Nobody Told Us They Were Coming

   I was in a business the other day and one of the senior managers told me the title of today’s blog, Nobody Told Us They Were Coming!  Now, what was she talking about?  Well, the firm decided to get new copiers for all of the staff–  this is not a big firm, however, there were 4 or 5 new copiers that were being installed.
    The copy company was told to go ahead and send the products over and have staff install the copiers.  Well, that was all right– however, the impacted employees at the firm had no idea that this was even supposed to happen.  Well, you see where this is leading.  The copier guys get there, uncrate the new copiers and then ask, “Where is this supposed to go?”  Well, the staff does not know if the new copiers are replacements for the old ones– they were, however, nobody told them.
     Interesting, it was probably 45 minutes before the copier guy knew what to do– and another 45 minutes before the staff was calm and collected.  In both cases, people were frustrated and angry when there was no reason to be.
     Do you tell your staff when major events are going to occur which may impact their work environment?  Do you allow the staff to have input on when actions that may impact their work environment would be be accomplished or completed?  If you don’t– you may wish to consider doing so.  There is no reason to have everyone, both your staff and the vendor’s staff, flummoxed and frustrated about some matter that could be handled with a little back and forth communication!  Tell everyone who might be impacted what the game plan is, what impact, if any, each employee/team member/associate may experience.  Make sure that you answer all of the concerns and questions of everyone involved.  In most cases, there will be some matters that will arise that were not addressed previously.  This is a  good time to make sure that everyone knows what is going to happen.  In some major cases, it may be worthwhile to have a “party” when the action is completed.  The party may be something simple like pizza and soda, or something more robust like a cocktail party.  In either case, the key is to recognize the new work completed and the support of your team members to insure a successful transition/implementation/operation.