On December 31, 2018, I discovered that my new dishwasher had been slow leaking since it was installed. What smelled like freshly-sawed wood was mold! Lots of it! This is what my kitchen looked like when I arrived home from speaking in Chicago. The water mitigation crew had been in. The next day I checked into a hotel and was there for seven months. Yes, 7! What a lesson in patience and practicing effective communication 2019 was! I picked a hotel that was close enough that I could walk to my condo - thinking I'd be there two months at the most. Hah! A client referred to it as the 'hostel'. While the front desk staff and housekeeping crew were delightful and the place was clean, seven months in one room with only a microwave and the toaster oven I brought from home is too long! Why did it take so long you ask? One reason is that there is so much construction going on in Seattle companies can't find good workers. So true. Three were fired from the company who did the reconstruction. Even so, over a year later there is still one issue to resolve. Patience? Oh yes! Effective communication? I was determined to practice what I speak about in my programs when I emailed my adjuster, the various people I worked with at the construction company, subs, etc. And when I talked to them... Truly, Don't Just Talk, Communicate!
Looking forward to leading programs at the IAPD/IPRA Soaring to New Heights Conference in Chicago January 24 - 25, 2019. Can't wait to meet the members and staff! Will be leading Leader as Influencer: Impression Management in the Spotlight for a Pre-Conference session and two more breakout sessions the next day: How to Stay COOL When Things Heat UP! and Getting in Your Customers' Way? Lots of practical tips members can take away and take back to their facilities!
Just finished reading Becoming by Michelle Obama. This Princeton and Harvard Law graduate has some wonderful insights about growing up Black in America, being married to someone she loves and who has some different priorities than she, raising ─ and loving ─ children, being First Lady, and life after the White House. One of my favorite quotes by her is this, “If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll
be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.”
Vocal Fry is a way of speaking in which the voice is
very low-pitched and has a characteristic rough or creaking sound. This is caused by a tightening of the voice box and vocal cords.The vocal cords compress and become
relatively slack and compact. This process produces the characteristic low
popping or rattling sound when air passes through.
Vocal fry is also used in some music, usually in combination with air from
the diaphragm, in order to create a growl
or scream sounding aggressive and
harsh—think Steven Tyler!
NPR’s This
American Life host, Ira Glass talked to linguist Penny Eckert. She
conducted a study asking people to rate how authoritative a radio reporter with
vocal fry sounded. The response depended on the age of the rater. Those under
40 thought it sounded authoritative while those over 40 did not.
Take
the time to evaluate the direction of your customer service and you may
discover it's time to realign your compass. Policies, procedures or people may
be getting in the way. You may even be losing customers because of these three
crucial factors.
Policies you have in place and may need to revisit
Procedures that create hoops for customers to jump through
People skills of those working with customers and those leading them
Policies are often there for the organization's convenience rather than the
customers'. Focus, instead, on how to make it EASY for customers to do business
with you. As Seth Godin says, “Not changing your strategy merely because
you're used to the one you have now is a lousy strategy.” Some policies:
Can be eliminated
Need to be rephrased
May be initiated
Many Procedures
have been in place since the inception of the company or organization─or since the first
person to do the job created them! Many procedures are still followed simply
because “we've always done it that way." Revisit your procedures regularly
and make sure you’re not simply creating hoops for customers to jump through. Review how you and your staff interact with customers:
Face-to-face
On the phone
Via email
Through your website
And, take a close look at the People Skills of those who work with
customers─and those who lead them. According to John Goodman, Vice
Chairman ofCustomer Care
Measurement & Consulting, said, “…almost all employees come to work wanting to
deliver great service; but the processes and policies they work under ─ coupled
with insufficient managerial support ─ are the real causes of customer
dissatisfaction and disloyalty." You can download the complete article at https://ubm.io/2JuZLIY
People need, in the
words of Robert Waterman, 'directed autonomy.' Why they need both—and
why they often don’t get it—is rooted in our communication styles.Many leaders are visionaries, but often
forget to take people with them.And they
are lousy at answering questions—which 70% of the workforce need answered to be
able to perform their tasks!
