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In my previous post I chronicled a recent service experience with a promoter of National Customer Service Week to highlight a common problem of mistaken empowerment with disastrous business results. I recount the same story here, now with a focus on the challenges that customer service and technical support teams face in times of great change.  Here is what happened and customer service insights on change, change resistance, and rebuilding trust.

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The Service Experience

A company actively involved in promoting National Customer Service Week approached me to be an advertising sponsor.  This was the first year they decided to sell advertising sponsorships. They sent information explaining levels of sponsorship, cost, and what each level of sponsorship gave me.  Initial discussions went well. We agreed on the size of the online logo ad pretty easily.  He asked me to send a short paragraph about myself for their first email bulletin. After receiving my text, he replied that the paragraph looked great and they would run it as is. The service experience was easy and well paced.

Things suddenly changed when he sent a proof of the bulletin. I was shocked to see they used only one line from my write-up. To make matters worse, they changed my verbiage into bland, boring words.  His question to me was “WOW, doesn’t it look great?” No it didn’t. I called him and asked what happened? He said, “Don’t worry we want you to be happy. I’ll get back to you.” Before he hung up, I said if we are limited on the number of words, I will be happy to rewrite it. However, the words must reflect my brand.

He emailed me a new version that was slightly longer. Sadly, the words were modified again. To me this was strange behavior and a blatant downward shift in service. It was after hours so I waited until the morning to call him. I left this voice message. “Since I don’t understand what is going on, can’t get any answers, and have no trust that the remaining advertising activities will be handled appropriately, I am going to pass on the opportunity to be a Gold Sponsor.  I wish you continued success.”

He sent me an email saying the source of yesterday’s struggle was the editor of the email bulletin who insisted the bulletin have the same look and feel as it had for the last 10 years! He offered me a discount on the membership and said they would print my paragraph the way I wanted it.  What he didn’t address was the loss of trust from the daylong confusion. When I asked him if he could assure me that my remaining ads, my time, and my brand would not be affected by their internal struggles, he emailed “Evidently you have a bad taste in your mouth about this and it’s best we terminate this relationship”.   

This company, one of the official promoters of National Customer Service Week, undertook a big change – selling advertising sponsorships. What they apparently did not do was change their mindset from continuity and tradition to the new business of representing sponsors for a fee.

Insights

• This economy presents sudden and intense changes that require flexible agile teams.  Nimble teams win business. Lumbering, slow teams lose. Teams that are intensely focused on procedures — like many customer service and technical support teams – may find themselves in the lumbering category and ill-equipped to deliver superior customer service.  How agile are your customer service and technical support teams? There are ways to become nimble and the time to learn is well before the change. Software development teams are transforming to be more agile: Agility Community Summary.
  
  
  
  
  

  Resistance to Change Hurts Customer Service Image:Jorgempf

• When struggles erupt internally, think long and hard before pretending to the customers that things are progressing normally while projecting confusion. As you string business customers along you are impacting their businesses. They walk away for the sake of their businesses. Are change resistant employees costing you customers, reputation, and revenue?

• Rebuilding trust after difficulty requires more than one attempt and is not done well through email. Business customers and consumers will take time to trust you again.  When you have broken the trust, talk to the person – don’t write. He mistakenly chose email to communicate rather than the phone. He claimed he emailed to give me time to think.  Yet his second email immediately terminating the relationship disproved that claim. He wanted to be in sole control of rebuilding the trust. He wanted to define the only issues that mattered – price and verbiage in the bulletin. He wanted there to be only one offer.  When I didn’t immediately say “OK”, he severed the sales and service relationship. You can rebuild trust if you share control of those moments with the customer. Prove your value on the issues that matter to the customer not just those important to you.

Customers remember moments. How do you want to be remembered?

Please share your insights about delivering superior customer service during times of change. I welcome your comments below.

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, has for 20 years delivered customer service and teamwork training for dynamic teamwork and the ultimate customer experience. See footage of her workshops at KateNasser.com and preview her new customer service and sales training DVD about American regional differences.

Nimble companies win business. Lumbering, slow companies lose. Agile companies empower employees to make quick decisions that meet customers’ high expectations and changing business conditions.

What happens when an empowered employee resists change and stops the new revenue stream?

