Dondu and Pandu are both working in different companies as office clerks. Every evening after office, they sit together over a snack. Dondu was feeling especially down today as he got a firing again. He had made a mistake in writing the monthly rent cheque and wrote an extra Zero. Problem is that he had made the same mistake a couple of months back and this time, his manager really lost his temper calling Dondu a good for nothing, idiot and stuff like that. Dondu was quite upset because he writes more than 500 cheques a day and just because he made a mistake in one cheque, his manager called him an idiot. That is not fair. Further, he has been trying his best to avoid any mistakes.
Pandu tried to pacify him saying "Just imagine what would have happened if that cheque was encashed, your manager has a good reason to shout".
Pandu then continued sharing his experience, he had made a similar mistake once. He had once spelt a name wrongly on a cheque and the cheque came back dishonoured. The manager called Pandu that same day and introduced him to a friend (also a consultant) who will fix the problem and Pandu was responsible to ensure the same error doesn't repeat.
Pandu was initially confused. A wrong cheque doesn't really need a consultant.
Over the next 2 weeks, Pandu had to work with the consultant on installing an automated cheque printing system.
Today, almost 400-500 cheques are printed in less than 2 hours without any errors.
Dondu's manager tried to correct the error but Pandu's manager corrected the system.
I made the same mistake once. I had a colleague who used to make too many mistakes in his documents. I explained to him and then fired him a few times with not much results. Then I figured a much easier and peaceful solution.
Everytime the guy came with the document, I would just ask one question "Did you run spell check on the document?" If the answer is yes, I'll review the document else I would simply send him back.
Trust me, it saved tonnes of corrections, work and above all brought a lot of peace to me.
Infact, this was around the same time I got a lot of rubber stamps for entering repeat data. (refer the sharing titled Stampify)
Pandu's manager did one smart thing, he didn't run behind fixing the mistake. He fixed the system before it grew out of hand.
Even today, when I come across a mistake or any issues in workplace, first thing is obviously to fix the issue and then the next question is "How do we make sure it doesn't repeat? What system changes can we make to prevent this from repeating?"
You can either be Dondu or Pandu... Actually even better... You can either be Dondu's manager or Pandu's manager...
You can either correct the mistake or correct the system.
Pandu tried to pacify him saying "Just imagine what would have happened if that cheque was encashed, your manager has a good reason to shout".
Pandu then continued sharing his experience, he had made a similar mistake once. He had once spelt a name wrongly on a cheque and the cheque came back dishonoured. The manager called Pandu that same day and introduced him to a friend (also a consultant) who will fix the problem and Pandu was responsible to ensure the same error doesn't repeat.
Pandu was initially confused. A wrong cheque doesn't really need a consultant.
Over the next 2 weeks, Pandu had to work with the consultant on installing an automated cheque printing system.
Today, almost 400-500 cheques are printed in less than 2 hours without any errors.
Dondu's manager tried to correct the error but Pandu's manager corrected the system.
I made the same mistake once. I had a colleague who used to make too many mistakes in his documents. I explained to him and then fired him a few times with not much results. Then I figured a much easier and peaceful solution.
Everytime the guy came with the document, I would just ask one question "Did you run spell check on the document?" If the answer is yes, I'll review the document else I would simply send him back.
Trust me, it saved tonnes of corrections, work and above all brought a lot of peace to me.
Infact, this was around the same time I got a lot of rubber stamps for entering repeat data. (refer the sharing titled Stampify)
Pandu's manager did one smart thing, he didn't run behind fixing the mistake. He fixed the system before it grew out of hand.
Even today, when I come across a mistake or any issues in workplace, first thing is obviously to fix the issue and then the next question is "How do we make sure it doesn't repeat? What system changes can we make to prevent this from repeating?"
You can either be Dondu or Pandu... Actually even better... You can either be Dondu's manager or Pandu's manager...
You can either correct the mistake or correct the system.
You are right dear......... an Intelligent person will always do a Fact finding and try to rectify the system... making correction in the system is a long term solution rather than doing fault finding and doing quick fix temporary solutions
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