Fulcrum Point Partners

I had to be in Mountainview by 7AM. It takes about 35 to 40 minutes to get there.

I left at 6AM to make sure I had enough time.

A few days before I had noticed the latch to the passenger side of my convertible top was a little loose. I had to adjust it several times even though I hadn’t put the top down.

As I got onto the highway my top started to unhinge from the passenger side. I suddenly remembered the Hawaiian airlines flight where the entire top of the plane came off while they were in mid air (no one was hurt).

I grabbed the top with my right hand but also realized I needed to pull over. I couldn’t hold it down for the entire ride. I either had to re-latch the top, and if it didn’t work, I would need to drive with the top down, despite the early morning chill.

I got off at the nearest exit which went one way for a long time. I realized it wasn’t leading to an entrance back onto the highway so now in addition to having to fix the top, I needed to find my way back to the highway.

After re-latching and finding the highway I was back on the road but significantly behind schedule. I estimated I would be about 10 minutes late.

I wanted to call who I was meeting but decided to wait until I got off the highway. The last thing I needed was to do something illegal like making a call and having the top pop open at the same time!

I called as I got off the highway.

Then, even though I’ve been here before, I got lost.

I arrived about 15 minutes late instead of 5 or 10.

I was upset. I don’t like to be late. And I also had this weird experience on the highway.

However the woman I was meeting, who was in charge of the day’s events, was really upset.

I knew this because she was pretty vocal and said she was angry and upset!

Right away I asked what I could do to help the situation.

Per her request, I called the client to say we would be a few minutes late.

As we got closer to the client I did tell my co-worker that my general experience was when something technically bad happened in the morning, it usually met a very productive day! Saying this broke the ice a little bit.

Fortunately my theory was true. The day went extremely well.

We were able to end the day with all’s well that didn’t start well!

My co-worker commented how grateful she was that she verbalized her anger immediately. It got her to release it sooner then later.

I realized I was grateful as well. How could she be anything but angry? If she didn’t express it there would have been un-comfortableness throughout the day which could have resulted in a shift of focus from meeting the client’s expectations.

I’m grateful she was wise and comfortable enough to express the anger.

I’m grateful I know because someone says they are angry doesn’t mean it’s the end all be all. It’s a point in time emotion.

When I remember this:

• I’m open to the emotion
• I try to do what I can to help dissipate the situation
• I keep the common focus in view

Amazingly, going back home the latch remained. Who knows what events would have happened if it popped open again?!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.