Creative Mind Consulting

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge

The start of a new year is such a great time to review your files and clean out old items. In doing so, I discovered two customer service articles that I wrote for an international moving industry magazine a few years ago.

They are just as relevant today, so I post them for your reading pleasure.

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge - Part 1:

Download Mobility customer service article 1

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge - Part 2:

Download Mobility customer service article 2

Is it a lack of Leadership or a lack of Character?

I've noticed that I've spent more time posting (what I hope are) thoughtful responses to LinkedIn questions...than blogging. Soooo, I've decided to copy and paste some of my LinkedIn answers over here.

A great question was posted in the Linked 2 Leadership group the other day by Gregory Gull:

Why is leadership so rare? I mean the real leadership we all truly need.

Leadership can’t be defined as a characteristic of an individual since it is an emergent property of the relationship between individuals. In short, leadership has to do with a ‘We’ and not with a ‘Me’. Analogously, neither hydrogen nor oxygen has the characteristic of wetness, yet water is wet. There can be no leadership with (just) one individual! … 

Mine was the 34th answer, so it's clear this was a popular topic ~

The older I get...the smarter my parents become, no?

My parents have both been volunteers and leaders in my hometown. I was taking a leadership class a number of years ago, and interviewed my dad on his view of leadership, and his leadership style. Since he'd been on our city council, on numerous committees, boards and commissions...I thought he'd talk about how he saw his role in those organizations.

Instead, his big emphasis was on how he (and my mom) had tried their best to be good leaders...at home. Only now, as a wife and mother of teens, do I fully begin to appreciate the wisdom of his words. While our children watch us all the time, as teens they begin to integrate what they've observed with the world around them. While they often struggle against our guidelines and restrictions, it is a time when self-control and denial of self are being developed on a broader level.

To be a good driver, you must deny that impulse to go fast and get to your destination more quickly. To get good grades, you must have the self-control to stay home from the movies to do homework. To be a good friend, you learn to listen and not jump in right away with answers. Etc.

Far too many of today's "leaders" seem to never have left the adolescent "it's all about ME" stage...and in our relatively peaceful, prosperous nation, denial of self hasn't been much in evidence or much encouraged. We haven't needed to sacrifice much of anything in comparison to earlier generations. Sacrifice builds character...which is what these leaders lack.

Add in the retreat of organized religion (particularly Christianity with its emphasis on service to others and denial of self) from the public arena to the private sphere.

Mix well with an advertising and popular media culture of self-indulgence vs. self-control over the last 30-40 years..and you have a recipe for narcissistic "me'ism" that is the direct opposite of "servant leadership". To be a servant leader...you need to serve. You need to elevate others above self.

It's clearly still a part of our culture (see: law enforcement and the military for examples of people who run toward danger to save others), but not as widely accepted, encouraged or acknowledged in the general community at large.

How do you build "servant leaders" when leaders "succeed" materially with no expectations of self-sacrifice? Thinking that "training" or "coaching" or "mentoring" will solve this problem is similar to caulking the cracks in your basement...when the river is flooding outside your door. The caulking isn't going to do much good if the river rises above the threshold of your doorway.

You might want to consider the question "how do I/we build character?" before you consider what "solutions" might be effective.

     

Two Exciting Presentations Upcoming....

Just finished preparing presentations for two upcoming conferences -

"Lessons from History: Ethical Leadership" for the

American Institute of Architects 2009 Minnesota Convention

and

"Using Incredibly Useful Free Web Tools to Maximize Your Training Mission" for the

the American Society for Training and Development 2009 Regional Conference

Really looking forward to both. Here's the text of the workshop bulletin for the architect's conference:

Just as ancient structures or historical buildings inspire current design trends and architectural constructions, historical characters have much to tell us about modern leadership and ethical behavior under difficult circumstances. By looking at several key Revolutionary War leaders and the challenges they faced, we take away insights that inform our relationships with colleagues, building partners and clients. This program will emphasize four key concepts underlying ethical leadership development: casting a vision, character formation, overcoming adversity, and continuous learning.

The intersection of leadership, history, technology, social media and democracy is a fascinating, and I hope to do more exploring in this area.

Did You Know 3.0...The Future is Here

via www.youtube.com

Wow...great food for thought sent along by a colleague! Are you encouraging your student to study math and science (among other issues)?

