DAY 68 - OFF THE CUFF

For my current job I was hired to rewrite and enhance some of their training materials. I specialize in Customer Service in Call Centers – so it’s been pretty easy and fun, so far. I’m either in an office all alone, or observing at the back of a classroom – very much a “fly on the wall”. When I arrived this morning however, I was immediately pulled into the Managers Office. “We have a problem: no one is available to teach this morning’s New Hires. Can you do it?”

   Now usually I have absolutely no problem stepping in and helping out with a problem. And getting up in front of a group and teaching is easy for me – and what I’ve done for over 20 years. BUT . . . I’ve been there for 2 days. I’ve never seen the material. And there is no Instructor Guide or even an outline to follow. So basically the request was to get up and teach them something I knew absolutely nothing about.

   Hmmmmm. Now I’m not usually one to back down from a challenge, but with only 15 minutes before the class was to start and no possible way to get the information that was supposed to be covered . . . well, I’m good – but I’m not THAT good.

   As my mind scrambled through the dozens and dozens of reasons why I couldn’t do it, the question “Can you do it?” morphed into “You need to do it.” Deep breath. It’s only 90-minutes, with now only 12-minutes to prepare. Keep breathing. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”

   Fortunately I’ve been at this Training Thing for a while now. I asked for a ream of paper, a box of pens, and the Nerf Basketball I had seen around. Grabbing my bottle of water and cellphone, I rushed down to the Training Room. As I turned on Pandora, the classroom started to fill – and 13 confused faces took their seats. They’d seen me the day before, in the back of the classroom, typing away on my laptop. I’d been introduced the previous day as a “Specialist here to do Content Development” – or in Peanuts language “Blah blah blah-blah blah-blah”.

   “Happy Friday!” as a boisterous greeting, passing around paper and pens, a spontaneous quiz, a paper-folding activity, having people stand and sit as names are called out – and the Nerf Ball flying overhead. Yup, I can teach for 90-minutes with no preparation time – and wrap it up with a summary that ties it all together neatly and makes it feel planned and rehearsed. WHEW!

   Because sometimes you just have to “wing it”. Sometimes in life you don’t have time to prepare – and you just have to go with what you know. And once in a while, when you get asked to step-up, saying “No” just isn’t an option. I just hope I can always get my hands on pens, a ream of paper, and a Nerf Ball.