Category: Growth

How many times have you tried to create a new habit or break an old one? How successful have you been and where did you go astray? Whether it’s the new year and you are thinking about new years resolutions or it’s spring and you want to fit into your shorts from last year, as humans we seem obsessed with setting new goals, but we are not always so great at the execution.

I believe it has a lot to do with discipline or lack there of. I am defining discipline as consciously doing something repeatedly in order to obtain an end result or reach a goal. Without discipline we do not get very far, but many people were not raised with strong discipline (myself included). That means at some point we have to decide if this is something we want to improve and then we have to go to work on it.

Reaching goals is often done by creating new habits or changing old habits. For our purposes here I define habits as actions we take or thoughts we repeat enough times that they become second nature. I also recently heard habits described as patterns and that resonated with me. For some reason it felt easier to think about creating new patterns and breaking old patterns than habits.

We begin to create habits when we are young by observing those around us, seeing patterns and repeating them ourselves. Over time many of those patterns and thoughts become subconscious and turn into habits, some that serve us well and others that do not.

As we get older we continue to create new habits. Like some of the habits we created when we were younger some of these serve us well like exercise, personal development reading, and drinking lots of water. These are the habits that are created through discipline.

The ones that don’t serve us are the ones we tend to create without much thought like watching TV after work, checking email at the table, or having something sweet after dinner.

Just like it takes discipline to create the habits that serve us it also takes discipline to stop the habits that do not serve us once we acknowledge what they are and choose to create new ones. An example for me recently was giving up coffee that had become such a habit it no longer served me. I was drinking it whether I needed it or not, whether it tasted good or not and I found it was actually making me more lethargic. It took discipline to break that habit because it was so ingrained in my subconscious behaviors. What I did however was replace that habit with one that served me. Replacing coffee with hot water with lemon or the occasional cup of tea.

Because discipline comes into play not only when you want to purposely create new habits and patterns, but also when you want to break the old ones I want to share five ways to create stronger discipline in order to build new habits or break old ones along with some of the pitfalls to avoid.

1. Set a Small and Specific Intention

If you have tried to create new habits before and were less than successful it may because you tried to take on too much change at once. Change is hard, especially if it is something you have been doing subconsciously for a long time.

By setting a small yet specific intention you have a much greater chance for success. First of all it will be much easier and take less willpower than doing it all at once. Secondly you will be able to celebrate your victory sooner and that will spur you on to add the next small but specific intention.

Setting a specific intention could be getting up 30 minutes earlier every day, walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes a day, three times a week, meditating for 10 minutes a day, or eating dinner without dessert three days a week. This last one is the intention around removing something that is no longer serving you like dessert that may have become a habit. Often times the focus on removing an old habit is harder than the creation of a new habit.

Many say that it takes doing something (or not doing something) consistently for at least 21 days before a new habit is created or an old habit is broken. 21 days is a pretty dated number and more current studies have said on 66 days on average. That means a specific and small habit could take less time than the average. Doing something or stopping something consistently for an average of 66 days takes discipline so the easier it is to do the more likely you are to stick with it.

That means that starting small and doing what you intend to do consistently will pay off much greater than going all in and not being able to stick with it for 66 days. After you feel you have created the new small habit you can set another small specific intention for the next habit you want to make or break. After enough time they will compound into the larger goal you were setting out for in the first place.

2. Know Your Why

You will need a strong why if you are going to make change. Change in habits is not easy and not always fun. Setting a specific intention is only as good as your reason why. If you don’t have a strong why it will be easy to give up when it gets tough. Simon Sinek’s book “Start With Why” is a great book on this topic. You can also find his Ted Talk here http://bit.ly/2cweLpJ

Your why could be something for you or it could be for others. Many times when someone wants to get healthy their why has to do with their kids or family. Many people only have a strong enough why to quit smoking when they want to be around to see their grandchildren. Your why could be your team, your organization, your spouse, your kids, or yourself. The point is you need to have a strong why associated with your intentions in order to stay focused.

3. Create a New Routine

Because habits are activities we end up doing automatically, it is easier to create a new one when we put it into a routine. It is even better if you can put it into a routine you already have that works.

