I walked into a fast-food restaurant last week and ordered a large soft drink. That’s it, just a large soft drink.
The young lady at the counter said, “That will be $1.07.”
I handed her a couple of bucks and she handed me some change. Then she handed me a receipt and said you’ll be #146.
“Couldn’t I just have a cup?” I asked.
“They’ll get that for you down there,” she said, pointing to her right. Rather than make a fuss, I moved down the counter. Four long minutes later, someone handed me a cup, which I had to fill myself.
Now in a busy restaurant, well-defined processes are essential to providing good service. If we didn’t have number systems and such, there’d be chaos. But in this situation, one might ask, “Where is the common sense?”
Of course, common sense is what everyone thinks it is. This is more about critical thinking. Not big, fancy, strategic thinking that takes place in a board room. This is about day-to-day situational awareness, the kind that we all need to possess to thrive in any job.
Now it could be that this young lady’s manager forbid her from handing out the cups within her reach? I don’t think so. The fast-food managers I’ve met are practical souls who are always looking for the most efficient way to get the job done. But that said, did this young lady know that she had permission to hand customers a cup if that’s all they need to fill an order?
Now some readers will think, “Are you serious? That should obvious!” But not to someone who has learned to follow the steps and rules he or she was taught. The emerging generation is very much becoming a function of the systems society has put in place. First, there are all the menu-driven applications they are taught to follow as children, from Baby Einstein to Leapster. Second, there are the modes of communication and information gathering that they have learned to use. This includes texting, Googling, posting and so on. Third, their performances in school are managed according to standardized tests and quizzes. Finally, there are all the basic technologies they have to learn to simply live day to day. These include ATMs, debit card readers, GPS devices and so on.
From an efficiency standpoint, the members of the Millennial generation have become the wizards of our digital world. After all, who do you consult when some application is giving you headaches? Probably the closest ten-year-old. But outside of these programmed environments, judgment, reason, problem solving become more fuzzy. Why? Because people who come of age in today’s digital environment grow dependent on external cues and options. When situations arise that should require them to take self-initiative, they experience a sense of uncertainty, if the need occurs to them at all. Is there a fix? Sure. Teach them to look around. Give them a list of situations they should be anticipating. Give them official permission to act on their own. Will it happen overnight? No. But you have to take the initiative to get them to take the initiative.