1. Meet your customer in her “space”.  I don’t mean “put yourself in her shoes.”  That’s oversimplifying things and means you have to do some imagination.  I mean, pay attention to what’s getting her attention, causing her stress, or ramping up her enthusiasm.  Slow down or speed up to match her pace of communication, brainstorming, and problem solving.  There’s no imagining involved here . . . just plugging in to what’s really going on.
2. Be. Here. Now.  I don’t mean that you have to physically be where she is.  (My client is in Dallas, I’m in Minneapolis . . . we don’t share the same state, let alone the same office.)  But, when we’re talking on the phone, I don’t multi-task.  When we are face to face, she gets my full attention.  It makes service (and life) so much easier when I focus on what’s in front of me instead of thinking about what I could be, should be, or would be doing if my client wasn’t around.
3. Work hard and be nice.  I have a sign in my office that says this because I can’t be reminded enough how simple it really is.  No matter what . . . I work hard for my customers.  And, no matter how grouchy I am feeling, I am nice.  (The same goes for when my clients are grouchy.)  Nice makes a difference.  Actually, nice makes the world go around.

Those are them . . . my three tips for customer service.  Nothing magical or complicated.  The key for me is to remember that it’s not about me, it’s about my customer.

What are your tips for excellent customer service?  I’d love to hear them.

Lynae

Sponsorship involves 4 actions:

1. Encourage.  Express your belief in his ability to succeed, both passionately and frequently.
2. Support.  Look for all the ways you can help her get where she wants to go.
3. Authorize.  Create a culture of “yes” so he can explore what is possible.
4. Introduce.   Make sure you’re not the only one who knows who she is, sees her potential,  and recognizes her results.

When I was 23, I had a sponsor.  She made sure I was involved, connected, visible and responsible for just a little more than what was in my job description.  I loved it.  I felt engaged and I truly believed I could succeed.  I credit her with getting me a leg-up in a great 10 year career with that company.  Her faith in me and commitment to my success made me want to work harder, be more accountable, and get better results.  That’s typically what happens when someone is sponsored – they are driven to live up to the faith that is placed in them.  That’s one reason sponsorship is a powerful leadership strategy.  Another reason is that sponsorship begets sponsorship.  When you reach out and lift someone up, it increases the likelihood that she will do the same and the resulting culture is one where people help others and share in their successes.

Influence is an essential leadership skill.  You need it to sell ideas, enroll others, and create change.  Influencing others involves appealing to three different sensibilities:  logic, emotion, and cooperation.  In other words, when you influence effectively, you connect with someone’s head (thoughts), heart (feelings), and hands (action).  As you might have experienced from time to time, different people require more emphasis on logic in order to be enrolled in your project.  Others might want to feel a stronger connection to their heartstrings before being pulled into your idea.  Still others might prefer to move to action right away and learn how they can contribute tangibly.  Think about how you like to be influenced and that will help you understand what I mean here.  When someone is making a case that requires a commitment from you, do you notice that you pay most attention to:

• Logic – facts, figures, and evidence pointing to personal and/or organizational benefits?
• Emotion – feelings, experiences, and concepts that reinforce an emotional connection?
• Cooperation – action, roles, and responsibilities that define alliances and relationships?

Perhaps all three are important to you when considering the value of a proposition or initiative.  It’s important to understand the needs of those you are attempting to influence and enroll because it will help you to be more effective when making your case.

To prepare for an influencing session with others:

1. Set your goals by considering what you need from others and what you want the outcome to be.
2. Identify benefits and challenges by reflecting on the relationships you have with others, their position of power as compared to yours, and what skills and knowledge they possess that you could benefit from.
3. Develop your plan and script by outlining how you’ll appeal to the logic, emotion or cooperation sensibilities of others, anticipating their objections, and planning your counter-arguments or responses.

It’s important not to underestimate the value of planning when you are intent on influencing others.  The more time and attention you invest in planning, the greater the liklihood you’ll achieve your desired outcomes.  And, once you’ve conducted your influencing dialog, record and reflect your perceptions and key learning.  The best way to learn how to influence is to practice influencing, and then taking notice of what worked and what didn’t.