You will want to be systematic in how you do this. It cannot be willy-nilly. It has to be something you are going to do every day until it becomes a habit and the best way to do that is to build your new habit into your routine.

Pick a time that is natural for your biorhythm. If you say I’m going to start working out every day at 5:00am but you have not been up before 7:00am in years this may prove to be two new disciplines you are starting, getting up early and exercising. If your new discipline is going to be meditation or writing you need to figure out the time of day that is going to be best and if there is something you are already doing that you can add this new habit to.

Maybe you currently watch the 6:00pm news and you can add 10 minutes of meditation before you turn the TV on. Instead of creating a completely new routine you are adding a small intentional new action to an already existing habit.

Once you have the discipline of doing it daily you can start to look at a different time or location that you like better or creating new routines around it.

4. Track Your Progress

 Often when we don’t see immediate results it’s easy to stop what we set out to do. That is why tracking your progress is important. Find a way to measure your results incrementally. It could be as simple as writing down the time you wake up and how you feel if your new habit is around getting more sleep or getting up earlier. It could be tracking how much writing you do each day if that is the habit you are working on. If it’s a fitness goal there are lots of ways to track progress like number of steps, calories burned, minutes of exercise, etc.

The objective here is to see your progress even when it isn’t obvious. Just because you have not reached your destination does not mean you have not made significant progress on your journey. But the only way to really know where you are on your journey is if you track it.

It’s often hard to congratulate ourselves for something we’ve accomplished that isn’t yet obvious, but when you see the progress staring you in the face through your documenting and tracking you can easily say, “look how far I’ve come.”

5. Find an Accountability Partner and Don’t Quit

It’s completely normal to want to create a new habit or break an old one and have trouble with it. Most people do not make big changes fast because it is hard. If it were easy we would all do it. If you find it’s difficult break your habit into smaller habits and work on one piece at a time, but just keep working on it.

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do and they do it longer.

In conclusion remember that building discipline is not easy and you are not alone in having past failures, which is great because according to C.S. Lewis “failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”

Anyone who has ever succeeded failed many times so don’t let your past attempts at any goal or any new habit deter you from continuing on your path. Learn from the past, try again, do things differently, learn new things, and most importantly don’t quit!

Do you ever hear people say, “I’m hanging in there” when you ask them how they are? Have you ever used that answer? For more than 10 years, working as a consultant, I had spent a lot of time with clients at their offices around the country and the globe. There was a theme I was picking up when I asked someone how they were doing – I heard a lot of people say, “I’m hanging in there.”

Why should that matter to you? Because if you are reading this and you are responsible for an organization or a team then this answer is probably impacting your bottom line. That is because the people who are just hanging in there are not engaged and we know from Gallup study after Gallup study that average employee engagement hangs in the low to mid 30% range. We also know that disengaged employees tend to move on to new jobs more frequently, which can cost businesses approximately 1.5 times the annual salary of every person who quits. And that is just one number that low engagement affects in a costly way.

Start to listen to the answers when you ask people how they are; I bet you will notice that a lot of people are saying, “I’m hanging in there.” Other ways to say that are “I’m good for a Monday”, “we are half way there” or the most well known “TGIF.”

When I catch myself saying those words I can feel the energy drain out of me. Just saying it out loud right now makes me feel less motivated and less energetic. Think about how that can affect employees and morale within your workforce.

If you hear a more positive response that is good news, because it means that you are in a place with good or great company culture and happy employees. If that is your organization, you are on the right track.

So what do you do if you are leading and you are hearing the “just hanging in there” types of responses? Even worse what do you do if you are the one saying them?

Well you have two choices. You could ignore it all and keep the business-as-usual approach, or you can say, “I’m ready to do something different even if I don’t yet know what that is.”

We often hear attributed to Einstein that insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Whether he said it or not, it wasn’t originally said as a response to leadership, workplace satisfaction, or company culture; but today that definition does hold true in corporate America. Many leaders are doing the insane when they go to work everyday in a culture where it seems by the engagement surveys that most people are just hanging in there, doing the same things over and over again, but expecting or hoping for change.

Why would there be change if you don’t change? How you do anything is how you do everything and if you are in charge that means the change has to start with you.

