The Little Secret to Great Customer Service

An office trinket bears the following slogan: “Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: When in doubt, see Rule #1.”

This sounds wonderful when you’re the customer. But how does it feel to be the employee in this kind of situation? We all know of, and perhaps have sometimes been involved in situations where a customer is so irate that all logic and courtesy disappears. The front-line employee is usually expected to diffuse the situation and salvage the customer’s relationship with the organization. More often than not, this is much easier said than done.

A family member recently joined a very well known organization that is highly regarded for delivering exceptional customer service and is recognized as a 100 best company. He previously worked for many years in a series of increasingly responsible positions for another service-oriented business. However, his new company is so invested in its employees that it only promotes from within – it’s impossible to walk in the door as an operational leader. One must start at the bottom and work up, irrespective of degrees or experience.

Employees are key to delivering great customer service
 

Curious to know how it felt for him to be on the front line of customer service once again, I asked about his new company’s “customer first” philosophy, specifically interested in how it is reinforced for new hires. Was there a training program? Do they evaluate employees on the quality of customer service? 

“It’s actually simple,” he stated. “When I was a leader in my previous company, it was my job to make sure that my employees felt good about being at work. That was my most important task, without question. The same is true in my new job. The environment is great. Managers work alongside employees. They ask us about ourselves, our families, our lives and they have a real interest in the answers. When you know you’re cared about on the job, you feel good about yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you want to spread that to others with whom you come in contact.”

The power of the message lies in its simplicity. This very large company, a household name in many parts of the country, doesn’t invest in expensive, canned customer service training for its employees. It doesn’t herd them into classrooms to feed them a formula for managing customer interactions. Instead, it focuses every leader’s attention on the employees, to make them feel valued, positive and cared for. The result is a genuine atmosphere of caring and service and the customers feel it in every interaction.

Want to improve your team’s customer service levels? Try shifting your focus back to your employees. As the leader, make it your job to consistently create an environment of caring, where every employee feels good about him or herself. You’ll soon notice the difference in customer service as your employees spread the positive spirit that they enjoy.

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The One Question Employee Engagement Test

Employee engagement is a hot topic in today's leadership circles. There is good reason, given that a recent study by the Gallup Organization indicates that just 30% of employees are engaged and inspired at work.


Language is a powerful indicator of employee engagement

Engagement differs from satisfaction; an engaged employee is more than simply satisfied. He or she feels a special connection to the organization. An engaged employee exhibits a high degree of "discretionary effort," meaning that he or she is willing to give more than is required.

There are many tools to measure employee engagement. Multiple-question surveys assess various dimensions of the employment experience. But I assert that one simple, subtle test will quickly separate the engaged from the disengaged. The test can be performed by anywhere, anytime and results are delivered instantaneously.  Administering the test is subtle, quiet and simple. It requires nothing more than your ears. Intrigued? 

Here's The One Question Employee Engagement Test: 

What words do you hear an individual use to describe his or her organization?

Listen closely to dialogue. Stay carefully attuned to the way in which an individual describes his or her employer. Do you hear "we, us, our team, my company" or "they, them, the company?" These are subtleties indeed, but language is powerful. Employees who truly feel a part of an organization and are highly engaged demonstrate it through the words they choose. What about those who usually refer to the company or their team by its formal name, such as "Acme Company" or "Operations?" I argue that these individuals may be partially engaged or at best, neutral in terms of commitment to their organizations.

The One Question Employee Engagement Test isn't a substitute for an annual engagement survey. It's important to look at various aspects of the employment experience to gain a deep and valid understanding of engagement at the organizational and work group level. That is best accomplished through a series of questions and a carefully structured analysis of employee responses. The One Question Employee Engagement Test can, however, serve as an early warning sign of eroding engagement at the individual level.

Try deploying the one-question engagement test on your team, your friends, or  your family members. Use it repeatedly over time to determine if it has merit. I'm guessing you'll discover that it does.

Formal employee engagement assessments have great value to measure engagement on a broad scale. However, every leader has an opportunity to quickly assess a team member's engagement by listening closely to the employee's language.  Open your ears and apply the One Question Employee Engagement Test. You may be surprised by what you hear.

