How an escalator made my day

Last week I took my 3 year old daughter to Westfield Belconnen to buy some gloves. As the Canberra cold sets in, I decided to park in the basement to minimise the chill as we walked inside.

After we got out of the car and made our way to the entrance, I held my daughter’s hand tight as we navigated the hustle and bustle of people darting in and out of the shops. 

With her little legs going twice as fast as mine, we walked through the crowd with purpose. However not long into our shopping adventure, I realised we were on the wrong level and needed to head upstairs.

We walked to the end of the mall and came to the escalator.

It had been some time since I’d been at the shops with my daughter and as she stood there gripping my hand I sensed her hesitation. 

I looked down and asked her what was the matter – her reply: she was scared of the escalator.

Although she desperately wanted to satisfy her curiosity and take a ride on the escalator, I needed to reassure her she didn’t need to be scared. After telling her she could do it, and promising not to let go of her hand, she held her breath and cautiously stepped on to the escalator.

As she stood on the escalator riding it up to the floor above, I looked down to see her beautiful face now full of pride and satisfaction. She had done it. She had overcome her fear and was now proudly standing there confidently waiting to arrive at Level 1. 

It was in that moment that I too had an enormous sense of pride for her, and I thought to myself, if only we could be better at overcoming our fears like my daughter did and back our own abilities more to achieve our goals.

I am passionate about encouraging the pursuit of curiosity, and like seeing my daughter’s sense of personal pride, nothing gives me more satisfaction as a leader than seeing my team overcome challenges to achieve their ambitions.

With that escalator ride making my day, I realised that to fulfill our curiosity and achieve our goals, we not only need to overcome our own hesitations and fears, we often also need someone by our side holding our hand to encourage us and provide re-assurance we can do it.

As leaders, we should never expect our teams to face challenges alone. Instead we should be by their side and backing their abilities. Trust me, the pride you feel when people fulfill their ambition, is absolutely worthwhile.

About the author

Louise MacDonald is a senior public sector advisor based in Canberra. She has a particular interest in service model design and how to operationalise front-line services to meet the needs, requirements and expectations of those who use, access or rely on public services.

To find out more go to www.louisemacdonald.org

###The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.