I was speaking today at the Marriott Madison West in Madison Wisconsin. My keynote was to end at 4:45, but I was anticipating that it might start late and thus end late. I had another keynote the next day and needed to make a 6:45 flight at the airport. So in advance, I checked with the front desk about my options to get to the airport. I learned that a shuttle was available that typically left at 5:00. Speaking directly to the driver, I told him that I might be a 5 or even 10 minutes late past 5:00. He assured me that he would be waiting for me to get me to the airport in time. Great!
I did my keynote, an hour talk based on my new book Grounded (www.davidpeterson.com/buygrounded.html). After the session, I chatted with some people, gathered up my stuff and got to the lobby at 5:05. Immediately I sensed trouble because the shuttle that was parked right outside the door was nowhere in sight. I asked the front desk clerk where was the shuttle. He looked initially confused, like “shuttle, we have a shuttle”? He then said something like, “We put you on the 5:30 shuttle.” My first thought was to get mad, after all, I had specially arranged to get out near 5:00 to make my flight. But that would have been a reaction and would not have achieved anything remotely like the outcome I wanted. So I said firmly but professionally, “that will not work, can you arrange a cab for me ASAP”?
At this moment, the driver I had originally spoken to walked up. He caught the tail end of my comment and said, “the meeting planner switched you to the 5:30 shuttle, is that not OK”? So now I understand that they are operating on a different set of facts that I am. Good thing I responded and not reacted. Whomever the “meeting planner” was who arranged for the later shuttle was, they did not speak to me. And it didn’t matter at this point; I needed to go to the airport right then, not 25 minutes later. So I repeated my statement, “Either call me a cab or take me to the airport in the shuttle, whichever works better, but I need to go now.” The desk manager decided to have the driver take me to the airport in the shuttle.
There was heavier traffic than usual, and the driver agreed that I might not have made my flight if I had waited til 5:30. And I had a discussion with him about how he could have handled the exchange with the meeting planner about my ride to the airport. But in the end, the hotel did the right thing (of course, it’s a Marriott!). I remained Grounded and did not become an ass in the lobby over the situation (good thing since I had just extolled the benefits of Grounded behavior to 325 people in my keynote session; acting out in the lobby would have been bad form …). The key was firmly stating my need to get to the airport without taking away the options that the hotel had to accommodate my request. Giving people options is an essential Grounded IN trait – Regard for Others. Using it liberally will up your Grounded Quotient and increase the likelihood of your getting the outcomes you want. I suggest trying this in similar situations ….