Archive
3 simple ways to create a stronger team and build customer loyalty
With all of the changes going on in the airline industry over the last few years, it has definitely been more the exception rather than the rule when getting great service while traveling. However, I had a pleasant surprise a few months ago while traveling back home on United Airlines.
Once everyone had boarded the plane and we were all getting settled in our seats, expecting to hear the flight attendant start making their welcoming and safety comments, the captain himself got on the intercom and started talking to us. He didn’t stand behind the little wall that tends to hide the flight attendant from the passengers, but instead stood halfway down the aisle of first class and addressed the entire plane.
He welcomed us all on the flight and thanked us for our business and choosing to fly United. He acknowledged that we have a choice in airlines, and he hoped that this flight would be a great experience for all of us. He then went on to introduce the rest of his “team” as he called them, his co-pilot and flight attendants, saying that they all work together to make the flight enjoyable and safe. He encouraged us to ask the flight attendant if we needed anything during the flight and thanked us one more time before he handed it off to the attendant to finish all of the safety messages. As I sat there, I couldn’t help but smile to myself and think how a simple gesture like personally welcoming the passengers set the tone for a pleasant flight and put the customers in a good mood.
So what can your organization learn from this? Here are three simple ways to create a stronger team and build customer loyalty:
- Always look for opportunities to practice what you preach to your employees about making their customers feel welcome by talking to customers, saying a simple hello, asking how their day is, or if there is anything else to help them with.
- Remind your employees to look for the 1% better concept—the little things you can do while interacting with customers that may not be a huge thing, but may be huge in the eyes of that customer.
- Constantly look for opportunities to praise your team members when you see them delivering great service to their customers. They will feel valued and acknowledged for their efforts and want to continue to serve their customers in a positive way.
I actually was a little sad getting off the plane at the end of the flight knowing I may not see that pilot again on another flight, but happy that he had restored my faith in the airlines and knowing there are leaders out there that really do want to make a difference.
About the author:
Kathy Cuff is a senior consulting partner and one of the principal authors—together with Vicki Halsey—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.
Employee Motivation–why it matters
A client asked me yesterday, “Why are you so interested in writing about optimal and suboptimal motivation? All managers care about is productivity, accountability, and results—isn’t it like pushing water uphill with a toothpick,” he asked.
Beyond absolutely loving that visual, the question really caught me. How often to do you hear someone ask you why you do what you do?
My “whys” are straightforward.
First, I think all employees, from today’s new hires to the most seasoned top execs, long for a more fulfilling work experience than they have. Most can’t, or won’t, say it like that—not in such blatant terms. But their words, body language, mental and physical exhaustion, dry business approach, and chronic complaints about other people (seldom about themselves, of course) offer some evidence of this assertion.
Second, the need is widespread. I have never had less than one individual from a consulting, coaching, or training program in any organization come up and tell me during or afterwards, “You need to get my boss to learn this stuff.” They explain that the motivational culture they currently work in consists mostly of pressure and demands for ever greater accountability.
My third reason is the most potent of them all. It helps make the entire world a better place. In essence, this is optimal motivation as moral agent. Huh? Moral agent? Well, I believe people long to do good work. They long to be part of organizational cultures that are psychologically healthy, intellectually vibrant, and purposefully productive. Motivation research shows we thrive with such vitality and well-being. And don’t you think employees also have a right to it, too?
In the end, my biggest why is that enriching the work environment by teaching others how to leverage the most up-to-date science of motivation in practical ways is the morally right thing to do. It’s one small action that offers the fresh possibility of making life more fulfilling for everyone.
When asked how well the traditional mantras of, “Results, results, results!” and, “People need to be held accountable,” helps them thrive at work, most employees report, “They don’t—not really.” We have enough old approaches like that. Instead, what we need now is actionable individual, interpersonal, and systems-focused tools that help all employees—individual contributors and management alike—to rejuvenate their stale and pressure-filled work environments. We need psychologically healthy ways to bring employees alive, and to make work—and our entire lives—better.
About the author:
The Motivation Guy (also known as Dr. David Facer) is one of the principal authors—together with Susan Fowler and Drea Zigarmi—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Optimal Motivation process and workshop. Their posts appear on the first and third Monday of each month.
“Mankind was my business.” (A leadership lesson from the ghost of Jacob Marley)
What is the purpose of a business? Search the internet for an answer and you will find different opinions. Many economists would say the purpose of a business is “profit maximization.”
Peter Drucker said the only valid purpose for a business is “to create a customer.” Yes, profits are necessary, but Drucker adds that “the customer is the foundation of a business and keeps it in existence. He alone gives employment.”
