It's All about Service: How to Lead Your People to Care for Your Customers

IT’S ALL ABOUT

SERVICE How to Lead Your People to Care for Your Customers

RAY PELLETIER

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

IT’S ALL ABOUT

SERVICE

IT’S ALL ABOUT

SERVICE How to Lead Your People to Care for Your Customers

RAY PELLETIER

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright © 2005 by Ray Pelletier. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specif ically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or f itness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. The publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services, and you should consult a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of prof it or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Pelletier, Ray, 1948– It’s all about service : how to lead your people to care for your customers / Ray Pelletier. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-471-71675-8 (cloth) 1. Customer relations. 2. Interpersonal relations. 3. Leadership. 4. Teams in the workplace. 5. Employee empowerment. I. Title. HF5415.5.P45 2005 658.8′12—dc22 2004027960 Printed in the United States of America. 10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my parents, Armand and Florence Pelletier, and to my brother William A. Pelletier. You are greatly missed. Thanks for what you taught me and for the love you so freely gave.

Contents Foreword

ix

Acknowledgments

xiii

About the Author

xv

Introduction

xvii

1 It’s All About Trust

1

2 The Power of Vision Crafting

25

3 Generating Enthusiasm

47

4 No One Whistles a Symphony—It Takes an Orchestra to Play It

69

5 Character

89

6 Conf lict Management

111

7 Competition

133

8 The Art of Coaching

157

9 Listening

181

10 Caring

201

Index

221

vii

Foreword

F

inally—a book that puts the customer at center stage! In It’s All About Service: How to Lead Your People to Care for Your Customers, Ray Pelletier, America’s foremost leadership coach, will grab your attention and show you the way to create a team within your organization to deliver championship service for your customers. It sounds so simple, but the truth is, rarely do businesses really put the customer first. Just think about it for a moment. What are the least favorite things you have to do in life? For me, one of them is taking my car into the dealer for service or repairs. First, I usually have to find a friend or family member who will follow me down to the dealership and give me a ride back home or to work so that I won’t be stranded there all day. Then, when I talk with the service manager, I almost always have the impression that he’s really not listening and that I am imposing on his time. When the job is done, I have to find another ride, read the service bill, try to make sense out of what was done, pay a lot of money, find the car in their secure parking area, and as I drive away, hope they actually fixed the problem. Sound familiar? All too often, those businesses that think they’ve “gotcha” forget that you have choices. The long-term

ix

x

Foreword

consequences of not championing the customer will become obvious in their bottom line. What if the dealership’s service department recognizes that it’s an imposition for you to bring your car in for service or repair. And as a result, the service manager apologizes for the inconvenience; actually listens to your complaint; provides you with a hassle-free loaner; calls to tell you the status of the repair, the cost, and when it will be ready after he and the repairman have thoroughly checked it out. And then when you arrive, the service manager personally explains the charges and repairs and, while you are paying the bill, has the repaired, freshly washed, and vacuumed car brought around to the front of the dealership for you to drive away. Sound too good to be true? Well, not really, because I found a dealership like that once. Although it was not close to where I lived or worked, I chose to buy several automobiles from them over the years. In fact, one of the vehicles I chose to buy was similar to a new loaner they trusted me with while my car was being repaired. Imagine that! So how do you go about creating the kind of organization that will deliver championship service to all customers? For my money, the first step is to read this book carefully. Ray Pelletier has done a wonderful job of describing the right characteristics leaders must use to coach, inspire, and motivate their teams to embrace the concept of “serving like a champion.” As Ray says in his introduction, it all starts with the idea that business teams need to become “obsessed with their customer’s needs.” The other intriguing thought that Ray highlights is the idea that leaders need to think of themselves as Servant-Leaders. In other words, the leader is really serving the people he or she leads. It’s the people who do this nation’s work—the leader’s job is to help shape the work environment in such a way that those people

Foreword

xi

can be most productive as they serve each other on their own team, as they serve other teams in their organization, and as they serve their customers. It is, indeed, All About Service! Finally, I think it important to understand the concept of championship service that Ray outlines in this book. I am reminded of something the great NBA star and champion, Bill Russell, said years after leaving the Celtics: “To be a star in the NBA, you have to have a big ego; to be a champion, you have to have an ego so secure that you can subsume it to the needs and goals of the team.” That’s what we are talking about here. A leader who is obsessed with the needs of the customer and devoted enough to “serve” his or her employees while they serve those customers! This is a book you want to read, use every day, and give to your people to use as well! Enjoy! GREGORY S. MARTIN General, United States Air Force

