Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Just a job?

Rich Christiansen, now an entrepreneur and author of “The Zig Zag Principle,” remembers being a “peon” at a start-up company where “everyone was busting their gut to make this little leading-edge technology business work.” As he was leaving one night, he noticed that the office’s floor needed mopping and the place as a whole was pretty filthy. With an important potential investor set to visit the next day, Christiansen decided to come back that night and clean up.
The next day, there was a buzz among the workers as to who had secretly played janitor, and someone eventually figured it out. A vice president offered him a promotion and became a lifelong friend and mentor. Christiansen notes that “by being competent and looking for ways to give and do a little extra, I was able to form a relationship that has been mutually beneficial over the years.”

Do you 'just get by' in a job you consider thankless?
Or do you go out of your way to please your employer and customer?
I used to call that kind of behavior, especially as it applies to the boss, 'brown nosing'.
Then I realized I was just a jerk with a chip on my shoulder.
Now I do nice things for my boss, peers and customers because I like to.  Many times it's a simple act of kindness that I would/should extend to anyone.  I also try to make authentic connections with our customers (patients in my case).  
I find this not only makes their experience better, but mine too.
There are higher reasons also.  Colosians 3:23

1 comment:

  1. You should check out "Lynchpin" by Seth Godin - it's about how you can become indispensable in your job, not by working longer but by being a better human being and creative. Going the extra mile in human interactions makes people feel better about dealing with you instead of some nameless person at a big company (at best) or some jackwad you wouldn't want to spend two seconds with!

    I know I notice anytime some customer service person goes out of their way to do something above and beyond. Just a couple months ago I was driving through Nevada on my way home and I called a place in Denver to check if they had something that's a seasonal product and Colorado is the closest place I can get it from Kansas. The guy said they had some, and I was like could I pay for it over the phone and I pick it up tomorrow in the morning when we drive through? They weren't open til 1 PM and we were coming through at 9 AM - this guy actually volunteered to take it home and meet me the next morning on our way through! That's a good employee!

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