I'm SHOCKed At What Happened
A lesson in listening to others sooner
Somewhere over the last year, the ride in my Hyundai Palisade has gotten considerably rougher. I sort of noticed it, I guess. But the roads that I do travel on are so bumpy, I just chalked it up to that and that there certainly couldn't be a problem with my car.
Over and over again, the kids would be in the backseat and would say something about how bumpy it was and my wife would occasionally do the same. Admittedly, I even got a little offended that they would think that it was a problem with my car which I try to take good care of.
Well, a few weeks ago, my wife took my car to take one of our kiddos to soccer practice because hers needed gas and she called me when she arrived. She insisted that something must be wrong with my car because it was just so bumpy. Hmmph! Impossible! (I thought in my mind) But I went ahead and started doing a little research and sure enough, there was a technical service bulletin saying that the rear shocks/struts on my year and model of car were prone to failing. Ouch. It gets better...
So I made an appointment at the dealership, full well knowing they didn't owe me any warranty work on them since it wasn't a recall and I was 300 miles out of the factory warranty. (Double ouch! -- I could have taken this in months ago if I wasn't so stubborn!) The service desk guy, Darrell, was really nice and said he could petition Hyundai on my behalf to see if they would cover them anyways. I didn't even have to ask him for that but I was sure thankful he did and I didn't have to beg. Because I'm not above begging...
After the service tech confirmed the issue, Darrell found out that Hyundai was willing to handle 80% of the cost. Totally fair in my book and I asked him to order the parts and got the service scheduled for the following week. Needless to say, I have a MUCH smoother ride now!
How often do we find ourselves ignoring problems that are right in front of us, even for long periods of time? Honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it took me as long as it did to get to the point of bringing my car in but I was CONVINCED that there was nothing wrong with my car. But it took my kids complaining and insisting that there was something awry combined with my wife confirming for me that I needed to quit being stubborn and just take the plunge to see what the deal really was.
As a leader, we should always be willing to listen to the people in our organization and even when we may not agree, realize that their boots on the ground may actually be showing us a blind spot that we simply don't know is there. And most of us have someone in our leadership capacity who we trust implicitly. In this example, it is my wife. We have to trust their opinion, or at the very least listen and investigate any issue that they bring to us every time if we want them to continue bringing important items to us, good and bad.
Is there something in your organization that needs your attention but you've been ignoring it for awhile?