{"id":1365,"date":"2026-04-29T06:55:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:21:08","slug":"youre-not-doing-it-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/youre-not-doing-it-right\/","title":{"rendered":"You’re Not Doing it Right!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Working Smarter and Harder to Overcome Friction<\/a> I discussed the notion of employees doing MORE <\/strong>to ultimately help customers do less, ergo, making the service they provide more helpful and productive.<\/p>\n

The example that I used to illustrate this phenomenon was where a NEW<\/strong> service action was being created.\u00a0 The challenge was \u2018how could we enact the task that we need to complete so that it makes things easier for our customers\u2019?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to now examine the same \u2018working smarter AND harder\u2019<\/strong> phenomenon but from a different starting point \u2013 from where the service has already been created<\/strong> but its customers are having a problem engaging with it.<\/p>\n

What can happen in these examples is that upon engaging with the process and finding a lack of progression through it, you are told that the problem is …<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not doing it right\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t filled out the form correctly, you\u2019ve gone to the wrong webpage, you\u2019ve classified your problem incorrectly, you haven\u2019t clicked the right option.<\/p>\n

Anyone that reads these blogs regularly might possibly be able to anticipate how I might receive such a response in the face of MY<\/b>\u00a0supposed inadequacy and erroneous actions.<\/p>\n

*Cut to intense close up of lip quivering rage and squinting eye of injustice*<\/p>\n

I take some deep breaths, compose myself, and then embark on an explanation which details why the problem is not actually me, it\u2019s how they\u2019ve designed their process.\u00a0 \u00a0(I mean, IT IS<\/strong> me, but that\u2019s precisely the point. Often processes are designed by the experts in the organisation that need the information. They know the language, they know the intent. They come at the problem from their institutional perspective, NOT <\/strong>the customers’ and sometimes fail to appreciate what the customer is thinking or feeling as they are approaching the task. This leads to tasks not being completed the way that they were intended.)<\/p>\n

So i\u2019ll helpfully point out the problems from my \u2018customer\u2019 perspective, the opportunities for confusion, and then, if feeling generous, I\u2019ll usually end by letting them know what they might do about it.<\/p>\n

People love<\/strong><\/span> this I find.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hehe.<\/p>\n

Of course they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Most people DETEST<\/strong> it.<\/p>\n

Call centre agents, canvassing political candidates, colleagues, friends, children, husbands, cats.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t be deterred of course because I have righteousness and lean on my side.<\/p>\n

You see, lean absolutely runs on this ability – the ability to call out problems and for people to receive them in the manner to which they are intended i.e. progress can only be made when these issues are surfaced, discussed and acted upon.<\/p>\n

It sounds cheesy as hell but really, this is the basis of how psychologically safe continuous improvement cultures are created. The ability for someone to go \u2018something is wrong here\u2019 and for that disclosure to be treated respectfully, thoughtfully and acted upon.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in my life at least, this is rarely the reality.<\/p>\n

Upon hearing such feedback, most people\u2019s \u2018backs\u2019 are instantly \u2018up\u2019. The problem then is that they aren\u2019t able to absorb the information, it is defensively batted back and often, cause them to \u2018double down\u2019 on their stance.<\/p>\n

If I hadn\u2019t drunk long and hard at the cold crystal waters of the pool of honesty, I could probably be more \u2018strategic\u2019 (vomit) in terms of how I delivered this information and my results would probably be better.\u00a0 I\u2019d stop and think \u2018how can I relay this information in a way that doesn\u2019t feel threatening? \u00a0For top results, \u2018how could I make them realise themselves<\/strong> what is going wrong and why<\/strong>\u2019?<\/p>\n

We know that coaching on the shop floor, using the socratic method, is the ultimate way to deal with these types of issues, but the ability to coach often relies on a managerial dynamic which, as a customer, you simply don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

As much as we\u2019d like every problem to be surfaced through coaching and self-propelled evaluation, the reality is, lean environments absolutely need to support the ability for people to say that something is going wrong and for people to not react terribly to this information.<\/p>\n

Even better, we\u2019re looking for a culture where the response when these sorts of problems are surfaced and named doesn\u2019t react with a \u201cYou\u2019re not doing it right!\u201d<\/strong> rather, the following, beautifully curious, questions are asked:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy<\/strong> isn\u2019t the customer doing it right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat might we need to do<\/strong> differently?”<\/p>\n

Some companies\u00a0DO<\/strong> have these kinds of cultures however. They take great pains to create environments where this kind of \u2018radical candor<\/a>\u2019 are appreciated and rewarded.\u00a0 Amazon for example. If you didn\u2019t get the chance to be participate in our Amazon Breakfast Briefing about how they create their innovative culture then I ABSOLUTELY recommend you taking some time to watch it.\u00a0 Explore the Culture of Innovation with Amazon Web Services Breakfast Briefing – YouTube.<\/a> It’s a brilliant explanation of the steps that they take to constantly innovate to deliver customer centricity.<\/p>\n

I was also recently heartened to see a brilliant example of \u2018problem reporting<\/a>\u2019 and resulting action demonstrated by the CEO of Walmart, Ron Vachris<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Member<\/figure>\n

How beautiful. \u00a0What amazing leadership. \u00a0A customer spotted a problem, a swift reply to alert that this information had been acted upon and that happens AT EVERY<\/strong> organisational level, even from the very top.<\/p>\n

No defensiveness, no arguments, just action.<\/p>\n

The dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Working Smarter and Harder to Overcome Friction I discussed the notion of employees doing MORE to ultimately help customers do less, ergo, making the service they provide more helpful […]","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,3,6],"tags":[16,18],"custom_author":[44],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lean","category-organisational-culture","category-service-improvement","tag-lean","tag-psychological-safety","custom_author-sarah-lethbridge"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/554\/2026\/04\/Head-in-hands.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1365"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1387,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions\/1387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1365"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=1365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}