What does Wiki Answers say? According to Wiki, “the purpose of a business is to fill a need. Money comes after.”
These are all well and good. And yes, profits ARE necessary.
However, in Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley warns Ebenezer Scrooge of the perils of focusing only on profits at the expense of his responsibility to others. He tells Ebenezer:
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
So… what is the business of any leader? To make a difference in the lives of others– employees and their families, customers, suppliers, and even shareholders. Yes, we need to ensure the organization is profitable AND do well by our fellow men and women.
During this holiday season, what can you do to demonstrate that mankind is your business? Let me know your ideas.
About the author:
John Hester is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. You can read John’s posts on the second Thursday of every month.
Four Keys to Winning Gold in the Leadership Olympics
Tomorrow is the opening of the 30th modern Olympiad in London, Great Britain. More than 8,000 athletes from 50 countries will compete in 42 different sports, and for many of them, it will be the penultimate event of their athletic careers. The Olympic Games marks the culmination of years of hard work for the competitors, all in preparation for a singular opportunity to win a gold medal.
Of course there isn’t a “leadership” event in the Olympics, but if there were, I think there are four essential traits, qualities, or characteristics that leaders would need to master in order to have a shot at the gold.
- Be a trust-builder – Leadership is about relationships, and all successful relationships have one thing in common: a foundation of trust. The ability to build high-trust relationships is the most important leadership competency in the 21st century. Our fast paced, highly networked world requires leaders to build effective relationships across time zones, countries, cultures, organizations, and stakeholders. With trust a leader has a chance. Without it they’re doomed.
- Have a high EQ – In the old days we use to say that someone had “good people skills,” meaning they had an ability to understand people and get along well with them. Today we’ve expanded and rebranded that concept under “emotional intelligence (EQ)” which means you have a high degree of self-awareness (your motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral patterns), are able to regulate those behaviors to meet the needs of the situation, and that you are also able to perceive and understand the behavioral needs and patterns of those you lead. That’s a tall order, but it’s a critical skill for leaders if they want to be successful in managing themselves and others.
- Be a change agent – The only constant in today’s world is change. Technology has changed the speed at which we work, and gold medal winning leaders know they have to be the ones leading organizational change. Leaders can’t afford to be caught snoozing on the sidelines when it comes to change. They need to have their finger in the air to detect changing wind conditions and then be able to respond by getting their teams on course to meet the needs of the business.
- Be other-focused – The most successful leaders have learned that it’s not about them; it’s about the people they lead. Gold medal leaders have discovered that they succeed when their people succeed, and in order for that to happen, leaders have to recruit and hire the right folks, train them, equip them with the proper resources, and then get out of their way. That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when a command and control leadership style may be needed (you don’t form a committee to formulate recommendations on how to evacuate a burning building; you point people to the exits and tell them to get out!), but it means that people thrive on having a sense of autonomy in their work and a leader’s job is to make that happen.
If I were to equate leadership to an existing Olympic sport, I would have to say it’s like the marathon. The marathon requires stamina, endurance, dedication, and mental fortitude to finish the race, and you have to pace yourself over a great distance and time period, not just for brief intervals. Focusing on these four keys will help leaders run the marathon – go the distance – and have a good shot at winning the gold.
I’m sure you can think of many other keys that define a gold medal winner in Leadership. Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
This is one in a series of LeaderChat articles on the topic of trust by Randy Conley, Trust Practice Leader at The Ken Blanchard Companies. For more insights on trust and leadership, visit the Leading with Trust blog or follow Randy on Twitter @RandyConley.
Is it time to join “Egos Anonymous”? Two ways to tell
Best-selling business author Ken Blanchard believes that there are two personality issues that prevent executives from becoming their best selves.
“One is false pride—when you think more of yourself than you should. When this occurs, leaders spend most of their time looking for ways to promote themselves.
“The other is fear and self-doubt—when you think less of yourself than you should. These leaders spend their time constantly trying to protect themselves.”
Surprisingly, the root cause of both behaviors is the same, explains Blanchard in the July issue of his Ignite newsletter. The culprit? The human ego.
Egos Anonymous
To help executives identify the ways that ego may be impacting their effectiveness as a leader, Blanchard often incorporates an “Egos Anonymous” session into his workshops and two-day intensives.
“The Egos Anonymous session begins with each person standing up and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Ken, and I’m an egomaniac. The last time my ego got in the way was …’ And then they share a false pride or self-doubt moment or example.”
EA sessions have become so popular with executives that some graduates of the Blanchard program use the technique to kick off meetings when they get back to their offices.