Acknowledgments

I

would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the wonderful leaders from whom I have learned so much and the hundreds of thousands of people who have attended my keynotes and seminars over the years. I am grateful for all you have taught me. To Jeff Wuorio for collaborating on this book with me. You are an awesome writer and team player and I am proud to know you. Special thanks also go to Ed and Leslie Rosenberg, dear friends and colleagues. Thanks for your input and guidance on this book. Thanks to Matt Holt at Wiley for contacting me to do this book and for his guidance. When he first called, I told him my approach would be different from a pure how-to book on customer service. I explained that I think everything ultimately comes down to service. I also told him of recent work with General Gregory S. Martin from Air Force Materiel Command, Billy Donovan, head basketball coach at the University of Florida, and Bob Farnsworth at Play Core. As I explained that all of them, in one way or another, were focused on customer service, Matt said: “That’s a great title! It’s all about service.” I would like to thank the men and woman of the armed services who sacrifice daily in their pursuit to serve. God bless you! You are my true heroes.

xiii

xiv

Acknowledgments

To my family, I thank you for your love and support. I am a better man because of each of you. To the reader, I hope that this book is a blessing to you. Positively yours, Ray Pelletier

About the Author

K

nown as “America’s Leadership Advisor,” Ray Pelletier is an internationally known professional speaker, author, and consultant. He has worked with an extensive array of more than 300 clients, including Disney, HP, AT&T, Johnson and Johnson, the U.S. Military, and others. He has also worked with a number of professional and college sports teams and has nine championship rings. He is the author of the business best seller, Permission to Win. Ray holds the designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame.

xv

Introduction

T

here’s a well-worn sign over the stairs leading from the home locker room to the football stadium at the University of Notre Dame. The sign consists of five words: Play Like a Champion Today.

There’s a good reason that sign is so well worn. Every Notre Dame player about to leave the locker room to head down the tunnel to receive the roar of tens of thousands of fans and millions more on national television touches that sign. Each and every time. Each and every player. There are also a battalion of good reasons why that sign is where it happens to be. It’s a point of focus, a reminder, a central icon that reminds them of the individual commitment necessary to succeed. It brings each and every player back to the very core of what it means to compete and win. Consider this book your sign that reminds you to Serve Like a Champion. Starting today, right now, and from this day forward. Your business is all about customer service. Period. Strip away all other elements and issues, from sales to marketing, manufacturing to human resources, at the end of the day what makes or breaks what you do is customer service—what you do for the customers

xvii

xviii

Introduction

who lay down their money that pays your bills, puts food on your family’s table, and keeps your kids’ Xboxes humming. But if you think customer service is as simple as all that, you’re sadly mistaken. Not only is customer service absolutely critical, it can also be absolutely misunderstood by every business you can think of, from world-spanning financial concerns to mom-andpop stores. The fact is, many businesses simply don’t get customer service—what goes into it, how you build it, maintain it, and, along the way, cement lifelong, profitable relationships with your customers. To, in effect, become a Customer Service Champion. But if you’re coachable, you will very soon. You’ve got my word on it. One of the first hurdles in starting to build a championship customer service program is getting a handle on what customer service really means. Give that a moment’s thought. Ask someone what customer service is and chances are pretty good you’ll get what I like to call the “deer in the headlights” stare—a vague idea of what to say, but not sure of the turn of phrase that really fits. It’s perfectly understandable! Customer service is one of those terms that everyone has some sort of rudimentary grasp of. The kicker, however, is when you ask them to really define what they think they understand. As often as not, they really can’t— especially when pressed to identify those extra elements that take rudimentary customer service and boost it to a championship level. And that’s dangerous. Without a firm, defined understanding of what customer service means—really means—you run the ongoing risk of jeopardizing relationships that are the very marrow of your business. And it’s a slippery slope that can be greased with indifference and ignorance.

Introduction

xix

So let’s start our journey toward championship customer service by defining what we mean by customer service. For me, customer service boils down to one word: obsession. To build and maintain outstanding customer service, you’ve got to be utterly obsessed with your customers’ needs. That, in turn, absolutely mandates that you know your customers’ needs, inside and out, up one side and down the other. We explore in greater detail later on just how that can be achieved, but know for now that step one in building championship customer service is having exhaustive knowledge of just what your customer wants and expects. Certainly that means the best possible product or service, delivered in a professional, timely manner and consistent in its quality. But obsession doesn’t stop there! To be obsessed with customer service, you need to dig into the nuances of your customers. What do they genuinely value? What really keeps them coming back to your business? What element, be it large or small, makes them choose you over someone else? It is that element that keeps making you the champion? Obsession also means understanding that championship customer service is a dynamic, changing entity. Customer service will mean one thing to one customer, but something wholly different to another. And it should be part of your obsession to always know what those differences are. Know, too, that customer service needs can change over time. Just as your business grows and matures, so do those customers and clients who look to your products or services. And that will make their customer service needs change as well. And, again, if you’re truly obsessed with customer service, you’ll recognize those changes as they occur. But building a championship customer service program means more than truly knowing what that term means and implies. Take a moment now to glance through the table of contents of this book.

xx

Introduction

You’re going to see references to issues such as trust, attitude, vision, enthusiasm, character, and other attributes. “Wait a second!” you may be tempted to shout at this point. “I thought this was supposed to be a book about customer service!” It is. And, so, too, within the confines of this book are elements such as vision, character, belief, attitude, enthusiasm, and other traits that are central to customer service. You may assume that more tangible elements—such as sales strategies, telephone customer service procedures, and other techniques and policies— make up great customer service. They do, but it goes much deeper than that. It hits at the heart of building an organization that, from its very core, lives for championship customer service. You’re building a team based on values and ideals, on beliefs and attitudes. If those are in place, the mechanics of customer service soar rather than stagnate. Like a baseball team that begins spring training with the most basic of fundamentals, those ideals are the basics that go into building your team into a customer service champion.

People versus Process I work with a behavioral scientist named Dr. Larry Cole. He introduced me to the concept of the railroad. A railroad has two tracks. If you are part of the railroad and you have to perform maintenance on the tracks, do you work on one or the other? Of course not, you work on both tracks. Now take that analogy to business. One track is the process side of business. The other track is the people side. Companies are spending all their money on the technical side of the business: training, developing new software, those sorts of things. They are not investing their money in the people side of the business— the beliefs, attitudes, and drives of the people who really make up an organization. That’s the focus of this book.

Introduction

xxi

I use the term team for a very good reason. One of the concepts that we’ll be addressing throughout this book is known as Servant-Leadership. That may seem a contradiction in terms, but it’s anything but. Servant-Leadership marks a movement away from the old-time style of leadership that was based primarily on rule making and orders. I decide and you do it. Servant-Leadership places a greater emphasis on collaboration, orchestration, and teamwork. Rather than simply telling others what to do, you work with them, coach them, build their belief in and fire for what they do. You get to know them as people instead of just workers. You include them in the process of success rather than merely pushing them around like so many game pieces.

What Is Servant-Leadership? Since it’s so important, let’s get a bit more into the idea of Servant-Leadership. Coined by Robert Greenleaf, Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy that supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-Leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-Leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment. If you look at it, Servant-Leadership shifts things around. The Servant-Leader is first a servant, then a leader. It’s the desire to serve that spurs a desire to lead—but to lead in a very different fashion. The Servant-Leader’s primary goal is to make sure that others’ needs are being met. It’s that focus that eventually helps them grow, both personally and professionally. And it all starts with a desire to lead, not merely to toss orders around. Servant-Leadership works hand-in-hand in building the beliefs and attitudes that are so critical to great customer service. As

