I’m not big on catch phrases. Actually I’m not big on the ones that have been around forever like “When life gives you lemons make lemonade” or “A diamond only becomes beautiful under extreme pressure”. Despite their intrinsic truth you hear them when something terrible has happened and you’re not in the mood.
The one I used disliked the most is “Together Everyone Achieves More”. Boy that irritated me. It took a long time to figure out why it bothered me, and as it turned out, under the most unusual of circumstances.
I had a navy blue dress with big buttons down the side. I took it to the dry cleaner so I could wear it to my father-in-law’s funeral. I unwrapped it the morning of the service and was horrified to discover a button missing in the most obvious place imaginable. I frantically went through my closet to find something else appropriate. Luckily it all worked out.
I took the dress back to the cleaner a few days later and proceeded to tell the owner what happened (I’m sure I was louder than I care to remember). He went over to a machine and pulled the button right out of a drawer. He said it popped off the dress and someone should have taken care of it. Several of his employees had stopped working and were watching us. I looked at them and asked if they thought their jobs were important, and if loose buttons and broken zippers mattered to them at all. I further ranted by saying“You were the most important people in the world to me the other day! I spent my time and energy trying to find another dress because somebody thought my lost button was no big deal.”
That’s the day I realized I wasn’t a team player. I had not allowed my own employees to take ownership of their jobs. How did I expect to have the best possible service and productivity when I acted as though I were a one person operation? My customers may have received the same type of service disaster because of that.
So T.E.A.M. is a reminder now that just because I’m the owner doesn’t mean I can do it all. "There is nothing easier to learn than experience, and at the same time, nothing harder to apply." Oh, wait a minute…