“They find it really helps their teams operate more freely. It’s very powerful when people can share their vulnerability and be more authentic and transparent,” says Blanchard.
“Ego is the biggest addiction in the world. So many people think of their self-worth as a function of their performance plus the opinions of others. But that’s a dead-end deal. When your self-worth is somewhere ‘out there,’ it’s always up for grabs.”
Start building good habits
For leaders looking to address the impact that ego may be having on their lives, Blanchard recommends asking yourself a couple of key questions:
- “Am I here to serve, or be served?” According to Blanchard, your answer to this question will reflect a fundamental difference in the way you approach leadership. If you believe leadership is all about you, where you want to go, and what you want to attain, then your leadership by default will be more self-focused and self-centered. On the other hand, if your leadership revolves around meeting the needs of the organization and the people working for it, you will make different choices that will reveal a more “others-focused” approach.
- “What are you doing on a daily basis to recalibrate who you want to be in the world?” “Most people don’t think about that,” explains Blanchard. “This could include how you enter your day, what you read, what you study—everything that contributes in a positive sense to who you are.”
“Consider your daily habits and their impact on your life. Take time to explore who you are, who you want to be, and what steps you can take on a daily basis to get closer to becoming your best self. Your leadership journey begins on the inside—but ultimately will have a tremendous impact on the people around you.”
To learn more about ego and how it positively—or negatively—impacts your development as a leader, join The Ken Blanchard Companies for a webinar on July 25—Don’t Let Your Ego Hijack Your Career—Four Warning Signs. This event is free, courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies.
“Be the change” you want to see in your customer service people: 5 ways to get started
In a recent Legendary Service course, one of my participants—we’ll call him Chad—wondered aloud if leaders ever adhered to the same standards they continually ask of their service providers.
When asked for an example of what he meant by this, he said, “Well … we are asked to acknowledge the customer, get details about the situation, listen, ensure relationship building occurs, and exceed the customer’s expectations. But when I call my manager with a question, he just gives me an answer. For example, I needed to know if we could redo one of our customer policies given some new circumstances. My manager didn’t clarify, listen, or anything. He just said, ‘Follow the policy.’”
Chad’s observation intrigued me, as it made me realize that we forget sometimes how closely our people are watching us. I love the question: “What are people saying about YOU at the dinner table?” As service champions, to properly support our frontline service providers we must model the service we expect others to do—we must CRAFT a vision of collegiality.
C – Connect: Our role is to build relationships of care with the people who will be serving our customers. One of the kindest ways to bring people together is to acknowledge the importance of their position and note that they have the power to change problems they discover. “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We want to ensure our policies and procedures serve the customers at the highest level. Let’s follow the policy today, but let’s bring this up at our weekly meeting to see if others have similar issues. Maybe we’ll come up with a great idea to solve the problem.”
R – Recognize: We need to recognize the good others are doing. Praise individuals to the whole team—send an email specifying what someone did, how it made you feel, and its importance to the organization. For example, let’s say the manager addresses the aforementioned issue at the weekly staff meeting. She could say, “I would like to take a minute to thank Chad for bringing up an issue that was driving a customer away and for providing his insights. It helped us to clarify our policy and exceed this customer’s expectations while creating a new policy to serve future customers at the highest level.”
A – Analyze: Consistently analyze information regarding customer issues so that you can see and share trends while proactively problem solving. At weekly meetings, be a catalyst for innovative change by having people share their issues, examine the causes and impact of those situations, and then brainstorm best possible solutions. Creating communities of practice increases motivation to act and serve.
F – Follow up: Check back in to be sure customer situations were resolved properly, and to draw out ideas that could be utilized in the future to build organizational intelligence. A few days after resolving the situation above regarding the flawed policy, the manager might call Chad and say, “I want to thank you again for bringing up that issue regarding the policy change. Did it feel to you like our solution was a success? Do you have any other thoughts?”
T – Talk: Ask open-ended questions, listen, and acknowledge emotion while connecting to the heart of the situation. In the example above when Chad called his manager, the manager might have asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to share so I am sure I understand the situation correctly?”
By collaborating with your service providers and unleashing their best thoughts, you are modeling the service you would like them to provide for their customers. As leader and service champion, you need to CRAFT, then showcase, the behaviors that will create the devoted customers who will become your #1 sales force.
About the author:
Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program. Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.
Service above self: What leaders can learn from “The Giving Tree”
One of my favorite books of all time is the children’s book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. In short, the book is about the relationship between a boy and a tree. Throughout the boy’s life, the tree offers whatever it can to make the boy happy—to swing from its branches, to pick and eat, or sell, its apples—to even cut it down and build a boat to sail away—all in an unselfish manner.
