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Category: Growth

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Best Practices Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

The Stage Presence in Executive Presence

As a CEO or other top-ranking executive, you know that a winning leadership “presence” can enhance your professional image and help you achieve the goals that are meaningful to you. It also helps others view you as an authority, problem-solver, and “go-to” person.

“Executive Presence” is much like stage presence, charisma, and star quality. These words mean virtually the same thing: a personal magnetism that makes it impossible for people to take their eyes off you.

Many years ago, when Dick Cavett interviewed Katherine Hepburn on his popular TV show, he asked her, “What is star quality?” Hepburn replied, “I have no idea – but whatever it is, I’ve GOT it!”

The word “charisma” may be the oldest synonym for “star quality”. The Greeks used the word to mean “favor”. Charis was an attendant to Aphrodite, the goddess of love; “Charis” meant beauty and kindness. The word can be found repeatedly in the New Testament and is translated as “grace”. “Charismata” is the word used to refer to gifts from God: knowledge, healing, working miracles, prophecy; qualities that bring benefit to others.

In his August, 2011 article in The New York Times, Zachary Woolfe mentions the perspective offered by Ernest Hemingway:

“In his obsession with the Spanish bullfights, he spoke of the lust of the crowd and its desire to feel something special, a raw authenticity… What he mentions is the hush that would come over the crowd at the entrance of the toreadors. The people could sense the difference between those who did it for the fame, the paycheck, and those who had the old spirit. The crowd can sense the one with the authentic message, the connection to the truth.”

The sociologist, Max Weber, provided some insight with his contemporary use of the word “charisma” to describe a key quality of leadership. He wrote the following:

“Charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or specifically exceptional powers. These qualities are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader.”

As a business person, you may not need the charisma and star quality of Katherine Hepburn, a bull fighter, or a “divine one”, but you can still cultivate a personal magnetism that will help you achieve your professional goals. Here are characteristics of Executive Presence that you can cultivate for success:

Candor: The appearance of honesty, through the willingness and skill to constructively tell it like it is.

Clarity: The ability to tell your story in an intuitively clear and compelling way.

Openness: The appearance of not prejudging, of being willing to consider another’s point of view.

Passion: The expression of commitment, motivation, and drive that shows people you really believe in what you do.

Poise: The look of sophistication, conveying a background of education and experience.

Self-confidence: The air of assurance, such that others know you have the required strength and resolve.

Sincerity: The conviction of believing in and meaning what you say.

Thoughtfulness: The projection of thinking or having thought through something before responding.

Warmth: The appearance of being accessible to others and of being interested in them.

Each of the characteristics listed above is revealed through your physical presence/body language, as well as your verbal/vocal presence.

Gestures can add warmth and personality to a conversation or presentation and help illustrate a point. If your own personal style includes only small or very few gestures, remember to at least nod your head appropriately. This is an easy way to show that you are listening to, understanding, and connecting with your conversation partners.

Eye Contact occurs when two people look at each other’s eyes at the same time. In human beings, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and is thought to have a large influence on social behavior. In the United States, eye contact is often interpreted as a meaningful and important sign of confidence, respect, engagement, and even honesty.

Facial Expression: Smiling is one facial expression that is likely to put other people at ease and help them feel accepted and comfortable. You exude happiness and encouragement when you smile, so try to add it to more of your conversations. Scowling, chewing your lip and raising your eyebrows can all signal different meanings, so it is important to be aware of how your face looks during a conversation. When you speak for business and your topic is not a happy one, remember that you actually do have something to smile about: the fact that your listeners will benefit in some way from understanding the message you are bringing them.

Movement: We use body movement and proximity to send information on attitude toward a person (facing or leaning towards another), and desire to control the environment (moving towards or away from a person). Be aware of how your body movement sends messages. The physical distance between you and others signals your level of intimacy and comfort and is interpreted differently in different cultures.

Posture: “Body orientation” (the way you hold your body) sends strong messages to others. Remember that your posture is revealing and may ‘give you away” at any moment. Letting your body relax appropriately in a given situation (having fluid, smooth movements and facing your conversation partner, etc.) indicates confidence, poise, and engagement.

Appearance: This refers to everything you were not born wearing: all the choices we make in clothing, accessories, hairstyle, and makeup. The choices for a presentation range widely. A good rule of thumb is to dress “one step above” your listeners. See what highly-regarded people in your workplace are wearing during their presentations and emulate them – and/or ask someone in authority.

