I posted this story about Charles Plumb’s parachute a long time ago, but felt it was worth repeating as a reminder that it is not us alone that makes our office, department or business a great one. Say, thank you today to those who have worked alongside you all week-long.
As a business owner, manager or supervisor you must never forget that you alone do not make your department, practice or business successful. There are those who are by your side every step of the day helping to make the business successful.
How often do you ask yourself “where would I (my business, department) be if I did not have those who support me each day?
Just the other day in our medical practice, a patient came in one hour early (but he did not know it) and our front office assistant just greeted him as normal, checked him in, and when the next room opened up he was put in to see the doctor.
After he went home he saw that his appointment card said that his visit was for an hour later and he called me, and told me what had happened and wanted me to thank everyone for the wonderful service they gave him and that we did not tell him that he would have to wait, which is what would happen in other offices.
Even though it was the doctor that he was coming to see, it was the staff that gave him the great service that he was so appreciative of and will tell others about.
Below is a great story to remind us that there are those in the background of our workplaces that need to be remembered and thanked daily, because the business would not be where where it is without them.
Charles Plumb’s Parachutes
Charles Plumb was a navy jet pilot. On his seventy-sixth combat mission, he was shot down and parachuted into enemy territory. He was captured and spent six years in prison. He survived and now lectures on the lessons he learned from his experiences. One day, a man in approached Plumb and his wife in a restaurant, and said, “Are you Plumb the navy pilot?” “Yes, how did you know?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb was amazed – and grateful: “If the chute you packed hadn’t worked I wouldn’t be here today…” Plumb refers to this in his lectures: his realization that the anonymous sailors who packed the parachutes held the pilots’ lives in their hands, and yet the pilots never gave these sailors a second thought; never even said hello, let alone said thank you. Now Plumb asks his audiences, “Who packs your parachutes?….. Who helps you through your life?…. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually?……. Think about those that help you; recognize them and say thank you.”
~author unknown
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