Sometimes service people say things that an astute customer knows are false. They act as if embroidering the truth enhances their self-image or their organization’s, while making the customer feel better and more cared for.... Continue reading
A seasoned executive was venting to me about her dissatisfaction with the work of a longtime employee. Over time, the employee seems to have succumbed to a combination of habitual carelessness and general lack of... Continue reading
Sometimes the right thing for an organization to do for a customer and the fair thing to do for an employee are both really obvious but in direct conflict with each other. This story shows... Continue reading
Isn’t it annoying when management bobbles the ball, and then can’t understand why the rest of the team is stumbling around in disarray instead of flawlessly executing plays? Performance can be compromised when a senior... Continue reading
It’s not enough to announce to your staff, “Just get it done!” Because either they will or they won’t. If a manager communicates performance feedback without a real understanding of how the job gets done... Continue reading
What if you’ve got a functionally competent employee whose performance is just not up to snuff? Perhaps most areas of her work are fine, and a few are outstanding, one or two crucial aspects are... Continue reading
Let’s say you’ve identified a problem in your organization -- something that’s not working well or isn’t working at all, something that you know should be fixed or changed. And let’s say you’ve already analyzed... Continue reading
The body’s fight-or-flight reactions are a good guide to our true perceptions of a confrontation’s level of safety or danger. Learning to check and manage our physical reactions is essential to both our effectiveness and... Continue reading
If you’ve been reading my posts about service, then you know that I bestow both compliments and critiques and that I typically name the recipients of praise and keep the pans anonymous. (You can check... Continue reading
We may talk about the importance of not making assumptions, but we all make them, automatically, all the time. We tend to believe that other people are more like us than not, which explains some... Continue reading
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