xxii

Introduction

we’ll see later in greater detail, by being a Servant-Leader—instead of just a “boss”—you’re as much a part of a team as you are a leader. And that’s a team that’s crafted on powerful ideas, attitudes, and the natural strength of a group functioning as one. I know that not everyone reading this book is going to be in a leadership role. Perhaps you are, but there are many levels of leaders above you. That can be frustrating. As you work your way through this book and begin to grasp ideas that I’m confident will be of enormous benefit to you, you’ll start to “get it.” Trouble is, those with greater authority where you happen to be may not. But that’s okay! One of the central points you’ll see throughout is the importance of doing what you can do and not worrying about all those things you can’t. It’s important that you absorb all that you can and put it into play to the best of your ability. That’s how great customer service is built, no matter if you’re at the very top of an organization or somewhere down below. I’ve built this book to be useful on several levels. First, it’s constructed not merely to offer a comprehensive discussion of what goes into championship customer service, but to help you put the principles to work—right now! And I do mean right now. Take another moment to leaf through a chapter. In so doing, you’re going to spot a couple of really worthwhile features. First is what I call “A Champion’s Choice.” The message of that is clear. Every champion makes choices—usually, the right one. That’s why they’re champions. These vignettes are interspersed throughout the discussions and highlight a particular point or idea. It may be an anecdote, it may be a strategy someone else has used, but every “A Champion’s Choice” is designed to offer a concept that you can put to work for you immediately or, at the very least, to offer a fresh, provocative spin on an idea. An idea that will help move you toward being a champion. A second feature is the “Game Plan.” Appearing at the end of each chapter, this is a concise summary of several of the salient

Introduction

xxiii

ideas discussed in that chapter. They’re crafted to be actionable steps that you can put into play right away to start moving toward the goals identified in the text. They also challenge you with questions to help ensure that you follow up on each item in the most specific and proactive means possible. A third element is the “All-Star Team.” Each chapter identifies someone who embodies the spirit and power of that particular chapter. Hence, my All-Star Team. These brief profiles discuss someone who’s become a champion by nurturing a characteristic that goes into making every champion. If you know anything about me, those terms didn’t just f ly into the window by chance. During my career as a speaker, author, and consultant, I’ve worked with a number of sports teams and famous coaches at a variety of levels. I’ve come to deeply admire the discipline, focus, and work ethic that many coaches and players bring to their respective games. Sports can offer businesses of all sorts a host of valuable and powerful lessons. That’s one reason they figure so prominently in this book. That’s also the reasoning behind Game Plan, A Champion’s Choice, and my All-Star Team. Any championship caliber coach works up a detailed plan to guide his team toward its ultimate goal—to win! That’s precisely what we’re doing with each chapter and the Game Plan that wraps each up. But, like any winning coach, adjustments to changes in situation often have to be made and implemented quickly on the f ly. These are A Champion’s Choice—brief ideas and suggestions within the grander scope of things that can often inject an advantageous twist or nuance that pushes you closer to victory. It’s an opportunity for valuable coaching, something every winning coach seizes at every opportunity. And, with my All-Star Team, we look at someone who’s taken someone else’s coaching and blossomed into a true champion. In fact, that’s very much what I’m doing with you—serving as your advisor and coach, implanting ideas, refining them, and,

xxiv

Introduction

ultimately, directing you toward the goal of ultimate customer service. The role of coach is something I’ve enthusiastically embraced with countless teams during my career. I’ve received numerous championship rings and game balls over the years as well as the praise of both players and coaches, but nothing is more satisfying to me than watching a group come together as one team and blossoming with unwavering confidence into champions. One thing to bear in mind. This book is not a one-sided lecture—me behind the podium tossing pearls that you hopefully catch and put to use without a moment’s thought. Not that easy. Not everything I tell you in this book is going to be comfortable or easy for you to accept; nor will you necessarily agree wholeheartedly with every sliver of advice I think suitable. And that’s great! What I really want to do is to challenge you, to get you thinking about your customer service program and what it’s going to take—really take—to become champions. So I want you to take in this information and weigh it, process it, even wrestle with it. Building any champion takes commitment, sacrifice, struggle, and sweat. Your championship customer service program isn’t going to be one iota different. But that effort, that focus and passion to build something genuinely extraordinary make the struggle all the more rewarding and worthwhile. One last thing. By now, you’ve probably noticed that a central theme of this book is to train you and those with whom you work to serve like a champion. If you like the idea that the University of Notre Dame uses—the sign that focuses your attention on a single, essential issue—go to my web site at www.raypelletier.com. There, you can download the message “Serve Like a Champion Today.” Print it out and pass it around. And, when you need to, touch it to remind you of your overriding focus: to serve your customers like the champion you know you can be. Let’s start right now turning you and your team into customer service champions.

1 It’s All About Trust

Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

1

T

o have great performance and, as a result, championship customer service, there are two overriding realities: You have to be able to trust your leader and you have to be able to trust your teammates. That means complete, utter trust. And it has to be built and maintained as systematically as you possibly can. You see it over and over, in everything from business to the military to sports. It’s an absolutely essential ingredient! Without a foundation of trust, everything is lost. If you don’t trust those with whom you work or the people for whom you work, that implicit spark—people coming together to serve or help each other—sputters and dies.

