Commitment
or connections?
An elderly lady was booked to fly with Ethiopian Airlines from
Washington DC to Addis Abeba recently. This is nothing special as
thousands of people fly similar legs everyday. What was a bit different
in her case though was the fact that she was diabetic and needed
special meals during the 18 hours journey. It was also difficult
for her to walk quickly by herself, which is not very handy in the
middle of the business of today’s major airports. Picking
up her luggage from the belt upon arrival would require assistance
as well. All this should not be a problem as airlines offer services
to accommodate such special needs. So while making the reservations,
the need for diabetic meals and drinks were indicated as well as
wheelchair services. The relatives of the passenger had prepared
her some extra diabetic snacks, just in case. These “just
in case” precautions turned out to be a very important later
during the flight. Despite several confirmations prior to the date
of departure as to the special needs of the passenger, there were
no special meals for her on board. When she mentioned her special
meals needs to the cabin crew during the flight, all they offered
her was some fruit. Needless to say that apart from the sandwich
she had in her handbag, she passed her time in the plane mostly
hungry, which is not a very good thing when you are diabetic. Upon
arrival in Addis Abeba, the daughter picking her up received the
lady in a wheelchair alright but in a very weak condition. Recognised
by a few members of the cabin crew in the arrival hall at Bole,
she was greeted with: “We didn’t know your mother was
on board. If you had told us we would have looked after her.”,
or something of the sort. Puzzled by the reply and the state her
mother was in, she wheeled her out of the airport to go home and
look after her.
Getting a pass into the airport to meet her mother was also an interesting
experience. The security office informed her that they needed to
see the passenger’s print out from the airlines. At one of
the ticket offices, the reservation agent attending to her refused
this request, saying this was not allowed. A bit later she tried
again, now in another ticket office, where she got the print out
without hesitation.
The above examples are no exceptions. Many of us have similar experiences.
In fact, most of us have learnt over the years and first try to
find somebody we know working somewhere before we go and get the
services we need. Most people I know will not just go to a hospital
or clinic. No, we go to the hospital where we know a nurse or doctor
working there and instead of going through the routines of the reception,
we’d even call the doctor on his private number and bypass
the system to make sure we get the required medical attention. And
if we don’t know the doctor ourselves, we will look for somebody
who does know the doctor. The fact that most of us behave like this
is an indicator that we do not or cannot trust to get the services
we are looking for just like that, so we look for connections instead.
In other countries, like where I come from, this wouldn’t
work. It would also not be necessary as everybody will get attended
to in the same way, no exceptions. And every professional will apply
his or her knowledge and skills equally to who ever comes for a
consultation. That is not to say that all services are perfect there,
not at all, but everybody gets treated equally and staff are committed
to offer their services for no matter whom. Ethics and attitude
towards work play a role here as well as some cultural factors.
And in a country like Ethiopia it is important who you know, if
you want what you need. This is quite a disturbing thought however,
especially where it concerns health matters. And yet, also here
professionals are expected to provide the services they are trained
and hired for. The fact that customers and patients have learnt
to go around the normal system, just shows that they do not trust
the system or worse that they do not trust that professionals are
committed to do what is expected of them. This by the way does not
help build the reputation of companies or institutions. No matter
what slogan they carry, the quality of their services depends on
individual contacts, not on a corporate pride or culture to provide
the best.
Now, keeping commitments is the quickest way to build trust in any
relationship, also between services providers and customers. Breaking
commitments on the other hand, is the quickest way to destroy trust.
Realising this, it is vital to be careful with making commitments.
This is so in personal relationships but also for the reservation
agent of the airlines for example who makes a commitment on behalf
of the company. When this commitment, like providing for special
meals in the example above, is broken, trust in the company is lost
immediately as a result. In fact, most of us know this and as an
escape strategy many of us have learnt to make commitments that
are so vague or elusive that nobody can pin us down. Some of us
don’t even make commitments at all. Such approach doesn’t
work in today’s global economy, where companies need to make
and follow through on promises to even get noticed amongst so many
other companies offering the same products and services.
Keeping commitments is based on the principles of integrity and
performance. Particularly it involves the ability to do what you
say you are going to do. The next time you make a commitment, personal
or on behalf of the company you work for, be sure that the commitment
is realistic. Even if you have to disappoint someone, it is far
better to do this up front than to promise and not deliver. Now
I realise this is a tall order in the Ethiopian cultural context,
where we don’t want to disappoint people, especially those
we know, as relationships are so important here. We need to learn
however that not keeping our promises will disappoint them even
more. And learning to keep our promises in its turn will help us
to rely on commitments rather than on connections.
(ton.haverkort@gmail.com)
Recommended reading: “The speed of trust” by Stephen
M.R. Covey and Rebecca R. Merrill - 2006
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