Have you stopped THINKING?

How often do you take time to “people watch”?

You know my wife loves it and I could never understand what she was talking about, I am sure for all those married men out there you know what I mean by that!

But I had my real first experience yesterday at the airport, you know what its like when you start to go through security its like the people in the queue have just stopped thinking.

Picture the scene, security staff making the same statement to remind you of what to do

“please place your bag into one of the grey trays, if you have a laptop please take it out and place it in a separate tray, please take off all jackets, belts, keys and coins and place in the tray”.

So I am in the queue and I start to do all this in order to help speed things up, but how many people actually wait til they get to the counter before they start doing what they have been told?

I counted that there were 15 people in front of me and 10 of them waited until they arrived at the counter, without a clue the impact they were having on the people waiting, not that the people waiting were bothered it was like they too had stopped thinking.

The funniest thing was when those same people got through security, they were smiling, laughing, excited about their trip and I could hear things like “ooh I must pick up an adapter before we board or lets grab a coffee”

They started to come alive, was it the thought of going through security that put them in this state of trance, or was it the security poltergeist-who I managed to overcome?

As managers how often do we stop thinking, or just drifting along..

When you are at work, watch what’s going on around you-take 10 minutes out, and watch from a distance-are people engaged or are they going through the motions-what 1 thing can you do that will get them thinking about the great job they are doing for the customer and being more engaged.

Are you shouting instructions or asking questions, that will help your people interact and think about what it is they are doing?

Reactive or proactive-are you waiting till you get to the counter until you do something or are you anticipating whats going to happen and getting ready for it?

Make sure each day, each moment with your team you are helping them bring their brains with them rather than leaving them at the front door and picking it up each time they leave.

Have a great week, most importantly have fun!

Dilesh