He dumped the whole cup of nitro cold brew all over the bar area.

It was an accident that happened right under the coffee spigot. I was in the lobby waiting for my drink (not that one). Since I am a complete nerd about teams, I waited for the response.

Here are the usual responses:

1. Nobody says nothing. The incident is not acknowledged. He is left alone to clean it up.

2. Somebody teases him and he is left on his own to clean it up.

3. Somebody teases him and then helps him clean it up.

4. Somebody just helps him clean it up without remark.

But the response to this incident? Well, it was unusual. Before we get to that, let’s consider something more important.

Based on the incident alone and without knowing the response, what would you expect the energy to do in that room? Probably trend down, right? Not on that day. On that day, the energy increased. This is what I was hoping to see. This is not usual.

The nitro tips and spills all over the place. I see the spiller start to get frustrated but he holds his tongue. The apparent store manager sees what’s happening and swiftly steps up. She says without any hint of sarcasm, teasing, or annoyance, “let me get this so you can keep going.” She cleans up the whole mess while he gets himself back into production.

I gave a mental high five to the store manager. She did it! She just gave a leadership masterclass in how to respond. And by responding in this way she took an incident designed to lower a team’s energy and, instead, increased it.

Little responses like this matter way more than we think they do. They literally make the micro-cultures that every team within a larger organization have.