Ahah!

I had a couple of "ahah"'s tonight while talking to Cynthia over dinner. She asked me why I wasn't doing my blog every day like I'd planned. I told her that although I try to do something every night that I enjoy, be it reading, puzzles, building my model, etc. I've found it very difficult to come up with things I can do with excellence every day. The thought occurred to me though that perhaps I'm defining "doing something with excellence" too narrowly.
I noted that one of the things that I have a gift for and love to do is have positive interactions with people. I told her about my trip to ACE hardware on Saturday because the boy at the checkout forgot to put one of my items in the bag. When I went up to him to tell him what happened, he told me he was sure he did put it in the bag. I didn't feel upset though. It was obvious to me that he was young and fairly new at the job so I just explained to him that when I got home and emptied the bags, the item wasn't there. I checked both bags and my car in case it fell out but with no luck. So he asked one of the more senior folks there what to do. This guy told me that yes, it must not have made it in the bag because he found one lying on the counter and put it back. Mystery solved. So I left my item at the counter and went to pick out a few more things I'd forgotten. When I went to ring up, the more senior kid helped me. The credit card wouldn't process and the register just seemed to hang. So I just started cracking jokes about going to the restroom, getting a cup of coffee, taking a nap and hopefully it'd be processed by the time I got back. By this time I had the senior manager there to help, and everyone laughing. We tried it again on another register with the same result, moved to a third register where I said I'd pay cash and then invited folks to lay down odds of having to go to the fourth register. By the time we were done, they were all in great humor and so appreciative of my attitude that I felt like I had 4 new best friends and several other customers as admirers.
I know that my humor and attitude likely changed their whole day. I didn't think of this as doing something with excellence. It's something I take for granted as a gift of mine with people. I love to make people smile and laugh with them. Cynthia noted that as I was telling her the story I got all lit up. Perhaps doing something with excellence means something akin to using my particular gifts and talents to their best advantage. Maybe it means being more myself in the world and less a victim of circumstance. Maybe happiness comes from being true to who you really are every day and letting your gifts out into the world where they can do the most good, make the biggest difference, or shine the brightest. Perhaps it's as simple as that and I've just been making it too complicated.
If that's true, than I've done things with excellence on a regular basis. On Monday at work, I had a meeting with an auditor who had audited one of the groups I support. He had quite a few concerns as the group didn't measure up to standards for our internal processes. Typically this leads to wrangling with the group to do even a half-hearted effort to make a show of improvement towards where they ought to be. Knowing that visible executive commitment is a cornerstone to continual improvement and process adherence, I contact the group VP to give him an informal heads up and strongly suggest he get involved. The results were remarkable. Within hours, the audit team had all sorts of cooperation and commitment to improvement. Why is this unique you may ask? Because most people don't want to rock the boat or go too high in the food chain to deliver bad news. I on the other hand, believe in open and honest communication with people no matter what their position is. Position doesn't mean much to me in terms of rank. Everyone in the company has their role to perform and has the titles and pay grade to match. A Vp's role is to ensure the successful operation and delivery of his/her business. Mine is to ensure that we do that in a way that allows us to maintain our certifications to industry standards. How is the VP supposed to ensure the success of his group if I don't let him know the information he needs to know to make the appropriate decisions for his business? It's not a rank issue. It's being a good team player and helping out your teammates, the team being Cisco. My ability to interact with people this way is what allows for the type of response and engagement I get from them. Things don't go the way they typically go because I have an ability to relate to people at all levels of the organization and appreciate the role they play. Continuing with the theme I descibed earlier, this too is excellence. It's also nothing more than acting consistent with who I am as a person and consistent with my beliefs and values. Imagine that.

I'd love to hear your stories of excellence...