Traveling for Work…The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Traveling for work, for many of us, is extremely important to maintain relationships with customers and to cultivate relationships with future customers.  Additionally, traveling is rewarding by allowing you to experience different environments and local foods and to see many exciting and interesting places that you may never see.  This is truly the good of traveling.

   

As I speak about the bad of traveling, I am not complaining.  The majority of my travels can be categorized in the “good” category.  After all, how would you know what is good, if you don’t have something bad to compare it to, right?  In fact, the bad of traveling would be better described as the inconvenience of traveling, but I wanted to use the old western movie description I used in the title.  Traveling by plane can’t be described as luxury travel.  You are cramped into an ever shrinking seat with a curious stranger next to you, hoping the person doesn’t have to disturb you with bathroom issues or speak to you about his multiple medical afflictions.  As the plane takes off, you are hoping, if you have a connecting flight, that the plane is close to being on time so you can make your next flight.  After all, 35 minutes in Chicago between flights is a piece of cake, right?  After finally arriving at your destination, you deplane in a non-orderly, slow fashion and find your way to baggage claim.  Nervousness arrives as you watch the baggage carousel rotate and your bag is not appearing while a large group of people are picking up seemingly anybody’s bag and walking away.  You breathe a sigh of relief as your bag appears on the carousel and grab it to go and find transportation.  As you exit the airport and follow the direction for ground transportation you look for a taxi.  In many locations, you rush to find ground transportation only to find a line of people from multiple baggage carousels waiting in front of you.  After you wait, like cattle in a processing line, you get a reward.  That reward is a rickety taxi cab driven by a person that has trouble with the spoken language and you trust the person understands where to take you.  The drive to your location can typically be described as a cross between an Indianapolis 500 race and ride on a white water raft.  Upon arriving at your hotel and checking in you finally get to the room you will be staying at for the next few days.  This is some of the bad of traveling. 

Now I have to talk about the ugly.  These ugly situations actually happened to me so they may happen to you as well.  Beware! 

Ugly travels – The Suitcase.  I traveled to Orlando a few years back for a convention and was pleasantry surprised by the airlines ability to take care of my clothes within my suitcase.  As I waited for my luggage to come around the carousel at baggage claim in the airport I noticed a suitcase taped up with silver duct tape and thought that poor person with that suitcase.  I soon discovered that the poor person was me.  My suitcase seemed to explode in the airplane between Milwaukee and Chicago and the airline was kind enough to wrap duct tape around it multiple times.  I shrugged my shoulders and thought that at least I still received my luggage.  I arrived at my hotel and began unpacking the duct tape so I could get to my clothes in order to hang up.  I reached in and pulled out my white dress shirt I was planning on wearing the next day.  I noticed that my dress shirt had a large black tire mark across the front of it as if someone took a vehicle and ran over it multiple times.  Now I realized what happened to my suitcase.

Ugly Travels – The Entrance.  I had just checked into my hotel in Minneapolis and entered my room.  I headed over to the bed, lifted my suitcase and began unpacking it.  It was an extremely warm day of travel so I wanted to change and get some new clothes on.  I undressed to my birthday suit and began heading towards the bathroom which was next to the entrance door.  As I neared the bathroom door, my entrance door suddenly swung open and an elderly man and woman starred at me with wide eyes and mouths agape.  I was stunned that I was staring at possible attendees from my conference wearing nothing but the socks on my feet.  They rapidly closed the door and I learned from that point on to always, always dead bolt my door.

