Late Friday, I got some bad news. We are making extensive preparations for a major meeting. Unfortunately, we were working off of incomplete information. No one realized the oversight until the last minute. Making things worse, we are facing a deadline to deliver later this (Monday) morning.
At that point, you have to decide what you are going to do. You can allow that oversight to blossom into a full-blown failure and deal with the consequences. You might have an excuse, but it certainly won't ease the pain. I don't think too many people sympathize with finger-pointing.
I am fortunate to be working with a number of dedicated individuals. These hardy souls refused to be intimidated by the circumstances. Instead of panicking, they calmly asked for the correct information and set to work completing the mission. Through their dogged intervention, we should be ready in time for the deadline. Of course, it required heroic efforts and the sacrifice of personal weekend time to get it done.
I am very thankful that I am surrounded by persons who are so focused on delivering more than what is expected. I am firmly convinced that none of us can be truly successful without the benefit of a total team effort.
If we do the job correctly, no one will really know what happened. The expectations of our customers was that we had everything under control all night long. That said, I know what these individuals did. I will make sure that a wide range of individuals within IS know and understand their commitment. I also plan to add my personal thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment