The Climb | Episode 5: Humanity

Kayla still doesn't look up.

She just stares at the floor.

Kelly whispers.

"Come with me."

She gently leads Kayla into an empty conference room and quietly closes the door behind them.

Neither of them says anything for a moment.

Finally, Kelly speaks.

"Tell me what's going on."

Kayla lets out a long sigh.

"I want to quit."

Kelly doesn't interrupt.

"I just... I can't do this job anymore."

"It doesn't fulfill me anymore."

"I'm mentally exhausted."

She then forces herself to switch to reasoning.

"But I can't quit."

"I've have kids."

"They depend on me."

Kayla wipes her eyes.

"I shouldn't even be burdening you with this."

Kelly leans forward.

"You are not burdening me"

Kayla looks up.

"I've always felt like you actually care about people."

I don’t know. I just feel like I can talk to you.

Then the tears come.

"I'm just really struggling."

“At Home.”

“My Finances.”

“Everything.”

"It's getting harder every month."

“Everyday”

"And honestly..."

She pauses to catch her breath.

"I'm so frustrated all the time now."

"I spend all day helping people..."

"...when honestly I really need help myself."

Kelly quietly listens.

She doesn't look at the clock.

She doesn't mention the service level alerts.

She doesn't tell Kayla to pull herself together and get back on the phones.

She simply listens.

Because Kelly understood something she was only beginning to learn as a leader.

Service levels mattered.

Metrics mattered.

KPIs mattered.

But if you take humanity for your employees out of the equation…

 How can you expect them to show decency, empathy, and compassion for the customers they serve?

After several minutes, Kelly finally speaks.

"I think I know someone who may be able to help."

Kayla looks up.

"Her name is Beverly.

“She actually works in HR and is one of my long-time mentors and a trusted advisor.”

“She’s heavily involved with employee engagement and community outreach."

"If anyone knows what resources are available..."

"It's Beverly."

Kelly smiles gently.

"I can't promise she has all the answers."

"But I think she knows where to start."

Kayla nods.

"I can appreciate that."

Kelly makes a call to Beverly and a few minutes later, she walks Kayla to her office.

Kelly quietly introduces the two of them.

Then she steps away, knowing that she has left Kayla in good hands. 

---

Kelly hurries back toward the operations floor.

The phones are still busy.

Conversations fill the room.

Headsets were clicking on and off.

When she returned, she expected chaos.

Instead...

She saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

There stood Jordan near the center of the floor.

Answering questions, handling escalations, and monitoring the metrics.

Jordan was the superhero in a maxi skirt and sandals that no one realized they needed.

A few hours later the dashboards finally returned to green.

The volume of the voices on the floor start to lower.

Conversations started to settle back into their normal rhythm.

The storm had passed.

Kelly let out a huge sigh of relief that triggered a sharp hunger pain.

She suddenly realized...

She hadn’t eaten a morsel all day.

Her stomach started singing a not so sweet lullaby.

Kelly knew that was her cue to grab something.

She headed toward the break room and pondered over the vending machine snack selection before settling on a bag of pretzels.

As she stepped back into the hallway, Victoria approached.

“Looks like you survived the crisis.”

Kelly attempts to offer up a good will gesture by confiding in Victoria.

“Victoria, I don’t know if I’ve ever had to work so hard.”

Victoria scans Kelly from head to toe.

“Bravo, now if we could only exert some of that same energy into our appearance.”

Kelly subconsciously touches her hair.

Victoria continues.

“Jordan sure stepped up, didn’t she?”

Before Kelly could respond Victoria proceeds.

“And of course, I had to head right over to Barry’s office and share the news. He was pleasantly surprised but elated.

Kelly tries to interject, but Victoria interrupts her again.

“Real natural leadership ability just can’t be hidden. It always overshadows mediocrity…

 wouldn’t you agree?”

Kelly remained pleasant.

“ Yes, True talent will always be discovered at some point.”

Victoria abruptly inserts a final remark

“And exposes the unfortune less talented.”

Kelly attempts to speak.

“Well. Enough small talk. Back to the real work.”

Victoria turns and walks away.

Kelly sighs and then refocuses.

As Kelly begins making her way down the hall, Angela and Darren walk up.

Angela looks visibly annoyed.

“What did she want?”

Kelly just shakes her head.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m really never sure. I just know when you keep hearing rattling, look for a snake."

Darren chimes in.

“Well put. Watch her.”

Angela co-signs.

“I agree… like a hawk.”

Kelly laughed and shakes her head.

“Believe me, from now on…I will”

Darren points to Kelly.

"We still need to talk."

Kelly nods.

"Of course. We’ll talk later"

Darren gives Kelly a fist bump

“Cool”

Angela gives Kelly a quick side hug.

“Hang in there.”

Kelly smiles

“I will.”

Angela and Darren head into the breakroom.

Kelly continues down the hallway.

She wanted to tell Barry in her own words how great of a job Jordan did during the service level crisis.

Right before she gets to Barry’s office, she sees Jordan’s fiancé Benny in passing talking on his phone. She wasn’t trying to be nosy, but she could have sworn that she heard Benny say…  

“Yeah, it’s over man. She stopped taking my calls.”

Kelly started walking a little faster to get out of earshot of Benny’s conversation.

She finally reaches Barry's office and gives the door a light knock.

"Come in."

She opens the door.

Barry looks up from his desk.

"Perfect timing."

Kelly smiles.

"I actually came to tell you about something that happened during the service level crisis earlier."

Barry leans back in his chair.

"Great, and I need to share something important with you as well."

Kelly steps farther into the office.

Then she notices...

Someone is already sitting in the chair across from Barry.

She stops.

She pauses while the person turns around.

To her surprise.

It’s Jordan.

Kelly smiles.

“Hey Jordan. I was actually just coming in here to brag about you.”

“Jordan smiles”

Barry stands up.

“Yes, and we will get to that, but first I think there is some pressing news that Jordan and I need to share with you.”