A
couple of weeks ago there was a heat wave in the Northeast. This heat wave
brought two straight weeks of 100 degree heat and humidity. One day in the
midst of this, I decided that I needed a break from the air conditioning and
ventured out for lunch. I visited a fast-food sandwich chain (that shall remain
nameless) where you can create your own sub sandwich with a choice of bread,
meat, and vegetable toppings. Upon
arriving, I noticed right away that it was hot when I walked in. Then I noticed
the big line and the sandwich makers looking stressed out. I waited on the line
and listened to all the issues. In front of me there was an owner of a
landscaping company that was taking his crew out to lunch. The men in this crew
were all hot sweaty and hungry. There was no relief from the brutal heat in
this restaurant. After all the men got their sandwiches, I heard from the
worker at the cash register that not only was the air conditioning broken, but
so was the ice machine for the soda. As a result they were serving only bottled
soda, not fountain. When the owner of the company got to the register to pay,
he learned there were not any napkins. The worker said that the food service
company did not deliver them. The owner of the landscaping company said, “I can
understand the air conditioning, I can understand the ice machine, but there is
not any excuse for not having napkins. If I were you, I would go across the
street {to the discount store} and buy some.” The response of the worker, “I do
not have the authorization to do that.” So if it was not his job, whose job is it?
Who has the authorization to do that?
This reminds me of issues that are faced
every day in all kinds of workplaces. People everywhere deciding it is not
their job to do something so small that could make a huge difference. This is
true in the sandwich shop and in our workforce development offices. Every
employer has some kind of task that needs to get done for the quality of life
and efficiency of work, but is not in anyone’s job description. It might be
buying napkins, cleaning the office refrigerator, sweeping the floor, organizing
the files, or making copies of the required forms. So who should be doing these
tasks? They belong to everyone and no one.
What this means is that everyone needs
to make a personal decision. Are you going to walk away from a messy pile of
papers or take a moment to file them where they belong? Are you going to decide
that people who eat at your restaurant need napkins, even when not explicitly
told to buy some?
As workforce development this is also an
area that we can counsel our job seekers on. This falls into the taking initiative
category. How do you talk to your job seekers about taking initiative? A good
approach would be scenario based. Giving examples of scenarios, like the
napkins at the sandwich shop is one way to approach this. While giving these
scenarios, I would also suggest discussing the “what could have happened.” Are
their repercussions on actions taken? Positive and negative impacts on actions
or inactions should be discussed, so that job seekers can make better choices
and for some take initiative in future situations when they did not in the
past.
PONDERING POINTS
§ Are there opportunities
to show initiative in your work place? What jobs in your company or
organization do not belong to one specific person, but rather everyone as a
group?
§ Have you ever counseled job seekers on taking initiative?
§ Do you think
that taking initiative could be considered scary for some job seekers? How can
you work with job seekers to work past their fear?
I enjoy feedback and comments. Feel free to post a comment or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. ~Karen Cirincione
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