Speaking Pace (the speed at which you speak): Increase and decrease your pace strategically. A monotone is boring, and so is monopace; it can lull people to sleep! Pace also includes dramatic pauses to communicate many things, including to (1) emphasize a point, (2) give people a moment to think, and (3) surprise your listeners to deepen their level of engagement.

Speaking Pitch (the high and low tones of the speaking voice, altered with jumps and glides): Pitch can be used to convey energy, warmth, and sincerity. In American business, finishing a statement with a downward glide sounds certain and authoritative; ending with an upward glide communicates a yes/no question or uncertainty. To sound confident and authoritative, always end your statements with a pitch glide downward.

Vocal Projection (the energy and commitment in your voice, including volume): Emphasizing certain words by being louder or softer can add to the impact of what you are communicating. It’s important to project you voice so that everyone can hear clearly what you’re saying. Even if your volume bec
omes soft for dramatic effect, your energy level and commitment must successfully project your meaning and your passion.

Cultivate these qualities, and you won’t have to worry about stage presence, charisma, or star quality. You will possess a winning executive presence and enhanced power to influence and persuade your business listeners

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Skills Women In Business

Be The Speaker You Want To Listen To

Do You Really Know Your Audience?

 

One rule of thumb that applies to almost every aspect of life is that just because something is simple, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy.

 

When I was faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for a decade or so, teaching in a master’s program for educators, one of the rules of thumb I constantly reiterated was, “be the teacher you wish you’d had.”

 

That seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Yet so many of my students seemed to find it surprisingly difficult to apply in practice.

 

We can all recall boring lectures given by teachers and professors who seemed to be burnt out after years of teaching the same content day in and day out. For many, sadly, this seemed to be the rule rather than the exception.

 

But we can also recall those instructors who stood out, who made their subjects come to life, and lit a fire of curiosity and genuine interest in us that we never would have imagined possible in that subject.

 

This dichotomy is no different from what happens in corporate life.

 

When speaking to a group, whether in front of a camera, on stage or in the conference room, the seemingly simple rule of thumb is: be the speaker you’d actually want to listen to.

 

So why is it so difficult?

 

Whether professor or executive, it’s unlikely that most speakers aspire to be boring. Nobody actually wants to be remembered as the worst example of anything. But somewhere along the way, something gets lost in translation.

 

When you give a speech or presentation, facilitate a meeting, or even have a one-to-one conversation, what impression do you leave? Do you project confidence, approachability, authority, leadership, enthusiasm, and overall positive energy?

 

But what if you were sitting in the audience? Put yourself in their shoes (or seat, as the case may be.) What kind of speaker would you want to listen to? You’d probably use words like “inspiring,” “passionate,” “open” or “relatable.”

 

But in the vast majority of the meetings I’ve sat through, presentations I’ve seen and talks I’ve attended, the speaker comes across as under- or over-emotional, intense and unapproachable or bored (and boring), or like they’re just going through the motions to get the discussion over with and go back to whatever they’d rather be doing.

 

So what happens that creates such a gap between how you come across when you speak and how you want to come across?

 

First and foremost, you forgot the rule of thumb: to be the kind of speaker you’d want to listen to if you were in their seat.

 

Here’s video #1 from my mini-video series, “Capturing your Confidence on Camera,” with tips on how to connect with your audience:

 

It gives you ideas for how to frame your content and your delivery in a way that will help you connect with the audience.

 

Because when people walk into the room, subconsciously they are hoping you will answer one single question: “What’s in it for me?”

 

You can’t just run through your material with the sole purpose of checking off all the topics you think you need to cover. While this is the default approach most people take, that makes it all about you, and it comes across like a laundry list.

 

You have to think about who is in the audience, what matters to them, and what would make them leave feeling like their time spent with you was the best possible investment of their time, when there are so many other competing priorities.

 

Then, you not only need to consider the value of the content from their perspective, which gives people a reason to listen, you have to be mindful of how you deliver that information.

 

That’s where the experience shifts from one where your audience appreciates your content, to one in which your audience connects with you.

 

And that’s where the magic begins.

Categories
Growth Management Operations Personal Development

Cheers to Remembering Your Customers’ Names!

