We’ve been hiring some people at work recently, and it’s had me thinking about the qualities I like in the people I work with.
There are a lot of things I value in a coworker, but one of the biggest is a sense of urgency.
I like working with people who get things done. People who don’t let things sit around unnecessarily, who take ownership of their work, and who understand that sometimes getting something done quickly is just as important as getting it done well.
I’ve been thinking about why I value that so much, and I think a lot of it goes back to my first job.
McDonald’s.
I started working at McDonald’s when I was a junior in high school. I wanted to buy my first car, so I needed a job. I ended up working there through the rest of high school.
It’s actually kind of funny because when I was first hired, my manager apparently didn’t have much confidence that I’d last.
I’ve always been a pretty quiet guy. I’m introverted, and back then I was probably even more shy than I am today. My manager eventually told me she wasn’t sure I was going to make it because I was so quiet.
Well, I ended up doing pretty well.
Within about a year, I became a crew trainer, helping train new employees. I even won Employee of the Month.
And that Employee of the Month plaque? I’ve kept it in my kitchen for the last ten years. It’s moved everywhere with me, and it’s still something I like to brag about. I think it’s hilarious.
Anyway, one of the things about working at McDonald’s is that everything moves fast.
There are ebbs and flows throughout the day, but when things get busy, they get busy. You’re taking orders, preparing food, getting customers through the drive-thru, and trying to keep everything moving.
Speed is a huge part of the business. McDonald’s even had incentives and recognition for stores that performed well on service times. The faster you could get customers through, the better.
But speed by itself wasn’t the goal.
You still had to get the orders right. You had to provide good service. You had to make sure the customer was happy with what they were getting.
After all, they’re the ones paying for it.
What I found interesting was that I actually started to love the chaos.
When things got really busy, there was something energizing about it. You’d get into this flow state where everything was moving quickly, everyone had a job to do, and you were just trying to keep up with the pace. It was fun.
And I think that experience taught me something about myself that I’ve carried into pretty much everything I’ve done since.
I like pressure.
I like deadlines. I like high-stakes situations. I like when things get difficult and you have to figure out how to get through them.
I’m competitive. I want to win.
It’s something I’ve noticed in jiu-jitsu, too. When things get hard, I tend to dig deeper. I don’t necessarily want things to be easy. I enjoy the challenge, and I like seeing how I respond when I’m being pushed.
I think McDonald’s was one of the first places where I really got to experience that.
It’s funny because I still apply so much of that thinking to my job today.
I’m a solutions engineer now, working with customers who are evaluating and buying software. Obviously, the work is very different, but I think a lot of the same principles apply.
There’s a saying in sales that I’ve always liked:
Time kills all deals.
I think about that a lot.
When I’m working on a deal, I never want to be the blocker. If somebody needs something from me, I want to get it done. If there’s a technical question that needs answering, I want to get an answer. If there’s something preventing a customer from moving forward, I want to help resolve it.
I want to keep things progressing.
And it’s not just about closing a deal. I want the customer to see value in what they’re buying. I want them to have a good experience working with me, and I want to deliver on what I’ve told them we can do.
I take a lot of ownership in that.
I think that’s also why I enjoy working with people who have a similar sense of urgency. When everyone takes ownership and keeps things moving, you don’t have to constantly chase people down or wonder whether something is getting done.
You can trust that people are going to do their part.
I don’t think urgency means everything needs to be treated like an emergency, either. There are plenty of things that deserve time and careful consideration. But there’s a difference between being thoughtful and just letting something sit because nobody feels responsible for moving it forward.
Maybe that’s why I get frustrated when things move slowly for no good reason.
I spent a couple of years working in a restaurant where people expected their food in minutes, not days. You couldn’t just ignore an order because you didn’t feel like getting to it.
Someone was waiting on you.
These days, instead of selling cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, I’m selling software.
But I still don’t want to be the reason someone’s waiting.