Eyes Up

Iced coffee.   It doesn't exactly take a lot of time for a barista to make an iced coffee.   So, I'm somewhat surprised that I've been standing and waiting for my order for a rather long time.   I think I see what the problem is:  I'm a lobby customer but when they made my drink they put it on the back bar for the drive through window.

So, I'm standing there.   And I'm standing in pretty close proximity to the barista.  No one notices that I've been standing there while others behind me in line have received their orders.  The barista is so concentrated on making drinks that they don't even look up once they've completed a task - they just keep their head down and start work on the next.   The individual working the window has probably served five customers who arrived later than I:   this individual is so concentrated on taking orders and payment that this disorder escapes their attention.

I observe the team members;  in many respects they are doing things right.   They are quickly processing orders, getting them out correctly. Here's the thing:   they do not notice me standing there because they are so caught up in getting the production done that they never look up.

How often does this happen at work?  We become so focused on getting the tasks at hand accomplished that we become myopic.  We don't look up for a minute.  We fail to notice the world around us.   If someone is standing there looking for our assistance, we may not even see them because we have narrowed our field of vision.

Previously, I have been in situations like the one I described.  The difference was that someone looked up.   They saw me standing there.  Or, in processing orders at a drive through window - they recognized strategically that something was out of order.   The people who didn't look up were just producing;   the people who were producing and looking up at the world surrounding them were doing their job.

It is critically important that we recognize that there is a greater significance to our work than just "getting things done."  If we step back, even for a minute, to look around us, or think about what we are doing or spend a moment in critical thought, we are so much better leaders.  We then recognize opportunities, we can address challenges that may otherwise have gone unseen.  We can enable others to do a better job and thus, it enriches our work experience.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.