Why Trust Matters—Particularly Today Before moving on to the issue of trust and how to build it into your organization and a championship customer service program, it’s important to look at why trust matters so much today. Corporate America faces an incredible challenge in the element of trust. We don’t have many models of trust. We don’t have many people whom we can trust. We have seen the breakdown of trust, both within business and elsewhere. We’ve seen Enron and Martha Stewart. We have seen many others like them. We’ve also seen a breakdown of trust even within religion. We’ve seen repeated breakdowns of trust in our politicians and in the political process itself. In seemingly every walk of life, we’ve seen incredible organizations or people who are perceived as great leaders or great

3

4

It’s All About Trust

organizations, of seemingly unquestioned integrity and trust, which suddenly crumble when it’s revealed that, in one way or another, they were completely untrustworthy. The lack of trustworthiness is pervasive. The overriding message so many of us are receiving today is “Don’t Trust” or “Nothing or No One is Trustworthy.” This message is everywhere! Look at television, all the shows whose sole purpose is to try to catch people doing things. That’s why people watch them! Look at the popularity of tabloids—all the gossip and innuendo and the focus on trying to catch people in a moment of weakness or a mistake. And, tragically, that can carry over into both your business and the people with whom you do business. Take an employee, at home reading a magazine or newspaper or watching television. Before long, he sees some story about some company caught with its hand in the cookie jar. How natural it would be for that employee to think “Well, that’s business for you. I bet my company and management aren’t a bit different.” The same holds true with your clients and customers. Wash them enough in a culture of mistrust and the assumption of mistrust becomes automatic and assumed. Think about the last time you or someone you know had an error in your favor—maybe the bank credited you money that’s not yours or a clerk forgot to ring up an item you intended to buy. If you didn’t say something right then and there, what was your reasoning for not pointing out the mistake? “They lie about things all the time. This just evens it out a bit.” Well, it shouldn’t have to be that way, nor does it have to be with your organization. By placing a genuine value on trust and systematically building it into the root of all that you do—both inside and out—you’ll be molding a model of championship customer service that, by its very design and function, excels at every turn. And, in so doing, you’ll cement solid, fulfilling relationships

Start with Your Values

5

with your customers—the vast majority of whom, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover, value the importance of trust every bit as much as you do.

Start with Your Values One element that many organizations overlook—to their detriment—is a set of core values. By core values, I mean identifying what truly matters to that organization. Is it honesty? Integrity? Accountability? Responsibility? An ongoing readiness to serve customers in any way possible and, whenever possible, wow them with that service? A statement of values is absolutely central to developing the identity of your organization. It is the heart, the bedrock, and the core from which everything you do naturally f lows. You know what you should be doing because it relates back to your essential values. And trust has to be among those essential values.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE If you don’t already have a set of core organizational values in place, take the time to draw them up. Do it however works best—over time during a series of meetings, at a weekend retreat, whatever. But do get something down on paper. And involve people from across the scope of your organization. Nothing rings more hollow than a set of management produced “values” that comes down as a mandate to be force fed to the “little people.” Solicit input from as many people as you can, from sales to marketing to the people at the front counter or down at the loading dock. Your set of values will

6

It’s All About Trust

be all the stronger the more people you involve in their construction. And, once those values are in place, circulate them. Post them so people can see a visual reminder of the organization’s values. That makes those values a living, ongoing player in everything your organization does.

Q MORE CHOICES The Boy Scouts boil down their values to just a few words: “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” The U.S. Air Force wants its people to have “integrity first, service above self, and excellence in all that you do.” Those are core values summarized in just a few words. They’re great examples for all organizations. Not only can they be easily posted and shared, they’re above all easy to understand. You know full well what your values are when you can summarize them briefly. And, just as important, you know what you have to do to act on those values. But, they must be real.

Understanding the “Why” Including as many people as you can in the development of your company’s values—which includes trust, by the way—achieves one other highly significant goal. It explains the “why”—why things are the way they are in the organization, why certain things are done the way they are, and the reasons and ideas that underlie those thoughts and actions. Nothing may be more critical to championship customer service than everyone in your organization understanding the “why.”

