5 Things Leaders Need to Know That Your People Won’t Tell You

Being an inspiring leader is all about building and nurturing strong relationships. But what you don’t know CAN hurt you. And often, the higher you go as a leader, the less likely you are to hear the “hard truths” from your people that will help you be a better leader and help them be more engaged.

Here are 5 things that will help you build great relationships with your people, that they probably will never feel comfortable enough to tell you, even if you already have a good relationship with them.

Here’s the list, in case you don’t have time to watch the video (8:20):

  1. Simply saying “hello” (and virtually nothing else personal) every day does not a relationship make.
  2. Being “human” and relatable does not make you weak.
  3. The group mentality can help you or hurt you.
  4. Lower level employees can have high-impact ideas.
  5. Employee complaints and comments about your products and services probably mirror customers’… so pay attention to them.

By keeping these 5 things in mind, you can build better relationships with your people – and your customers – that will help you Turn Your Workplace Into a WOWplace!

Posted in Leadership/Employee Engagement, Rule #1: A WOWplace is Safe, Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful, Rule #3: A WOWplace is Human... Not Humanoid! | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Never Under-Estimate the Power of Compassion and Humanity

WOW customer serviceMy Marketing Director, Cindi’s, story below reminds us that, even if we can’t grant another person’s request, we can still behave in a kind and compassionate manner when doing our jobs, and remember that we’re all human and that sometimes a little human kindness goes a long, long way.

Here’s Cindi’s story, in her own words:

With my sister sick and dying of cancer, I received a call that we should move up a planned trip to see her. Reading between the lines, it was easy to see that something had changed in her condition and we needed to see her soon, as she might not be here when we had planned to visit in four weeks.

I was responsible for the travel plans for myself, my husband and my elderly parents. Airline tickets had been purchased and were non-refundable, as was the hotel reservation. Despite knowing that, I made the appropriate calls to find out how to get help with change fees.

The first call was directly to the hotel, whose front desk personnel had previously reassured me that they could work with us if our plans changed (due to the nature of my sister’s illness), even though we were taking advantage of a great discount offer that involved prepaying for the hotel.

With that conversation in mind, I phoned the hotel, only to speak with a young lady who seemed anything but helpful. She reiterated that since I had prepaid for my rooms, they were non-refundable. I asked if she could help anyway and allow me to move the reservations up two weeks; I would pay any difference in price. I was put on hold for 2 minutes, after which she came back and simply said, “No.”

She then said that since I had booked online I would have to make any changes online. So, I asked her for the proper reservations number to call. She didn’t know and, with a huff, said, “Hold on.” Another 3 minutes goes by. She comes back on and tells me she doesn’t have the number and that I can just look it up on their website!

At this point, even without factoring in the stress and worry of knowing my sister is dying, I was frustrated beyond belief. Before the desk agent could even finish telling me to find the number online I had already found it, so I hung up and called that number.

This is where we go from an OW to a WOW. The agent listened to my request and ever so kindly explained that he couldn’t help me because I had prepaid. He continued to say that with a normal reservation (where you pay upon check-out), he could have made any change I needed. But in this case, I needed to speak with a customer care specialist. He was at first going to give me the number, then he said, “No, I’ll give you the number and transfer you.” WOW #1.

He transferred the call and within a few minutes I was speaking with a wonderful Radisson customer care specialist. After hearing my brief explanation, she asked what date I would like to come instead, checked the date and said she could assist, no problem. And no change fee. No penalty at all. WOW #2 & 3!

I didn’t actually make the change because I needed to confirm with the family first, so I thanked her and was ending the call, when she asked, “This was about your sister, you said?” Just that one question melted me into tears as I sobbed out, “Yes.” She shared how she had to go through the same thing with her sister and knew how difficult this was for me. She was so sympathetic and understanding. And her kindness was so appreciated I actually continued the conversation: “I’m worried about my parents, who are in their late 80s. They shouldn’t have to bury their daughter.” Again, she sympathized and said that’s exactly what happened with her family. She talked a few more minutes until I was able to stop sobbing and profusely thank her for her empathy. WOW #4…

Sandy, the difference between these representatives was like night and day… and all work within the same company. Where one made me feel completely disrespected and as though I didn’t matter at all – in fact, my “trivial” problems were a bother to her… the other two representatives were so caring and thoughtful that they made me feel better.

I just had to share this with you, because of your work with the WOWplace, and in the hope that I can inspire someone else to show a little compassion to a stranger in their time of need.

