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Category: Leadership
Customer service is a home game
It is worth repeating…The goal of a business is to create and keep customers. I would like to focus on the word “keep“. I find that too often there is no organized and disciplined strategy to “keep” the customers you create, and we won’t keep them unless we give exceptional service and added value. I guess we could say that customers are like our teeth…”Ignore them and they will go away. ”
Keeping others accountable: The carrot or the stick?
We live in a world of increasing complexity. And part of that complexity involves doing more, better, faster with less. When we move in this direction, it is easier for some tasks and duties to get overlooked.
Earlier this week, I was working with a management team that was disappointed in their staff. The staff members had agreed to entering specific data regularly, and it wasn’t getting done. There had been many conversations with the group members both individually and as a team. In spite of all these efforts, the data was not being entered consistently.
Leaders Listen…to everyone
While reading the Wall Street Journal this morning, I noticed an article on “Work Place Bias”. The author gave an example of an executive from a major aerospace security system provider. Her name was Denise, and she admitted “I may not have made the best decisions because of inadequate input from introverts. I tend to favor more talkative personalities.”
This reminded me of a key fundamental of a collaborative team: Idea fluency.
Respected leaders walk the high road
We all know the value of emotional intelligence in leadership. Knowing it is one thing, but applying it can be more challenging.
About a year ago, I was coaching a client who owns highly successful business with a sterling reputation. Linda was working with her biggest client and ran into a tough situation: The company had hired a new person to lead the department that Linda interacted with. When Linda met the director, Megan she immediately sensed resistance and hostility. It quickly became apparent that Megan wanted no part of Linda, and was poised to undermine and distort all the Linda did.
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Leaders know how to read…people
One of my clients had an “Aha” moment yesterday. These are what coaches live for. It is that point in time when our thinking makes a shift, and from that moment on, we feel ourselves moving with a renewed sense of clarity, confidence, and purpose. My client (Ken) was talking about his top technician, and how this person always seems to find fault. I looked at Ken and said, “He’s a technician. You pay him to find things wrong!” Ken stopped, his eyes twinkled and he said, “I never thought of it that way. All this makes total sense to me now”
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