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The Story Behind This Question of Empowered Employees

A company actively involved in promoting National Customer Service Week approached me to be an advertising sponsor. They had decided for the first time ever to sell advertising sponsorships. They sent information explaining levels of sponsorship, cost, and what each level of sponsorship gave me.   Because of my strong commitment to great customer service and brand of delivering customer service workshops I was very interested.  Initial discussions went well.  We agreed on the size of the online logo ad pretty easily.

He asked me to send a short paragraph about myself for their first email bulletin. After receiving my text, he replied that the paragraph looked great and they would run it as is.

Things suddenly changed when he sent a proof of the bulletin.  I was shocked to see they used only one line from my write-up. To make matters worse, they changed my verbiage into bland, boring words.

His question to me was “WOW, doesn’t it look great?” I called him and asked what happened? He said, “Don’t worry we want you to be happy. I’ll get back to you.” Before he hung up, I said if we are limited on the number of words, I will be happy to rewrite it.  However, the words must reflect my brand.

He emailed me a new version that was slightly longer. Sadly, the words were modified again.  It was after hours so I waited until the morning to call him. I left this voice message. “Since I don’t understand what is going on, can’t get any answers, and had no trust that the other advertising activities would be handled appropriately, I am going to pass on the opportunity to be a Gold Sponsor.  I wish you continued success.”

He sent me an email saying the source of yesterday’s struggle was the editor of the email bulletin who insisted the bulletin have the same look and feel as it had for the last 10 years.  He offered me a discount on the membership and said they would print my paragraph the way I wanted it.

What he didn’t address was the loss of trust. When I asked him if he could assure me that my other sponsorship ads for this event, my time, and my brand would not be affected by their internal struggles, he replied “Evidently you have a bad taste in your mouth about this and it’s best we terminate this relationship!”

The editor of the bulletin – one empowered employee in this whole process – stopped the revenue stream in its tracks.

Question

If you were the leader of that organization or team, what would you say to the empowered employee (the editor) as the internal disagreement emerged? Would you focus on total empowerment and talk it out for as long as it took to hear the employees concerns even if it meant missing deadlines and losing revenue?  Or would you remind everyone of the vision of this new undertaking and empower employees on how to make that new vision come true?

I look forward to your comments, learning, and sharing.

(Special thanks to Dan Rockwell, The Leadership Freak for insightful editing of this post before publication.)

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers training for the ultimate customer experience, creating dynamic dynamic agile teams, and coaching on leading change. She teaches how to bridge the gaps of diversity, generations, personality type, culture, and geography for success in this fast paced business world. See footage of her in action at KateNasser.com

There is much press today about whether people skills (also known as soft skills) are considered during the hiring process. Do people skills count more than your occupational (aka hard skills)?

Quite honestly, to me the debate is both useless and a bit risky. Your professional career is in your hands. Hiring managers, teams of current employees, HR reps are people. They may consider people skills. Do you want to gamble that those interviewing you don’t consider people skills in making the choice? Whether they do it consciously or subconsciously, why bet that they won’t? Develop your professional people skills. Work on you AND the work. Be workplace ready!

When to start? Yesterday. Developing your people skills can begin in school. In can happen in your everyday life — inside and outside of work. I was lucky enough to have a mother who demanded it of us. So when I graduated college with a BS Mathematics, I had been developing the interpersonal skills of my right brain while sharpening and expanding my left brain.

Is it too late to start? Never. I continue to learn and improve my people skills. You have infinite interactions with people and it costs nothing to learn “on the job” so to speak. Even those who debate whether or not interviewers consider people skills in the hiring decision, agree that people skills are expected and assessed for job assignments and promotions once you have the job.

How to start? The most productive first step is to understand your own personality type — for two reasons.

1. You will interpret what other people say and do based on your own personality type.  It is your reference sheet.
2. Knowing your type gives you limitless potential for adapting to others of a different personality type.  It is the fuel for success in teamwork, leadership, customer relations, and long term professional friendships.

Here is some valuable footage on personality type differences to spur your learning: GPS Your Brain to Work With Any Personality Type.

Get Started! Take a well respected personality indicator like The Kiersey Temperament Sorter and then use the knowledge in your daily interactions. People-skills are the conduit to delivering your occupational knowledge to those around you and to the company that employs you.

If you get stuck, you can always call me (or my mother) for help!

