“At a local university back in March, a professor was interrupted during a lecture by a maintenance technician who was there to adjust the classroom clock for Daylight Savings Time. The professor stopped the lecture. She was about to mention that the clock had stopped months ago and that she had requested that the batteries be changed, when she realized that the technician would obviously realize the clock was not working because the time was wrong. To her amazement, and to the amusement of the students in her class, the technician (let’s call him ‘Jobsworth’), climbed the ladder and simply reset the clock one hour ahead. The new time on the clock was still nowhere near the correct time. ‘Hey,’ said Jobsworth as he picked up his ladder and left the room, ‘they told me to set all the clocks ahead by one hour. Some other guy is in charge of the batteries.’
You may find this story amusing, but the sad fact is we have all seen that type of behavior before. It’s the same as when we find ourselves saying, ‘Hey, I know we lost that bid, but don’t look at me, I did my part.’ We are perpetuating a process-driven compliance model that encourages us to behave in ways that do not help us win in the marketplace.”
These articles were originally published by Vic Romita. Vic is the President and CEO of Romita Solutions LLC. Romita Solutions LLC helps your company build trusted business relationships with your clients by developing sellers and sales leaders capable of solving critical client business problems yielding better business results. Follow him on Twitter @VicRomita.
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