 

Do you remember the sitcom Cheers? It was a popular television show that started in 1982 and ran for over ten years. If you remember the show, you probably also remember the theme song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” which was also the theme of the entire show.

Now, I’ll bet you don’t resemble the character Norm, the accountant who loved beer, nor Cliff, the postman who knew everything, on the show. Neither do I! But a few weeks ago I frequented one of my favorite places, First Watch. On that particular day I wasn’t all that hungry so I ordered just a single pancake. Typically, when I add a pancake to my meal, the server charges me a dollar. But this time, when the server left the check on the table I noticed he had charged me five dollars – for a single pancake!

I was stupefied by the bill, so I asked about the high-priced pancake. I then learned there was as difference between adding a pancake and ordering just one for breakfast. Not only did the reason make sense, the server was very nice about it, so I was happy to accept the reason. The server then jokingly told me the next time I came in he was going to serve me a pancake for just a dollar. I laughed, thanked him and left him a nice tip for his great service and outstanding attitude.

Two weeks later we went back to First Watch for breakfast. That day we had a different server. (Sometimes on Cheers, Carla was your server, other times it was Diane.) I ordered my usual big breakfast. Surprisingly, a few minutes later the server came back with my plate. On it was – a single pancake! She said that the pancake was compliments of Tomas, the gentleman who took care of us the last time we were in for breakfast. I looked over and he gave me a wave and a smile.

I was impressed. First, you should know why I like First Watch. While the bar Cheers may have had great beverages and great service, First Watch consistently has great food and great service. The servers are always friendly. Nobody is perfect, but First Watch comes as close to perfection as you can get. That’s why I’ve been a consistent customer of theirs since they first opened their stores in St. Louis more than a dozen years ago. I always know exactly what I’m going to get.

But, now I have yet another reason. Like Cheers, First Watch remembers me. Actually, they didn’t remember; Tomas remembered me. But to me, Tomas represents the restaurant and all of the other employees. Tomas is the face of the entire organization.

The ability to remember your customers is huge. Why? Here are four good reasons.

  1. It makes your customers feel special. Who doesn’t like to be remembered and appreciated? On Cheers, Norm and Cliff were so remembered and appreciated, everyone else was careful not to occupy their chairs. 
  2. It makes the customer experience personal. I was remembered, but more importantly, I was given a special experience based on Tomas remembering the pancake. 
  3. It creates a connection with your customers. People like being around people they feel they know. The first step is to recognize and remember someone. 
  4. It increases the likelihood of a return visit. How often do you think that Norm or Cliff frequented the bar down the street? Or any other bar in the neighborhood, for that matter? Probably never. People like going to – and like going back to – places where they are remembered. It’s simply a big part of good customer service. 

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

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development Technology

Are You Media-Ready?

Nowadays, it’s not enough to be really smart, to be the boss, or to have brilliant ideas. It’s all about your presence, and how well you communicate those brilliant ideas, if you want others to see your vision and get on board.

Specifically, it’s about what I like to call vocal executive presence, and if you have it, you can master the Three Cs, to Command the room, Connect with the audience, and Close the deal, in any context.

Whether on camera, at the microphone or in person, your ability to look and sound like the right kind of leader will make or break the impact and success of your message. To ensure that you come across as confident, natural, relatable, and persuasive, you need to have an expertly crafted message and flawless delivery.

That’s why I’m excited to share with you “Capturing Your Confidence on Camera,” a six-part series of straight-to-the-point, down-and-dirty, DIY mini-videos that show you exactly how to turn any speaking opportunity into a home run performance. (And they’re just as applicable when you’re not on camera!)

Maybe you’ve been invited to be a guest on a podcast, to be interviewed on TV, to speak at a conference, or maybe you want to create your own promotional video for your company. Beyond being able to say, “I did that” and check it off your bucket list, do you know what outcome you want from the experience? Have you thought about what effect you want to have on the audience? And most importantly, do you know how to do it?

In this series, I’ll show you how to overcome some of the most common challenges, including:

  • Connecting with the audience
  • Starting and ending with power and clarity
  • Overcoming anxiety and not letting your nerves get the best of you
  • Speaking with a great-sounding voice
  • Moving naturally and easily
  • Navigating interviews with confidence and poise

Remember: I am not a professional actor or singer; my strategies do not come from the theater (although I’m sure there is plenty to be learned there), and I have no intention (or ability) to teach you how to act.

