Creating Something Different
The other day, I stopped into Home Depot to pick up a few items that we had ordered online.
When I received the items, I also received these.
Surprise and delight at Home Depot?
The place where, frequently, employees have run away when I've tried to approach them to ask a question?
The place that I have historically dreaded going to more than any other retailer?
The place that is definitely not ACE Hardware?
I couldn't believe it.
“Is this new?” I asked the gentleman behind the front desk.
I told him that I'd never before seen this at a Home Depot, and asked if it was unique to this specific location.
He said it was.
He said, “We aren't one of the biggest stores, so we try to make up for our inability to get as many direct-ship products in other ways."
I told him that the experience here seemed. . . different than the experience at some of the other stores around the country. Did he find that to be true as an employee, as well?
He shared that after working at several Home Depot locations around the state, he found this to be one of the best-run stores.
Even though this store is part of a chain that has a reputation for crummy customer service, they decided to create something different.
We can create something different too
We can do the same thing –whether within our neighborhoods, or within or organizations.
Even if our company as a whole doesn't have a culture of accountability, we can work to create a culture of accountability within our own teams, projects, and meetings.
Even if we live in a neighborhood where “people aren't friendly,” we can open up our back yards or our front doors, to invite people in.
Even if we are on a zoom where the facilitator doesn't welcome or introduce new participants, we can drop a quick hello in the chat.
As always, we get to create the thing we wish existed.
Questions to Consider
What is one opportunity I have before me to “create the thing I wish existed?”
Where might I have an opportunity to defy the culture that surrounds me, in a positive way?
Where might I have more personal autonomy or control to positively influence a situation than I think I have?
