Each morning when I leave my Las Vegas hotel suite, things are arranged the same way so I can work comfortably and efficiently. Chair, light and coffee table moved closer together so I can see to read and put my feet up. Second bathroom waste basket moved near the desk. Magazines, marketing materials, TV guides and remotes moved off the surfaces I need to use. You get the idea. 

Each afternoon when I return from meetings, the room has been restored to the standard new-guest configuration.

Obviously this is the hotel’s version of the optimal state, but clearly it isn’t mine. The person who straightens my room ought to be able to discern the difference between random mess and intentional changes. And the hotel ought to be able to train their staff to make this distinction. My comfort is more important than their standard.

This hotel is not alone in imposing their objectives upon their customers to their customer’s discontent.

Consultants are notorious for this. They often come into a company, jump head-long into their standard method, and try to make the company match their notion of how things should be done. Their notions might be reasonable, but if they can’t adapt their approach, along with their priorities and objectives, to accommodate the client’s style, priorities and objectives, it is a problem.

Technology provides additional examples of misplaced objectives. Think about the extent to which technology controls your life by interrupting you and requiring you to accommodate its needs. This can range from your PC trying to do updates or requiring a reboot at the least convenient moment to enterprise systems that force you to change many aspects of how you run your business.

Additional examples abound:

• Statements that tell you to take the time to write your account number on your check so the receiver doesn’t have to be careful on the receiving end
• Answering machines that make you punch in your 16-digit account number and then ask you to repeat it when you finally get a live human being
• Order forms and applications that demand irrelevant or redundant  information
• Repairmen who require you to take the entire day off work to accommodate their inability to schedule

It isn’t hard to avoid annoying your customers my supplanting their objectives with yours. But to do so, you have to look at the situation from their perspective. Ask yourself two simple questions:

• Am I deciding what is best for them when I can’t possibly know?
• Am I imposing upon them to make my job easier or more reliable?

My objectives or yours? The customer’s objectives better be more important.