Whole Isn’t Whole
I often receive a handful of related comments whenever I talk about the need to be excellent:
Everyone makes mistakes.
Where's the room for grace?
Nobody's perfect.
S*** happens.
All good points, but today, I want to debunk this argument.
How would you feel? You're dining at a well-respected restaurant with your family. One of your small children orders chicken. However, when the dish arrives, you cut into it and realize the chicken is completely raw. The server apologizes and says they will send out a new one. The new one eventually arrives, fully cooked, and the rest of the meal is largely uneventful. Other than (eventually) replacing the raw chicken dish with a cooked one, no other concessions are made. How would you feel?
How would you feel? A landscaping company is at your house doing some work. For whatever reason, a mistake is made, and they nick your irrigation line. The business owner apologizes and says they will have a professional repair it at no cost to you. How would you feel?
How would you feel to be on the receiving end of these two situations? Well, these are both real-life scenarios that played out last week, and in each, the customer was livid. The restaurant customer is a close friend, and the landscaping company business owner is also a friend. Why would both of these situations end poorly? After all, both customers were made whole.
Whole is not whole, that's why. When a mistake is made, whole isn't enough. Excellence doesn't mean perfection. Excellence doesn't mean we won't make mistakes. Excellence means being better and doing better in all things, including on the heels of mistakes. You WILL screw up. You WILL fail. You WILL botch it. The mistake isn't what defines you; it's how you respond after the mistake that separates excellence from bleh.
In both situations, the business owner should have made the customer whole......PLUS another step.
For my buddy that received raw chicken, maybe the restaurant comps that dish and throws in a dessert. Maybe they comp the entire meal. Maybe they give them a gift card on the way out the door. Whole is not whole, and they blew an opportunity to send my friend away with an amazing story of excellence (plus many return visits).
For my buddy who made a mistake on the landscaping job, he, too, had options. Maybe he could have offered a discount on the job. Or perhaps hand the homeowner a handwritten card with a restaurant gift card in it. Or offered a complimentary follow-up service. Whole is not whole, and he missed an opportunity to create a lifelong customer. He’s a young business owner, and I think he’s going to nail this one next time!
This isn't a blog about IF you make a mistake. It's only a matter of WHEN you do. It's coming. You might even screw up today......I'm sure I will! Excellence isn't defined by how little we mess up. Rather, it's about how we respond when we do. Whole is not whole. Take one more step!
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