Be sure you’re setting a compass bearing in line
with your customers' rather than creating obstacles they must surmount to do
business with you.
As we
move into a new year, I ask you to think about what kind of leader you are. Not a leader, you say? We are ALL leaders. Think about it. You may lead an association, organization or
company. You may lead a team at work or your
family at home. You may coach a child’s
sports team or lead their scout troop.
Maybe you’re a parent or an aunt or uncle. All of us are leaders because someone is
looking to us to lead. So here are my
recommendations—articles, books and quotations from some of the experts in the
field.
Marshall Goldsmith is one of the most respected executive
coaches in the country and wrote an excellent book, What Got You Here Won't
Get You There. To move to the next level, he suggests we constantly need to
solicit feedback from our peers, reports, friends and family. At his website, you'll
find directions for an exercise he calls Feedforward. And, you’ll
find more about Marshall on my blog post http://bit.ly/2nt7Cg4
Daniel
Goleman is the author of Emotional
Intelligence. In his article, What Makes a Leader?, he explores the
five main components of Emotional Intelligence:
Self-Awareness
Self-Regulation
Motivation
Empathy
Social Skill
After you
read the article, ask yourself—as I ask participants in my program, “Which of
the five main components of Emotional Intelligence provides me with the
greatest challenge? Which aspect of that
component? In other words, what could I
focus on to become an even more effective leader?”
As
Goleman said, “People are promoted
for technical, operational and intellectual reasons, but fail for emotional
ones.” And his
colleague, Richard Boyatzis, said, “In a
study of more than 2,000 managers from 12 large organizations, 81% of the
competencies that distinguished outstanding managers were related to emotional
intelligence.”
You can
download the article, What Makes a
Leader? at hbr.org for $8.95 http://bit.ly/2GxWSpB
As
John Maxwell said in The360° Leader, Developing
Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization, “You don’t need power to bring change to an
organization; you need influence – which is actually a more important skill.”
McKinsey partner Claudio Feser said in an interview, “We all can lead better by developing a
better understanding of ourselves, so we can make the best of what we have. Our
research suggests that leaders who are self-aware—who know themselves or, as we
put it, are “centered”—are up to four times more effective in managing change
than people who aren’t.”
I have heeded the
recommendations of these two gentlemen as I update my Leader as Influencer program.
Two crucial factors to foster effective leadership are developing a
better understanding of ourselves and developing our ability to influence.
Change is guaranteed. Here’s
to a rewarding 2018 for you!
In my program, How to Stay COOL When Things Heat UP!, I
discuss three Verbal Aikido techniques.
The first two are Selective Agreement and Limited Response.
I used to call the third technique, ‘Be the GOAT!’ I meant by that: take the high road, don’t push back, let it blow right over your
head, act innocent… A quick google search and I discovered ‘G.O.A.T.’ is an acronym for the expression 'greatest
of all time.' It’s commonly used in sports when referring to players who are
widely considered the most talented.
Today it’s social media slang for someone who is believed to be the best
at a certain skill.
But wait, there’s more! On February 1, 2004, the book Goat: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali was released,
referring to boxer Muhammad Ali as the 'greatest of all time.' And on September
12th, 2000, the rapper, LL Cool J, released his eighth studio album, G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time). The album was a
commercial success, reaching the number one position on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart. I knew about Ali, of course; but clearly I’ve been behind a door when it comes to social media slang!
On my YouTube channel, you can view a videowhere I tell a story illustrating the use of the third Verbal Aikido technique.So what shall I call it? I’m leaning toward 'Intentional Innocence’.Any ideas?
A former speaker and trainer, Jan worked with professionals who wanted to positively influence the responses they received whether they were leading a team or working with peers; speaking before a group or one-to-one; motivating or giving feedback to staff; serving clients, customers or patients; or promoting a concept or service.
Jan earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation—the speaking profession’s international measure of speaking experience and skill. Fewer than 12 % of the 5,000+ speakers worldwide, who belong to the 14 member associations of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF), have earned this professional designation.
Jan created customized programs for clients in a variety of industries ranging from healthcare to construction and accounting to parks and recreation.
