My family and I recently got to go the Great Wolf Lodge thanks to the generous gift of grandma to her grandkids. It was a blast especially since our son was finally the height to ride some of the slides with us and that grandma was around to watch the youngest so we could go on the slides! As great as the trip was it is not the point of this post, but it got me to thinking about the topic of this blog “Customer Experience.” Let me explain how my brain came to this topic.
My wife and I went on a date a few weeks ago to see the movie 1917 (Yes, this is definitely not a date movie. I know that now). Even though 1917 was not the best choice for date night it was an incredibly well written story. This movie absolutely blew my mind! I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time because I had no idea not what was going to happen next. It grabbed me right away in the first few minutes and then did not let me breathe until the end and then it was over. The movie got me to thinking about expectations and taking responsibility.
In the movie two British soldiers — Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake are given a command to take new orders across enemy territory in hopes to save the lives of 1,600 fellow soldiers. The expectations for them were pretty clear from their commanding officer. They were to take the message immediately, a few supplies, a map and directions to follow and very little hope that they would make it. That was it. They were given their orders and expected to act in a matter of a few minutes. Lance Cpl. Blake had the internal motivation to deliver the message because his brother was among the 1,600 soldiers. At first Lance Cpl. Schofield did not have an internal motivation but a shift takes place after a dramatic turn of events. I will not spoil that for you, but it solidifies Schofield’s determination to deliver the message no matter what the odds are.
The main takeaway for me with this movie was “service.” These two men were willing to give their lives to serve their fellow countrymen and the greater good.
I think this is something we are missing in today’s world. We have created a culture where life can be all about us. You do not have to think about anyone else needs if you do not want to. It is all about you. Does anybody think about their actions and how they will impact others or just themselves? I think you could describe our current culture with the words “Customer Experience.” We are only focused on how we can have the best experience(s) in our own lives and give little thought to others.
So many things in our culture are geared towards “me” and the experience “me” will have with various companies, products, services, etc. This has created very self-focused people. Just think about when some company, product, or service does not work the way you think it should and how you react. “Are you serious right now?!?!” “Seriously, this is what I paid for? I want a refund!” “This product is dumb! Get me a new one, NOW!”
Ok these might be a bit extreme, but you get the point.
I am speaking to myself and as much as anyone else on this point so what can we do? The simple answer is put others first. But what does this practically look like?
Here are a few ideas:
Give money to charity and make it hurt a little bit.
Giving out of your excess is easy but giving out of your income hurts. Do this: come up with an amount you are willing to give then add 10 percent of that amount to your original amount. It is not much but pushes you beyond your limits just a little. Once this amount becomes comfortable, add another 10 percent.
Do something in secret knowing you will not get any recognition for it.
Pay for someone’s meal. Do some cleaning. Mow your neighbor’s yard while they are away. Be creative. Now remember this is about you and not the other person’s reaction. If they are overwhelmed with joy, great! But some people may never even notice the little thing you did and that is ok. The point of the secret act of kindness was to get you to think of others.
SPOILER ALERT: The craziest part about the movie is that when the message is delivered, there no special recognition or awards for the men. They do not receive anything because they were doing what was expected of them. But come on they just saved the lives of thousands of men! There should be some sort of recognition or at least a cookie for them, right? I suspect though that even they had received any recognition or special privilege they would not have accepted it for they were simply doing what was expected of them. Their reward was that they could go to sleep that night knowing that thanks to their selfless actions, 1,600 men got to live another day .