Ever notice how easy it is to make negative judgments about other people?
Whether it’s “idiots” we encounter on the road … or “slower than slow” people who serve us … or “losers” who can’t play sports nearly as well as our kids can – many of us have developed the knee-jerk habit of assigning degrading labels to people we don’t know. We don’t really know them, or their situations, or their challenges. But we sure as heck know what they should do. Or at least that’s the way it seems when we spout out phrases that begin with:
They oughtta … Why don’t they just … It’s easy – all they need to do is ….
Nope, we don’t know those folks, but we know what they are; we’re not in their situations, but we know what they should do. Hmmmm. If all that seems illogical, unfair, presumptuous, and disrespectful to you, you are right. And if all that seems like terrible behavior for leaders to exhibit, you are doubly right!
To be sure, situations involving other people – including those that occur in our teams – can seem clear, simple, and very black and white from where we stand. But we need to remember two things: 1) Unless we’re dealing with (or have dealt with) the exact same circumstances, we’re on the outside looking in, and 2) The real world is rarely black and white – it’s usually shades of gray.
Yes, leaders at all levels need to remember those truisms. More importantly, they need to apply them! That requires less presuming and more understanding. It’s about making an effort to see things through the other person’s eyes … about walking awhile in his or her shoes.
And that is called EMPATHY – a critical component of quality leadership.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Customer Love
Excerpted from the Introduction of Customer Love
I’m a big fan of Nordstrom. My wife is a bigger fan! For many years we’ve been impressed with the “Nordstrom attitude” when it comes to serving their customers. A few years ago, we were in Nordstrom doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. As we were walking through the men’s department, an employee came out of nowhere and said, “Sir, wait right here, I’ll be right back.” I watched him run over to the next counter about 100 feet away, grab something and start running back. When he got back, he said, “Sir, I think you’ve been trying on sweaters.” I said, “How’d you know?” He said, “The back of your black shirt looks like it’s been snowed on, and it’s not snowing in here!”
We both laughed and he proceeded to remove the fuzz with his lint roller. After about 10 seconds he said, “That’s it…you’re free to buy more stuff. I hope you and your wife have a wonderful Christmas!”
After spending about one hour in the store, we each had three Nordstrom bags, and as we were walking out the exit into the rest of the mall, another employee ran over and said, “Let me keep all these bags here while you do the rest of your shopping. They’ll be right here, just ask for me.” He introduced himself, as did we, and he handed me his card.
About one hour later, with more packages from the mall, we came back. As we walked into the store, I saw the gentleman who had taken our bags walking toward us with a big smile, “Welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Anderson.” He then looked at our new shopping bags and said, “My goodness, you’re going to have a load. Can I help you take these bags to the car?” Now please understand, it’s Christmas, the store is full of people, it’s cold outside, the parking lot is full…and this gentleman is asking if he can help take our bags to the car! Even though I said “no thanks,” I knew his intentions were 100% sincere. I have to tell you the whole service experience on that day blew me away, but I’ve learned over the years, it’s business as usual at Nordstrom!
As the founder of Simple Truths, I’ve come to realize just how much people love great stories! Two years ago we published a little book titled The Simple Truths of Service: Inspired by Johnny the Bagger. The book was written by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz about a young man with Down Syndrome whose actions changed the culture of the grocery store where he worked. The book has been purchased by thousands of companies to inspire their people to utilize their unique talents to serve from the heart. Feedback from around the world has been amazing!
That's what this book is all about. More great stories to inspire great service. Read them, have your team read them, talk about them together. In fact, you may be inspired to write your own Customer Love stories on the road to making your service culture all it can be. Never forget: Customer Service is not a department, it’s an attitude!
Copyright Simple Truths, LLC, all rights reserved and reprinted with permission.
I’m a big fan of Nordstrom. My wife is a bigger fan! For many years we’ve been impressed with the “Nordstrom attitude” when it comes to serving their customers. A few years ago, we were in Nordstrom doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. As we were walking through the men’s department, an employee came out of nowhere and said, “Sir, wait right here, I’ll be right back.” I watched him run over to the next counter about 100 feet away, grab something and start running back. When he got back, he said, “Sir, I think you’ve been trying on sweaters.” I said, “How’d you know?” He said, “The back of your black shirt looks like it’s been snowed on, and it’s not snowing in here!”
