Same Seat!

I’ve always been fascinated by “same seat” mentality.

You know what I mean: you get in a car to travel to a destination. You get back in the car for the return trip and everyone—without speaking a word—claims the same seat.

It’s more hilarious when it happens in the work place. Aaaannnnd my friends, that brings us to today…

Every property has a weekly executive staff meeting. When I was on a property executive team, I attended said meeting. And yes, I took the same seat: at the center of the conference room table (take from that what you will…that’s another blog post) Week after week. Creature of habit.

Now, as a regional leader responsible for all four properties, I don’t regularly attend any one property executive staff meeting. I rotate.

Today was the first time attending my former property’s staff meeting since the end of March. Prior to the meeting, I made a mental note that I would sit at the end of the table to avoid taking anyone’s seat. However, when I walked into the room, I noticed a seat available towards the head of the table (second seat from the head) so I just scooted in. After all, there are no assigned seats, right??

Wouldn’t you know it: the gentleman who normally sits in that seat walks in the room and says to me “you took my seat.”

LOL.

He then quickly followed up and said “No, it’s no big deal. I’m flexible. “ The Assistant General Manager says “she’s a special guest, she can sit anywhere.” We all chuckled and had a good laugh.

However, I couldn’t help but notice how territorial people get over their seats.

Then, I extrapolated that to people’s receptivity (or lack thereof) to change in general.

Then, I thought about the fact that I used to be a part of that team—and thus had my own seat at the table—and now I’m not. Not a bad thing. Just different. Similarly, it was different to hear about some of the matters discussed there and to feel somewhat removed. It was different (maybe welcomed?) to not be in the weeds and to have a 30,000 foot view on some of the matters. It was different to not be on the hot seat to explain low service scores after a special event or to rationalize why revenues didn’t meet forecast.

In any event…

The “same seat” scenario challenged me to think about my habits, my routines, and my expectations when it comes to work. It’s so easy to find a rhythm and to ride it out; avoid any major disruption. As progressive and flexible as I like to believe I am, I likely have a comfort zone just like the next person. So after I chuckled about the “you’re in my seat” comment, I asked myself:

What is your “same seat” corollary?