How many times have you heard, “We’re not allowed to do that because we need to follow the process”? I had a great example this morning when catching the train out of Kings Cross, dropping into the Carluccio’s chain to pick up the Italian breakfast of a coffee and pastry. Carluccio’s, hidden on the top floor of the St Pancras building, meant I went out of my way to try something different.
The entire shop was quiet, though the main door was open so I walked in. As I entered, the waitress, obviously setting up for the day by putting pastries on the shelf turned to me and said, “We don’t open until 8”. I walked out, empty handed and Carluccio’s lost another customer for the day.
This, by itself, wasn’t so much of a problem, if it wasn’t so rampant all over the world. Just another example of using the “process” to justify not being to able to give the customer what they wanted. This would never have happened with my normal coffee shop, the Farm Collective.
Imagine if, this waitress, explaining how they don’t normally open until 8, but would go out of their way to give me a coffee or, at the least, sell me a pastry for breakfast. Imagine the story I’d be telling now.
How often do you see this in the organisations you work with?