As Bridges makes clear in his book, every transition begins with an ending.  There is some form of “letting go” that accompanies a successful transition.  No matter whether the change is positive or negative, change begins with an ending of something.  For example, a new process means letting go of a strong sense of familiarity and feeling of competence with performing daily tasks.  Or, a promotion means changing peer groups and letting go of daily interactions with people who you’ve grown to know and count on.  Personal changes come with transitions as well . . . moving to a new neighborhood or city means letting go of your physicians, neighbors, and a strong sense of community.  Even when changes are good, there is letting go to do.  Leaders must allow time and space for the psychological process of letting go.

It is possible to create an environment where people are able to deal with losses openly, without it turning into the proverbial whine and moan session.  Bridges offers lots of suggestions.  Here are my favorites that through my work with clients have proven to be very effective:

1. Accept the Reality and Importance of the Subjective Losses.  In other words, everyone deals with loss differently.  What you may consider easy, someone else may consider wildly difficult.  Learn as much as you can about someone’s perception of loss.  It will make it much easier for you to address it.
2. Don’t Be Surprised at Overreaction.  The key here is to understand that if somone’s reaction to change is stronger than yours, you’re likely to call it an “overreaction”, when in fact it is simply someone’s reaction.  Loss can, however, be incremental.  That is, an initial reaction to change can be layered with another reaction to something else coming down the pike, and so on.  So, what you may view as an overreaction, might actually be reaction “overload”.
3. Acknowledge the Losses Openly and Sympathetically.  An empathic leader is a powerful leader.  So, bring losses out in the open and make them safe to discuss.  Invite others to share their feelings of loss, and share yours as well.  For example:  “I know these changes are going to pose challenges for all of us.  I’m sorry about that.” Or,  “I’m feeling a bit like a duck out of water myself.  It’s hard to learn a new process.”
4. Expect and Accept the Signs of Grieving.  People process change differently, but like stages of grief, you’ll likely notice anger, bargaining, anxiety, sadness or confusion.
5. Give People Information, Again, and Again.  Leaders cannot overcommunicate, especially during times of change.  Even if you don’t have an update, that’s information your team is likely to appreciate.  Keep them informed.

Accountability starts with a point of view that you do, in fact, have the power to make a difference.  People with a point of view of personal accountability tend to look for improvement opportunities and problems that need to be solved.  These are the people who ask themselves:

• What’s my role in this circumstance?
• What can I do differently to influence a positive outcome?
• What clues did I miss?
• What risks did I avoid to take that might have improved the results?
• What practices or habits of mine get in the way of achieving the best possible results?

It takes a lot of courage to be accountable, and accountability can be a lonely country.  That’s why it’s important for leaders to create a culture where accountability is valued and rewarded.  In this type of culture, people are encouraged to ask the tough questions and are rewarded for discovering new approaches to old problems.  To create more accountability in the workplace:

1. Take a pulse check on the levels of accountability.  Is yours a “just do it” environment where people make things happen?  Or, is it more common for people to point fingers and blame others?  Depending on how accountable your culture is, start taking actions to ratchet things up – either from bad to good, or from good to great.
2. Be a role model.  Your actions speak volumes and show people the way to be accountable.  Do people see you being accountable or do they see a victim of circumstance?
3. Cultivate accountability.  Look around and see what you can do to clear obstacles that keep people from being accountable.  Eliminate policies, practices or belief systems that don’t support accountability at all levels.
4. Empower others.  Make sure people have the authority and tools to make decisions (and act upon them) that are in the best interest of the organization.

Accountability can make a big difference, even when taken in baby steps.  Give it a try and see what happens.  Here’s a closing thought from someone with bigger chops on the subject than mine:  “Make every decision as if you owned the whole company.”  Robert M. Townsend,  American Economist and Professor at MIT.

Building culture starts with identifying an “end game”.  What is your company’s purpose?  What do you want to build and achieve together?  This isn’t just a “touchy-feely” question . . . it’s a strategic and critically important one.  Being part of something bigger than you are is inspiring and can yield great results.  The purpose can be really simple.  At Zappos, their higher purpose is to deliver happiness – to make people happy.  And, it’s turned out to be an incredible business plan.  The important thing for any organization is to have a clear purpose.  What is yours?  And, more important, if everyone in your organization was asked about the purpose, would they know what it is?

Next, building culture continues with identifying core values.  What guides your behaviors and decisions?  Values can help you make sure that your higher purpose is achievable and real.  At Zappos, there are 10 core values.  There is no magic number – you can have 3 or 5 or 12.  How ever many you have, you need to make sure you can live with them and commit to them and have some teeth behind them.  If you have too many, it’s easy to lose focus and ultimately, lose the meaning of the values.  If they are values you can commit to, and make hiring and firing decisions around them, then they are a solid set of values.  The values are the key expression of culture.  When you ask employees and customers to describe culture, it’s the values that they’ll speak to because your values are your culture in action.

