Every once in a while someone tells me a story of dysfunctional, disruptive, unprofessional, plain old odd boss behavior. Here’s an example, along with some suggestions for how to normalize things with a crazy-making boss... Continue reading
To improve the service experience for both customers and reps, start by targeting the key elements of service infrastructure that consistently create negative outcomes. After that, there are some deeply human aspects of service that... Continue reading
Customer service is a tough job. People who work in a pure service role (as opposed to those who but also take orders, provide sales support, or do real selling themselves) spend the vast majority... Continue reading
It can be very appealing to have an overreactive person on your team because of their strong drive for accomplishment and their very quick response time whenever there’s a problem to be solved. But for... Continue reading
If you suspect you’re an excessively reactive manager, you may wonder how to slow things down to help yourself work more effectively and not disrupt your team so much. And you may worry how you... Continue reading
Over the last few years I’ve worked with a number of senior executives who are hardworking and wonderfully competent in their areas of expertise, but are so highly reactive that they create extra burdens for... Continue reading
We’ve all passed those storefronts where a succession of stores or restaurants open and close quickly and thought, “That’s a doomed location.” Some employees seem to take on this kind of role in an organization.... Continue reading
Have you ever had to work with a tattletale? The parallels between childhood tattling and workplace tale-bearing came to mind while I was visiting a friend whose child kept appealing for adult intervention in her... Continue reading
A manager in a creative industry wrote in to ask how she can deal with a colleague who regularly throws hissy fits, all of which follow a similar pattern. The Hisser has a periodic and... Continue reading
I heard from a middle manager who struggles with his senior manager’s unclear delegation and occasional absence of direction. The senior manager constantly shifts assignments, switching up what’s urgent today and what’s important tomorrow with... Continue reading
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