Imagine, what would it be like to go to work in the morning and find that everyone around you wants to be there (regardless of it being Monday or Friday), they are excited to be there, and they are engaged and committed to excellence? Seriously, close your eyes for a minute and imagine how much more would get done. Can you imagine what type of results you and your organization could achieve if the entire workforce was doing more than just hanging in there? There is no one-size-fits-all solution to getting to that great vision, but it starts with acknowledging that things need to change and admitting that you need to change. It starts with evaluating your leadership and communication styles, your priorities, your values, and that of your team and organization.

It starts with an open mind and the willingness to ask questions and be ready for what might be some tough answers that are hard to hear. There is an old Chinese proverb that says the fish rots from the head. If you find dysfunction, dissatisfaction, low productivity, high turnover, or any other symptom of the “just hanging in there” syndrome it’s time to figure out where it is stemming from. Is it coming from you as the leader or from another source? Don’t take this lightly and assume that it must be coming from somewhere else, it’s time to dig deep and take a hard look at the culture that you, as the leader are responsible for.

If you are looking for tactical ideas and resources in the short term you can pick up a copy of my book, The Corporate Detox (www.amazon.com or www.c-suiteresults.com/book). For a free consult to discuss what may be causing the “just hanging in there” syndrome at your organization visit http://www.c-suiteresults.com/contact.

While I know it can be hard to ask for help, start by asking yourself these questions and reaching out to someone who has the tools and systems in place to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

What will happen if I do this?

What will happen if I don’t do this?

What won’t happen if I do this?

What won’t happen if I don’t do this?

There are lots of experts out there on this topic, so find someone you feel good working with and start creating excellence and engagement so that no one in your organization is left just hanging in there.

 

I could start this article with a list of the “Top Ten Ways to Deliver Great Customer Service.” Many of my articles begin in a similar way. But I am going to make this one much simpler. I’m not going to present ten ideas here, but simply one word.

And, that word is… alignment.

Perhaps the most important way to improve the service you deliver to your customers is to make sure that everyone in your organization is in alignment with the customer service and/or the customer experience vision. While the concept is just one word, there are several steps necessary to take to achieve that alignment.

The first step is to define your vision in simple and memorable terms.

In a previous article, I discuss the concept of creating your customer service mantra, which is my fancy way of describing a customer service vision statement. Before you can achieve alignment, you must give everyone in the organization something to align with. I prefer a vision statement or mantra that is short and to the point. So, if you don’t already have a vision for everyone to align with, get one!

After you craft a customer service vision statement – or mantra, as I like to call it – the next step is to show everyone in the organization how they are impacted by that vision. And, I mean everyone!  Begin with a basic customer journey map that shows all of the typical interactions – or touchpoints – that your customers have when they come into contact with your business. You may find that you will need more than one map to adequately describe this journey, since many different journeys may exist.  For instance, a customer’s sales journey may be different from a customer service or support journey. Further, the interactions a customer has on your company’s website will be different than interactions over the phone or in person.

A second part of the journey map exercise may be needed to show underneath each touchpoint how different departments and roles within those departments impact those touchpoints. If the journey maps are done correctly, you will eventually be able to show how each and every department – in other words, ultimately every employee – impacts the customer’s experience.

I’m surprised by the number of organizations who haven’t even yet created a single customer journey map, let alone multiple ones. However, this is an essential step before you can even think about getting your employees into alignment.

By getting everyone in the organization to know and understand your customer service vision, and showing them on journey maps how everyone, even as individuals, impacts the customer’s experience, you can begin to train the entire organization to your vision. Like many things in life, this process may be simple in concept, but is not always easy to do.

For this process to work, you must have an effective communication strategy for the vision. It can begin with an announcement. The mantra should be positioned as not only a vision, but also as an expectation that everyone must keep in the forefronts of their minds, regardless of their roles and responsibilities in the organization.

And just announcing and communicating the vision is not enough. Each and every employee must be properly trained. The vision must also constantly be reinforced by the leaders of the organization. The vision must be obvious and almost overt. For employees to be in alignment, they must know it, understand it, and be able to execute it.