You Are What You Wear

A blog post about the well-dressed leader? Not quite. Demeanor and attitude form the fashion statement of great leaders. You are what you wear, and each day, you have the option to choose. Will it be a smile with a spring in the step? Or, will it be worry lines with hunched, stress-laden shoulders?

Corporations are investing heavily in "driving engagement," but engagement is nurtured by leaders who, themselves, are highly engaged and convey positivity. Great workplace programs, innovative benefits and flexible work schedules rapidly become irrelevant to an employee who is led by a negative, cynical, or moody leader. As leadership gurus Curt Coffman and Marcus Buckingham stated in Now, Break All the Rules, the number one reason why most people leave a job is not the pay, benefits, or perks - it's their boss.



A leader's demeanor has a direct impact on the team

"That's fine," you think. "I'm a positive person and I'm very engaged, so all is good." But is it - always?  As a leader, you are constantly on stage and your team takes all cues directly from you.
Here are three situations to ponder and related questions consider:

The bad-news bummer:  It's happened to all of us. Bad news arrives in the form of a derailed project, an unexpected resignation, or emergency budget cuts. How do you react in these or similar situations? What does your team see when you emerge from a meeting that conveyed less than positive news? The image you portray and how you react to the situation will have a material impact on how they respond.

Charged-up conflict:  Ever have a significant disagreement with a colleague? How do you manage when others battle and block your every move?  If your response is to vent within earshot of your staff, the problem will compound exponentially. Your team may have no input to or influence over the debacle, but will instantly choose sides and mirror your emotions.

Hassles at home: The day got off to a very bad start. An argument with the kids has caused you to run late. Traffic was horrific. You circled the parking garage seeking a spot, but ended up in the back forty and of course, it's raining.  How do you greet your staff on a day like this? Would you choose to say, "nothing personal, nothing work related. I'm just not in a great mood right now," then slink into the office?  Consider that human nature often causes us to assume the worst. Your staff immediately wonders, "What's going on? Is he OK? Something bad is coming down and he doesn't want us to know just now. Are our jobs in jeopardy?"

A CEO for whom I worked offered this wisdom:  "You must always wear your best face, no matter what the situation. The higher you rise, the important this becomes. Right or wrong, employees read your mood and leap to their own conclusions. Your job is to keep them happy, engaged and upbeat. Believe it or not, the tone you set by the way you carry yourself will make a difference."  With more than 30 years of leadership experience behind me, I can unequivocally say that he was correct.

Even the most positive of people have down days. The challenges of corporate politics can take a toll.  Real life happens to everyone. However, as a role model for his or her team, the leader has responsibility to convey optimism to the team and consistently reflect the bright side, no matter what the situation. It's a key ingredient to the recipe for engagement.

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Bring on the Change!

As a contemporary leader, you’ve undoubtedly been asked to support a change management initiative. Ironic though it sounds, change is a constant in today’s business world. Managing change isn’t an easy task. People resist change for many reasons, including fear of personal failure, concern for increased workload or comfort with the status quo. 

Leverage change by focusing on the positive
 

Although change can be negatively perceived, it is the fuel that drives progress. Just imagine our world if no change had occurred in the last 30 years. Roll the calendar back to 1983, to find a world where cell phones were few in number and looked like bricks. Laptop computers (let alone tablet devices) were nonexistent, the Berlin Wall still stood, and FMLA was unknown. Despite the trepidation to move away from the security of what is known, change can often be good.

“Change Management” is the term given to efforts to help people successfully navigate any type of change. Given that change is, by its very nature, unpredictable and unwieldy, trying to manage it may be a barrier to success. Leaders may be better served by focusing on leveraging change rather than managing it. Here are three steps to accomplish that goal:

Identify the levers of change: Change doesn’t instantly materialize; it comes about because of a real or perceived need. Ensure that, as a leader, you fully understand the big picture behind the change. Often, there are influences outside your own job or organization. Ask many questions to understand all of the "whys" behind any change effort.

Take a positive look ahead:  People are often mired in the challenge of change simply because they are stuck in the present. That same mindset gives us heartburn in stop-and-go traffic. We observe only the mass of idling cars around us. We fail to see that we will move through and reach our destination, soon to fully forget the unpleasant experience. To leverage change, look ahead. What is the change intended to accomplish? Once it’s fully implemented, how will life look? What are the three most positive impacts likely to occur because of the change?