Posted in Communication, Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful, Rule #3: A WOWplace is Human... Not Humanoid! | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What are the subtle signs that someone respects (or disrespects) you? (One-question survey)

Since so much of creating the WOWplace involves the nuances of communication between leaders and their people, as well as communications among peers at every level, I wanted to ask a question about the subtle signs of respect and disrespect that often guide our response to others, as well as our willingness to help them.

The signs of active respect and disrespect are easy to spot. But often we can’t see the positive or negative impact we have on others through our subtle actions and body language.

So please help bring to light the subtle ways (body language, tone of voice, nervous habits, gestures, certain phrases, and more) in which we convey positive messages that match our words… or negative messages that contradict them.

Please take this one-question survey and let me know the subtle ways people let you know how much they respect (or disrespect) you:

Click to take our one-question survey.

Thank you! Your answers will help us write more powerful posts on the impact of respect and its role in turning your workplace into a WOWplace!

Posted in Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

To Serve Clients Properly, Sometimes You Have to Rock the Boat

Customer service, rock the boatAdministrative Professionals and other service-based representatives are taught to always “smooth things over” and make problems go away.  They are the problem-solvers, the ones to whom responsibility often falls for getting things done, especially in the face of obstacles.

However, a Client Support Administrator for a large financial investment firm who serves several large clients (let’s call her Joanne), found that while we must do everything in our power to diplomatically and smoothly serve clients and work with our colleagues, we must sometimes risk “rocking the boat a bit” in order to serve clients best.

Take, for example, a client issue that recently arose at Joanne’s company.  A client needed help with a two-pronged issue.  Joanne could handle one portion of the problem herself; the other necessitated action on the part of another company, which was the client of a different department within Joanne’s company.  Joanne was not allowed to contact another department’s “client,” which meant she needed to request help from someone in the other department.  Time and time again over the next two weeks, Joanne requested the help she needed, to no avail.  Meanwhile, Joanne’s client became more and more upset, as well as adversely affected financially, by the lack of action to fully resolve the problem.

Joanne escalated this issue to the Supervisor of the other department, hoping to receive quicker action by doing so.  Even this resulted in no resolution.  When Joanne reported this to her own supervisor, the supervisor was hesitant to get involved because the client who needed to take action was not a client of their department, so she didn’t want to “step on anyone’s toes.”

When legal action was threatened by Joanne’s client, she finally took matters into her own hands, personally contacted all parties involved and set up a conference call between her client, herself, the other department’s representative and that department’s client.  She knew she was taking the risk of overstepping her boundaries, but it was the only way to get the issue resolved, avoid legal complications and satisfy her client.

This strategy worked – and the issue was resolved.  But what everyone learned is the following:

  1. Sometimes, in an effort to avoid “rocking the boat” or “stepping on someone else’s toes” the client gets caught in the middle and suffers from our inaction.
  2. Clients’ needs must always supersede political correctness.
  3. If it’s the right thing to do, it must be done… and the consequences must be dealt with later.  If it truly was the right thing, and the company is worth working for, the consequences will not harm the person who took the risk.
  4. If someone ends up paying the ultimate price for taking a risk to do the right thing, then the company who fires that person is not worth working for.  While this is a harsh way to learn that your company is not worthy of your loyalty and efforts, it is far better to find out and move on to a company who deserves your work ethic and moral values.

Luckily for Joanne, she’d already had 10 years of experience with this company – and they were worth working for, because they supported her, even though she’d had to break the confines of tradition.  One department normally did not interact with another’s clients… period.  But in this case, to do what was right – not only for the client, but legally for her company – Joanne had to circumvent the norm and find a way around the restrictions.  At her subsequent review, Joanne’s supervisor told her that she realized Joanne did everything in her power, had no recourse but to take the action she did, and acknowledged that Joanne had done nothing wrong.

This issue raises some interesting questions:

  1. What would you have done in Joanne’s shoes?  In her supervisor’s shoes?
  2. Should anything be done about the other department’s actions, and the actions of their supervisor?
  3. Should Joanne have been rewarded?  Reprimanded?
  4. Should company policy change due to this issue?
  5. What should happen to the client company who didn’t resolve the issue in a timely manner?

Let’s all remember that while we must always treat each other with dignity and respect, there are times when excessive “political correctness” (which has nothing to do with true dignity and respect, but deals with appearances only) actually hurts those we’re charged with assisting.

If you have an opinion, please comment below and let me know your thoughts.  I’d love to hear from you!

Posted in Customer Service, Rule #4: A WOWplace is Innovative, Creative & Fun! | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Great Tips for Supervisors – or Anyone!

