How often do you hear this at your workplace: “Sorry, that’s not my job.” On the rare occasion I hear it, I always wish I’d recorded it. Then played a “not my job” compilation for some customers. And made the not-my-jobbers watch the customers’ reactions. Sometimes embarrassment can be a good motivator. Sometimes.
Seems to me the not-my-jobbers have one of two motivations: fear or laziness. They’re afraid to do the “not my job” task because they don’t know how, and they’re afraid to fail. Or, they’re too lazy… but the irony is, that often the lazy ones think they’re too busy.
Ultimately, though, it comes down to customer blindness. The not-my-jobbers fail to see the value to the customer. I’ve argued previously that larger companies are particularly prone to falling out of love with their customers. So, even if it isn’t explicitly written as part of your job description, you should probably find a way to make “it” happen. It’s not about you. It’s not about the schlub asking you to put the new cover sheet on your TPS report (mostly because that schlub probably cares less about the customer than you do anyway).
It’s about your customer. Take care of your customer. It pays off in the end.