Roll-out Failure

Coming back to the office after maternity leave was a jarring transition, but my "welcome-back present" was a surprised and secretive "PPE meeting".

When the team walked in, a spread of unfamiliar gloves sat on the table. My supervisor proudly announced that "we" were rolling out new cut-resistant gloves—Cut Level 5.

I picked one up. Within exactly sixty seconds, I used my pen to cut through the fabric of the glove with very little pressure. I came to a definitive conclusion: these gloves were incredibly cheap. My supervisor, who was visibly annoyed that I intentionally destroyed the glove, but choose to ignore me. Okay then, I thought, to which I just began to stare out into space.

Fast forward three days, yes, only three days. I walked past my supervisor’s office and overheard a tense phone call with the glove vendor. Through the closed door, I caught the highlights from his boisterous voice: "Are you sure these are Cut Level 5?"... "The employees tore right through them"... "Flimsy"..."Cheap"..."We need other options."

While I had spent the previous few months busy creating a human life, it only took me one minute to spot a critical safety failure while my leadership had likely spent weeks orchestrating the rollout of the new gloves.

The Lesson: Conduct Beta Tests Among a Trusted Circle of People

If I had to guess (because I was out of office), my leadership made this decision in a vacuum. They kept the gloves a secret among two people until they were ready to roll-out the program. This was the beginning of rolling out smaller initiatives and programs among a small circle of trusted employees. These employees would give their honest opinion, but would not give us 'shit' for failing their expectations.