Tips for supervisors, managersI recently found a great article containing many valuable tips for supervisors and managers (but applicable to anyone) from the Purdue University EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Included are tips for identifying, assisting and supporting troubled and/or grieving employees; evaluating employee performance; and even some common pitfalls supervisors tend to fall into.

The full article is at the following link:  https://www.purdue.edu/hr/pdf/tipsForSupervisors.pdf

I especially like the advice offered for when a tragedy occurs, including:

  1. Acknowledging the loss and asking how you can help.
  2. Asking what the employee would like you to share with others (if anything).
  3. Staying in touch with an employee who has not yet returned to work.

There’s also some sound advice for when the employee returns to work, including:

  1. Asking if they want to talk about it when they return, or if they’d rather focus on the work.
  2. Finding out if they have any special needs, such as increased privacy or reduced hours for a while.

By remembering our human duties in times of crisis, while still attending to our job duties, we show we care, which can be a giant step toward helping everyone cope.

Posted in Leadership/Employee Engagement, Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful, Rule #3: A WOWplace is Human... Not Humanoid! | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

If You Want to WOW Customers, Change the Conversation

WOW customer service

Change the customer conversation!

My husband Bruce and I once visited a Toyota dealership to buy a car. The salesman greeted us and immediately brought us to a glass case containing five trophies. They were President’s awards given only to dealerships where all salespeople received a score of 5 out of 5 points for service excellence for every customer all year.

He said, “We have won that challenging award for 5 years in a row, and we want to win it again this year; I don’t want to blow that record. So, if at any point in our dealings together, I do something that would cause you to give us less than a 5 on our evaluation, please tell me immediately so I can correct it.”

This changed everything! He set the expectation of what he wanted to provide and what we should do to ensure he provided it. Not only that, but it made us feel comfortable telling him if something didn’t measure up. What usually happens is that when something troubling happens, customers don’t feel comfortable confronting the salesperson about it. So they leave without buying and we never know why. Or, when the evaluations come out – THAT’s when we learn about what happened – too late for us to do anything about it.

So, ask your customers what will cause them to be WOWed. You’ll be surprised at how often you can hit the mark when you get customers involved early in the conversation to help ensure that you provide them with WOWs that are meaningful to them… and create a win-win situation for everyone involved.

 

Posted in Communication, Customer Service, Rule #4: A WOWplace is Innovative, Creative & Fun! | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Harsh Words Have Lasting Impact… So Do Positive Ones

Harsh_words

Whether we’re in a business environment, a community arena, or in our own families, harsh words have a lasting impact on everyone who receives them. Just remember this:

  • Feedback can be given in positive, constructive ways.
  • Mistakes will be made. Don’t keep bringing them up. Forgive others, forgive yourself, and let them go.
  • Everyone is different; some take things to heart more than others. Never use a one-size-fits-all approach to feedback and praise. Know the person before trying to “correct” or “improve” them.
  • Let a few opportunities to “coach” someone pass by unsaid. Instead, use that opportunity to praise them for what they do well.
Posted in Communication, Leadership/Employee Engagement, Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful, Rule #5: A WOWplace is Rewarding | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

5 Tips for More Positive Communications

“You still haven’t registered as a vendor in our system.” The representative’s very first words to me oozed with disdain and disrespect.

“I went to the link I was given and filled out all the information. I even got a confirmation back,” I replied.

“If you had registered with us, I’d be able to see you in our system.”

“OK, it sounds like something went wrong because I have registered. I even uploaded a 1099 to my account. How could I have done this if I hadn’t registered and gotten an account?”

“If you had registered, I’d be able to see you!”

Tip #1: Don’t start the conversation with an accusation. By starting out with hostility and an accusatory tone, you immediately put the other person on the defensive. Instead, begin by assuming that possibly they have done what they were asked to do, and something has either gone wrong with the process or with the communication about the process.

Tip #2: Don’t keep repeating the same phrase (or accusation). It is not helpful to the person to continually hear the same accusation over and over when obviously something has gone wrong. A better response would be: “I’m not sure why I’m not seeing you in the system. Let’s try to figure out what may have gone wrong.” By assuming that the person may actually be telling the truth and something might have gone awry, you show them respect and demonstrate an attitude of helpfulness to facilitate correction of the issue.

I tried a different tack: “I can go back in again and re-register, but will the system allow me to do that if I’m already in it?”

“What name did you register with?”

I told her my name.

“How do you spell it?”

I told her how to spell it.

“You’re not in the system.”

