Last Sunday morning, my door bell rang.

I looked out to see a man I vaguely recognized, dressed in shorts and a tee shirt carrying a box. I opened the door and he handed me the package. It was some wine that I had ordered from out of state.

I must have had a look on my face that said:

“WHAT THE HEY??”

So, he started to explain, “I tried to deliver this to you two times this week. No one was here to sign for it. I know that no one ever rejects a delivery of wine, so I signed for it. I live close so I thought I would drop it off on Sunday since you would probably be home.”

Now fully shocked, understanding slaps me in the face. This is my DELIVERY dude. The great guy, that I see regularly delivering the plethora of Amazon, Target, and other boxes to my house. The guy who always stops to pat my dog on the head and say hello. And he is here on a Sunday on his own time!

I thank him profusely as he is totally right. I would never refuse a wine delivery!

Now totally pleased, I want to send his boss a letter of admiration. But I hesitate, he probably broke every rule in the book to bring me this wine. He did it off the clock, on a Sunday, he “illegally “signed for a package, he drove his own vehicle, and he wore his own clothes.

This man was totally “NOT DOING HIS JOB”, but he was doing so much more. This is one of those human interest stories that should go viral!

This got me thinking, How do we as leaders get our team, to “Not do their jobs?” But to let them deviate from all that we create and know is the right way to do something, to do it even better.

What has to exist that he could feel so confident to defy a system to do it even better?

No Justification Needed

This awesome guy had a urge to do something right, and he did it. PERIOD! I make up that he didn’t have to justify his action to anyone. He felt empowered and now he has a customer for life.

What would happen if your team felt so empowered that they would break the rules to do what was right? And NOT DO THEIR JOB.

Awesomeness! That is what! Customers would be thrilled, colleagues would be engaged, team members would feel valued!

Have you ever NOT DONE YOUR JOB? What was the results? I would love to hear it, both good and bad!