Understanding the “Why”

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Think back to a time when you were at work on a task—say, a project or trying to nail down a sale—and a question came up. A perfectly legitimate question. So, naturally enough, you went to your boss or your supervisor and, with the most sincere intent, asked why something was done in a certain manner. Feel free to pick up a pen and tick off the answer of your choice:


“Because I told you so!”
“Because that ’s how we do things!”
“Because that ’s the way it is!” How empowering! How uplifting! Rather than offering a reasoned explanation, all you got was the equivalent of a boot in your backside! This illustrates the importance of everyone understanding the “why” of things within your organization. Never make the mistake of thinking, “As the leader, I’m entitled not to tell you.” If your set of values is built honestly and with inclusion, everyone is naturally going to understand and embrace the thinking beneath how things are done—the “why.” They may need to be reminded on occasion, but they will nonetheless know of a consistent set of principles that drives you and what they do every day. And that, in turn, builds trust. Since you came together as a team to build those values, they trust the team. Since they all had a say in building those values, they trust them as well. And they also trust the product or service they offer to your clients and customers. And that sense of trust, that deep feeling of “this is right,” builds customer service champions.

7

8

It’s All About Trust

More Deposits, Fewer Withdrawals Another way to approach the concept of trust is to treat it as a bank account. As with any account, you make both deposits and withdrawals. And, whether you know it or not, every single day in your organization, you’re either making a deposit or a withdrawal. Here’s how it happens. If you’re building someone up in your organization—imbuing them with confidence or direction— you’re making a deposit. If you’re telling someone with consistency that you’re glad they’re there, that you appreciate all the good work they’re doing, that’s a deposit. If you compensate your people fairly and offer them real incentives to better their performance, that’s a deposit. And that builds real trust. If you’re demonstrating, day in and day out, that you’re committed to making your people better in every way—coaching them, directing them, training them to move toward both their goals as well as that of your organization—they begin to trust you and build a solid core of belief in the value of what they do. It shows respect for and interest in others, a care for the company and the people who make up that company. That builds genuine trust. And that produces dividends that pay the organization for a lifetime. By the same token, if you’re offering hazy leadership or damaging someone’s sense of confidence or teamwork, you’re making a withdrawal. Ignoring a job well done, an employee’s consistent performance, or belittling someone for a mistake, you’re making a withdrawal. And the ebb and f low of deposits and withdrawals in your organization functions as a bank account does. Have more deposits than withdrawals and things are being built. Withdraw more than you’re putting in, and you go bankrupt—a bankruptcy that inevitably circles back to a bankruptcy of trust.

More Deposits, Fewer Withdrawals

9

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Here’s a perfect example of a withdrawal that can absolutely bankrupt an organization’s account of trust. We’re all familiar with companies and industries that are struggling. Maybe they’re in an industry that ’s hurting as a whole. Maybe the company is simply poorly run. Whatever. But jobs are being lost, outsourced. Benefits cut, raises shelved. People come into work cowering, unsure if they’re going to go back home with a paycheck or a cardboard box filled with their personal belongings. And, in the midst of all this anxiety, what happens? The CEO gives himself and senior level executives a huge raise! As the ship is foundering, they’re climbing into golden parachute life boats, hoisting goblets of champagne, and saying: “Thanks for all your hard work—suckers!” By contrast, think of how it felt—particularly if it was in a place where you worked—where the conditions were every bit as uncertain, the future every bit as dicey. And the CEO announces that she’s taking a pay cut or that she’s going to forego her salary entirely until things take a turn for the better? Which of these two leaders would you trust more? Which one would you want to work harder for, contribute more, and, every bit as important, be enthusiastic about sharing that sense of trust with everyone outside your organization?

The message here is that, to build and maintain trust, an organization has to, in effect, run parallel with itself. You need to embody every deposit that you make in an organization. Trust doesn’t happen—moreover, cannot happen—when leadership doesn’t move in synch with the organization. To go against what’s

