Sticking My Neck Out

April 25, 2012

I’ve never been the kind of guy to let things be less than they can be. And there is one event that has occurred during my contract that has simply stuck with me as in need of repair. If you read my late March entries, you may remember that we had a Starring Crew event at which three vice presidents from Corporate made their appearance. It was a day to celebrate the crew but came across as more of a corporate dog and pony show. When I expressed my concerns to more experienced offers they essentially told me to let it go. They had learned to simply smile, tell corporate that everything was wonderful, and put it in their rear view mirror until next time. But that’s not my style. If there is a way to make things better I believe that we should pursue it.

So, on my recent conversation with our T&D Manager in Miami, I decided to broach the subject. I trust Lisa a lot and felt that if I could express my concerns in a way that might generate an improvement of the process than it was my obligation to not leave things as they were. I put this topic at the end of the conversation and then prefaced it as an issue I felt was important but didn’t know how it would be received. I told Lisa how much I trusted her and that I felt this conversation was a safe place to express my concerns. I consciously set all of this up in the way I did so that she was clear that I wasn’t attacking the people at corporate. I do know that in many, many companies, it is not well received to tell the Emperor he has no clothes on.

I could hear the ‘oh no, what’s coming next’ in her voice, but to her credit she encouraged me to share. I told her that I thought that the idea of a Starring Crew visit was excellent and consistent with our company’s philosophy of investing in our crew. However, I pointed out that there were several points of execution in the visit that created the exact opposite impact on the crew than what our distinguished visitors intended. I immediately followed up by saying that each one of these was easy to address and I shared this concern so that we could ‘tune up’ these visits before they occurred in this way again. My question to her was whether these senior leaders would be open to feedback and what would be the best way to share it with them.

Lisa remained encouraging at the end of my dissertation, but I could see her mind spinning even across a thousand miles of ocean. She thanked me for sharing the information and was concerned, although not surprised, that many shipboard officers had simply decided to let it slide. However, I could tell she knew that how this was presented to senior management was as important as the actual message, lest the message not be heard. She suggested that I prepare a draft email of what I would say to the executives for her to review before we presented the information to them. I agreed that this was a prudent first step and felt that I could accurately present the concerns while maintaining a positive tone. I created a one-page email that centered on a simple table that described the parts of the process that needed to be addressed, the less than desirable impact it had, and finally a column that suggested simple fixes for the problems. I opened and closed the email in a way that honored the effort and time of our Senior VPs so that they would, hopefully, not feel personally attacked. We scheduled a phone call for a few days later to ensure that we continued to move this item forward.

Fortunately, Lisa’s response to my email was extremely positive. She liked both the content and the tone and said she wouldn’t change a word. However, she felt this was a message better shared in person and not by email and asked if I would be okay with her sharing the message in an upcoming conversation she was to have with our VP of Human Resources. I agreed with her approach and waited to hear the result. While there is a natural defensiveness that will always rise up in business when we feel one of programs has been attacked, Lisa’s take on her conversation with Jay was that he was very appreciative of the feedback and felt that we would go a long way toward improving that next time. Several of the factors he felt were a direct result of trying to do two ships in one day, especially when one was under OPP Level 2. While not wholly embracing my suggestions he did understand the concern and felt that they would implement processes next time that would create a far more positive impact.

Was I being simply ‘blown off’ by corporate on this concern? I don’t think so as I believe that Celebrity is a company that truly cares. Will it all change and be perfect over night? Of course not, that’s not the way the world works. But it pleases me to know that in this case doing the right thing and not ignoring the problem at least has the potential to make a difference.

“Behold the turtle who only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.” I hope that my willingness to stick my neck out on this issue will result in at least small steps in a positive direction.

And the adventure continues . . .