The Runaway Train of Not-My-Jobism
The assistant takes a couple of days off for the holiday. A package, clearly marked, comes in on the first day. Supplies everyone’s been waiting for, something that gets used all the time. Everybody knows where to find it on the shelves. The next day, there it sits, on her desk. Finally, a receptionist puts it away, even though it’s not her job.
Cigarrette butts on the sidewalk outside the store. It bothers the clerks as they walk in together, talking about it. “You can still smell them,” one says. “It makes the place look like a dump,” says the other. “Building maintenance is getting so sloppy,” they concur. Nobody moves. It’s not their job.
There’s an epic of I can’t be bothered going on right now. Maybe at your company, right under your nose. I’ll call it “Not-My-Jobism.”
Once, I walked into my office and saw a whole bag of trash outside in the hallway. You want me to say I did something about it. I want to say that, too, but I didn’t. I mean, trash, and I’m in a suit. Eww. The next person to come in said, “Hey, can you believe they left last night’s trash out there? And it was heavy, too. The dumpster’s not so close when you’re carrying a big bag like that.”
Wake-up call for Kelly. It wasn’t this lady’s job, either, but it was gross for clients to see, and she wasn’t going to ignore it.
Do these things matter? Do they show? Is there an ROI to doing what needs to be done, even if it’s not your job?
Yes, Yes, Yes.
Wake-up call?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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25 March 2008, 8:26 pm
I had to share with you today. So I told you about the cigarette butt story, here’s another one.
Today a co-worker of mine, a new guy, tried to send a form to a different department. But he sent it to the wrong person. The recipient replied, saying “send it to this person” – who happens to report to her.
But, she could have perhaps just forwarded the form on to the right person and cc’d my co-worker?
*Oh no*, not her job. Not. Her. Job.
Sheesh. This is one of these ’2 minutes or less, just do it’ things that would have David K. Allen screaming…
25 March 2008, 9:46 pm
Brett,
In a word: It’s rampant. It’s one of the most essential, and trickiest things to tackle: why aren’t your employees engaged?
Nobody ever comes to an Experience Designer and says, my staff really get it, it’s like they’re on a mission with us, they’re our biggest fans and ambassadors… let’s just work on these other three problems. Because you know what? If employees believe in you, and you’ve got a well-oiled machine where nobody’s lazy or looking the other way—you don’t call an Experience Designer. You’ll likely put up with the other three problems, even really critical ones. You have to start to see the pattern, to realize you need to step things up.
The Customer Experience is at least 50% about the people customers have to experience. If they’re phoning it in like your form-rejector, that lack of caring will filter down to the customer level, even in B2B.
Or B2 Government? How does that work with you?
My Dad was in B2 Government (and Mom too, for a while); the human interactions (and general impressions like lazy) had a lot to do with which firms got the plummiest contracts, “official specs” or no.
These folks, when they’re at home and they see a sock that fell from the laundry, do they say “Not MY Job” and leave it there?
Regards,
Kelly