10

It’s All About Trust

happening all around you implies a lack of respect for the issues and challenges everyone else is facing. It implies a lack of respect for the other people on your team. And that shatters a sense of trust that, in turn, can shatter any prospect of building a championship customer service team. I saw it only recently. I was waiting for a f light at an airport and, by chance, happened to be sitting close enough to a couple of airline mechanics so I could hear bits of their conversation. Now, everyone knows these days that many airlines are suffering and, from the gist of their talk, it was obvious that these guys were employed by one of the struggling carriers. Layoffs. Salary freezes. More demanded of them with fewer people and resources to accomplish what they needed to do. Bitter, alienated frustration came across. And, mind you, they added, all the while the head of the airline had just happily accepted a generous pay raise. Just then one of the mechanic’s walkie talkie crackled. They were to get over to Concourse B as quickly as possible to try to free a stuck jetway. The mechanic acknowledged the message, then clipped the walkie talkie back onto his belt. From there, the two just continued on with their conversation as though they’d never been interrupted at all. Meanwhile, the f light departs late. And you can be sure that a planeload of passengers senses that a withdrawal has happened somewhere within that airline. The message was deafening: If the man at the top is pulling down all this cash, send him over there with a wrench! As for us, we’ll get to it when we’re ready. When you make a withdrawal in an organization, someone inevitably makes another one. And that can kill customer service. Moreover, you never know who’s ultimately going to be aware of that withdrawal. Those mechanics never would have suspected for a second that this guy who could hear every bit of their conversation was writing a book on customer service!

Small Deposits, Big Returns

11

Knowing the effects, do you still think that airline head would have accepted the pay raise?

Small Deposits, Big Returns Another misconception about trust is that it can be built with one massive, bold stroke. Maybe it comes from the movies—the army in disarray in the heat of a big battle, only to be suddenly emboldened by the commander climbing to the top of the trench, waving his sword (glistening in the sun, naturally) and rallying the troops to a sweeping, glorious triumph! Very exciting, even inspiring, but the fact remains that trust in an organization—one that naturally f lows into championship customer service—is best built with small deposits. It’s the small things that happen consistently, and time after time, that cement a sense of trust. Buying pizzas for a sales team that exceeds a goal. Giving someone dealing with a crisis at home adequate time to resolve the problem. Keeping your word, doing precisely what you say you are going to do time and again, establishes a pattern of consistency and of justifiable expectation. Your people expect that you’re going to do the right thing because you’ve always done it before. The important thing, too, is that sense of consistency—of knowing that the trustworthy thing is always going to happen— isn’t purely internal. An organization that has built trust slowly and systematically over time naturally carries that attitude over to its customer service. Customer expectations are consistently met and exceeded. Problems and slipups are reliably addressed, quickly and efficiently. Over time, customers come to trust—much as the people within your organization have already done—that the right thing is going to happen. Lapses in trust become the aberration,

12

It’s All About Trust

not the expected. And what more powerful dynamic will cement a customer’s loyalty for life than faith in a firm bedrock of trust?

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Don’t leave your small deposits to chance. Start today, this very minute, by tracking them. Start a list and note every time you make a small deposit that works to build someone’s level of trust. It doesn’t matter how small or seemingly insignificant, just record every instance that you intend as a small deposit. And, at the same time, be equally aware of your withdrawals. Note each time you make a withdrawal that costs you. At the end of each day, your tally of deposits should exceed the number of withdrawals—ideally, by a wide margin! And, if that ’s the case, day after day, you’ll be building the environment of trust that, in turn, helps build an environment of trust with your customers.

Deposits and Servant-Leadership The idea of Servant-Leadership that I discussed in the introduction goes hand in hand with building trust. An old-line boss didn’t necessarily have to have too much trust around him. He barked orders and people jumped. If they didn’t, they could jump right out the door. But trust is central to being an effective Servant-Leader. A Servant-Leader is, indeed, a leader, but she’s also a team member. She’s there to help people perform at their best. She’s there to coach, to critique in a positive manner. In every way possible, she’s there to build people up. That’s the role of the Servant-

Deposits and Servant-Leadership

13

Leader. And she needs trust from those around her to make all those responsibilities and objectives possible. Without trust, she may just as well go back to barking orders.

