in other people's shoes... an idea

One of the main goals in my life for the past few years has been to understand people. There is no absolute goal here; it's just to keep working towards that.

In one of my old employers, the management never even showed their face around the "peons" of the company unless there was something to talk about. They were terrified whenever a GM or a director was around. They were only mildly scared when a manager was around. HAHAHA!!! These are the people that could be HELPING the staff, or "team members" as one of the GMs liked to call it.

I don't think that they realized who their customers really were/are. I can tell you right now who my customers are. I work for a real estate firm. My responsibilities include many things including
- answering the main phone line
- helping agents with computers
- making sure the office runs smoothly
- modifying websites
- maintaining a couple of databases
- assisting with networking (computers AND people) functions/socials

My customers are real estate agents. I work with and help out with property management too, but that's not my main function.

So, my idea..... is to spend part of a day with several (possibly all) agents in my office to look for things that would make their job easier. I could set it up so that I'm their "assistant" for a couple of hours. That way I can see their agenda, watch them work on their projects, hear them talk to people, and feel how they feel things really are. I can walk in their shoes. I might do this for other people too, but I'll start in my office.