Warmest wishes,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach in This Technical World
Masters in Org. Psychology

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Kate Nasser delivers her 20 years of experience and her natural intuition about people in inspirational keynotes, transformational teamwork and customer care workshops, and coaching for your success. Preview her new customer service training DVD Customer Service USA.

Career and life transitions are difficult for many people. For some — downright scary. People feel they can no longer be who they are nor are they sure of what their life will become.

So what happens? They resist career and life changes. Wrong move for sure. There’s an easier way to transition to your new career and life goals. Need a little inspiration and guidance for the impending changes and transition?

Here’s one of my two minute motivators including music. It inspires and teaches lessons learned from my three career changes and even more transitions.  Change really doesn’t have to be so hard!

Remember, people change when the fear/risk of changing is less than the fear of staying the same. So take inspiration from this two minute motivator and replace your fear with the easier way.

After you watch this two minute motivator,  add your insights and transition stories in the comments field below.  I also welcome your questions.  I am here to help as a coach or as the speaker at your next event.

~Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

Now picture an organization using this definition of teamwork: Growth and change within team members to achieve a common success.  It’s applicable to this century, is very clear — and it works. 

This definition of teamwork creates startling results when you use it with these precious gems.

RUBY. Passion for learning. When you create a learning (not training) culture, the team exercises its change muscles. Learning is change and one that most people welcome since it enhances their careers and no one can fail. 
The startling result is a stream of new contributions because all are involved in continuous improvement.

Creativity increases and critical thinking improves. Athletic teams regularly exercise for improved performance and theater troupes explore new ideas for this same reason. Unfortunately teams focused on production often get locked in daily routines. Create startling new results with a learning culture.

Action Item: Pick one topic related to business, teamwork, service, sales, or technology. Have each team member Google/Bing on the topic and collate those results online.  At a virtual team meeting, take 15 minutes for team members to identify aloud what info they can use and how.  Make this a weekly event and watch the teams create, collaborate, and flex to changing needs.

 

 

EMERALD. Leader with a confident ego. If you have a learning culture, the leader must feel confident even with constructive dissenters and creative strategic thinkers on the team. This confident leader is the emerald gem of teamwork reminding us all of The Wizard of Oz. Toward the end of the movie the curtain is drawn back to reveal there is no all-powerful wizard. He is instead a wise caring person.  His insights flow from there.

 

 

 

SAPPHIRE. Human bonding on diverse and distributed teams.  The evil of isolation due to distance or differences undermines the full potential of teams. Picture world-wide technology rollout teams who have never met, come from different cultures, and rotate team members. If no bonding is addressed, the teams will fall short of full success. Use video-based virtual meetings to introduce team members. Build understanding on topics of personality type, generational differences, cultural norms, learning style, and pet peeves!

 

 

 

DIAMOND. The I’s in Team. There are several I’s in teamwork – individual initiative and identity committed to the team. Respect and acknowledge individual talents contributed to the whole. It inspires greater contributions and willingness to share and teach. Some organizations call this the essential piece culture where each person knows how s/he contributes to the whole success.

 

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers team building workshops, distance bonding, and innovative solutions for startling team results.

When I was a senior in high school, my father told me to take typing “because all girls should know how to type.”  WHAT, I screamed.  As I raged on about this remark and swore never to take typing, my mother offered another view. “You are going to college next year right?” Yes, I shot back.  “Well how will you do your papers if you can’t type?  It has nothing to do with being a girl.”

Despite my father’s attitude which made me scream, I did take typing as a graduating senior and my fingers still scream the keyboard at 90 words a minute.  I typed all my papers quickly in college while many pulled all-nighters. Moreover, I made money typing others’ papers from their handwritten drafts. 

After college I took a job as a computer programmer. My fingers screamed the keyboard at 90 words a minute.  As other programmers hunted and pecked their code, I took a longer lunch.  After my IT jobs, I started my own training/consulting practice where once again my fingers screamed the keyboard typing reports, email, and now for tweets on Twitter and discussions on LinkedIn.

Thankfully, I had seen the wisdom in my mother’s perspective.  Moreover, I learned something far more important than typing.  On your life’s journey, what sounds like bad advice isn’t always bad.  How you hear it makes the difference. You owe it to yourself to consider ideas before you make a choice.  This will affect your personal relationships, your team efforts at work, the customer experiences you deliver, the sales you make, and most importantly your life choices.