Delivering great customer service isn’t just for the customer service department or the front line. It’s everyone’s job. So, if there is one thing that will make a difference in the way you service your customers, it is to get everyone in the organization in alignment with your customer service mantra.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

Have you ever noticed that as an organization gets larger, there is a tendency for it to focus more and more on overhead and profit, and less and less on customer acquisition, and even less on customer retention?  Steve Digioia, my friend and customer service colleague, asked me the natural follow-up question to this one, “What are the causes othis change and how can you keep this from happening?”

My first response was that yes, this indeed sometimes happens. But that company will eventually realize that it needs to get back to focusing on its customers. Before that can even happen, however, it will discover that it will first need to play catch up, to replace the customers who have defected and to make up for lost sales. This is the exact opposite of what the company had initially intended to achieve.

But sometimes a reversal in policy is made on purpose. Leadership may deliberately decide to change their mindset – and even their company culture – from being customer-focused to bottom line-focused. Sure, this may result in putting up some good numbers on paper in the short run and put some money in the form of quarterly bonuses in the pockets of the managers, but in the long run, it will be a huge mistake.

So how does a company prevent this all-to-typical shift from occurring? First and foremost, if the company leaders have a customer-focused vision in place, before every move they undertake, they should ask themselves this question, “Will this action be in keeping with our vision?” Assuming the answer is yes, then the focus needs to be placed on the employees.

Keep focusing on your people. Constant reinforcement of the importance of servicing the customer is the key to sustaining the culture.

For those who are interested in staying focused on the customer, it is more important than ever to start by hiring the right people, those who fit into your customer-focused culture. On-going training of these people is also key. And, as the company grows, it is important for leadership to constantly stay aware to see if any part of the company (departments within the company, people within the company, etc.) is becoming culturally misaligned.

Amazon.com presents a great positive example of growth while avoiding misalignment. As the company expanded and added different areas to their business, they always put the customer first. The first question company leaders always asked before rolling out a new program was, “Is this right for the customer?” The second question they asked was, “Will it be right for Amazon?

Remember what Dr. Ted Levitt of the Harvard Business School said: “The function of a business is to get and keep customers.” The goal of a business is to make money. But if you don’t focus on the function, you might not reach your goal.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go towww.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

 

Leaders can be found everywhere when it comes to providing outstanding customer service; everyone can be a leader. What do we mean by ‘leader’? As the leader, you simply do the right thing. Why? Because you know it’s the right thing to do! Others will then notice and admire you, and you’ll find that they may even want to emulate you. With that in mind, the two stories I’m about to share aren’t really as much about customer service (although they could be) as they are about demonstrating the characteristics and traits that can make you a leader. Both examples come from the sporting world, one involves a famous athlete, the other a not-so-famous non-athlete.

Consider the first example. I was recently a guest at a customer appreciation event for long-time season ticket holders of the St. Louis Blues hockey organization. The event was held at a beautiful venue graced with granite floors and amazing artwork. And, of course, there was plenty for us guests to eat and drink. As I entered the venue, I noticed my former salesperson, Kevin Parker, who was recently promoted to a management position. Now, Kevin has always impressed me, because he consistently demonstrates the qualities of a leader. After a quick hello and conversation with Kevin, lured by the delicious aromas, I sauntered over to check out the food line. But, just before I was able to get to the line, whoops, I slipped on a wet spot on the floor!  I found out in a hurry that water and fancy granite floors just don’t seem to mix. I didn’t fall; I lost my balance just for a moment.

Two servers from the venue were standing near where I slipped. The servers nodded and smiled at me. I smiled back, to reassure them that I was indeed okay. What did they do next? Nothing! I thought one of the servers might dash over, grab one of the many napkins on the buffet table and make that wet spot on the floor instantly vanish, but neither of them did. So I began to walk over to the buffet table to grab a bunch of napkins to simply do it myself. However, I noticed that someone else had already beat me to it. Who? None other than Kevin, my former salesperson.  Before I could take a solid step, he had already grabbed a napkin off another table and was bent over, soaking up the water from the floor so that somebody else might be spared a fate even worse than mine.

As you can imagine, wiping up the floor wasn’t a big deal, but neither was it part of Kevin’s job description, it was simply the right thing to do. So he did it. That’s why he’s making moves in the organization. Kevin is a leader because he inherently knows what is right, and even more importantly, he acts on it.