Ugly Travels – The Fuel Dump.  I was never a comfortable airplane traveler but it was the quickest way to get from point A to point B and it is safer than driving, right?  Well my trip from Green Bay to Chicago tested that belief.  We were to take off at 6:30 am to arrive in Chicago an hour later in order to connect to a flight to Phoenix at 12:30 pm.  It left me quite a bit of time to get to the connecting flight I thought.  Well upon arriving at the airport, I noticed storms developing in Green Bay and thought this could be an issue.  The airplane carrier let all of us know that the plane was delayed and would leave in an hour or so when the weather cleared.  I immediately checked a weather website I use and noticed that the storms seemed to be building at our destination of Chicago.  In an hour, as you may have guessed, they did not board the plane.  They didn’t start boarding the plane until 8:30.  I thought I still have time to make my connecting flight so it was better safe to wait.  When I finally boarded the plane I overheard the flight attendant tell another passenger that they hoped to make it to Chicago.  I didn’t like the term hoped but they are the experts.  The Captain began to speak over the intercom and let us know that they were going to add more fuel to the plane and fly around the storms.  The only drawback was that an hour flight would now be a 2 ½ hour flight and the Captain hoped to make it to Chicago.  Again, the Captain used that ugly hope word.  After the Captain said the hope word, some of the passengers began to get up from their seat and deplane.  I texted my good friend who was sitting a few seats in front of me and asked her if she wanted to leave the flight.  She texted me back and asked what I thought and I decided we should leave the flight.  We left the flight and spoke to the agent at the counter about our options and suddenly all the people began exiting the airplane.  The flight has now officially been delayed.  We decided to wait to see what happened and if we would board the plane once again after the delay.  Approximately 2 hours later they began boarding the plane once again.  We decided at this point it was the only way we would make our connecting flight so we decided to roll the dice and board the plane.  The Captain spoke on the intercom once again and let us know the same plan, which was to have extra fuel to fly around the storms.  After we took off and 10 minutes into the flight, the Captain came on the intercom and let us know that there is a window to land relatively soon, however there was an issue with landing because of the extra weight from the added fuel we were carrying.  The solution to this extra weight was to lower our landing gear at 30,000 feet and burn the fuel weight off the plane.  Also, there was going to be a large noise as this was happening.  There wasn’t anything I could do so I just decided to be happy this adventure was soon to end, hopefully successfully.  As the Captain lowered the landing gear, the plane began to shake violently and an extremely loud vibrating sound began that was akin to a blender with rocks in it.  This went on for 15 minutes above Lake Michigan.  The skin color of many of the passengers began to turn a ghostly white as I am sure my skin did as well.  I kept repeating in my head that flying is safer than driving so this is going to be just fine.  As the landing gear touched down on the landing strip a huge relief came over me.  We finally made it to Chicago and make our way to Phoenix but I will never forget the look of the passengers on that flight.  It was an ugly experience. 

These are just three of the many ugly experiences of travel I have endured.  Next time someone says how lucky you are to travel for work, remember these experiences and ask them how lucky you truly are.               

Teamwork, essential to the success of your business

People in team training exercises often want to know the key steps to get their team moving in the right direction.  Of course, any team needs a clear mission, skilled leadership, talented members, just to name a few.  If the team understands and accepts the ground rules, they can move forward in a unified purpose and function as a team.

Ground rules establish standards and expectations.  Take the time to develop a list of ground rules, keeping them visible and using them can help your team move more efficiently and effectively toward its goal while helping team members develop a commitment to each other and to the team.

Here are some tips for teams as they go through the establishment of ground rules:

Let the team establish its own ground rules – Team leaders and supervisors may be tempted to just make a list of expectations such as, start the meeting on time or complete work assignments.  But this just becomes a list of directions for the team to follow.  A team that develops its own ground rules spends time discussing and agreeing to how the team will behave. “Our” ground rules become much more significant than a list that is prepared by someone else.  Advantages to the team setting its own ground rules:

• Team members are much more likely to respect and adhere to the rules they have created.

• An added bonus is the team building that takes place as team members discuss ground rules.

Usually, teams can come to a consensus on ground rules fairly easily and quickly. This small, early success can pave the way for the team members feeling confident about proceeding with the team’s work.

One way to facilitate development of ground rules is to create an affinity diagram by posing the questions: What gets meetings off track? What do you dislike about meetings? What goes wrong with meetings?

 1. Have team members write answers on sticky notes, one item per note. No discussion is made at this point.

2. Put all the sticky notes on a chart on the wall. Have team members silently sort the notes into categories.

 3. When the notes are grouped, have team members discuss and label each category. Use these to define and document the team’s ground rules on a flipchart for all to see. Date the flipchart and post at every meeting.

Post—and use—your ground rules ­- Without ground rules, team leaders can start to feel like the “Team Police.” They call the group to order, refocus discussions, step in to smooth out disagreements, and catch up with team members who miss meetings.  By developing base expectations, the leader doesn’t always have to play the authority figure. The ground rules give the team the power to call attention to problem situations. The flipchart on the wall reminds team members of the agreements they’ve made together, and allows every team member to participate in facilitating the team. A brief review of the ground rules will usually eliminate annoying problems like chitchat during group discussions and delays in getting meetings started. Keeping ground rules visible is also helpful in bringing new team members up to speed. Ground rules give a new person a quick snapshot of how the team goes about its work.

Evaluate the ground rules after time - As your team spends more time together, the members will change how they behave.  They will develop norms, learn how to manage conflict, and figure out ways of working with each other.  In short, they will grow and become better at being a team.  As this occurs, team members need to decide if their original list of ground rules still fits and make changes if they find it necessary.  All teams, whether they’re brand new or longstanding, can benefit from ground rules.  Take a look at your teams and help them get “grounded.”

