I did it again—and I hate it. My wife Kitty started the dishwasher with the day’s dishes. When I passed by the kitchen about ten minutes latter I noticed that the dishwasher didn’t sound quite right, more of a hum than the swishing of pressurized swirling water. I went into the kitchen a couple more times that evening and heard the same anomaly but didn’t do anything to check. Finally the sound and the dishwasher stopped. When Kitty looked at the dishwasher the next morning she discovered that one of the tabs holding the heating element in place had become dislodged. It was sticking straight up and blocking the washer arm from rotating. The humming sound was from the pump not being able to do its job. Now the dishwasher wouldn’t start. It appeared to me that the motor driving the pump was burned out. I should have looked into the dishwasher when I heard the unusual sound but had not. Now we were without our dishwasher (a necessity in our home) and would have to call a repairman.
Randy from Northwest Appliance showed up the next day. I told him what had happened. He looked inside, engaged the float, closed the door, pushed the button—and it started immediately. This took like ten seconds and it was working perfectly. I was a little happy, maybe more flabbergasted. He explained that the float sometimes get stuck in the up position. When that happens the pump shuts off. That makes sense—you wouldn’t want the pump sending too much water into the basin. I told Randy about my lack of effort the previous evening. He offered an ego-salving excuse—I did not have 25 years of experience like he did. He said that my passivity was understandable if I was not mechanically inclined. But that excuse offered me no solace—I am mechanically inclined. My unavoidable fault was that I hadn’t even tried.
We had a nice conversation and then he presented me a bill for $64.00 for his ten seconds of effort (which works out to be $23,040.00 per hour). That was the cost of my passivity.
Sometimes I am passive because I am afraid—afraid that I don’t have the right stuff, fearful of outcomes I cannot control, terrified by the prospect of failure. But none of those adequately explain my lack of action in this case. I was passive because I was intellectually lazy. I did not show any curiosity. I did not initiate. I just accepted the status quo without a whimper of challenge. I paid a high cost for my passivity.
Leaders make sure that they have a clear line of sight to act. They actively seek solutions rather than excuses. They take personal initiative rather than wait for someone else. They stay engaged when others check out and show curiosity rather than passivity.
Are you paying a high cost for your passivity?
Are you mining for conflict or pushing issues under the rug?
Are you inquisitive about your colleagues or taking them for granted?
Are you looking for new and better ways to do things or stuck in the status quo?
BUILT TO LEAD 