What colors your ability to listen, assess, and find a hidden pearl of wisdom?

• Dislike for the messenger’s attitude and other views
• Your map that doesn’t allow for a detour
• Internal noise – your thoughts saying no instead of hmm … what if
• Baggage and bad memories
• Fear
• Short-sighted view of life

How many people (older than Gen Y) imagined this online life at the keyboard?  How many including Gen Y imagined this terrible economic crisis?  Yet can you remember your grandparents saying save for a rainy day?  Did you dismiss it as old-fashioned and irrelevant?

Have you ever heard the expression: It’s amazing how wise your parents become as you get older?  That isn’t to say you should cling to the past.  Rather as you live in the present, improving how you hear things can open your life to new horizons.  You may discover an idea that will change your life.  

When I was unhappy with my IT jobs and struggling to create a happy life, a career counselor assessed my picture and told me that I wanted to be self-employed.  I was baffled and thought she’s crazy.  Then I thought, hmm …what if? 

I explored it, researched it, planned it and did it!  That was 20 years ago and I never looked back. She was right and it changed my life.  Thank you, Paulette Zimmerman, for that pearl of wisdom and I thank myself for thinking hmm… what if?

What advice would you give graduating seniors from high school, tech. school, and college?

I’ll start the list and ask that you add your advice below in the comments field.

• Learn as much as you can — everywhere you can. You never know what will become a pearl!
• Build fun and responsibility into your life starting today.
• Associate with people of all ages – your age, older, and younger. Pearls of wisdom are hidden in others’ experiences.
• Create your life with vision, persistence, patience, and the disciplined action to get there.

Now it’s on to my next hmm… what if? 

Update on this post: A couple of days after I wrote this article, I found an article in USA Today by Alan Webber, entitled “Hey, Grads, It’s Time to Write New Rules”.   He straight out says never stop learning.   He has published a book with many more rules called Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Yourself. 

Parents, the book might be a great family read and discussion to mentor your teens and college grads into adult life! 

If you wish to share this info on other blogs and websites, please credit this URL.  I welcome your additions to the advice list in the comments field below and welcome your tweets at http://twitter.com/KateNasser.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom.

Many thanks for your pearls,

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

If you are a Baby Boomer or Gen X and you find yourself downsized/out of work, how will you compete with the younger workers for jobs?  Leverage “you”.   Above all make sure you are using LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Here is the link for Twitter job posts: www.twitterjobsearch.com/map.  Also another link I found on Twitter on how to avoid the biggest job search mistakes: http://bit.ly/qiNWR.  

#1 Prepare simple statements that explain why you over the younger workers.

Sample.  “I am more valuable now than when I got out of school.  I apply my years of experience to the challenges of this decade.  I have been through many changes in my life so to me – change is normal.  I see experience as a guide not a bible.  I stay current with technology and I work easily with people of different ages, cultures, and education.  I am smart, trainable, and learn fast.   

To write your statement, read the related blog post here on this site:   http://katenasser.com/apply-yourself-and-then-apply-for-that-job/

#2 Bridge the gap for the interviewer.  Many interviewers are incented by their companies to hire young ones even though they do not admit it.  Give them significant evidence that you are the best hire to help them overcome their fears of bucking “corporate think”.   Not all interviewers are change agents at heart.   You must reduce their fear if you want a shot at the job.  And of course, don’t tell them they are afraid! 

#3 Back up your claims of being “current”.   Make sure you are on some online site such as LinkedIn or Twitter.  Learn how to text message.  Read up on current jargon in your field and in online networking.  Prepare examples of how you are using current technology to learn.  Are you doing webinars?  Are you going to school online?  All of this makes you “current”.

You are welcome to share this information with other blogs and social media if you credit this blog post.   I also welcome your comments and questions below.

Many thanks for visiting and click the RSS feed to receive updates on blog posts.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

http://katenasser.com

This is a new ongoing blog post to collect and share great practical tips on starting the week off with a positive pop!! Here are just a few starting tips.  Please add your comments below so we can get this rolling.  

If you are on Twitter, chat (tweet) on Motivate Mondays with # so others can find it.  If you are not on Twitter, join up and follow me (@katenasser) and @Help_NewTweeps to get going more quickly.

