Working in the service industry since I was 18 has definitely given me lots of opportunities to explore “customer obsession”. Whether I was at the pizza shop, the gym, or at the dispensary, I practiced what it would take to optimize every transaction with the greatest outcome for the customer. I would say I have the customer obsession model down every time I help someone at the dispensary. I try and tailor each experience to the customers needs. I remember having a particular customer experience with a couple (man and woman, mid 20s) where they took over 50 minutes choosing which marijuana products they wanted to buy. An average transaction mind you, is approximately 2-3 minutes. This couple I’m conversing with and showing products to really have no idea what they want, they literally ask me to show them everything (we have over 300-500 different products in the store easily). Along the way I’m making lots of suggestions that could be great options, but nothing is sticking. Most budtenders might give up at this point, seeing that they cannot make the customer happy. At one point the woman acknowledges she never spent this long in a dispensary (and I couldn’t have imagined a longer transaction either) but she keeps on searching, and so do I, happily. In this situation I really had to set my feelings aside and think, “There’s something that this customer isn’t finding, I MUST help them find it! We will find something you’re excited to try”… even though I was so over this at that point. She finally picks something and I collapse to the floor as they leave. Had I not practiced customer obsession and stayed focused on what they wanted and getting the best options out for them, I may have been there over an hour and a half who knows? At my dispensary we strive for the best service and don’t really pay attention to what the competition is doing.
A time where I demonstrated delivering results was in the final group project in my visual journalism course with Joe Gosen at Western Washington University. Our project was to create a documentary style film with The Nooksack River as the focus. In this project I worked with one other classmate, Ed. Ed was a macho man, and I was a little twerp in comparison, but I had heart. We decided to talk to some of the Lummi nation community organizers and conservationists to get more story out of what is happening (salmon runs were on steep decline at the time). The filming goes well, Ed and I all the shots we need together. When it came time to edit though, Ed completely disappears. I’ll see him in class sometimes and we get some editing in together, but for the most part, I felt like I was on my own. He would flake on every meetup and have an excuse as to why he couldn’t edit that day, often at the last minute to change plans. BUT, the project still had to get done! I take up until the last day to get this project in. Whether or not everyone is there or contributing, you still have to put forth your best shot to deliver something you’re proud of.
Lastly, a time I practiced bias for action was when our dough press at Mod Pizza started malfunctioning. We were in the middle of lunch rush at the Seattle Center Armory by the Needle… tourist season … and we don’t have a way to prepare dough?… We considered calling another store or a manager, anyone to be able to bring another press… which we knew we probably didnt have. Being one of the most senior employees, an idea occurred to me… Our old dough press is in the basement storage. It was heavy, so me and a coworker rush down and lug it back up to the restaurant. It’s not the prettiest dough press, but it was our most efficient option until we could get someone to troubleshoot the current dough press. We ended up making it through okay that day, with some delays and a few angry customers… But hey it happens.
I have the most trouble with the leadership principle of having a backbone: disagree and commit. This one may prove to be my most valuable one to learn just because I am such an agreeable person. I usually see all ideas as inherently good ideas, making my brain make them work even if my initial reaction is “no”. I try not to undermine people, but I realize that disagreeing isn’t undermining, even if it feels so in the moment. I grew up as the youngest sibling and a big part of that was struggling to find autonomy, and feeling like I had a complete voice rather than echoing my older brothers. Having the confidence to disagree is a big challenge for me, I hope to improve my instincts and self-trust as I progress through the program.