Great leaders do the same with their employees—doing whatever they can to help employees feel valued and be successful. I love when I catch a glimpse of this as a customer and witness great servant leadership—a manager in the grocery store stepping in to bag groceries when it gets busy; the manager in a restaurant clearing dirty dishes from a table to seat guests faster; a manager taking the time to train an employee on a process they haven’t quite mastered yet. All so they can unselfishly meet the needs of the employee, and ultimately, the external customer.
Leading is giving
My favorite part of the book, and the one that always makes me cry, is at the end when the boy, now an old man, comes back to visit the tree that is just an old stump. The tree is sad since she doesn’t think she has anything else to offer the boy, but is overjoyed to find out that the boy just wants a place to sit and rest, and a stump is a great spot to do just that!
What’s the attitude of the leaders in your organization? Is it to serve—or to be served? What can leaders in your organization teach employees that may help them in their jobs? How can leaders help their employees manage their time more efficiently to reduce stress? What can the organization do to show employees that truly ARE the best asset to the organization?
Being a true servant leader is putting the needs of others ahead of your own in service to a larger organizational goal or purpose. The good news is that in doing so, you will get so much in return yourself. That’s ultimately what the giving tree experienced. Because in the end, as the book says, “and the tree was happy.”
About the author:
Kathy Cuff is one of the principal authors—together with Vicki Halsey—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program. Their customer service focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.
A great lesson from a military friend
If you are like me, every time I am in an airport and see a military man or woman in uniform, I am compelled to go up to them and thank them for their service. And many times, I actually do thank them.
In my mind, that is the ultimate service one can give—dedicating one’s life to serve and defend others. And behind every serviceman or servicewoman is (hopefully) a strong servant leader who is guiding them.
I recently attended a good friend’s change of command from the position he has held for the last three years as Command of the Tactical Training Group, Pacific in the Unites States Navy. I had never been to something like this before and thought it would be fun to see what it was all about! I will tell you, it was an honor to attend this event, not only because I was so proud of my friend and his accomplishments, but also to be reminded of the sacrifices that all of the men and woman who volunteer to serve their country make for the sake of others.
My friend, Captain John S. Mitchell, III, held numerous leadership positions during his Navy career, most involving high level operations that required strong leadership to ensure the safety of his team. Although his resume impressed me very much, what inspired me to write this article about him was what his colleagues, peers, and his “manager” had to say about him. One of his colleagues said that Mitchell’s biggest accomplishment was building a strong team. He said that, “Captain Mitchell never had an us vs. them mentality—it was always WE.”
I couldn’t help but compare this to leaders in organizations around the world, and wonder if they truly understand how important it is to create a strong team and to get team members to feel like we are all in this together. It is pretty clear to understand the importance of teamwork when lives are in danger, but what about in our daily interactions with our own teams? Would your team say those same things about YOU and YOUR leadership?
Achievement and humility
What was also very telling to me, after all of the accolades my friend received from his peers and leader, was how humble he was about his accomplishments. He made a point of passing the credit on to his co-workers, team members, and leaders that helped make his job “easy” and made him “look good.” Mitchell said, “I was just doing my job.”
Humility and praise for others—great qualities of a leader who believe their job is to serve their team so that the team is able to do their jobs better. How I wish that leaders in organizations understood the importance of their role as a leader and their ability to make or break someone’s self esteem, confidence and even career.
I left reminded that there are so many lessons we can learn from the military service and this day was no exception. I left the event feeling very proud of men and women in uniform, and the work that they do. I was also proud of my friend who so modestly impacted the lives of so many in a very positive way. He made me want to be a better leader…how about you?
About the author:
Kathy Cuff is one of the principal authors—together with Vicki Halsey—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program. Their customer service focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.
A Coach as a Servant Leader
I recently had a business trip that allowed me the opportunity to visit my son at college. He is a freshman at Colorado State University-Pueblo and is playing football for them.
They are a Division II football program that went undefeated last season and were ranked #1 in the nation for Division II schools at the end of the season. Pretty good, huh?!
Although that is pretty impressive, what impresses me even more is the coaching staff—the leaders at the top of the football program.
I went to visit Head Coach John Wristen to drop off a couple of Ken Blanchard’s books that I thought he would enjoy, and ended up spending 45 minutes chatting with him about his philosophy as a coach and what he is trying to teach these young men. In addition to running a top-notch football program, just as important to Coach Wristen is preparing these guys for life and real world circumstances that they will encounter.