Motivate Mondays: Tips to inspire a great start of the week:

• Sunday, have fun during the day, get organized in the evening, and sleep happy at night.
• Plant a big smile on your face as you go to work.  Let your actions control your feelings not the reverse.
• Do something different at work on Monday morning.  It will change the entire week.
• Ask your teams and colleagues: What will we learn this week?  Because you change how you start the week, your week will take a new and different path.

Inspiring yourself and others has great rewards.  It changes your thinking.  It changes your outlook.  It changes what happens around you because of your actions to try something different and change.

Please contribute a Motivate Mondays tip below.  We grow and change by listening and learning from others.

Kate Nasser

http://katenasser.com

Fun Facts to Find Comfort with Change

Much of my work in speaking, consulting, and training produces growth and change.  In April, I will speak at the International Help Desk 2009 Conference on the topic Leading Change and Neutralizing Resistance in Customer Service & Help Desks.   It is always a hot topic because so many humans have difficulty dealing with change.  Most see it as a loss.  In a future article on this blog, I will address this topic more seriously. 

 

On this grey winter day, I would rather share fun facts to find comfort with change.  I hope you enjoy.

 

(You are welcome to share the content of this blog with your colleagues and friends, with other blogs, and in other articles.  I ask only that you credit me as the source with this URL: www.smartpeopleskills.com).

 

Change is going on at this very moment.  Even if you experience change as a loss, you don’t stress out over it when you aren’t aware of the loss. 

1.       “Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.“ Source:http://health.howstuffworks.com/16-unusual-facts-about-the-human-body2.htm

You don’t shed tears over shedding your skin do you?  No.  Although I would  like to know where all those skin particles go.

2.       ­“Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days? If you didn’t, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.” Source:http://health.howstuffworks.com/16-unusual-facts-about-the-human-body2.htm

After reading this, would you resist the change and try to keep your old stomach lining?

3.       “­You may not want to swim in your spit, but if you saved it all up, you could.  In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva — enough to fill two swimming pools!” Source:http://health.howstuffworks.com/16-unusual-facts-about-the-human-body2.htm

I’ll pass on saving up saliva.  Thanks.

There are positive changes that stress people out as well.

1.       Starting a new fantastic job

2.       Getting married

3.       Buying a house/relocating

4.       Becoming a parent

In these situations, you are aware of the change and often not aware of the loss.  So ironically, people frequently say: “Why am I unhappy?  I’m supposed to be overjoyed!”  If you were unhappy in your job or were unemployed, a new fantastic job should mean happiness.  Yet in the process of learning the new job, you face temporary dips in productivity, in feeling expert, and in confidence.  These momentary losses create stress. 

 

Of course, it wouldn’t be an article on change without quoting the axiom: People fear the unknown.  Really?  Try this silly little exercise.  Close your eyes and imagine all the things in life you don’t know.  Do you feel afraid?  Probably not.  In fact, some people find the unknown to be exciting. 

 

What many people fear is the unknown outcome of a change.  Will I succeed in this higher level job? Will I lead this new organization well after all the layoffs?   Will I find people I like when I relocate?  Will I be able to make the mortgage payments?  Will it resell at a profit?

 

Change the words and conquer the fear.  Years back I made the decision to leave my corporate job, by choice, and start my own business.  Happy time, right?  Yes until the full reality stared me in the face.  All the “will I” fears noted above crept into my brain.  I then switched the words from will I to what and how.  What do I need to do?  What workshops will organizations buy more frequently?  How will I differentiate my services?  What is the biggest success I can picture?  How far can I go?  What and how created action that transformed the fear of the unknown outcome into actual outcomes and success.

 

Whether you are leading a change, swept up in a change, or choosing a change, action is as essential to your success as  the air you breathe is to your survival.  If however you get stuck in fear, I recommend two powerful classic books to move you to action: Transitions by William Bridges and The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino. 

 

What else helps you feel comfortable with change?  Please share your comments in the field below.

 

Visit this blog again for much more on thriving in change. Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive action alerts!

 

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

Speaking and Training on Customer Service, Teamwork, Thriving in Change

908.595.1515 (USA)

Thanks for 20 years and counting …

MA Organizational Psychology

Continuous Learner