Let’s start this one with a distinction between the two.
An employee mindset is focused on the individual responsibilities of your job. What are the job requirements, priorities and how to complete them in excellence; but isolated to the individual silo without much focus on the wider scope. An employer’s mindset is so vast that it was able to create the company for the employee to work. They are focused on the bottom line, profitability, customer service, market trends and overall branding and reputation.
There is nothing wrong with maintaining an employee’s mindset by the way. That said, 20/60/20 is the new 80/20. Here are some examples of what I mean:
- MORTGAGE BROKER: When purchasing our last home, my wife and I went to market for the best rate and had a meeting scheduled with a mortgage broker at one of the local bank branches to us. This meeting was scheduled by the local branch representative, not by the Mortgage Broker directly. It was a 60-minute meeting scheduled for 11:30am. That morning I received a call from the Broker directly asking me if we could reschedule. I was open to it but asked her why. Her reason? She eats her lunch at 12pm. BOTTOM 20%
People have to eat, I get it. Take care of your body because without your health you don’t have much but come on. I respectfully declined her request to reschedule. Now, if she was the CEO of the bank, the Branch Manager or a ShareHolder, I wonder – would she have prioritized her lunch over the potential of a new client?
- RETAIL CASHIER: I was at a pharmacy picking up some baby diapers one evening and there were 2 registers open so I got into one of the lines. For some context, there were 2 people being served and I was next up – so not much of a line but I digress. When one of the people in front of me were done, I was expecting to be served next, however the cashier had other plans. It was time for her to take her break. So she closed the register, but the “Next Cashier Please” sign up and let her colleague know that she was going on her break – leaving me to wait.
Now I don’t have an issue with employees taking a break at all, however I did question if she would have done the same thing had she been the owner of the pharmacy. Would she have left me standing there with a box of Huggies in my arms? I doubt it. She may very well be a solid employee and good at her job, but in my world, you take your break once the customer has been served. MIDDLE 60%
- AIRLINE EMPLOYEES: in this example, I encountered a representative from each of the 20/60/20 categories. I am at the gate waiting for my flight from Toronto to Orange County, CA when there is a request for someone to take a later flight. They were offering an $800 credit voucher. I was traveling solo and with it being a travel day for me my schedule was flexible so I went to desk and the representative took my information and got me set up on another flight, asking me to visit the Customer Service desk for a new boarding pass. When at the Customer Service desk, they got me onto a different set of flights and handed me my boarding pass with my $200 voucher. I let her know that the voucher was for $800, not $200. She then let me know that because she was able to get me into OC within 60 minutes of my original flight, a $200 voucher applies. We went back and forth for a minute with her letting me know that there wasn’t anything else she could do for me and that she had other customers behind me. (NOTE: that reads like she was rude, but she wasn’t really). That said, to me BOTTOM 20%. I let her know that I would be in the lounge and requested that a Manager come see me. To his credit, the Manager did come see me and he clearly had done his homework as he offered me an additional $100 gift card, even before I explained the circumstances. After explaining my position, I thanked him for his time and for the additional $100 but that I want the $800 that I was promised and that if I didn’t get it, I will be calling the Office of the President to discuss further. (NOTE: this reads like I was being rude, but I wasn’t). He then said that he would speak to the Director for me. MIDDLE 60%. About 30 minutes later, he returned with my $800 voucher. Final part to this story: when I was boarding my new flight, the representative at the gate recognized my name and let me know that she was the Director and the one who had approved my $800 voucher as originally promised, thanking me in the process for my patience and business. TOP 20%
Which category would you consistently fall into?
