Profiles in Customers: The Return of Nigel (to the Office)
In a previous installment, I profiled Nigel, a customer/fishing buddy of mine and the difficulties in getting him to take time away from his job as the Customer Service Manager of a fairly large tech company. What happens when a micromanager like Nigel has set up good processes using Navgar before he goes on leave? More interestingly, what happens when he is shut off from the information feed for a few days and then returns?
6:15 PM Monday on July 31, 2023: I’m sitting at a cafe waiting for Nigel so we can go grab some pizza slices and beer. I’m slightly nervous because it’s been a few days since he’s had any contact with work. Even the most organized of us can have a rough first day back at it.
Flashback: 9:30 AM on Saturday July 22, 2023: We have arrived in the Florida Keys, a famous fishing destination known for its exceptional saltwater fishing. It offers opportunities for deep-sea fishing, flats fishing, and reef fishing. Anglers like Nigel come here to catch a wide range of species, including tarpon, bonefish, permit, snook, redfish, marlin, and many more. Ostensibly I’m here to learn how, but really I just want to relax and take pictures. Nigel keeps checking his phone for work messages and is not being a great conversationalist.
Flashback: 2:15 PM on Tuesday July 25, 2023: Nigel had a sailfish, which apparently is a large trophy fish and a big deal on the line. Unfortunately, he was paying more attention to his phone at the time and lost his reel. Lashing out in anger, he threw his phone, hitting some rocks. I had to cover a laugh.
Flashback: 11:22 AM on Thursday Jul 27, 2023: My patience now frayed, I’ve cut Nigel off from using my phone.
6:20 PM Monday on July 31, 2023: Now we’re up to speed, Nigel has arrived and has ordered a pitcher.
“That bad?” I ask.
“That good,” he replies. “The last time I was away -”
I interrupt: “-You mean for that convention where you worked the entire time in between sessions?”
“That’s the one. I came back and there were still over 300 emails of varying importance in my inbox. There was a lot of miscommunication and confusion within my team. Getting caught up was incredibly stressful because I felt like there were expectations of immediate productivity on the part of my boss and my team members were clawing at each other to get to me first”
“And this time…?”
“With Navgar, there were orderly follow ups on all of the tasks I’d assigned. I found notes and updates that needed response quickly versus scrolling through an endless email queue. And the chats in flight got me up to speed in under an hour.”
There were other things Nigel had done that also made a difference. He had empowered decision making in absentia. One of his senior team members had proven themselves to be a standout leader and delegating some authority on an ongoing basis to them was now in order.
Next year we’re looking at Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: The Kenai Peninsula is renowned for its freshwater and saltwater fishing. It is a paradise for salmon fishing, including world-class opportunities for catching king salmon, sockeye salmon, silver salmon, and pink salmon. The area is also known for trophy-sized halibut fishing in the saltwater. We are also looking at a cheap burner phone for Nigel as a backup.
