They were having a problem. They had recently changed policy which meant that it was taking a lot more time to serve each customer at the paypoint. They asked me to see if there was anything I could do to make the computer faster.
Meeting the staff was a revelation. Despite the fact that they deal on a daily basis with the most unimaginable hardship they remained happy, committed and dedicated. They were not only an inspiration but a good lesson in how to act when things aren't going your way.
So I used some of the skills I'd built up working for 'profit maximising' companies to help a group of people who were pleased and grateful to see me and just doing their best. I spent a short amount of time analysing where the real problems were and having a quick look at the software and it became clear that they needed to be printing out cheques instead of handwriting them because that was where the blockage was - if only they had some cheque blanks we could test the system on.
"Oh yes we've got a load of boxes of them in the back" announced one of the volunteers "They've been there for years but we haven't known what to do with them nor had the time to find out".
Digging out the boxes I was able to set the blank cheques up on a test system and get them to print out properly, then transfer the settings onto the live system. For me it took a very short time but it wasn't particularly technical and the volunteers could have done it if they had rung their software providers helpline.
But of course they were so busy helping people that needed them that they didn't have time to stop and analyse the situation to see how they could save themselves some time or as the volunteer put it "step off the hamster wheel".
The experience reminded me how difficult it is to step back from a fraught situation, take a breath and pause to analyse whether you are doing things in the right way - especially when you are doing everything you can to keep your head above water. I had the luxury of coming at the problem with new eyes and an empty 'to do' list.
It also reaffirmed my faith in human beings. Some people do things for the best and purest motive. They don't get paid and don't ask for thanks. Just helping people is it's own reward.
The experience was like a breath of fresh air and one I want to repeat in the future. I've agreed (after only a tiny bit of arm twisting) to help out some more by becoming a board member. I think that this will give me an opportunity to broaden my experience into other sectors and bring different point of views into my daily life. It'll increase my personal network outside of the usual corporate world and it I'm sure it'll make me a happier person.
Which can't be all bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment