In three years at the college we have held a number of events, and none of them have ever been over a 100 people. In fact, the majority of them have never been more than 50 people. Though we knew the potential was larger we didn't think that more than 80 children would come, and were taken by surprise when 125 children and their parents and grandparents and teenage siblings also showed up.
The problem was that we had set up registration in the Atrium of the CALT bldg, and there were classes going on. So all of the noise generated by 300 people in a concrete and metal enclosure echoed through the halls and disturbed several classes.
This morning I went in, first thing to make apologies for: 1. Disturbing Classes (which are obviously the priority on campus). 2. Putting the Facilities Office in an awkward position (I'm sure it is difficult to manage inter-office communication and deal with frustration you didn't cause). 3. Underestimating the number of people we would expect.
They assured me that they were okay with everything and understood that sometimes things don't go as planned. We learned lessons on how to communicate better with them and how to serve the community better in the future.
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Leadership Principles In Play:
- Be proactive when you're at fault. I could see on the faces of the men that I met with, as soon as I walked in, that they were relieved that I would make the first move. I got there shortly after 9:00 a.m. (standard business start hour) and had handled the matter by 9:30. I expressed my apology for the wrong committed (disturbance of classes), and also apologized for the position I had put these men in. Leader, own up to your mistakes, and be proactive to rectify the situation.
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