However, as a linguist, I can help you understand how language works, why the reputation you want is different from the reputation you have, and how the smallest changes in word, voice or gesture can have enormous influence on how your message is received.

Most importantly, instead of teaching you how to act in front of the camera or microphone, what I want to do is to show you how to use this knowledge to project your best version of yourself.

And then – here’s the kicker – once you see the difference in how people respond to you when you use these strategies, you’ll realize the value in having them become part of your new normal communication style, so that you can have your desired impact on an audience every time you open your mouth to speak.

So find the minute or two over your coffee break to watch each video when it comes out – I’ll share another link here each week – and see how you can immediately apply what you learn to your interactions on and off camera.

I hope you’ll share your experiences and experiments, letting us all know how they change the way people respond to you.

Remember: more than a role, “leadership” is an image that stems from how well you get others to understand your vision and make them want to get on board. With awareness of what influences that image and how to control it, you can ultimately master the Three Cs of vocal executive presence, so you can Command the room, Connect with the audience and Close the deal.

Categories
Growth Personal Development

Building Habits – Five Ways to Create Stronger Discipline to Reach Your Goals

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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.”

  1. 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!

Categories
Growth Personal Development

Just Hanging In There

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.

Categories
Growth Personal Development

To Create a Customer Focused Culture, Do This ONE Thing

 

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

Categories
Growth Personal Development

Make Money or Keep Customers – Which is Your Goal?

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

Categories
Culture Entrepreneurship Personal Development

4 Ways Leaders Create a Culture that Learns and Grows

By Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, MCC

People don’t remember things just because you told them it was important to remember. Even if they remember, they won’t change their behavior just because they were told it is the right and best thing to do. The most inefficient way of teaching is telling. In order for people to learn, and to create a work culture that learns and grows, people have to be emotionally engaged in the topic.

The two worst ways to teach

When you tell people what to do, your words go into their short-term memory. This container is limited in capacity. Your words compete with worries about current projects, the list of tasks and phone calls to be made, the scores of emails that just popped up, Internet articles, interoffice mail, family matters and what they judge you mean even when you didn’t use those words.

When you scare people into learning, they will remember but the information becomes permanent so they can act without thinking. This keeps people from adapting new behaviors in the future.

For example, when you give people an ultimatum or indicate there will be negative consequences if they don’t do something, anytime they face a similar situation they react in the same way. They behave the way they learned. There is no analysis. There is no considering possibilities. They focus and perform by repeating what they learned under duress.

This is why people resist change – they learned to do things under pressure and fear. They learned to do something one way and now it is difficult if not impossible to change their minds. It is easier to learn new behavior than to try to rewire the brain to do things differently if you learned something through fear.

The best way to teach people to learn and grow

If you want people to be able to act thoughtfully, creatively or strategically, activate emotions in your conversation that trigger neurotransmitters to store information in long-term memory. When people experience pride, dignity, laughter, compassion, gratitude, joy, achievement, contribution, and personal wins, the experience is stored in long-term memory where it is accessible to new ideas and experiences. This leads to agile learning and creative. People are able to build on and adapt what they learn to new situations.

Tips for creating a culture of learning and growing

  1. Teach people by sharing inspiring and humorous stories, relevant cartoons, identifiable and meaningful metaphors, and compelling examples. Information delivered with pleasurable and heartfelt emotions is quickly transferred into long-term memory. The facts may be lost, but the stories and the messages live on.
  2. Make sure they know your intent is to help them achieve one of their desired goals. People listen to leaders who care about them and their futures. The most memorable leaders are those that helped us see we could do more than we thought was possible to achieve our goals.
  3. Use a coaching approach. Be curious and ask questions as if you are learning too. Let them explain how they see their situations. As they tell their stories, ask about the desires, disappointments, and fears you sense they are feeling. Ask them what else could be true or possible. When you help them think for themselves, their blind spots come to light. The pleasure that goes along with discovery triggers a wave of brain activity.
  4. Encourage trials and experiments. Praise effort as well as results. Learning is enhanced by practice, then they need praise to go the distance. Adults need approval and acknowledgment as much as children do. They also need a little room to learn from their mistakes.

If you want people to change and grow, be inspirational. Show you care about their future. Listen, and allow for mistakes. A learning culture produces smart, productive employees.

Categories
Growth Personal Development

What Leaders Do When No One Else is Looking – The Right Thing

 

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