image curtesy of Peignier Christian
Have you ever been shopping and some person has parked their jag up on the side-walk next to the building? The first thing I think when I see that is ‘wow, arrogant’.
I love to see people find success, in fact, it is what I am all about – helping people and companies reach their full potential. I think when someone works really hard, begins to earn the big bucks and has taken the kind of risks it takes to get to the top of the ladder that is cause for celebration. But celebrate how? By not having to follow the same rules as everyone else?
I would caution, celebrating with arrogance leads to team disaster. We see it in leadership positions and companies all the time. During one of my meetings yesterday we talked about the “Caste System Hierarchy” that exists in some companies. The ‘peon’ attitude of arrogance; people who make the assumption they do not have to respect those in positions ‘beneath’ theirs. Thus, their treatment of their peers is significantly more respectful than that of their ‘subordinates’.
Your challenge: Take the time to look inside yourself and determine if you judge or treat people differently because of what you own or have. (House, car, title, income, education)
All people are equal. Diversity is key to a well balanced life, organization and relationships. Everyone is a contributor – people simply offer different opportunities and experiences. Learn about them, respect them and you will be surprised by how much you learn from those you once judged.
Patti is a strategic adviser in Leadership, Customer Service and Small business. You can book her to speak at her Speakers Page.
Need Strategic Sense for your business? – hire us for Leadership Development of individuals & teams, group training and company strategy. Happy Workplaces Succeed, take the path to get there. 403-201-8512
There are some terrific examples of Customer Service out there, some we have come to expect, Zappos for one – a large organization built on providing WOW for their customer. When I am listing examples for my clients, one company would never spring to mind and that is Staples. They are the largest supplier of office products nation-wide and a business I have tried to avoid using, until now.
Previous experiences were…
- Lack of care or concern for my copy center needs, several times miscounting or getting it wrong then refusing to correct it.
- Waiting for up to 20 minutes for someone to help or assist me, if they noticed at all.
- Allowing me to leave the store either disappointed or angry at their lack of concern for my solution.
In fact, last summer I had decided to obtain most of my office products from elsewhere. As a result, I thought I’d try one of the other Staples locations and came to the conclusion this problem was much larger than a local manager who didn’t ‘get it’ because I received the same experience at other locations.
All that has changed! Staples is a key supplier for several things I need for my business, and in the last month felt forced to shop there – was I ever pleasantly surprised.
Yesterday I tracked down a manager/supervisor and asked if the management had changed since last summer. He indicated it had not, and wanted to know why I asked. I mentioned my work in the areas of Leadership and Customer Service and told him I was seeing a marked improvement in their store, he was happy to hear it.
Apparently Staples rolled out a nation-wide customer engagement plan to all their stores. I now intend on being a more frequent customer to observe its sustainability and its reach. From what I witnessed in my last two visits, they do appear to understand that customers are the reason for their job, rather than an interruption.
- I had at least 3 employees in different departments ask if there was anything I needed help finding or if I had any questions. Score tally 1
- Managers and supervisors were watching closely to see if anyone looked stranded or lost and directing employees accordingly. Score tally 2
I do hope their customer engagement rollout includes building on that engagement, extending that new customer service goal to include customer experiences as they increase their customer base; they have an incredible opportunity to do so.
Kudos to Staples!
Patti is a strategic advisor in Leadership, Customer Service and Small business. You can book her to speak at her Speakers Page.
Need Strategic Sense for your business? – hire us if you prefer to rise above the status-quo, care deeply about employee and customer experiences and truly believe in living and performing with excellence.
My husband is the Director of Golf at a golf club in a small community outside of the city. I sometimes help out as a temporary staff member when they have larger than usual events. I always enjoy myself and love his staff.
A few weeks ago they hosted a double shot-gun with a large group of people calling for two separate banquets – one lunch and the other dinner. Unfortunately, there were quite a few of us caught and trapped on the wrong side of the barricades due to the town parade. This town has only one road through town that leads to the road to the golf course and it was frustrating to sit and wait.
There sat a visiting Executive Chef, Chef, Front of House Supervisor, two servers and myself all tapping our toes (except for me who was voicing the ridiculousness of the one way in and one way out situation) waiting for a town parade to end so we could get to work to serve the people attending the event.
Service is HUGE for me, and this whole situation frustrated me as I thought about all that needed to be done to ensure customers had a smashingly fabulous time. Having a good part of your staff unavailable certainly must cut into your confidence. The Food and Beverage manager was gracious as always at our late arrival, the event went off without any visible hitches and the customers were happy.
This made me think long and hard about One Way In One Way Out scenarios companies set themselves up for.
- A single sales person who shares no information with the rest of the organization
- No successors identified for key executive positions, nor knowledge transferred
- Single individuals working in technical specialties who deliver directly to the customer
A simple and great solution to this problem is to assign Primary and Secondary leads in your most important key positions. Primary owns the title, Secondary owns enough of the knowledge to cover for the Primary in the event their world turns up-side-down and they cannot be at the office.
Companies who understand Primary and Secondary work teams experience
- lower training costs,
- fewer efficiency issues
- job knowledge transfer
- less individual burn-out
This can be managed well but it takes effort on behalf of the leader to ensure the teams are effectively utilizing tag-team philosophy.
One way in and one way out is a rickety road to travel and opens doors for delays, stress and frustration among employees. Remember, “Happy Workplaces Succeed”.
Patti is a strategic adviser in Leadership, Customer Service and Small business. You can book her to speak at her Speakers Page.
Need Strategic Sense for your business? We train leaders and employees in strategies for making workplaces happy for it is then that customers love to work with them, refer them to others, and keep coming back for more. – Hire us if you prefer to rise above the status-quo, care deeply about employee and customer experiences and truly believe in living and performing with excellence.
