A prank call on two Papa John’s restaurants turned into a productive call where the workers decided to go with the flow. The video is funny, but it’s also nice to see that workers can take a situation they don’t totally understand and focus on the task at hand… work.
They are both a little confused at first, but they end up listening to each other and working together to get the pizza dough situation resolved.
This type of thing happens to everyone. Sometimes obstacles arise and sometimes things that you don’t quite understand happen. Don’t focus on what’s going wrong, because that’s when you can easily throw your hands in the air and quit trying for the day. Your job is to focus on the task at hand and get things in order.
Your job is to go with the flow.
How To Go With The Flow At Work
When you can go with the flow at work, your productivity is going to increase. You will easily move through unexpected obstacles and problems and get back to the tasks on your to-do list.
1. Accept That Things Out Of Your Control Are Going To Happen.
Too often we go into work thinking that things are going to go smoothly, and when things go wrong, we are thrown off balance and feel frustrated.
It’s really important to accept that you can’t control others. Even if you are doing things perfectly, other people may throw a wrench in your schedule. When you accept that, unexpected situations will be much easier to accept.
The woman on the phone could have argued that she didn’t call him when he told her that she called him, but instead, she just accepted that something she wasn’t aware of happened. She turned her attention to what her workplace needed and, instead of questioning what was happening, started talking about what she needed.
2. Stay Calm
This is the step that will make or break your daily productivity. Too often people get upset and let it affect the rest of their day negatively.
Staying calm helps you approach the situation with an attitude that can solve problems.
Being upset causes you to complain and wish that things didn’t happen the way they did. Or it causes you to make things much worse than they are. Both of those things will not solve anything.
You can’t change what is going on or what has happened, you can only move forward, so you might as well go with the flow, accept it, and move forward.
For instance, the guy on the phone could have got annoyed and told the woman on the phone that he thought she was crazy. But, instead, he stayed calm, listened to her, and engaged in a conversation that didn’t make any sense at first.
In the end, him staying calm helped her get something she needed and allowed him to feel like he was contributing to her store.
3. Define The Problem
Now that you’ve gone with the flow and realized that there is a problem, you need to define the problem. What needs to be fixed, solved, or overcome?
The guy stayed calm and listened to the woman and what her problem was. He was able to understand what her needs were. He was able to go and check if he could help her. And, she was able to share her problem and ask for help.
4. Find The Solution
Don’t just define the problem, fix it. You need to find a solution so that you can get back to work and on with your day.
Sometimes you can figure it out by yourself, but often consulting with someone else or working with them is the best way to get things done quickly and efficiently.
Together, they worked towards a solution. And, what I thought was interesting, was that he became more willing to try to help her as they started to find a solution together.