Finally, building culture means building the expectation into the organization, through things like job descriptions and performance evaluations, that living up to the core values is everyone’s responsibility.  By living your values, you’ll build and sustain your culture.

I  love doing culture work with clients because it is inspiring and reminds me that there are fantastic possibilities to be explored if we only open our hearts to them.  What possibilities are there out there for you, I wonder?

I admit that I’m challenging some of my own belief systems by asking this question.  I have Tweeted a lot about the topic and the role of leaders in focusing on employee engagement as a critical business driver.  Nonetheless, I feel compelled to explore the ownership of one’s own level of engagement.  First of all, I don’t believe the message to employees should be, “Get engaged or get lost.”  Rather, I think the message is, “It’s a team thing.”  In other words, we each have a role here.  Leaders, you must create a compelling and inspiring workplace.  Employees, you must show up and commit.  I choose to focus on the employee in this blog post.  Let’s give leaders a break . . . for the time being.

Okay, team.  It’s time to show up.  Whether or not you have a leader who understands the importance of engaging employees, you have a responsibility to bring your best to work every day.  Sure, it can be challenging.  But, you are definitely not going to get the scoop on the new project, get a shot at that new job, or be able to demonstrate that you’re the person your leader should be considering for that next promotion unless you are present and accounted for.  So, how do you get yourself motivated to walk in each day with an open mind and heart?  On many days, we may feel inspired by an initiative we’re deeply involved with or by a team effort that is allowing us to work “elbow-to-elbow” with someone we enjoy.  That can be enough to bring us skipping into the office.  Too bad some days aren’t like that.  Sometimes, we find ourselves not so wildly fired up over that report that has to be written or managing the “scope-creep” of the project we’ve been leading for 10 months.  Ugh.  How do you get yourself motivated?  Strengths and discipline.

Strengths.  Marcus Buckingham talks strengths with a boatload of research behind him: “Years of research prove that individuals and teams playing to their strengths significantly outperform those who don’t in almost every business metric.”  You’ve got to find out what makes you feel strong and do that as much as possible during your work day.  Strengths are not just things that you’re good at.  Strengths are those activities that make you feel competent and give you the energy to want to do more.  Do you know what your strengths are?  If not, find out.  A great assessment is one that Marcus helped create when he worked with the Gallup Organization.  It’s called the Clifton Strengthsfinder.

Discipline.  Find a system that helps you bring your best to work even when you’re not particularly inspired to do so.  That might come in the form of professional coaching to help you get organized.  Or, it might be a goal-setting process.  One of the best support systems for discipline in my book is the bestselling book by the incomparable Dr. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  For more than 15 years, this amazing book has helped millions of people bring their best to their daily lives.

Got any other ideas on how employees can own their engagement?  Drop me a line and let me know.

With respect,

Lynae

I really appreciate his perspective.  Now, I’m not saying that annual performance reviews need to be ditched, as Colbert suggests.  I think there is great value in having documentation of performance management activities.  But, the annual performance review is often treated like a necessary task dictated by HR instead of an opportunity to take a solid look at an employees strengths, accomplishments, and understanding of what he or she should do more of to be even more successful in the coming year.  I have been one of those leaders at the end of the year scrambling to complete all the boxes on all the forms for all my employees and having all those one-on-one discussions before the HR-imposed deadline.  UGH!  That process feels forced and fake, and it often translates to employee feedback that is not authentic, and worse, not actionable.  Colbert argues that performance reviews focus too much on what’s “wrong” about an employee’s performance.  Whether they are completed annually or not, I agree with him . . . they would be much more valuable if they focused more on what the leader/manager can do to help the employee succeed. 

So, what’s a leader to do?  In most organizations performance reviews are non-negotiable.  A leader doesn’t get to say, “In protest I’m not going to do them.”  Nonetheless, a leader can make the process infinitely more valuable.  To do so means having discipline and commitment to an employee’s development.  It takes time, thought, and a little planning.  Many leaders might argue they don’t have the time.  I respectfully reply, “You must make the time because employee development is one of your top responsibilities.”  Leaders are required to lead.  And, performance management is an important part of leading.  When coaching and training  leaders, I offer these tips for making performance management an on-going and routine versus a once-a-year-phenomenon:

Schedule 30 – 60 minute one-on-one sessions with your team members every week during which time you ask them a variation of the questions below.  Your objective is to get a sense of what makes them feel strong and effective.  You also want to discover what they need from you to perform at their peak.  Finally, you must listen to what they have to say and make sure they see you listening.

