Freshly baked (morning) buns

Many bakeries here open at 7 am and offer fresh bread, croissants and cinnamon rolls. For me to buy one early in the morning, someone had to work at night.

When meeting is scheduled on Monday morning, it’s likely that someone is formatting and binding the slides over the weekend. Helpdesks work around the clock, and so do train and taxi drivers, pilots, surgeons and emergency crews.

What we consume as a service means a different work-life balance for someone else. Do we appreciate or take it for granted?

And when we deliver service, do we expect our client to appreciate it? That we took an effort to travel after hours (or before) for meeting or conference, that we had to organize child or pet care and that our sleep schedule is disrupted?

Some efforts are invisible to the other party, - and so are our expectations. That’s why it’s useful to start with the question “what’s in it for them”, and then to check-in with yourself on what’s in it for you.

#careercoaching #fridaythoughts