There’s no invoice in this box. Every box has to have an invoice.” I was outed immediately!! I thought we were going to have a riot in the shipping department because there was a box out of place! American Airlines – eat your heart out! My team is all over a ‘piece of luggage left on the tarmac!’
So then I decided to try it at home. Oh my, what a different experience. I decided to leave a bag of potatoes on the kitchen counter and see what happened. My husband’s a dentist and he’d have our home OSHA compliant if I let him, so he took issues with the potatoes right away. I explained what I was doing, and guess what? Those potatoes stayed on the kitchen counter until they started to grow those funny little sprouts (and I just couldn’t stand it anymore!) So while my office may be paying attention, we have some work to do at home. What are you walking past or dancing around today that needs your attention? Grab the ‘bag’ and get it where it needs to be!