We both laughed and he proceeded to remove the fuzz with his lint roller. After about 10 seconds he said, “That’s it…you’re free to buy more stuff. I hope you and your wife have a wonderful Christmas!”
After spending about one hour in the store, we each had three Nordstrom bags, and as we were walking out the exit into the rest of the mall, another employee ran over and said, “Let me keep all these bags here while you do the rest of your shopping. They’ll be right here, just ask for me.” He introduced himself, as did we, and he handed me his card.
About one hour later, with more packages from the mall, we came back. As we walked into the store, I saw the gentleman who had taken our bags walking toward us with a big smile, “Welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Anderson.” He then looked at our new shopping bags and said, “My goodness, you’re going to have a load. Can I help you take these bags to the car?” Now please understand, it’s Christmas, the store is full of people, it’s cold outside, the parking lot is full…and this gentleman is asking if he can help take our bags to the car! Even though I said “no thanks,” I knew his intentions were 100% sincere. I have to tell you the whole service experience on that day blew me away, but I’ve learned over the years, it’s business as usual at Nordstrom!
As the founder of Simple Truths, I’ve come to realize just how much people love great stories! Two years ago we published a little book titled The Simple Truths of Service: Inspired by Johnny the Bagger. The book was written by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz about a young man with Down Syndrome whose actions changed the culture of the grocery store where he worked. The book has been purchased by thousands of companies to inspire their people to utilize their unique talents to serve from the heart. Feedback from around the world has been amazing!
That's what this book is all about. More great stories to inspire great service. Read them, have your team read them, talk about them together. In fact, you may be inspired to write your own Customer Love stories on the road to making your service culture all it can be. Never forget: Customer Service is not a department, it’s an attitude!
Copyright Simple Truths, LLC, all rights reserved and reprinted with permission.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Leading to Top-Notch Customer Service
Here are two facts you can take to the bank: 1) Superior customer service is critical to your business success, and 2) As a leader, you have an important role in making it happen. So, what can you do to foster the kind of service your organization wants and needs? The following ideas should help:
The first step in providing good customer service is to hire the right people. Make your selection process part of your customer service strategy. During interviews, ask questions like: “If you get this job, describe the kinds of things you will do to provide superior customer service.” Also, pose hypothetical customer service situations and ask candidates to explain how they would handle them.
Clarify your expectations about customer service. Condense them to 3-5 key principles, give them a label (e.g., “The Big Four” or “The Game Plan”), and communicate them to everyone. Then, have follow-up meetings with employees to ensure that they know exactly what is expected of them.
Provide training, resources, and coaching to help your people develop customer service skills. Make sure all training reinforces your specific service expectations.
Remember that people do what’s EXpected when it’s INspected! Include “customer service” in all performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Prior to conducting evaluations, ask team members to submit a list of the specific things they’ve done to help provide superior customer service.
Celebrate successes! Recognize and reward employees who provide exceptional service. Share their stories with others. This will help motivate the entire team. Motivated employees go above and beyond for your customers … and for the organization.
The first step in providing good customer service is to hire the right people. Make your selection process part of your customer service strategy. During interviews, ask questions like: “If you get this job, describe the kinds of things you will do to provide superior customer service.” Also, pose hypothetical customer service situations and ask candidates to explain how they would handle them.
Clarify your expectations about customer service. Condense them to 3-5 key principles, give them a label (e.g., “The Big Four” or “The Game Plan”), and communicate them to everyone. Then, have follow-up meetings with employees to ensure that they know exactly what is expected of them.
Provide training, resources, and coaching to help your people develop customer service skills. Make sure all training reinforces your specific service expectations.
Remember that people do what’s EXpected when it’s INspected! Include “customer service” in all performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Prior to conducting evaluations, ask team members to submit a list of the specific things they’ve done to help provide superior customer service.
Celebrate successes! Recognize and reward employees who provide exceptional service. Share their stories with others. This will help motivate the entire team. Motivated employees go above and beyond for your customers … and for the organization.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Leading to Top-Notch Customer Service
Here are two facts you can take to the bank: 1) Superior customer service is critical to your business success, and 2) As a leader, you have an important role in making it happen. So, what can you do to foster the kind of service your organization wants and needs? The following ideas should help:
The first step in providing good customer service is to hire the right people. Make your selection process part of your customer service strategy. During interviews, ask questions like: “If you get this job, describe the kinds of things you will do to provide superior customer service.” Also, pose hypothetical customer service situations and ask candidates to explain how they would handle them.
