CIMx Blog

The true role of _____ in your shop

I was travelling internationally last week; planes and airports were packed with overseas travelers. During boarding, I watched with curiosity as I saw a very capable flight attendant struggle with a bag. Attendants are there for safety and service; I’ve had the opportunity to watch international attendants in training and they spend a lot of time focused on service to the customer. If you can, imagine that your customer is restricted to an increasingly smaller space over time with less and less value provided, and that’s a tall ask.

This attendant was “fighting with” a smaller, older gentleman’s bag. He had brought on board two roller bags and several miscellaneous items. (An aside here: I’ve never understood why they don’t forbid people who don’t follow the one piece of luggage and one personal carry on from boarding.) She was trying to pull and push several pieces in and out of overhead storage to accommodate his rather oversized carry-on. They were heavy, bulky and she was not a particularly tall person.

It’s happened to many of us, if not all. You’re hired to do one job. You find yourself picking up all kinds of tasks and, before you know it, you’re running an entirely different set of daily tasks, monthly goals, and quarterly rocks than you were hired (on paper) to do. Things change. Businesses must be responsive to stay competitive and so, naturally, you must be responsive.