Embrace and promote the change:  Once a change initiative is underway, it’s difficult to stop it. Yet many try, contributing to frustration and wasted energy. With an understanding of the cause for change and a focus on the probable positive outcomes, it’s easier to rally around the change effort and become a cheerleader. It is rewarding and fulfilling to be a part of a successfully completed strategy. It doesn’t feel nearly as good to resist and derail a significant initiative.

Change will continue to influence every facet of our life – and for that, we should be grateful. Decades from now, when human teleportation allows instant contact with loved ones, cars sip energy from the air around them and batteries run forever, we’ll have change to thank. Leverage change now  to fully realize the many benefits that it will bring tomorrow.

 

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Five Elements to be a Coaching Leader

Leaders are often advised to "coach" team members. The advice usually means supporting, developing, and helping. As simple as the role sounds, many leaders struggle to be "coaching leaders." Perhaps it's due to some confusion as to what coaching means in the business sense.
 
The field of coaching has grown tremendously over the past two decades. As of this writing, there is no license or credential required to hang a shingle as a coach. Many individuals call themselves coaches based solely on experience as HR professionals, consultants or therapists. True coaching, however, differs from all of these professions.
 
Being an effective "coaching leader" requires an understanding of the elements of coaching. Here are five that are key:

Coaching leaders enable employees to be their best

Coaching is a partnership
Effective coaching requires two parties, committed to the process and willing to work toward the coachee’s goals. If an individual is “sent to coaching,” he or she may not be very engaged. Likewise, a leader cannot partner with an individual that he or she has already written off. If either the coach or the coachee is not fully invested in the process, up through and including sustained change, the coaching will fail.

Coaching does not involve giving advice
Unlike a consultant or a mentor, a coach rarely offers advice. The coach’s job is to support the coachee’s self-discovery, helping to identify what will work best for the coachee. Therein lies the magic of coaching. Think about a time that someone (especially a spouse) told you how you could change for the better. Now consider a change you identified and committed to. Which situation had the better outcome?

Coaching depends on active listening
Listening is one of the most powerful gifts that a human can give another, and it’s especially meaningful when delivered by an employee’s leader.  In this time-crazed world, it’s difficult to find someone with the capacity to really listen. Active listening means giving full time and attention to another (no phone calls, emails or distractions of any kind.) It involves hearing more than words – tone, pace and body language can yield tremendous information, sometimes revealing what the spoken word attempts to hide.

Coaching relies on curiosity
It’s difficult to be curious when you know all the answers. Good coaches ask a lot of questions. These questions aren’t informational – who, what or when. Instead, they are expansive – how, what if, (and carefully), why. Expansive questions enable deep thinking. "Why" should be used sparingly, though, since it can sometimes evoke defensiveness.

Coaching is future-focused
Because the art of coaching involves supporting discovery, it isn’t useful to focus on the past. Unlike therapy, which addresses old wounds to promote healing, coaching is solely about creating new futures. On rare occasion, a coach may tap into a coachee’s past success to call out a useful strength. But there is no place for examining old hurts or dwelling on failures.

Becoming a coaching leader involves understanding exactly what coaching means. Armed with this knowledge, a leader can become a valuable partner for an employee’s journey of self-discovery and true sustained improvement.

 Image courtesy of digitalart, http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Teamwork_g404-Sketchy_Business_Growth_Graph_p56410.html

Build Your Strategic Muscle

As a leader, you may be coached to “be more strategic.” This advice, while well intentioned, is difficult to follow. According to Lominger, a globally recognized expert in leadership development, strategic agility – the ability to think strategically – is a critical leadership competency, but one in which many leaders are lacking. It is also among the most difficult to develop.

Many leaders are puzzled when told to "be more strategic."

Given the challenge to fulfill the “be more strategic” goal, what options do leaders have to build strategic muscle? Gaining an understanding of the meaning of the word strategic may be a good place to start.

Being strategic means “identifying long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them.” Leaders attempting to build strategic muscle should focus on a key phrase in this definition: long-term. Thinking versus doing, planning versus executing, and looking broadly versus focusing narrowly all support a long view. As such, they are important elements in the formula to be more strategic.