Clarify your expectations about customer service. Condense them to 3-5 key principles, give them a label (e.g., “The Big Four” or “The Game Plan”), and communicate them to everyone. Then, have follow-up meetings with employees to ensure that they know exactly what is expected of them.
Provide training, resources, and coaching to help your people develop customer service skills. Make sure all training reinforces your specific service expectations.
Remember that people do what’s EXpected when it’s INspected! Include “customer service” in all performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Prior to conducting evaluations, ask team members to submit a list of the specific things they’ve done to help provide superior customer service.
Celebrate successes! Recognize and reward employees who provide exceptional service. Share their stories with others. This will help motivate the entire team. Motivated employees go above and beyond for your customers … and for the organization.
The first step in providing good customer service is to hire the right people. Make your selection process part of your customer service strategy. During interviews, ask questions like: “If you get this job, describe the kinds of things you will do to provide superior customer service.” Also, pose hypothetical customer service situations and ask candidates to explain how they would handle them.
Clarify your expectations about customer service. Condense them to 3-5 key principles, give them a label (e.g., “The Big Four” or “The Game Plan”), and communicate them to everyone. Then, have follow-up meetings with employees to ensure that they know exactly what is expected of them.
Provide training, resources, and coaching to help your people develop customer service skills. Make sure all training reinforces your specific service expectations.
Remember that people do what’s EXpected when it’s INspected! Include “customer service” in all performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Prior to conducting evaluations, ask team members to submit a list of the specific things they’ve done to help provide superior customer service.
Celebrate successes! Recognize and reward employees who provide exceptional service. Share their stories with others. This will help motivate the entire team. Motivated employees go above and beyond for your customers … and for the organization.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Do you punish good performers ?
“Because you did such a great job with that last mess,I’ve got another one I need you to handle!”
Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve heard similar words from your boss in the past. Maybe you’ve said them to someone who works for you. Either way, they are symptomatic of a leadership problem that’s all too commonplace: unintentionally punishing good performance … giving the people we trust and rely on more work and more difficult or unpleasant tasks because they perform so well.
Common sense tells us two things about this subject. First, good performance should be rewarding, not punishing. Leaders need to do right by those who do right. Second, if team members experience negative consequences for doing good work, eventually they’ll stop doing it (or they’ll do less of it). That’s human nature … that’s obvious … that’s how leaders often shoot themselves in the feet!
So what’s the solution? That’s equally obvious! Don’t take your best people for granted. Keep things balanced. Avoid the trap of having one or two “go to” people who get all the tough and time-sensitive assignments – while their less productive teammates get to focus on routine, business-as-usual tasks.Divide the work evenly. “Spread the wealth.”
Will there be times when you can’t do that … when your back is against the wall and only your best people can save the day? Probably so! But those instances should be rare. And when they do occur, make sure the rewards you provide far outweigh any downsides these truly special people may perceive.
Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve heard similar words from your boss in the past. Maybe you’ve said them to someone who works for you. Either way, they are symptomatic of a leadership problem that’s all too commonplace: unintentionally punishing good performance … giving the people we trust and rely on more work and more difficult or unpleasant tasks because they perform so well.
Common sense tells us two things about this subject. First, good performance should be rewarding, not punishing. Leaders need to do right by those who do right. Second, if team members experience negative consequences for doing good work, eventually they’ll stop doing it (or they’ll do less of it). That’s human nature … that’s obvious … that’s how leaders often shoot themselves in the feet!
So what’s the solution? That’s equally obvious! Don’t take your best people for granted. Keep things balanced. Avoid the trap of having one or two “go to” people who get all the tough and time-sensitive assignments – while their less productive teammates get to focus on routine, business-as-usual tasks.Divide the work evenly. “Spread the wealth.”
Will there be times when you can’t do that … when your back is against the wall and only your best people can save the day? Probably so! But those instances should be rare. And when they do occur, make sure the rewards you provide far outweigh any downsides these truly special people may perceive.
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