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Teamwork in western cultures, especially in the USA, recognizes individual contributions to the team. Contrary to the old myth, there is an I in team.  In fact there are a few I’s – individual initiative and identity fueling team results.  Recognizing the “I’s” inspires greater effort, contributions and the willingness to share and learn.  For non-American leaders of American workplace teams, this information is critical for results.

Individual Identities Fuel Team Results Image by:Paparutzi

Great Leaders Inspire Teamwork Through Recognition

1. Learn and understand what essential pieces each team member delivers to the team.
2. Make it clear that the focus is the team results through initiative and contribution.
3. Establish this two step dialogue as the team culture: What do you bring TO the team? What are you learning FROM the team? Introduce this concept at an all hands meeting. Once all understand the purpose of it, do it formally at the end of each week; collate and post the results. It offers individual recognition that simultaneously reinforces contributions to the team. You can recognize and boost morale while avoiding the negative contest aspects of many recognition awards.

It takes individual efforts to produce a team result. Those individual efforts need fuel and recognition is one very strong fuel. Having team members highlight what they learn from each other, keeps that fuel flowing in the direction of team results!

Whether you are new to leadership or a non-American leading USA teams, using these steps from the beginning puts the team on a path to long term success.

What else would you add to this list to fuel zealous effort and contribution to team results?

If you are working in a call center (also known as customer care and customer service centre)  inside or outside of the USA, every call you get from the USA could have one of nine lives. Why?  Because we Americans (USA) may share a common language and citizenship yet as customers the similarities end there.

USA Customers

Ring ring. Who’s there? An American customer?  No. There is no such thing as an American customer. There is a New York customer, a Northeast customer, a Southeast customer, a Midwest customer, a Texan customer, a West Coast customer, a Pacific Northwest customer, an Alaskan customer, and of course a Hawaiian customer.

Each call brings a different set of expectations about what is great treatment.

A LinkedIn contact center colleague from Australia recently asked – we all speak English so what’s the issue? The issue is that satisfying a customer means understanding how they want to be treated interpersonally. In sales and customer service, it pays to know how to interact and communicate to your diverse customers – which is different than just speaking the same language.  In other words, courtesy is defined differently in diverse cultures.  In America, courtesy is defined very differently in various regions of the country.

20 years ago when I started my consulting and training practice, I didn’t even know this. Yet the years on the road have given me an invaluable education on these substantive differences in American customers.

If you have traveled the USA, you may well know this too. Yet many Contact Call Centres around the world are staffed by those who have not yet had that experience. The phone rings and Call Centre reps are left to guess which of the nine lives they are talking to at that moment and how to communicate with this American stranger.

Where are these call centers? Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, UK, Middle East, Africa, Canada, South America and Australia.

Even customer service centers in the USA have found it difficult to deal with customers from another part of the USA. How have they met that challenge?  They have attended workshops on regional USA differences that impact customer service. Does the USA really vary that much? Absolutely.

Now this workshop is available “live” on DVD for every call centre to use for training. Customer Service USA – What They Expect Coast to Coast and Everywhere In Between turns American strangers into customers you know how to serve well. You will know exactly how to satisfy each and every American customer across the nation. Thankfully, the information is easy to absorb and quickly apply. 

“I enjoyed Customer Service USA DVD we saw today. The second call I took when I got back on the phones was from a gentleman from New York. I picked up my pace and got right to the points of how navigate our website and he was off my phone in no time and I could tell by his tone he was satisfied with the results. Very useful information! Thanks sincerely.”

Are your customer service representatives, CSRs and technical support teams, working with customers in other countries? How strong are their intercultural people-skills? Immigrants, ex-pats, and companies doing business in other countries can be far more successful with just a little more attention to intercultural people skills (also known as soft skills). If you want a job, a sale, or a great customer service review, step outside of your own perspective and use an intercultural approach. Customers and employers make decisions from their cultural zone not yours.

Two Examples

Canada and the USA share a common language not culture.

Nick Noorani writes on the blog The Expatriate Mind Nine Soft Skills No Immigrant Should Be Without: “Skilled immigrants often focus on improving technical skills. After coming to Canada, they are shocked when they are told they have no Canadian experience.” Then he cites an example where a courier needing his signature asked him for his John Hancock — an American expression to be sure. Yet the courier was working in Canada!

CSRs outside the USA.

Many USA customer service call centers are now located outside America (some in Canada and some off-shore). How well do the CSRs in Canada and off-shore understand the regional differences across the USA? Adapting to these differences as you speak to American customers distinguishes your customer service from those that don’t adapt. Intercultural adaptation builds customer loyalty.

I have outlined these American regional differences and how to adapt in a new customer service training DVD: Customer Service USA – What They Expect Coast to Coast and Everywhere in Between.

CSRs Offshore Training DVD

You already provide phone and web technology to connect your CSRs and technical support teams with your customers. Turn that connection into a profitable loyal bond with intercultural training. For companies with USA customers, this means adapting to regional differences – North, South, East, West, and everywhere in between. In Canada there are both cultural and regional differences that global companies can learn and embrace to build Canadian customer loyalty.

For companies doing business interculturally, the key to customer loyalty is:
Learn the differences
Respect the differences
Love the differences &
Find the fit!

I welcome your comments, contributions, and feedback below. For information on purchasing the training DVD, please click on the link above.

Please visit this blog again for many other people-skills posts on customer service, teamwork, and intercultural connections.