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Every human on this planet makes mistakes and every human face crises, disasters or merely inconveniences and many times not of their making. It seems at ASN we face more than our fair share, between backed-up sewer, broken AC’s, Covid, client illnesses, staff illnesses and weather related events. These are all beyond of control and yet I am amazed at how well we, as a team, respond.
I have always believed that a crisis is an opportunity to shine. Whether “we” made a mistake or it was beyond our control, how we respond defines us as people and as an organization. I can name several times in my life when some organization has fouled something up, whether it was an order or shipping or billing or whatever. Obviously, I had to intervene to correct it for myself. While there were a number of times when getting the situation corrected was a maddening journey, there were times when corrections were made with such grace and empathy and speed that the mistake was erased in my mind and a good impression was left in its place.
Crises, disasters and failings also provide us a reminder to appreciate things when they go well. When something unfortunate befalls us, I hope we jump at the opportunity to take responsibility and to fix the problem with grace, empathy, and speed. We owe that to our teammates, and we owe that to the kids and families we serve.
As I have conveyed to you many times, I am not interested in affixing blame, I am interested in fixing the problem. A top-performing organization does that and then determines how the “break-down” occurred and puts systems, protocols and/or training in place to eliminate or mitigate those occurrences.
In conclusion, I want to thank the many ASN teammates who “run to the fire”, who respond with grace and empathy and speed, who distinguish themselves and ASN every day. Your hard work and caring do not go unnoticed.