Last weekend I had invitation to attend a major classical musical event in San Francisco. Being the weekend and knowing that there were several other big events in the city that day I decided to take the public transportation (BART) and use Uber to navigate through San Francisco traffic to get to my destination, some 35 miles from my home, instead of driving on my own. This was my first Uber adventure so I was curious about checking out the whole experience.
When I landed at the BART station in the city I entered my travel details in the Uber App on my iPhone and was delighted to see the response that Mohammad the driver would pick me up in less than five minutes. As I waited at the corner of two major streets for a few minutes my phone rang and Mohammad told me that he was approaching the crowded corner and was trying to spot me to pick me up. He described his cars physical details and location and I was quickly able to spot his car despite the crowded streets and dense city traffic. I raised my hand and he pulled to the curb to pick me up. A few minutes later he dropped me off at the auditorium. I walked out of Mohammads car without struggling to pay with the right change or tip. It was automatically done from my PayPal account with Uber at the fraction of what Id have paid a cab. Amazing, I said to myself as I entered the auditorium!
The return trip was a different story. As the packed concert ended there were crowds of people trying to locate their cars, pick-ups, and gathering in groups debating how to get to their respective destinations in the cold and windy night by the bay. I summoned Uber again to take me back to the BART station and the response said that in five minutes Louis would pick me up.
As I was watching my screen to see how the wait time was ticking down from five to four to three minutes, I realized for several minutes the screen stuck on one minute and that remained on my screen for what seemed like a long time on that cold, windy night. There were many cars with flashing lights nearby so I did not think to look for my pick up from among them as I was sure Louis would call me as he approached. Not hearing from him I tapped on the Contact Driver button on the screen. The call promptly went to his voice mail with the dialed number showing on my screen. A few minutes later I called him again with the same result.
Puzzled, I started looking for a car described in the Uber response, which still was saying One Minute. After some searching I found Louis Honda waiting there with its flashing lights, nearby. First, I asked him how long he was there waiting for me and he said just a few minutes, but when I asked him why did he not call me as he arrived at the location he did not answer me. Then I told him about my calls to him going to voice mail to which he blamed Uber for some problem. Suspicious, I asked what was his phone number was and when I dialed this different number from before it also went to voice mail with nothing in his car ringing. So, now I realized that this driver is going about his ways in his Uber car without an ability to directly contact his riders. He also struggled with his English, so asking complicated questions was fruitless.
The next morning I had an email message from Uber to tell them about my ride experience. So, knowing it was very early Sunday morning (5:00 AM) I humored them by responding with a detailed email about both my rides and telling them that my ride back was less than a positive experience, giving them the details I stated above. I was quite surprised to get an intelligent response in less than 10 minutes apologizing for what I had experienced and with a promise to remedy the situation with cogent details. A response that quick (on early Sunday morning to boot) was bound to be a mechanical one I thought and I was wrong. The person named in the email, responding to my complaint had gone on to read my entire experience and had responded in way that convinced me that they had a good handle on the problem I faced and that Uber would remedy it promptly.
So, despite the less than perfect experience this little gesture on part of Uber to remedy the errent situation with alacrity and its prompt and intelligent (human) response restored my faith in Uber enough to use it as a preferred way to transporting myself on my future rides.
So, what is the connection of this episode to how we manage our careers?
Two recent client episodes will reinforce this point I am about to make:
The first one is from a client I have worked for some time. She has had a new job for about a year now and I had not heard from her since then, and she was now up for her Annual Performance Review (APR). In that review she was surprised to learn that her performance was less than acceptable. She reactively started arguing with her boss, who was describing her the specifics of why and where she came short in her delivery. She told me how she argued each point and refuted his claims of lack of responsiveness on her part, often blaming some extraneous factors. As this discussion got off track her boss told her to go away and come back when she had some specifics about his concerns and about how she was going to remedy the situation.
When she went back to her boss for the next meeting he was already waiting with the HR representative in his office. Before my client could speak he started telling her how they have now decided to put her on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and how she would have 90 days to recover from this to keep her job. Most know that once the PIP gets underway it is almost impossible to keep your job no matter how diligently you work the Plan; it is typically designed to throw you out! Devastated by this turn of events she promptly called me and told me what had transpired in her first APR cycle. I told her to start looking for another job as she struggled with dealing with her PIP.
Another client had a similar situation, but he was proactive in how he dodged the bullet. He had been working as a Director and doing well throughout his tenure there (of three years). A new boss had taken over during he past year and he wanted to bring some of his cronies from his old company by easing my client out of his job. So, in one of his meetings with my client he bluntly told him about how unhappy he was about my clients work and that they needed to do something to remedy this situation.
Surprised, my client immediately called me and started venting about all the hard work he had done and his successes during the past few years. He started telling him how he was going to present to his boss all the evidence of his great work and show him customer kudos to make his point. After some conversation and after my client had calmed down I suggested to him a different approach.
This different approach was based on not fighting the bosss perception but by asking him what he would suggest to make it right for every body. I suggested to my client that rather than arguing the fruitless point (remember, the boss is often right when it comes to predisposed perceptions) why not just ask the boss what would be best course of action for my client to take to make it right for the boss, my client, and the company. My client had a tough time swallowing this advice at first. He kept arguing how much he had done to make a success of all his undertakings and how much the customers loved him for it. When he finally realized that none of that mattered when the boss was hell bent on bringing one his cronies to replace my otherwise well-performing client he changed his mind and agreed to follow what I suggested.
When my client went back to his boss with a proposal to remedy the errant situation in a way that would work for the boss and everyone else instead of arguing about it the boss immediately changed his tune and started on a positive note, even praising my client for his exceptional team work, dedication, and customer focus (not his performance, mind you). He also said that he would work with him to find a place for him within a nearby team so that they could work closely to continue on their initiatives (I think that the boss wanted my clients help to break-in his crony!). So, now my client is seen as a team player with time to find an internal job (as we start looking for getting out of that company on our own time table, unlike the first client, who has just 90 days).
So, what is the lesson from my Uber episode? Always listen to the customer (or your boss) and find ways to do what is right with alacrity when you know arguing your point will only make it worse. If Uber can succeed adopting this approach you should, too, in your career and in your life!
Good luck!
| About Author | |
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Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
Website: http://dilipsaraf.com/?p=2595
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