CTRL-Shift-Escape - #12
Inevitably this edition of the newsletter has to include a mention of the Great North Run. Much of it has already been said by the millions of people who've taken part before - it's the world's biggest half marathon, fantastically organised and the support from the residents and well-wishers along the route was wonderful. I had a great run and despite some issues I hit my main target of a sub-3 hour time.
Why am I doing this?
A mile or so in, soaking up the atmosphere and getting ready to cross the Tyne Bridge, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I thought it was a faster runner coming through (there were lots of faster runners coming through!!).
It wasn’t. It was Luke Ambler, co-founder of Andy’s Man Club and an extraordinary athlete. This year he’s undertaken some incredible challenges to raise money and awareness and, to be blunt, I imagine a half marathon is a light training day for him!
So on Sunday he’d started the run near the back so he could run through and personally thank as many Andy’s Man Club runners as possible. He shook my hand, thanked me for supporting Andy’s Man Club, chatted a moment and sprinted off to find the next one.
I was stunned and moved by the gesture. I’d been one of 60,000 people out for a run and now suddenly I was seen and recognised. Is that what Andy’s Man Club means for all the people who walk through the door on a Monday evening?
At the end, there he was, thanking everyone and asking why they were supporting.
Not just a corporate thank you. Asking why. Listening to the stories behind each of the people who were running, to understand what Andy’s Man Club means for them.
Many times during training and waiting for the start, runners ask "why am I doing this?". It's partly a comical cliche but it's also a serious question that helps you to stay motivated. It suddenly became a much more important question, and by asking all those people he turned it into a conversation. Of all the things I will remember from yesterday, it will be that tap on the shoulder.
Trust people with your mistakes
Most of our customers will know that we had a big system issue with our in-cab computers recently. For a few hours they didn't work. There's another newsletter post coming about that once we've fully nailed down the 'root cause analysis' document and communicated it out to everyone. I can say though that we have a lot of lessons to learn, and right on cue the Great North Run gave me an example of what to do when you get it wrong.
The Great North Run is inextricably Newcastle. Sure, you run through Gateshead and finish in South Shields but the start is in Newcastle, the iconic view of runners crossing the Tyne Bridge - it's all Newcastle. So it was quite a gaffe that they designed, launched and manufactured tens of thousands of medals showing the wrong city and river. And nobody noticed!
It would have been easy to blame "an IT mix up", a "mistake in the supply chain" or some other nonsense. Instead, Great Run just owned it and with a little bit of well-judged humour said "Wear really sorry"... (the river depicted is the River Wear).
Because everyone loves Great Run, it has enormous 'brand equity' and has earned the affection and trust of millions. To say "sorry" and simply own the mistake is human and disarming. It's now a funny story in the long history of the Great North Run, instead of a scandal and a PR emergency.
Last week when our systems were failing, I took a call from a client. Braced for a tough call I was pleasantly surprised that it was more of a check-in. "This isn't like Bartec and we weren't really well prepared for a problem". We have enough trust and a close enough connection to our clients to simply talk to them about our mistakes and not pretend that our systems will never ever have a problem.
In hindsight I think we could have done much better, and the root cause analysis has to go well beyond what failed technically and address some things further back. But that's for next week's newsletter!
Listen...
My encounter with Luke got me thinking about "asking why" and how I, and anyone else, could take that into the working day. What if we look at leadership a little differently? Instead of saying "we need to do this, let's go" and then getting the team to follow, I could also ask "Why are you following me?". I could ask our customers "Why do you buy from us?". I could ask our industry partners "Why do you work with us?".
I'm going to give it a try and see what I learn.
On that subject, I got a new gadget this week. I've long been a Remarkable user, and whilst my use ebbs and flows I keep coming back to it as a rock solid note taking device. I've often wished it was just a bit smaller. This week my dreams came true with Remarkable Pro Move.
I love the device, but that isn't the story. Whilst setting it up I browsed through some of the templates (which Remarkable update from time to time). And there's this one... it's titled "A Day in the Life Worksheet". It's another angle on the 'asking why' theme - instead of pitching to clients or asking them what their problems are, just ask them what their day looks like.
It's a much bigger question. Instead of making specific tasks slicker or automating bits of the day, we can really understand how our customer works . Are we focussed on something that takes 2 minutes out of their week when they haven't even noticed that they spend 4 hours a week on another task we aren't discussing?
It's not just customers - we can ask the same question to our colleagues and understand how to make our organisation run just a little bit smoother, and help each other to get through the day as happily and productively as possible.