It’s just a few days to Father’s Day. And no, I haven’t bought any gifts yet. When it comes to gifts, I’m often completely stamped, so I buy a random something and hope you’ll like it. My father’s day focus today is not like this. He values gifts, and so he takes time to pick them out… He values many things, one of them is quality of life. Anything that threatens that is at risk of being obliterated. About six months ago, we were home one night, prepping to call it a night, but the club near our house was doing their best to keep the whole neighbourhood awake.

Without a second thought, he was off to club to tell them that the music had to die down cause we were after all in a residential area. Before he left, I tried to dissuade him from going. “This isn’t your problem,” I said. After all, once the doors were shut, we could hardly hear the music. There were homes that were much closer to the noise. If it troubled them so much, they should do something about it. His mind could not be changed. He left to sort this noise out. Meanwhile, I stayed home, shaking, wondering if he would return safe. About 20 minutes later, he was back, reporting that there were actually two clubs, each seemingly trying to drown out the other’s music with the volume of theirs. And both spaces were practically empty – the volume was probably meant to draw us. It was having quite the opposite effect. He reported that he spoke to the owner/manager and said that if he had to come back because of their music, he’d be coming back with the police. Knowing him, that was not an empty threat. In response to my earlier concerns for his safety, he said that one reason why things never got sorted out was that too many of us were cowards. That stung. I’d never thought of myself as being anything but brave.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to prove my bravery. It didn’t start out that way. I didn’t go out thinking that I had something to prove. I was at an event, manning the cash till for some friends’ snack bar. It had been an easy morning and then suddenly, the lunch hour rush. The system had been working then BOOM! A number of things started to go wrong. The food couldn’t be prepared fast enough; customers paid for something, only to be told if had just run out; staff crumbled under the pressure; the service was failing. Before we knew it, there was at least 30 people in front of our booth, shouting orders, waiting to be served. It was CHAOS. One customer asked loudly, “Who is taking the orders?” The answer was quite simple. I was taking orders, but in that moment, I couldn’t, I didn’t want to form the words. He asked again, “Who is taking orders?” My heart was racing. My palms were moist. The voice in my head said, “Be quiet.” But I heard myself say, “ME. I’m taking orders.” I think I even put up my hand. Owning up meant dealing with the CONFUSION that was before me. Owning up made me brave.

I started to systematically serve – it was tough because we couldn’t get people into a queue and we couldn’t get the food out fast enough. I saw people shake their heads and walk off. I heard others insist on getting what they’d paid for. I know many customers were disappointed or upset, but we kept on until everyone who stayed was served.

We then debriefed, talked about what had worked – the food was fantastic; we had a great vintage point; customers gave feedback – and what hadn’t – the food wasn’t ready on time; then it ran out; the queuing system didn’t work; we lost some money cause we had to make concessions for clients; we lost clients. We discussed and agreed on how to improve for the next day.

On Day Two, we did better. We directed customers into a queue; we had more food; we had two stoves instead of just one; we had returning clients. Day Three made all the chaos and confusion of Day One worth it because we got the process and the people right on that day.

For any organisation, the product (food) must be great and generate a demand; the process of delivery (food preparation, queues) and the people work together to deliver a customer experience. A great product may never be enjoyed if the process and the people to support its delivery fail. Organisations position themselves to win if they are brave enough to quickly make the changes needed to improve their customer experience. Organisations position themselves to win when they are willing to change processes or change operators or both to get the job done.

One good change my friends made that day was to remove me as cashier, but not before I’d had my chance to put on my game face.

This post is dedicated to every dad who daily has to be brave and puts on their game face for their kids, whether or not things are working out; for every business owner who opens up shop, even when no sales were made the previous day or previous week because they have staff salaries to pay; for every manager dealing with customer complaints; for all frontline staff determined to do a great job, whether the conditions are right or not; for every person who puts themselves in harm’s way to make it better for those that come after them.