It's Parking Permit Season!

There is a new show on CBS called Undercover Boss (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/undercover_boss/) that everyone should watch.  The first episode featured the CEO of the company that my husband works for.  He works for Recycle America Alliance which is part of Waste Management.  President and COO Larry O'Donnell picked a few different jobs and went out with staff level employees undercover as a new employee.  Wow, was he shocked.  He is a leader with great intentions, but didn't really understand all of what goes into making his company a success until he got down, literally, into the dirt.

Of course, I imagined our President and CEO, Mike Simmons fielding Support calls, and installing our parking management software and thought, BAD IDEA!  The man is the President and CEO for a reason!  He knows how to find the right people that can find the right people, that can find the right people (repeating for affect:)) to do the job well.

Our company is not as big as Waste Management, nor are the parking organizations that use our software.  So, we shouldn't be shocked about what happens in our organizations. We should be able to be in tune with the day to day.  Since everyone already knows me in my area, I can't exactly go undercover:).  Instead, I have opted to step in for my staff several times in my management experience to be able to 1. help out during busy times and 2. stay current in what their roles entail.  It is still eye opening to me and I am only one level removed. 

Look at it a different way and think about what it means to be a parker and what they experience through our organizations.  Sure, there are plenty of customers out there that, well, feel they DESERVE to park wherever they want.  But think about the parkers that have the best intentions, try to follow the rules, and can't because of poor signage or badly written rules and regulations.

Yesterday, Linda Kauffman (VP of Industry Solutions) and I were visiting a customer in Baltimore.  We parked in a garage (public garage, not our customer's) near where our meeting was being held and had difficulty parking AND leaving.  The signage was difficult to understand, stairways led to the point of no return, and leaving- we drove through the parking garage for more than 5 minute trying to figure out where the exit was.

My point in this ramble is that we should all be trying to put ourselves in other people's shoes to do the best job we can.  For our staff, the only way to advocate for them properly is to have a better understanding of their day-to-day.  For our customers, the only way to serve them best is to understand their needs. 

It is pretty simple isn't it?