What I Found Appreciative Yesterday!

I’m late and have a list of to-do’s that would give a dead man a heart attack. Walking through the double doors of the local Post Office I noticed a line of people. Patiently I waited, a woman behind me spoke to me asking for the location of an area insurance company. While I did not know the location, based on our discussion I offered a few guesses and during this time I am thinking one thing – just let me out of here! As it becomes my turn to be waited on by the postal clerk, the woman asks if she can go in front of me.

Shocked and using some (almost) sarcasm I said “sure go ahead.” In my mind I was thinking – what could possibly be more important than my problems. I regrouped and accepted that my honoring of her request was the appreciative thing to do. As the woman asked the postal clerk for the location she mentioned that she must find the insurance company because her mother had just passed away and she needed to settle her affairs. I was humbled and internally embarrassed with the thought of how insignificant my rush to get out of the Post Office was compared to what this woman must be feeling. I offered more assistance while the other ten persons waiting in line were quiet and frozen in time as if it were a scene from the movie - The Matrix. Satisfied with the directions and location the woman proceeded to exit the Post Office. As I stepped to the counter the postal clerk dropped her shoulders and arms, looked at me with a bright smile and said, “you are so nice and so congenial - that poor woman” the clerk processed my mail, and thanked me no less than three times. Being appreciative – it’s the right thing to do!

Internal Customer Service

“I am so sick of the people at this place!”

You never hear this so much as whispered in great organizations. One great thing about working with many different organizations in many different sectors is that I have the opportunity to see and hear a lot of different workplace experiences. Many of these experiences, while always slightly different, have a similar theme. One of the most disturbing to me is the breakdown of internal workplace relationships.

Workgroups, departments, and organizations that are the most accomplished seem to be those who place high value on each other. These organizations are different because the energy of the organization is focused on seeking opportunities, building on success, solving problems, and most important – helping the customer. This mindset starts within the organization and is demonstrated in its message to both the internal and external customer. Who is your customer? If there is any doubt, consider everyone your customer!

Organization leadership needs to demonstrate the commitment to building a positive and motivated culture. This begins internally with a commitment to serve each other. Do you answer your internal telephone extension? Do you respond promptly and appropriately to email? Do you demonstrate consideration, respect, and caring? Great organizations are healthy on the inside, they waste little energy on internal politics and soap operas, they are focused on the most important thing – the customer. 

Listening Barriers

Listening is not the same as hearing, listening tends to be a developed skill while hearing is much more instinctive. Often when we think about a great friend we identify one of their strong points to be that of a great listener. We probably could cite their feedback and interactions, including allowing us to rant or vent as strong points to their listening skills. Workplace listening may have similar strengths but what we may not stop to realize are some of the barriers that prevent us from listening effectively.

While there are many barriers here are few that make the list:

• Noises that attract our attention (elsewhere)
• Room temperature too hot or too cold
• Voice volume or faulty sound system in training sessions
• Interruptions (phone calls, people moving about)
• Clock watching, time constraints, work overload

Listening tends to be a developed skill and by identifying external barriers we can help to improve the quality of any listening and feedback exchange. Most of the items cited above represent external distractions or barriers, what can you add to this list?

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Decisions, Decisions

How are high impact decisions made in within your team or workplace? Decision making often seems like a straight forward activity and one that leaders typically manage with authority. Does this result in the best decisions? Going one step further team or organization leadership will often express that it was a “team” decision, or sell the outcomes by suggesting that “everyone” agrees. Is this how it really works?

 

While every decision and every workplace will have its own unique circumstances here are a few things to observe the next time you see decision making in action:

• Does the behavior align with the words
• Is feedback utilized, or is it only presented
• Is input truly considered, or is it only propaganda

Many workplace leaders feel that they include and utilize others when making high impact decisions, however in many cases their ideas and conclusions are predetermined and the process of including others may just be an exercise to create buy-in. It often appears that many well meaning leaders do not realize the impact of their behaviors and words on the process.

Have you considered how you manage high impact decisions? How are high impact decisions made in your workplace?

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The Conscientious Employee

Conscientiousness in the workplace is a valuable competency. Conscientious employees typically demonstrate their competence by paying attention to details, anticipating what is next, and being very self-disciplined in their approach. These employees typically uphold the organizations standards, they tend to stay out of trouble and have very high levels of integrity. Conscientious employees are great!

It seems that everything about conscientious employees would be very desirable for any organization. However, in some cases there are some drawbacks. On the not-so-good side of the scale they may develop a tendency to be overly critical of other co-workers. Co-workers whose standards are not set so high. These co-workers may be fully performing employees, just not star performers.

When conscientiousness develops into a relentless pursuit of perfection and judgment on those who are not so conscientious it can lead to a decline in workplace morale and creativity. Morale can suffer with both the highly conscientious employees and the not-so-conscientious employees. Job roles that require more flexibility and creativeness may also develop performance problems. Examples of  job roles or areas that often suffer include sales, research and development, and marketing. Workplace leaders should carefully consider the dynamics of their organization and work hard to help themselves and other employees find the correct balance of conscientiousness.

 

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