2021: Note 32 -- The Process Guru

I mentioned the Uncomfortable Conversations series in my last post. These sessions are open to all employees, and typically hundreds of people log on. There are systems that allow for a large number of participants, but many of those don't have a way for people to share comments and questions with the presenters in real time.

Someone at my company found out which approach would enable this, and we were excited to try it. Unfortunately, the speakers started talking, thinking that the session was "live", but it turned out that it wasn't correctly activated. The audience of a few hundred waited for about 10 minutes until someone notified the speakers that nobody could see or hear them. Oopsy!

Clearly, we needed to handle it differently before the next session. That's when one of my colleagues stepped in, raising her hand to say she knew how to use the system and offered to help. She did a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough of the entire process, including explaining some of the idiosyncrasies of the system. We now have a clear, documented process and the sessions run smoothly.

Showing someone how to do this might seem like a small thing, but it has a massive impact. Imagine being an employee waiting for a session to start, not knowing why it's delayed or if it's you that is having a technical problem. Or think about a panelist who has shared something deeply personal...and they have to say it again when they find out nobody was online.

Little things, like teaching someone else how to do something and ensuring that it's written down for others to use in the future, are actually big things to me.