7

Flexibility Meets N. Flexibility

flexibility was doing some reflecting of his own but in a much different manner. As he sat on the floor of his office in the lotus position, Flexibility sank deep into a transcendental meditative state. He believed he had reached the level of enlightenment. His mind was clear, and his thoughts flowed as if he were conversing with himself. “Flexibility, you must go back to the basics to get Excellence back. You have done a fairly good job of defining our employees’ roles and responsibilities in their work, and creating policies and procedures about how to operate our business, but you have failed to create an infrastructure or, perhaps better said, a platform where employees can use their own judgment and common sense in situations that do not fit the mold.

“What if the solution to your issues and problems might be found in listening to the people involved in the process rather than trying to solve it with a policy? What if you were always to provide the relevant people the opportunity to be involved in solving the problem? What if you created a culture that encouraged your employees to know and understand your policies but gave them the freedom to bend the policies in unique situations? You could teach them to adhere to the core principles of a great customer experience even if it departed somewhat from your normal policies. Certainly, you must create some boundaries, but you have some smart and talented people here. You ought to show a little respect and give them a little credit and latitude.

“What if you were always to provide the relevant people the opportunity to be involved in solving the problem?”

“Careful now. You’re going to strain something there,” a voice said from seemingly far away. Flexibility opened his eyes and was startled to see a man standing over him with the most ramrod-straight posture he had ever seen.

Flexibility took a deep breath and looked up at the man from his lotus position. “Can I help you?” he asked politely but somewhat guardedly.

“Seems to me that you may be about to stretch beyond your capabilities,” the man said dispassionately.

Unfurling from his position, Flexibility replied, “I’m not sure what you are talking about. I am very limber.” He hesitated and then said, “Who are you, anyway?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean you personally,” N. Flexibility said. “I was referring to your employees and you asking them to use their own judgment and common sense. Even you know that’s a bit of a stretch,” he said, smiling now. “And it’s a fairly major risk, if you want my opinion.”

Getting up, Flexibility began, “How did you—”

N. Flexibility interrupted with a wave of his hand, “It doesn’t matter how I know what you were thinking. I’m just here to help, to prevent you from making a major error in judgment.”

N. Flexibility’s demeanor was so matter-of-fact and his posture was so upright that Flexibility forgot about caring who he was. He inquired, “Major error in judgment?”

“I understand you received a ransom note for your Excellence.”

“Yes,” Flexibility replied.

“Well, I can understand how you might take that personally,” N. Flexibility said. “The biggest mistake you can make right now,” he asserted with authority, “is to overreact. If you start allowing your employees to ‘do their own thing,’ even if you think you put in appropriate boundaries, well … ” He laughed sarcastically.

“But—” Flexibility began.

“Use your common sense!” N. Flexibility declared. “You have good policies and procedures. Follow them. You are not responsible for the kidnapping of Excellence.”

“We cannot ignore that Performance has fallen here!” Flexibility said.

“I’m not asking you to,” N. Flexibility replied. “But I think you owe it to yourself to look for the reason for Performance’s fall. Let me tell what you’re going to find,” he said. “You’re going to find issues related to the economy. You’re going to find flaws with suppliers who are adding to your costs. You’re going to find increased regulatory changes adding undue pressure to your operations. You need to operate in the real world,” he said emphatically. “These are cold, hard issues affecting your Performance. You are too soft! If you give your employees enough rope, they are not going to find Excellence and lasso her in. What they are going to do is hang themselves, and the company too.”

Flexibility was getting angry. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, a technique he had learned to control his anger. When he opened them, he was alone. “Could he be correct?” thought Flexibility. “I mean, the economy, our suppliers, the regulatory changes, they really are outside of my control.” Flexibility quickly realized that Leadership would not accept this type of rationalization. He closed his eyes again. “I must look inside for the solution,” he said softly. “I will not make excuses. I will be part of the solution.”

Special Delivery: FLEXIBILITY

I’m looking for a few good men with an infinite capacity for not knowing what cannot be done. —Henry Ford

After Dave resolved to restore his relationship with his wife, his thoughts transitioned to a deep sense of pride because he had been able to help Mrs. Gonzalez. He hoped she would follow through with the plan to talk to her superiors. When he neared his last drop of the day, Dave noticed that he had a text message. It was his supervisor asking him to come in at six the next morning, much earlier than usual. After reading it, he felt a hot flush of anger, but it passed quickly. He remembered that flexibility was an important aspect of excellence. His supervisor rarely asked him to go above and beyond the call of duty, and when he did ask, Dave tried hard to respond positively. “Glad to,” he replied to the message.

In an instant he received a text back from his supervisor. It read, “U R the Best!”

“The best?” Dave mused. “I’m not so sure about that.” His mind drifted back to the idea of Flexibility. He mused, “It’s a lot easier to be flexible at work than in my personal life.” He was thinking of his family’s recent vacation to Disney World, a trip almost ruined because of his inflexibility. He had planned out everything perfectly, but he hadn’t expected three days of rain. The whole time they were stuck indoors, Mary kept saying, “Look, we can’t control the weather. Let’s just play it by ear and go with the flow.”

But Dave was used to things being on schedule. His job required it, and the need for control had drifted into his personal life. During the rainy days of the trip, the tension had become so great that Mary sent Katherine and Jonathan to the hotel’s indoor pool so that she could talk with Dave.

She said to him, “Dave, if you don’t learn to roll with the punches, you’re going to have high blood pressure.”

“But I—”

Mary held up her hand, stopping him. “Not only are you going to damage your health,” she said, “but also you’re setting a bad example for the kids.”

Dave softened at this and said, “I’m sorry.” Then he began to really listen.

“I love your sense of organization,” she said, patting him on the back. “It is a wonderful trait, and in many ways it keeps us on track. But you are going to have to loosen up when things do not go according to plan, when circumstances are outside your control.”

“I know,” Dave replied.

“It’s not a sign of weakness,” Mary offered. “In fact, to understand that you are not in control of everything and to be able to adapt to barriers and disappointments is actually a sign of strength.”

“I never thought of it like that,” he replied. Taking his wife by the hand, he said, smiling, “I’m going to do better with this, but I need your help.”

“You got it!” she replied eagerly. “We’ll need a code word or a phrase. If I sense that you are becoming inflexible on something important and feel you should pull back and reevaluate, I will say, ‘Why don’t you take time out to stretch a bit. I think that will make you feel better.’ How does that sound?”

“Too complicated,” Dave replied, smiling. “Just give me that look you give me sometimes and say, ‘Stretch, Dave.’ I’ll get it.”

“That sounds good,” she said, as she kissed him on the cheek.

“What do you say we get our bathing suits on and join the kids?” Dave suggested. “The Magic Kingdom can wait another day or two for us!”

It now struck Dave that that week had ultimately been a good one in regard to his marriage. “Where did things go wrong?” he thought. “What was different about that week compared with the others, when I felt so disconnected from Mary?” Holding back tears, he said out loud, “I have to figure out how to get back to that connection.”