He is very clear about the importance of having clear goals and re-evaluating the goals often to make sure they are on track. He also wants the players to know what the values are of the program, since he strongly believes that values guide the specific behaviors he is looking for from his players. His job, he says, as the Head Coach is to be very clear in sharing his goals and values, and then making sure that he and his staff do everything they can to help the players be successful throughout the year.
He and his fellow coaches truly care about the development of these young men–not only their abilities on the field–but off the field as well. He says that he thinks of each player as his son and he treats them in the way that he would want a coach to treat his own son. Needless to say, as a parent of a player, this warmed my heart and confirmed in my mind my son’s decision to come and play for this coach. I know that he is in good hands.
A lesson for all leaders
I believe all leaders in organizations can learn a lesson from Coach Wristen. Let your team members know you care about them by being clear on what the goals are, what specific behaviors are expected from them, and what are your values that will help guide those behaviors. Remember, your direct reports, just like the football players, are part of YOUR team and you, as their leader, are only as effective as the rest of the team is.
Thanks, Coach Wristen for being a great servant leader to your team! Now it is up to YOU to be a great coach to YOUR team! Maybe you, too, can take “your game” to the next level like Coach Wristen did this past season.
P.S. Coach Wristen was named the National Coach of the Year by American Football Monthly magazine, a leading publication for football coaches.
George Washington on Leadership
With great power comes great responsibility. In the unsettled atmosphere of the American Revolution between the victory at Yorktown in 1781 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, a movement arose from officers in the Continental Army to proclaim George Washington as King George I of America.
As incredible as it might sound today after 200 years of U.S. democracy, it was a very real possibility and opportunity for Washington. As the military leader of the fledgling republic, he had the ability and the backing of the colonists who had put their faith and future in his hands.
And yet, Washington quickly dispelled the idea. Upon learning of the proposal, Washington sincerely and admonishingly responded to the officer who had written the original proposal saying that, “…if you have any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, and never communicate, as from yourself, or anyone else, a sentiment of the like Nature. “
For Washington, leadership was not about personal gain or ambition, but instead, service to a higher purpose and a greater good. And to confirm his intentions eight years later, when the people wanted him to run for a third term—Washington again voluntarily gave up his power when he refused to be nominated.
Why did George Washington do what he did? What was in the man’s mind? What can we learn from it during a time when egotistical self-serving leadership seems all to common? Those are the questions that Richard Archer explores in his post, The Spirit of Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Triumph of the Self.
Archer points to a couple of great resources for all of us to consider and reflect upon:
- In His Excellency, his heralded biography of Washington, Joseph J. Ellis underscores “the truly exceptional character” of Washington’s act. “Oliver Cromwell had not surrendered power after the English Revolution. Napoleon, Lenin, Mao, and Castro did not step aside to leave their respective revolutionary settlements to others in subsequent centuries. … Whereas Cromwell and later Napoleon made themselves synonymous with the revolution in order to justify the assumption of dictatorial power, Washington made himself synonymous with the American Revolution in order to declare that it was incompatible with dictatorial power.” Ellis thus reminds us that Washington, in relinquishing power — not just once, but twice — was bucking an imperialist pattern that stretched back to the days of the Roman and English republics, and which, sadly, continues to this day.
- Joseph Campbell might have called this pattern “ego imperialism,” “trying to impose your idea on the universe.” “That’s what’s got to go,” Campbell insisted in The Hero’s Journey. “Your ego is [only] your embodiment and your self is your potentiality and that’s what you listen to when you listen for the voice of inspiration and the voice of ‘What am I here for? What can I possibly make of myself?’” The great task of the hero, Campbell tells us, is “not to eliminate ego, it’s to turn ego and the judgment system of the moment into the servant of the self, not the dictator, but the vehicle for it to realize itself. It’s a very nice balance, a very delicate one.”
- Unfortunately, too many of us allow our egos unlimited rule. The tragic result, as Jung’s colleague Alfred Adler once warned us, is a life within “a self-centered world, a world in which one will never find true courage, self-confidence, communal sense, or understanding of common values.”
- In The American Soul, Jacob Needleman urges us to read Washington’s words as “referring to the need for both the nation and the individual self to turn within for strength, not to the egoistic impulses of one or another self-serving part of human nature, but to the inner self that represents the fountainhead of inner unity.”
In his words and actions, Washington’s beliefs were clear. As Archer concludes, “… his words and actions in stepping down as commander of the army and as Commander in Chief show us the importance of taming our venal, egoistic ambitions, passions and prejudices in the service of a greater good.”
We’ve all seen the limitations and results of self-serving behavior. On this U.S. observance of President’s Day, let’s consider what’s possible with leadership focused on serving others as exemplified by America’s first President. For ideas and inspiration, check out Archer’s complete post at Examiner.com