Sometimes you just have to pause....

Tony Morgan is moving on.

I've enjoyed reading about Tony's experiences in growing and developing churches, including the pretty sophisticated use of social media tools.

Today he posted (and I found out about it on Twitter) that he and his church have decided that he can best serve by leaving the ministry staff at his church. He'll be continuing to worship there, and it is clear from his posting that this is not a "forced" or unfriendly parting.

The part of the post that really resonated with me were his comments about God using this time to help him discover a new direction and calling.

While this economy has dealt some big blows to people, it has also given many some much needed space to breathe and figure out "what's next."

Creating such space and time is critical for leaders of any calling, or in any organization. The pace of work today is such that most leaders suffer from serious time compression, stress and a "git 'er done" mentality that leaves little room for reflection, contemplation or even thinking.

Hopefully those who have lost jobs, or who feel overwhelmed with work demands, will be able to find time to do some serious thinking...and listening.

I wish Tony much luck and many blessings as he seeks to hear the One who will call him to his next challenge. And prayers for all who are searching for their next steps.

   

Twittering the (job) interview

One of the people that I'm following on Twitter apparently was interviewing a series of job applicants last week.

I say "apparently" because he was twittering all of the interviews. He let us know when the person arrived, some notes on attire (appropriate or not), and how the interview went overall.

Fascinating.

I'll bet the person who arrived 10 minutes late, with no apology, might be interested to learn that several hundred people now know about that fact! Now, the person I'm following did not disclose any names or other identifying aspects of the applicants - but you can see where this is leading, right?

On one hand, it would be great to have some form of immediate feedback (he likes me, he likes me not)...on the other, it could be pretty brutal (she likes me, she really likes me NOT).

Are you prepared to have your job, or consulting/freelance gig interview broadcast to the world? We live in interesting times!

Disney's Dreamer's Academy...creative leadership development at its best

I'm watching Food Network's "Dinner Impossible" and this episode is set at Disney in Orlando, FL. They are cooking for the Disney Dreamer's Academy - which I've never heard of before. It's a program designed to reach at-risk high school students from across the country, inspiring them to reach their dreams.

100 teens spend 3 days at Disney, hearing speakers, participating in career-development activities, and I'm sure...having lots of fun!

The kids helping the chefs cook the big dinner look like little sponges - they are soaking up every word of advice and encouragement. Several of them have expressed their continued desire to enter the culinary world despite a series of setbacks in the Disney kitchen. More power to them ~

I love watching a couple of them - this one young lady (Kayla, I believe her name is) is more poised then some adults I know! I hope she continues her career in cooking...I can just see her on some Food Network show in a few years.

Kudos to Disney and all of the folks involved in making this academy happen. What a way to creatively inspire these young people to pursue their career dreams.

Thinking Outside the Leadership Box...We're All in This Together

Millions of words have been devoted to the recession, tough business climate, stimulus, layoffs, etc. It's easy to see the articles announcing thousands of layoffs a day - depressing to just read the headlines.

The people behind the headlines have been crunching the numbers, and making the difficult decisions to make the cuts - I feel for them, I really do. That's not an easy job, and I know many of those managers and leaders have agonized over these decisions.

But inquiring minds want to know...I wonder how many of those organizations making layoffs ran the numbers to determine what would happen if everyone took pay cuts, rather than letting people go entirely?

What would happen in your organization if everyone took a 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% pay cut? For 6 months, 12 months, 18 months? Would those savings let your organization get by without layoffs - or with fewer layoffs?

What if the company's leaders took the first steps and cut their salaries to the bone ahead of everyone else? (Uh, no...I didn't mean changing the compensation structure to offset the salary decrease with other non-cash related benefits...I mean CUT).

This would not be an easy situation for anyone - family budgets all across the company would be affected, for one thing...and that can make employees cranky. It could drive some good employees into looking for new opportunities.

Many HR departments know what to do in case of layoffs - but getting HR and Finance to make the changes to databases, salary schedules, recruiting strategies, etc. can be tough. Companies don't "think outside the box" easily, and figuring out wholesale changes to entrenched systems can be paralyzing.

BUT - think about the upside. Leaders who make the effort to keep everyone on board can generate tremendous loyalty from the majority of employees who remain. This loyalty and sense of camaraderie *can* translate into better attitudes towards customers...and organizations need all the customers they can get right now.