The Impact of Poor Communication without an Answering Service

Recently my father had a total knee replacement.  I wanted to share my personal experience when his doctor’s office didn’t have an answering service and the impact of not having an answering service had on my father and my family.

My father who is 76 years old and an avid walker decided to go ahead with a total knee replacement.  Since my father was in great shape for his age, the doctor thought it would also be a great idea.  The main concern I had was the few medical issues he had such as C.O.P.D. and P.T.S.D.  and the medications he took to treat those issues.  Since the doctor was aware of those medications and I hated seeing my father in pain during his walks I was 100% behind the decision.

After surgery my father spent a week in the hospital and was released on a Friday to go home.  He was prescribed a narcotic and Tylenol for pain and settled in at home with my mom.  My mom who is 74 years old had no medial experience.  After my father’s release, the doctor gave my mom instructions of what my father needed to avoid and a printed schedule of when to take his medications.  Everything seemed to be going well and we all anticipated his healing to progress smoothly, until Saturday morning.  Saturday morning my father woke up very confused and had slurred speech.  He almost sounded drunk when I spoke with him on the phone.  I then spoke with my mom to find out what medication he had taken.  My mom said he was sleeping most of the night and he didn’t take any other medication than what was listed on the schedule that was sent home from the doctor.  I asked if she could please call the doctor’s office and speak with them about his symptoms.  She agreed to call.  I waited 20 minutes and since I didn’t hear back from my mom, I decided to call to see what the doctor’s office said.  To my surprise she said that she left a message on a recording.  I asked her if she was sure she called the right number and she said she did.  I asked her if I could have the number so I could try to call and she gave me the number.  I hung up the phone with my mom and immediately called the number she had.  I also received a recorded message and it was in fact the doctor’s office.  I tried to hit zero but it didn’t go anywhere.  Since I am in the answering service business and we answer for many doctor’s offices, hospice companies and home care companies, I couldn’t believe I was getting a recorded message with such a serious procedure.  I immediately called my mom back and asked if my dad’s symptoms improved.  She said no.  In fact, she said he is more confused.  I was a former E.M.T. and Nursing student so I knew the symptoms of stroke and when medication interaction problems occur.  I asked if my mom if she could please call 911.  She said that they are way in the country and it will take the ambulance 30 minutes to get there.  Maybe she should wait for the doctor’s office to return her call.  She didn’t want to be a bother on a Saturday to the volunteer E.M.S. that supports her area.  I was extremely frustrated and worried by the lack of communication.  I thought we needed answers quickly.  I decided to hop in my car and make the hour long drive to their home, hoping that someone would return the call to my mom.  After a half an hour went by I called my mom again and asked if the doctor’s office had called back and she said no.  She even left another message.  I pleaded with her at this point to call 911 and she finally agreed.  As I was pulling in their driveway, they were loading my father up in the ambulance.  I then took my mom in my car and we followed the ambulance, which was an hour away.  We rushed into the emergency room and asked how my father was doing.  We were led to his bed and my father was sleeping.  We wondered what was going on.  The nurse came over to his room and explained they believe my father had a drug interaction.  I asked if his doctor was contacted and she said no, they have the on call doctor taking care of him now.  The on call doctor came over to us and said my dad would be fine but he believes his P.T.S.D medication and the narcotics were interacting with each other.  He wanted to know the schedule of when he took the medications and my mom told the doctor.  The doctor discovered that my mom read the instructions incorrectly and gave my father a double dose of his narcotic instead of giving him the medication twice a day.  My father ended up recovering that day and was back to normal, except for the pain from his knee surgery.  My mom never did hear back that weekend from the doctor’s office.  I was extremely upset by the lack of available communication with his doctor.  I thought, all the doctor had to have in place was an answering service.  Sure, I would have liked it to be All City Communications, but on a personal level I didn’t care who would answer the phone, as long as it was answered.  My mom agreed that she wished she would have been able to speak to someone from the doctor’s office to discuss what medication she gave my father over the phone without having to have my father brought to the emergency room.  A simple phone call would have been so much better.

This situation happened to us personally and we became extremely frustrated and upset as a family because communication wasn’t available to us.  Also, more importantly the level of care for my father suffered because of the inability to contact the doctor’s office.  My mom said she would not recommend the doctor to anybody because of the inability to speak to someone.  She said it seems that the doctor didn’t want to be bothered with my father on a weekend.

The cost of having an answering service greatly outweighs the impact of not having the proper communication for your patient, client, or customer.  Poor communication, as shown in this example, could have been avoided by simply having an answering service.  Every time my brother, my mom, or I spoke to somebody about my dad’s condition from the surgery we always mentioned the trip to the hospital because of not being able to speak to the doctor.  Avoid the negative impact of poor communication and invest in an answering service.