A while back, I talked with the 28-year-old manager of a large retail store in the Midwest. He told me of a situation where he realized that his company’s new sales promotion would probably inundate the store with customers the following weekend. He had only four check-stands and envisioned long lines of angry customers dumping their purchases on the nearest counter and bolting for the door.
Then he had an idea — Square.com. Square is one of a host of new applications that allow individuals to accept credit card purchases from other individuals using a small plastic card reader that plugs into a smart phone. He went on-line, set up several of his employees with this device and directed the money into the store’s bank account.
Talk about disruptive technology! So rather than having lines of angry customers, he scored record sales for his store. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see clerks wandering the aisles of most retailers in the coming year doing this as well. Retailing will never be the same.
I asked this young manager what prompted this inspiration. He said it occurred to him over coffee with a friend who was using this system to accept credit cards for the graphic designs he sold. “I just thought about the outcome rather than the process,” he said, “and figured that headquarters would figure it out when we turned in great sales for the weekend.”
So ask yourself, "What kind of message does our bureaucracy send about focusing on the outcome rather than the process?" Are you fostering an environment where the outliers feel encouraged to get a solution rather than seeking answers from up above? Admittedly, very few will even think to break the rules in the first place. The last think we want to do is discourage them.