The second example involves Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys. You may know Dak as the rookie quarterback who recently led his team to the NFL playoffs. In an earlier, regular season game, he missed a throw that caught the attention of millions. He won the game anyway, but this particular throw wasn’t even on the field. This throw was on the sidelines. Dak tossed an empty cup toward a trash can . . . and he missed. What did he do next? Like Kevin Parker, Dak Prescott took action. He went over and picked up the trash and put it in the can.

You may ask, so what’s the big deal? Well, if you watch many of the other big-time players, after drinking from paper cups, rather than throw them in a trash can, they simply thoughtlessly toss them on the ground. Someone else who may be making millions of dollars less than they are, one of the trainers, is then required to pick up after them. But not Dak Prescott. Dak does the right thing. This has led some both inside and outside of the Cowboys organization to conclude that this guy is not only a great athlete on the field, but also is a great person off the field, who also possesses the characteristics and traits of a leader.

ESPN.com senior writer, Arash Markazi, caught Dak’s errant throw to the trash can and posted the video on Twitter with the message:

Hundreds of tweets about Dak’s trash include comments like this:

Yes, wiping up a spill or picking up trash may seem like such little things, but they can be metaphors for qualities much bigger than either act. Leaders know that the little things matter. They don’t even think before taking care of them. And they don’t even care if anyone is watching what they do. They just do what’s right. That’s what Kevin Parker and Dak Prescott did. That’s what you’ll find true leaders do. And, that’s what you’ll find true customer service leaders do, too!

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

Have you ever received an e-mail that read from someone making a command?  It might read, “I need this task done by Friday.  Please get it to me.”  It’s that type of language that many leaders use.  It comes from the old “command and control” leadership model.  It offers limited choice.  It portends limited freedom and autonomy.  The command and control language, when used consistently, will damage employee engagement.  Damaged engagement leads to poor quality, limited innovation, and eventually poor customer experience.

Our new knowledge economy requires a change in culture, a culture that values trust over control.  Culture is reflected in the language of its leaders and its members.  The language of agreements is what we want to use to boost trust.  Using the same language in an organization is critical. Knowing the exact meaning of the language is just as critical. For example, the word “agreement” has a derivation.  “Agree” is consent and “ment” is a call to action. So an agreement is “consent to take action”.

The language of agreements treats employees like volunteers.  Treating employees like volunteers gives a sense of autonomy and autonomy is a critical element in achieving employee engagement.  This type of language enhances the idea that they have control of themselves, their work and their performance results.

The command and control mindset (and language) often encourages employees to do nothing until and if they are told to do so.  In the language of agreements employees accept increased responsibility for performance.  They do it naturally because they are being treated like volunteers with choice.  Command and control language is an enormous mistake and can be corrected by changing to the language of agreements.

If we want a move away from the language of command and control and toward the language of agreements they are two important behaviors we want to adopt immediately.  These behaviors help managers to use agreements language.  The first is to “make only agreements you intend to keep.”    The second is “communicate immediately, to those who need to know, if you cannot you’re your agreements.”

Imagine what it would be like to work in an organization where you were treated with total respect and trust and like a volunteer?  Would you be more or less loyal?  Would your productivity be higher or lower?  How about your willingness to take risks to innovate?

Imagine working in an organization where everyone only made agreements they were willing and able to keep?  And, what if everyone communicated to those who need to know when agreements might be broken?  What kind of bureaucratic control systems would be in that type of organization?

Isn’t this the type of culture that we want especially in today’s work environment?  Isn’t this the type of culture it moves us away from command and control?  By using the language of agreements we begin to send a message that everyone must be responsible for their behaviors and their own integrity.

Let’s go back to that e-mail example I mentioned earlier.  How would the language of agreements sound?  How might that email be re-written?  Here is an example: “Are you willing to make an agreement with me to get that task done by Friday?  If yes, please acknowledge.  If not, please let me know when you can get it done.  Are you able to get back to me by the end of the day today?”

The language of agreements will increase a sense of autonomy, engagement, and accountability.  It encourages a sense of freedom, trust, and risk taking.  When we start using it we can begin to make significant positive change in our teams and in our organization.