• How can I help you bring your best to the job at hand?
• What are the circumstances surrounding your work when you feel the most competent and the most effective?
• What tools do you need to be even more successful?
• How are you solving problems you encounter?
• What barriers or obstacles do you need help in overcoming?
• Who do you rely on and partner with to get your job done?
• What questions do you have of me?

Before you end the conversation, after listening intently and discussing different approaches to problems, it’s really important that you provide them some feedback on what you are noticing about their performance.  This kind of feedback can either be positive or constructive.  The key is that it is timely and genuine.  Your team members need to know where they stand with you.  What’s working and what’s not?  What do you want them to do more of?  What makes you proud?  What would you like to see them do differently (and how do you intend to help them do so?)  Finally, say” “Thank-you.”  This expression of gratitude is a great way to let them know you appreciate what they bring, that they care enough to talk with you weekly about their performance, and that you honor their commitment to continuous improvement.

So, as I already mentioned, this takes discipline and commitment.  When you do it, it will pay off every day.  And, it will pay off at the end of the year when you’re required to document the performance evaluations for HR.  You will breeze through them because you will have had weekly conversations with your team members that have kept them engaged and informed throughout the year.  The annual process will become more of a formality than a forced event.

So, is the annual performance review a waste?  Not if you do your leader work throughout the year and make employee development a daily priority.  When that happens, the annual performance review can be a time when you get to celebrate that your daily work has created solid results.

With respect,

Lynae

Reach.  Of everything he said, and believe me when I say it was all riveting, when he talked about “reach”,  I was inspired.  He talked about reaching into the future to attain your goals and reaching into the darkness with the belief that what you’ll find is exactly what you are meant to have, even though you can’t see what’s there.  And, he talked about reaching for the next ledge on a grueling climb to make progress, one small step at a time.  He reminded me that goals are achieved and visions are realized when we reach for them.  We can imagine all we want, but we must reach for what we want.  Very little comes to us if we just stand in place and wait.  Erik didn’t let his lack of vision exclude him from experiencing life with exhilaration.  That’s him in the picture, without goggles, standing on the summit of Mount Everest.

In leadership, on teams, and in life, we must reach for what we believe in and what we want.  It’s really very simple, and completely challenging.  Reaching takes an act of faith, and in the case of a blind mountain climber (and often those of us who can see just fine), it takes courage.  We must have faith that we will find the thing we are reaching for, and we must have courage that if we reach we won’t fall.  Of-course, sometimes we will fall.  And, that’s life.  We must reach anyway.  Because most of the time, when we reach, we’ll find something . . . even if it wasn’t exactly what we’re reaching for.  While the result might not be the top of Mount Everest, it may be a small victory that inspires us to reach further next time.

In my effort to “reach” to achieve my goals, as Erik has inspired me to do, I will take action . . . do something . . . try.  The point is to reach in some way and toward something.  There isn’t a right or wrong way to reach.  You just gotta do it.  Okay, so I might not get what I’m looking for.  I might get something more.

In awe,

Lynae

I’m excited about communicating with you via BWR’s blog, PRISM.  I got the idea to call the blog PRISM while traveling through Europe recently.  There, I was reminded of the beauty of diversity and how a single idea can be viewed from several different perspectives.  Like looking at a light through a prism and seeing it reflected differently, we’ll use this blog to present ideas and view them from varying points of view.  After all, there is no one way to solve a problem, make a decision, build a culture or lead a team.  That’s what inspires me about organizational development and drives BWR Consulting to collaborate with clients to help them achieve great results.

Going forward, you can count on this blog as a source for issues that are important to me, but most important, are important to clients:  employee engagement, leading through change, building respectful cultures, cultural intelligence, effective teams, and much more.  From time to time, I’ll interview clients, colleagues and industry experts to gather varying perspectives about current organizational challenges and to share ideas for improving people, processes and systems.

For starters, I’ll refer you to the BWR Consulting website for a list of some of my favorite resources.  Click here to see my favorite books, websites and professional associations for organizational and leadership development.

With gratitude,

Lynae