OK, we’re back to that again. After a couple more rounds of futile conversation, the topic of my company name came up. I told her what it is. This was met with instant rage.

“You didn’t TELL me that you registered with your company name! You said you registered with YOUR name! They’re trying to find you under YOUR name! You need to go back and tell them that you registered with your COMPANY name… not YOUR name!”

“Excuse me. All I did was go to the link I was provided and fill out the correct information in the correct boxes as they were presented to me. When the system asked for my company name, I entered it. I don’t know “how” the system registered me, or why you can’t find my name, even though it’s there in the “Contact Name” box. I don’t know how your system works.”

“Well, when I asked you for your name, I meant your company name!”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know what you meant… I only know what you said.”

Tip #3: Don’t assume the other person knows how your system works. If they have followed the directions on a computer screen and filled in boxes as they were presented, that person probably has no way of knowing how the system files that information – or what can (or cannot) be retrieved by the system’s users.

Tip #4: Be very clear when requesting information. If you want a company name, ask for the company name. Don’t ask for the person’s name, and then try to find that name in the company name box… then accuse the person of giving you the wrong information.

Isn’t it sad when bad things happen to good communications? The key here is that a miscommunication was obviously occurring… and miscommunications inadvertently happen all the time, don’t they? No one is at fault; they just sometimes happen.

But, what I have found to work in almost every situation is that if you forget all the other tips, please just remember this one:

Tip #5: Always treat others with respect and give them the benefit of the doubt that they are not:

a) trying to be difficult;

b) too dumb to communicate properly with you – or to have followed prior directions correctly; or

c) lying about having done something they were previously asked to do.

Of course, sometimes it turns out that they are just trying to be difficult, or haven’t done what they were supposed to do. But often, that’s not the case. If we just keep this one simple tip in mind, it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking to customers, co-workers, family members or anyone else… our attitude of respect will come through loud and clear, and any miscommunications and mistakes will be cleared up with a lot more goodwill and a lot less “good grief!”

Posted in Communication, Rule #2: A WOWplace is Respectful | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Talent + Creativity + Action = WOW!

This post expands on my recent post about not slamming down potentially useable, patentable, creative ideas just because… “No one else has ever done it” or “Someone else has probably done it” or “I’ve never done that before.”

The reason I love the following story so much is that it happened to someone in my husband Bruce’s personal world!

Bruce went to high school with a woman who married a man named Phillip Morse – a man who followed his gut (and his dreams). Phil got the idea for a new invention, a catheter valve, while he was a salesman for a medical device company. When he presented the idea to his bosses, they refused it!

So convinced was he that the valve had merit that he founded his own company with the device, which he called the Morse manifold, as its core product. He went on to add other products and grew the company to $60 million in annual sales by 1994, when it was purchased by Pfizer for approximately $155 million in Pfizer stock!

Not one to stop at achieving one dream, Phil also now co-owns the Boston Red Sox! (While we aren’t in the Morses’ personal circle, Bruce and I have been fortunate enough to party at their home on Lake George when they’ve graciously hosted their class’s high school reunions… and there is a VERY cool Red Sox banner on the chimney!)

Below is the Pfizer announcement of its acquisition of Morse’s company, called Namic (about halfway down the article is where they describe how Phil started the company).

New York Times Archive article from Pfizer

How many of us have had – and continue to have – great ideas that are generated at our jobs? While some companies may refuse to even consider our ideas and others may use them without payment or recognition, others will implement them and reward employees handsomely for coming up with them!

At the very least, if we refuse to shut down our creativity on the job, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that our ideas are good, we’re helping others by coming up with them, and we never know where those ideas may lead us in the future!

Posted in Leadership/Employee Engagement, Rule #4: A WOWplace is Innovative, Creative & Fun! | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Talent + New Creative Ideas = WOW

Many artists WOW us with their talent, but this incredible example of extreme talent, combined with the creativity of working with a medium most would never even conceive is possible, is a perfect example of why this artist WOWs us.

Remember, many people have talent and great ideas… but so many of us just think of the great idea, pooh-pooh it (or think that someone else MUST have already done it)… and throw it away.

I can’t even imagine how many “patent” ideas have entered people’s minds, only to be subsequently discarded by them and have someone else actually create it. Has that ever happened to you?  I’ll bet it has!  It’s happened to me, my sister and my father!

Stop shutting down your creative ideas. Give them a little consideration to see if they really should be thrown out… or if you could possibly create small and large WOWs with them for everyone around you!

Posted in Leadership/Employee Engagement, Rule #4: A WOWplace is Innovative, Creative & Fun! | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments