Susan Scott's Blog, page 47

Friday Resource: 13 Ways Leadership Can Lead Employees to Provide World-Class Customer Service

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by Forbes and discusses thirteen ways that great leadership can lead to employees delivering top-notch customer service.

Leaders talk a lot about leading by example and, within the service industry, it is no different. Employees can’t deliver exceptional customer service consistently if their leaders don’t practice it is as well.

The smallest of actions can resonate with your employees and drive the message of quality customer service. Equally, a leader’s lack of customer service will become the status quo quickly.

Much like performance management and feedback, customer service should be reinforced at every available opportunity. Training for high levels of customer service should be an ongoing conversation – not just in the first week’s orientation. Weave the principles into your mission and celebrate the high performers. You will begin to build a culture of customer service that everyone adheres to.

As a customer service leader, it is also important to show you care about your employees and treat them with the same respect you would with any other customer.

“Too often communication is top down. So always ask at the end of every conversation with each employee, “Now is there anything I can do for you?”

Read the article.

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Has the Focus on the Customer Left the Service Industry?

A couple of weeks ago I went into two different coffee shops – one an independent and one a chain. As I was waiting for my coffee I observed two interactions that left me scratching my head.

The first was with a man who ordered a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. When his order came up he received only half of what he’d asked for and when he stated this wasn’t his correct order, the woman looked at him and said “oops”. Then silence. No apology. No “Let me make you another one.”, no “The next one is on us.” The guy looked bewildered and left the coffee shop with his incomplete order in hand.

That same week another gentleman ordered his coffee, admittedly with several ingredients and twists, and when his order came up the server had put in the wrong key flavor although the cup was clearly marked with what he had requested. The server looked at the customer and said, “Oh I missed that, do you want to try it anyway?” Again, no apology, no “Let me get you what you really ordered this morning.”

This got me thinking: Has the focus on the customer left the service industry? Do these owners/leaders realize the impact these experiences are having on their businesses? Do they care?

When the livelihood of your company depends on the environment your employees are creating for your customers, shouldn’t having effective and engaged conversations be a top priority?

Each employee is a hologram image of the culture regardless if anyone is looking over their shoulder. Personally, I have not frequented either of these places regularly since I witnessed these interactions. Instead, I have taken my purchase elsewhere.

As a leader, I am responsible for setting expectations and then holding myself accountable to live up to those expectations for my employees. If I’ve done my job well this should have a domino effect on others so they can hold themselves “able” and sustain a culture that keeps customers coming back.

All parties had their DNA on these situations. First the employee for not putting the customer first, and then the customer for allowing lower standards to become the acceptable norm.

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Stop “Customer Facing”

One of the phrases we dislike at Fierce is “customer facing.” The whole notion that you need a different face when you are talking with the customer just doesn’t work for us. While some may argue that it is just an expression, we know that words matter. And having a different face doesn’t work in business anymore.

Being in marketing most of my career, most marketing leaders know that keeping the customer front and center is key to success, whether it is a product launch or incentive plan or key event.

I have always loved that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, intentionally leaves an empty chair at meeting conference tables and lets everyone know that it is occupied by “the most important person in the room” – the customer.  And in turn, everyone is forced to remember that the customer perspective needs to be remembered and considered, even if it isn’t verbal at that very moment.

And I want to take it a step further. Remembering the customer’s perspective is not enough. Firstly, metrics need to tie to customer satisfaction. And secondly, you must learn to connect more deeply with your customers. Yes. And this is hard. You must ask the real questions and handle the real answers. Go to the real places the conversations need to go. Share the hard thoughts that come to mind.

This week’s tip is to focus on really connecting with your customer, whoever that may be. To do that, focus on being authentic. Wear your real face. Some questions that can help are: Am I using my real voice? Do I feel like myself? Am I sharing what I truly think and feel in a way that enriches the relationship?

Gone is the day that you can hide behind a mask, or a counter, or even a phone. People want to see your real face – not the “customer” one.

When have you, as a customer, felt deeply connected to the person selling you something? Why did it feel that way?  It most likely occurred because the conversation was real and authentic.

Please share an example!

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Friday Resource: The Work Conversations We Dread the Most, According to Research

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by  Harvard Business Review and delves into the work conversations we dread the most, and in some cases, avoid altogether.

A recent survey conducted by Fractl asked over 1,000 people about their most difficult conversations at work. According to the research nearly 66% of respondents claimed they would go out of their way to try to make the other person in a “difficult” conversation feel comfortable and at ease.

If the majority of people walk into these conversations intending to be collaborative, why do we dread these conversations so much?

Although intentions are good, many times people still enter the conversation with a combative mentality. This is the mindset where someone wins the conversation and the other loses – resulting in both sides feeling dissatisfied.

According to Kerry Jones of Fractl, some tips to prepare for a difficult conversation are:

Determine what you want to get out of the conversation prior. Know your worth to the company and how marketable you are.Treat the conversation as two people working together to solve a problem.

Read the article.

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A Call for Fierce Conversations

Monday night was the first night of the Presidential debates. After it ended, people called and texted me asking: Who do you think won?

I always find that to be a very difficult question to answer. Maybe because I’m jaded. While I believe in our democracy and processes, I struggle with how we engage in the conversations in them. No one wins when it is about bantering back and forth about who is right and who is wrong – leaving meaningful discourse out of the picture. We see this ineffective tactic wreak havoc in organizations, in teams, and in families all around the world. And leaders around the world are paying the highest prices, because of it.

So I guess when it comes down to it, I want so share that debates are NOT fierce conversations. This may be surprising for some people. When many people think of fierce, they think of fierce like a tiger, or aggressive, or not so positive. And that’s not what we mean.

The simplest definition of a fierce conversation is one in which we come out from behind ourselves, into the conversation, and make it real. And a fierce conversation has four objectives: interrogate reality, provoke learning, tackle the toughest challenge, and enrich the relationship.

While I listened to the debate, and each person shared his or her viewpoint around issues – learning was not provoked for either of them. And relationships were not enriched. And yes, I do understand that those two objectives are the not the goal of debates. However, it just makes me wonder – how would our country, and even larger, world, be if there were more fierce conversations and less debates happening? What if we could witness the candidates exhibiting the qualities we expect of our leaders versus them just talking about it? And yes, I do imagine limitless possibilities if candidates were more concerned about getting it right versus being right.

Susan Scott, our founder, wrote an article during the primaries, in her Huffington Post column that is titled, “What Presidential Candidates Can Learn from Pope Francis.” I think her words are more relevant than ever.

The polarized parties in the United States are in no danger of agreeing on one man or woman to step into the White House but the fact is, we are not “united.” We are divided and we all know the saying divided we fall. The problem is that the debates are deepening the divide, amplifying the lowest part of who we are. Anger, fear, an illusion of superiority, a need to put others down.  We are a global economy, a global market place, relying on each other for survival. While we have a right to strongly held beliefs, our subjective truths are preventing intelligent dialogue. Multiple, competing realities must be considered and valued. We need a president with the charisma and strategy to unite all citizens, not support a hate-filled revolution. Until we master the courage and the skills needed to engage in conversations that help accomplish the goals of our shared civilization, devising a plan that transcends individual gain and personal ambition, we will move away from greatness, not towards it.

Let’s move towards greatness together. It starts with you. And so I ask that when you engage in conversations, strive to make them fierce. Just imagine the possibilities.

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Time to Get Uncomfortable

Careful conversations are often failed conversations, because they postpone what wants and needs to be talked about. So I ask: How many careful conversations do you typically have in a week?

And to add on to that. How many superficial ones? The “How are you?” – “I’m fine” ones. Or the “Have a great weekend – You too” ones. And of course, the “I’ll reach back out to you on that – Okay, talk then” ones.

I don’t know about you, but the people in my life who really level with the me, who share their deepest thoughts, feelings, and opinions of me, of the world, of anything really, are the ones I crave the time with the most. This involves leaders in my life too.

In Brené Brown’s recent book Rising Strong, she shares, “The most transformative and resilient leaders that I’ve worked with over the course of my career have three things in common: First, they recognize the central role that relationships and story play in culture and strategy, and they stay curious about their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Second, they understand and stay curious about how emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are connected in the people they lead, and how those factors affect relationships and perception. And, third, they have the ability and willingness to lean in to discomfort and vulnerability.”

This week’s tip is to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable – whether it is being vulnerable in a conversation reaching a new level, trying something completely new or letting more silence into your everyday routine.

As Alan Alda, American actor and screenwriter said, “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”

 

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Friday Resource: Taking Responsibility Is the Highest Mark of Great Leaders

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by Forbes and describes why leaders with a track record of taking responsibility – for both individual and team actions – are more likely to be promoted than candidates with similar qualifications.

Forbes Contributor, Zack Zenger, believes that a leader’s demonstrated willingness to behave responsibly is one of the most undervalued leadership characteristics. This often overlooked aspect in leadership literature is the driving force for many promotional decisions within organizations.

Zenger asserts that responsibility extends far beyond accountability. Being accountable means you are willing to accept the results of a team project or activity as your own. A responsible leader understands that they are the person who must make things happen. They set their own agenda and personal goals aside, and continually pursue goals that benefit the company as a whole.

“Responsible behavior includes doing things for which there is no immediate reward, but that are in the organization’s best interests.”

Read the article.

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3 Tips to Describe Reality as a Leader

As we say at fierce, no plan survives its collision with reality.  And to make it even more complex, reality is constantly changing. What may be YOUR reality may not be MY reality at all – they could actually be directly competing. We might not even remotely understand each other’s key responsibilities in the business.

Last year, Deloitte published one of its most popular articles in the Global Human Capital Trends, which was the chapter on “the overwhelmed employee”. Deloitte, and many human capital firms, saw this as a sign that the complexity and feeling of overload was hitting organizations even faster and harder than expected.

And hence, there is a massive need for leaders to be able to describe what they think, what they believe, and what they observe in a way that moves the business forward – in a richer and deeper way. Successful leaders are able to describe their reality without laying blame or pointing fingers.

Reflect on the last situation in your workplace that did not go as planned. How do you describe it?

Did you describe people as the problem? Do your problems have “names” and walk around your workplace? While this is a real thing – hence our confrontation conversation – this isn’t what I’m talking about.

As a leader, accurately describing reality is a true skill. As Susan Scott, Fierce Founder, said, “The person who can most accurately describe reality without laying blame will emerge the leader.” It doesn’t matter what title you have – your peers will recognize you as the leader.

Here are three tips to describe reality in a way that moves the business forward:

Look through the camera lens. When you talk about a situation or solution that is not going as well as planned, it is important to describe the actions as if viewing through a video camera. Do not lay judgment in your words. For example, “When you spoke to that team member, you raised your voice and leaned forward, I thought you looked antagonistic.” Stay away from words like “disappointed” or “saddened” that can sound very parental when describing the situation.Tap into your emotional intelligence. Remember that talking about your emotions is disarming. Instead of pointing fingers, go inward and share some reflection points for yourself. Share how you are thinking through your observations and invite different perspectives. The fastest way to lose someone’s trust and loyalty is to snap or act out your emotions in a situation. Stay curious and seek understanding.Come with solutions. After you have thought through your own interpretation of events or meaning, brainstorm solutions and ideas for everyone to weigh in on. Effective leaders do not want to invite the person who is constantly pointing fingers at the problems – that is an easy thing to do. It is much harder to lay out the issue in new and innovative ways while simultaneously providing ideas and considerations. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that very few people do this.

What other “go-to” tips do you have for sharing your perspective and others’?

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Fierce Tip of the Week: Don’t Point Fingers

A fierce leader does not blame others. A fierce leader asks, listens, and describes what has happened – without laying blame (that’s the hard part).

I’ve worked with leaders in my past who would throw the first person they could under the bus when something went awry. Do you work with someone like that? Or more importantly – are you that person pointing the finger?

If you are, I understand how tempting it is to share the juicy faults or issues, to share what really happened and lay out all the missteps. It’s great gossip fodder. And besides that, it is often REALITY.  It is very hard to take responsibility for results that aren’t necessarily completely in your control.

There are prices you pay, though. When you blame someone else, people trust you less. And in today’s workplace – trust is a scarce resource. According to a new Edelman “Trust Barometer”, which surveys 33,000 people in 28 countries, one in three people do not trust their employer. Also, as you get closer and closer to the frontline, people trust the organization less. In fact, less than 50% of frontline staff say they trust their organization compared to executives at 64%.

Building trust is a choice that you need to make as a leader. And one simple way to do that is to take responsibility collectively for results instead of excuses. As Susan Scott, our Founder says, “You can own the results or own the excuses – not both.”

This week’s tip is to describe reality without laying blame. When something goes wrong, instead of pointing fingers, describe the situation and move to solution mode. Create and support an environment that allows everyone to own their mistakes, and therefore, everyone can own the results together.

What will get in your way?

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Friday Resource: Everything Is Possible with Momentum Thinking

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published by  Huffington Post and explains the benefits of “momentum thinking” and how this approach can open doors in all facets of your life.

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about the benefits and conversely the harm that positive thinking can bring while at work. Although phycologists and executive coaches can argue both sides of the debate, a new approach is gaining traction.

That approach is momentum thinking. 

Momentum thinking focuses on possibilities rather than expectations. Humans are inherently limiting their potential in work and life when they set expectations. When you set expectations for how your business will perform this year or your life will eventually turn out – you are limiting your potential by pre-determining the outcome.

“There’s no way to be open to all possibilities if you don’t trust in what you can’t control.”

Jeffrey Shaw believes that a certain amount of trust into the “unknown” is needed to achieve your full potential in business and in life. Momentum thinking relies heavily on trusting this unknown – something that cannot truly be controlled. By letting go of pre-determined expectations, there is space to achieve anything you can imagine.

Shaw delivers three steps that can help you move out of the expectations and into what is possible.

Read the article.

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