I recently facilitated a workshop in an organization for a group of managers and their staff on "Creating a Culture of Customer Service." I met with the managers first to get to know them and find out how they managed people, how they communicated with their staff, what their style of leadership was (collaborative or command and control), what their challenges were, etc. They were going to be in the workshop and it was important to understand who they were and what was going on with them before I met with the larger group.
For an ice breaker, I had everyone introduce themselves and share one word describing customer service. The organization's values showed up again and again. I asked if these values were displayed on the walls anywhere in the office? They weren't but the leader and managers said it was important that they be added and they were going to do that. There was a long list of fabulous one word descriptions and a few words describing what was going on now that they could work on to improve the cultural environment.
When focusing on customer service, a company has to understand the importance of internal customer service first before they can offer excellent customer service to the people they serve. Values are an important part of a company culture in how people are treated, communicated with, and valued. If a company understands this, customer service outward focused will become second nature to a company - they simply live it everyday. A good example of who exemplfies excellent customer service is Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Zappos - with their staff and with their customers.
An exercise to use with staff is to allow people to get to know each other on a personal level. I ask questions about who they are, what they like about working where they work, what they like about the people they work with, what could change, etc. It's also very important to talk about the various styles of communicating: generational differences, men vs. women, diversity of cultures, introverts and extroverts, personality differences. It all matters and is important to be aware of all of these dynamics as is messages and intentions.
At the end of the session, people really enjoyed the experience. They got to know their fellow employees a bit better, even learned something new about others and themselves. To reinforce the learning, management committted to getting together and continuing the focus to keep the momentum going, including creating a fun Friday where they posted pictures, shared stories and celebrated each other. Our work will continue so customer service is just embedded in the culture and people know when they come to this organization, the staff care and they feeled served. It take effort, dedication and commitment to work on this. It's great working with an organization that cares about the people they serve and each other.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Inspiration 365 Day a Year Movie
Sit back, listen to the music and read these quotes. Self reflection time.
Inspiration 365 Day a Year Movie
Inspiration 365 Day a Year Movie
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Power of Acknowledgment Movie - by Mary Robinson Reynolds based on story by Helice Bridges 'Who I Am Makes a Difference'
A must view video on Acknowledgement. Imagine if we all did this - how people would feel?
The Power of Acknowledgment Movie - by Mary Robinson Reynolds based on story by Helice Bridges 'Who I Am Makes a Difference'
The Power of Acknowledgment Movie - by Mary Robinson Reynolds based on story by Helice Bridges 'Who I Am Makes a Difference'
Sunday, March 10, 2013
What is the secret of team building? | ASK DEEPAK!
I am a fan of Deepak Chopra and here he shares the three key ingredients of what's important to Be a Team.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Managing Work and Life
An associate and I facilitated a workshop last week for several business people on Work/Life Balance. The concept for balancing work and life is very hard for many business people, especially women. At times, we tend to put ourselves last behind everything else in life - family, home, friends, our work, church, etc.
We started off the session asking everyone to share one word describing what work/life balance looks likes for them now. Most people in attendance described it as non-exisent, hard to manage, challenged with it, need more of it, etc. The exercises we conducted required people to break into dyads and for each person to think about their lives and look at all aspects using the "wheel of life" worksheet and scoring themselves in each area on whether they were humming along in sync or were driving on flat tires. Each person was given a few minutes to share with their partner what their life looked like in various aspects of their lives explaining how why they scored each area of their life the way they did, positively or negatively. They then picked one or two areas they could shift a little in what's currently going on to change behavior but not be overwhelmed in the process by picking too many. An example of this was one lady sharing she really missed going to the gym and decided she had to incorporate this back into her life for health reasons. We had each person ask the following questions: how can they implement these changes; what are the challenges around these changes; what they will commit to and most importantly, why it's important to make this change.
The next exercise we conducted was around saying "Yes" and saying "No" which again is hard for women. We tend to overcommit and feel badly about it after we commit or we are concerned that we may disappoint someone if we say no. A good exercise is asking yourself what will I say Yes to, but to do this I have to say No to ..... An example of this is "I am going to say Yes to going to the gym three days a week (M,W, F) and I have to say No to sleeping in until 7:00 a.m. on those days." In order to make commitments around change, it's very beneficial to have an accountability partner who will check in with you and hold you to your promises and even better if you can do the same for them. Most of the people in the dyads decided that their partner in the exercise would be their accountability partner going forward.
It takes 21-days of repetitive practice for a habit to change. So it's important to make sure you put down dates around the accountability check-ins so you don't allow old habits to creep back in. Writing down the change you are bringing into your life can be helpful as well and posting it somewhere where you can look at it daily. Sharing with family members what you are trying to accomplish can be beneficial if you know they will support you.
Taking baby steps in bringing more balance into our lives makes the changes easier to embed. Once you feel you have more control over your well-being, then you can add other areas of your life that need to change in doable commitments. Life is like a river, ever flowing. There will be ebbs and tides but if we learn to recognize when something is starting to affect us negatively we can take action to manage it better.
We started off the session asking everyone to share one word describing what work/life balance looks likes for them now. Most people in attendance described it as non-exisent, hard to manage, challenged with it, need more of it, etc. The exercises we conducted required people to break into dyads and for each person to think about their lives and look at all aspects using the "wheel of life" worksheet and scoring themselves in each area on whether they were humming along in sync or were driving on flat tires. Each person was given a few minutes to share with their partner what their life looked like in various aspects of their lives explaining how why they scored each area of their life the way they did, positively or negatively. They then picked one or two areas they could shift a little in what's currently going on to change behavior but not be overwhelmed in the process by picking too many. An example of this was one lady sharing she really missed going to the gym and decided she had to incorporate this back into her life for health reasons. We had each person ask the following questions: how can they implement these changes; what are the challenges around these changes; what they will commit to and most importantly, why it's important to make this change.
The next exercise we conducted was around saying "Yes" and saying "No" which again is hard for women. We tend to overcommit and feel badly about it after we commit or we are concerned that we may disappoint someone if we say no. A good exercise is asking yourself what will I say Yes to, but to do this I have to say No to ..... An example of this is "I am going to say Yes to going to the gym three days a week (M,W, F) and I have to say No to sleeping in until 7:00 a.m. on those days." In order to make commitments around change, it's very beneficial to have an accountability partner who will check in with you and hold you to your promises and even better if you can do the same for them. Most of the people in the dyads decided that their partner in the exercise would be their accountability partner going forward.
It takes 21-days of repetitive practice for a habit to change. So it's important to make sure you put down dates around the accountability check-ins so you don't allow old habits to creep back in. Writing down the change you are bringing into your life can be helpful as well and posting it somewhere where you can look at it daily. Sharing with family members what you are trying to accomplish can be beneficial if you know they will support you.
Taking baby steps in bringing more balance into our lives makes the changes easier to embed. Once you feel you have more control over your well-being, then you can add other areas of your life that need to change in doable commitments. Life is like a river, ever flowing. There will be ebbs and tides but if we learn to recognize when something is starting to affect us negatively we can take action to manage it better.
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