It has been a busy week, busier than usual… Emails, Meetings , Community Events and Airports. As I sit today to write this blog, I was faced with what some call a “Writers Block”.
As I started to ponder over topics to share, an event stood out in my mind, a story that reminded me, that regardless of how big or small, the mistake is.. it has a way of changing your outlook and teaching you new lessons.
About the time when I started work; I was asked by my supervisor to help streamline the New hire onboarding process. As a new comer, into the 3rd month of my job, i was excited about handling this process. One of my tasks amongst many was to ensure all our new employees got their Access cards within 2 weeks of joining the office. Seems surreal today, but there was a time when it took 2-3 weeks to get an access card.
To ensure that this happens, every week, we circulated an employee list with the status of the card to All the employees. We then waited in the Employee Cafe to hand out the cards. Seems absolutely simple, right ! Well… One August afternoon in 2000, I did this exercise and waited for Eligible Employees to turn up. Suddenly my colleague came running into the Cafe and said, “Geetha, what have you done”. I still can hear those words ringing sometime in my head.
A minute of two later, my Supervisor asked me to come into his Office, and I realized “What I had done”. I had circulated the card eligible employee list along with salary information... OH no !
I had tears in my eyes, and had vision of being fired from my first job ever. Head in shame, walking back home. Well, melodramatic, but give it up Geetha. I ended up working there for four more years with the same Boss, yep ! All he said , “Geetha, be more careful". He also asked us to fixed the root cause of the issue, I should have not had access in the first place.
For weeks to come, I expected repercussions, but my Boss knew that I had learnt a lesson – Check your emails before you hit the ‘send’ button. Even now, I read my mails at least 3-4 times before sending them out, to ensure that the information is appropriate and accurate. – Sometimes ask others to review before we send an important memo out.
You know what, A mistake is OK, as long as you have learnt something from it.
As I started to ponder over topics to share, an event stood out in my mind, a story that reminded me, that regardless of how big or small, the mistake is.. it has a way of changing your outlook and teaching you new lessons.
About the time when I started work; I was asked by my supervisor to help streamline the New hire onboarding process. As a new comer, into the 3rd month of my job, i was excited about handling this process. One of my tasks amongst many was to ensure all our new employees got their Access cards within 2 weeks of joining the office. Seems surreal today, but there was a time when it took 2-3 weeks to get an access card.
To ensure that this happens, every week, we circulated an employee list with the status of the card to All the employees. We then waited in the Employee Cafe to hand out the cards. Seems absolutely simple, right ! Well… One August afternoon in 2000, I did this exercise and waited for Eligible Employees to turn up. Suddenly my colleague came running into the Cafe and said, “Geetha, what have you done”. I still can hear those words ringing sometime in my head.
A minute of two later, my Supervisor asked me to come into his Office, and I realized “What I had done”. I had circulated the card eligible employee list along with salary information... OH no !
I had tears in my eyes, and had vision of being fired from my first job ever. Head in shame, walking back home. Well, melodramatic, but give it up Geetha. I ended up working there for four more years with the same Boss, yep ! All he said , “Geetha, be more careful". He also asked us to fixed the root cause of the issue, I should have not had access in the first place.
For weeks to come, I expected repercussions, but my Boss knew that I had learnt a lesson – Check your emails before you hit the ‘send’ button. Even now, I read my mails at least 3-4 times before sending them out, to ensure that the information is appropriate and accurate. – Sometimes ask others to review before we send an important memo out.
You know what, A mistake is OK, as long as you have learnt something from it.
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