Many leaders attained their positions through stellar performance as individual contributors. With a wonderful ability to execute and the stellar results that followed, these lucky folks were rewarded with a promotion to a leadership role. Small wonder that these great “doers” struggle to be more strategic!

Building strategic muscle is similar to any muscle-building program. It takes time, practice and patience. Here are three strategic muscle-building exercises that a leader desiring to be more strategic should first take when faced with a challenge, project or problem. There is no time limit on completing these steps. In fact, if the situation allows, spacing them out over several hours or even a few days will be most helpful.

Look long:  Ask, “What would success look like?” Write down the first five things that come to mind. Avoid any tendency to filter the results.

Inject creativity: Consider the most unusual, unorthodox or untested actions that might help to achieve the outcomes you’ve just identified. Avoid the temptation to eliminate any actions due to budgetary, technical or personnel constraints. List everything that comes to mind, aiming for at least five creative actions.

Scan broadly: Identify every stakeholder – this means anyone who is impacted (positively or negatively) by the challenge, project or problem. Then, select at least three individuals from different backgrounds and interest groups and discuss the challenge, project or problem (obviously staying within the bounds of confidentiality, if the matter is sensitive.)

These exercises accomplish two purposes: First, the leader cannot immediately jump in to tackle the matter, wearing his or her tried and true “Super-Executor” cape. The natural pause of thinking time causes the leader to approach the situation in a much broader manner. Secondly, the process of exploring creatively and fully (especially with input of others) can open one’s mind to new ideas or different ways of addressing the challenge at hand.

Building strategic muscle is a challenge for any leader, especially those who have built their reputations on quick execution. Leaders can successfully meet the challenge through purposeful and diligent exercises targeted on developing strategic capacity.

 Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Two Most Important Leadership Tools

Leaders rely on many tools for professional development and self-improvement. Smartphone apps help maximize productivity, books and articles offer poignant advice, and coaches serve as thinking partners. These and other leadership resources are often touted as "must-haves" to ensure the leader's success and certainly, each has its place.

There are, however, two simple and unassuming tools that can help any leader transform from merely effective to truly outstanding. The key to success lies in the leader's commitment to use each tool to its fullest. 
 

1.      Tool #1: The Mirror:

What kind of leader are you? How do you measure your effectiveness? Do you know how your direct reports actually see you? Many leaders answer these questions confidently and positively, based on productivity metrics or smiling faces at staff meetings. These same leaders are shocked when engagement surveys yield sub-par scores or exit interviews indicate a lack of leadership skill.



Hold up the mirror to see what others see

Hold up a mirror by seeking frequent feedback from peers and direct reports. Individuals, especially direct reports, may at first be reticent and withhold or downplay constructive critique, but an open, genuine leader can assuage these fears. Listen from a place of pure curiosity, resisting any urge to defend or explain. Be attuned to trends, especially when a trend emerges from disparate groups. Open your ears to commentary that is positively cloaked. “I know you’re awfully busy” or “You have very high expectations” may be criticism in disguise. Ask follow-up questions:  “what does ‘busy’ look like to you?” “How do the high expectations impact you?”

Act on what you see in the mirror, and be sure those offering feedback know that you are doing so. Engage them in your efforts.  “I heard your concerns about my busy schedule and am committed to provide you with more face time. Call me out any time you believe that I’m lapsing into old habits.”  Sustain the momentum through regular check-in and ongoing behavioral adjustments.

2.      Tool #2: The Microscope:

Obtaining candid feedback is a first step, but self-transformation requires understanding of behavioral root causes.  Using our “busy” example, the next step is to place the situation under a microscope of objectivity.

Examine the dynamics in play. Which factors impacting your schedule can you control and change? If you cannot adjust, what options do you have to ensure that your staff has the time that they need?  Are there others who seem to have successfully mastered this challenge and if so, how can you learn from them? Is there a way to engage your staff in the activities that seem to pull you away from them?

The key to seeing objectively through the microscope is to first accept the validity of the feedback. Once the concern is acknowledged as fact, the lines of defense evaporate and effective solutions can emerge.

Leaders who want to improve have many resources available to them. The mirror of rich, valid feedback is an important foundational leadership development tool. When that mirror is used in conjunction with a microscope of objective analysis, a leader is able to see what others see and transform that image into what he or she wishes to become.