Are you empowering those around you?

After driving from Texas to Utah you can imagine how many bugs ended up on the front of my truck.

I like to take care of my things and I keep my truck pretty clean but it left me wondering why I had even cleaned it before leaving. But I am OCD like that.

Well when I arrived in Utah, one of the first things I wanted to do was clean my truck.

I didn’t want all those bugs turning into paint chips.

So I went to the car wash.

I was given an option to buy several one-time washes, or I could buy a monthly pass.

There was a young kid out there standing by the self-service machine.

He greeted me and asked which option I would like.

I asked which one he recommended.

He told me the monthly option as it was the best VALUE.

I asked what was included and he informed me I could come through the wash once per day.

I thought it sounded like a good deal and was ready to sign up but I remembered all those bugs on the front of my car.

I asked him if I went through and all the bugs didn’t come off, if I could go back through.

He thought for a second and said “yes, absolutely we can make that happen”

I bought the monthly package and started driving toward the tunnel.

As I approached I saw there was another employee that was in charge of directing the cars so they correctly aligned with the conveyer.

His job was to also spray the front of the cars to pre-soak them somewhat.

The original employee I spoke to made his way over to the pre-soak area and began scrubbing the front of my truck with a brush.

He paused the entire operation so that he could spend time brushing the front of my truck!

I felt like a VIP!

After spending a few minutes scrubbing he gave me a thumbs up and sent me through the wash.

This was a great example of an employee being empowered to do his job.

What is his job?

Is it to sign people up for monthly washes?

Is it to direct traffic?

Or is it to provide outstanding customer service so that people will want to return and continue to patronize the business?

Some managers, bosses, owners etc may have a different reaction and perhaps penalize this employee because he left his station.

After all, if he is not there to upsell the clients to the monthly wash plan, who is?

I personally like the fact that this employee had been trained and empowered to make decisions.

He didn’t need to go ask a manger or go call the owner.

He was not only prepared to be able to make a decision on his own but also went ahead and took the extra time to make sure I had a superior experience.

Make sure you are empowering your employees.

It's not always easy.

They will make mistakes.

And fail.

And not always make the right decision.

But with the proper training they will succeed.

Your life will be better.

Their life will be better.

-Ryan