Don’t Pat Yourself on the Back too Quickly
Ever do something you thought was spectacular? Ever do something you thought for sure would get your boss to notice you? Then it blows up in your face and you spend the next few days/weeks trying to dig out of the hole…
The guy working on the Pit Crew saw a tire heading for disaster. His instincts took over so he chased it down. In his mind, he saved lives. In the minds of NASCAR officials and drivers, he ruined a race. I call it ‘perception is reality’.
Going Above and Beyond
We’ve done this with our customers so many times, I could write a book. This is an example that comes to mind.
A mergers and acquisitions firm was having MAJOR email latency issues. Their Exchange server was full, end users were screaming, it was Friday afternoon and downtime was not an option. Always trying to please the customer…. What did we do? We sent a server via next day air and dedicated two engineers for the entire weekend to transfer as many mailboxes as we could to the new server to reduce the load.
By the end of the weekend, we felt we had solved world hunger. Our team was high-fiving each other, and we were thrilled to have done something most thought was impossible. Well, that was our perception.
Oh, it Hurts!
What was customer perception? Not everyone accessed their email the same way Monday morning. They had to enter their passwords a second time, and some of the top managers were not converted to the new server and were upset. Not being ‘IT People’, they had no idea what we had pulled off, and instead, we were given multiple slaps on the wrist. On top of that, our server was left in place for an extra seven weeks, while they tried to decide what they wanted to do. This was even after we had gone over all the ‘worst case scenarios’, and the CEO had given us his blessing to give it a shot…
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished… Their Perception was our Reality
What could the Pit Crew have done instead? There are a few answers, but one that comes to mind is to check with the crew chief and the NASCAR officials before running into harm’s way. This is pretty standard communication, accountability and chain of command practice. Hindsight tells us that NASCAR would have brought out the caution anyway, but it would have been their decision instead of the Pit Crew’s decision and the drivers would not have lost a lap.
Is a life worth a lap? Good question. In the end, the Pit Crew made a risky decision to avert a potential disaster… almost like falling on a grenade in the military. What did the Pit Crew get in return? Drivers accused them of ruining the race, and they got a hefty fine from NASCAR. Would I have done the same thing? Instinct tells me yes, but experience tells me not without checking with my boss (crew chief) and the customer (NASCAR) first…
What would you have done? What HAVE you done before that you are willing to admit?
Leave me a comment, below. We respond to every one.
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Did you see that NASCAR guy run across the track? Sometimes my IT people do it, too…. http://tinyurl.com/HeroToZero