 My Trust All-Star  I’ve known many people who built a consistent record of trust. One who stands out is General Gregory Martin, commander of U.S. Air Force Materiel Command. He is perhaps the very best leader I have ever seen in my entire life. Over the course of his career, he has built a track record, much of that derived from the trust he consistently established. Not only did that let him excel in whatever responsibility he had at the moment, it was of supreme value when he moved on to a new command. Even if people with whom he was working had no personal experience with him, they knew of his reputation of trust. And, as a result, they automatically gave him their trust, a trust that was warranted. That carries a valuable lesson for any organization. If you have a tradition of trust in customer service, two things automatically happen. First, when working with a new client or customer, the precedence of championship customer service naturally ensures that level of excellence continues. Moreover, new clients and customers come to expect it and are attracted to your organization as a result of that tradition. What better marketing program could you ever possibly hope to have? General Martin also understood the importance of building trust between generations. He recognized that it’s often difficult for people in one generation to easily trust those in another. In fact, I worked with General Martin on a project where he brought my team into his command of more than 85,000 people to conduct a generational survey. He wanted to study the generational

14

It’s All About Trust

issues and differences within his command. He also wanted to gain a sense of how the junior force thought and felt. It was very insightful. General Martin sensed the junior force would be more responsive and comfortable talking with an emissary from outside the command—an “honest broker” who would offer ideas and suggestions in an unfiltered manner. His responsiveness in addressing their concerns and recommendations further cemented the trust he built between senior leadership and members of the junior force within his command.

The Power of the Audible in Building Trust Anyone who follows football knows the importance of the audible. For those who don’t, it’s simple in its essence. As an offensive team approaches the line of scrimmage to begin a play, a quarterback scans the defense to see what their alignment happens to be. In a matter of literally seconds, that quarterback has to come to a decision—is the play called in the huddle going to work or not? If he determines there’s a good chance for success, the play proceeds as planned. If not, he calls an audible. This is a different play that he signals to his teammates. Based on the situation, his read of the defensive structure, and other factors, this is a new play that he believes has the best chance of success. Seems perfectly sensible, doesn’t it? Since he believed that the original play called in the huddle was bound to fail, wouldn’t it make every shred of sense in the universe to go to a Plan B, something that, at the very least, had a better shot at working effectively? Of course it does! But, audibles don’t happen very often in the world of business today. Far too many companies overlook the vital importance of letting their people call audibles when the situation warrants them. That can be the result of a number of

The Power of the Audible in Building Trust

15

things—poor training, inadequate direction and support, among a host of other snafus. But, at its essence, it also embodies a lack of trust. For whatever the underlying reason might be, even if the message is inadvertent, an employee is likely hearing only one thing: “We don’t trust you to do the right thing. Even if it’s the wrong thing to do, we want you to do it any way.” Take a moment and try to absorb the kind of damage that message can have, particularly on a level of customer service. How demoralizing, how discouraging and belittling. What sort of customer service might you reasonably expect from someone who’s told, in essence: “Don’t think. We don’t think you’re very good at it.” That’s why empowering your people with the freedom to, in effect, call audibles is so central to building an environment of trust. Granted, that’s very much a matter of providing solid training and ongoing coaching—something that we’ll tackle in greater depth later on in this book—but it’s imperative to, at the very least, recognize and make it a goal to build a system that, over time, lets your employees exercise their best judgment in a given situation. Think how that might actually play out. When a customer complains that his steak was overcooked, the server pleasantly replaces the steak or perhaps gives him dessert on the house. When a customer comes back to the hardware store saying that the box of bolts he bought don’t fit, the clerk behind the counter gladly offers a refund, even though store policy suggests that boxes, once opened, are nonreturnable. Not much money involved, really—a $2 piece of pie or a few bucks worth of hardware. But think of the twofold message those situations carry. On the one hand, there’s a message of respect for the customer, a vivid willingness to do anything that’s need to

16

It’s All About Trust

correct something that went wrong or, at the very least, show that you’re genuinely sorry for the mistake. But, feel, too, what it’s like for the employee to be in a position to make that sort of call. It’s empowering, it builds confidence and self-respect, and it fuels a natural desire to do your job even better the next time around. In a word: trust. And I can’t stress enough: trust is a natural foundation for championship customer service, because it builds both from within and without. Work to build that trust at every opportunity possible.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE One effective way to build your skills in calling audibles—indeed, in any number of aspects of customer service—is role playing. If you let your people call the shots on occasion, don’t leave them twisting in the wind to fail by not preparing them. Sports teams practice situational scenarios over and over so that an audible becomes a reliable, foreseeable option rather than a clutch at a chance straw. Do the same with your organization. Practice various types of situations where employees may be selected to call an audible. Have someone act out a fuming executive whose shipment hasn’t arrived, the customer whose tailpipe is dragging after it was supposedly installed properly, the stressedout college kid facing a final exam in the morning calling to scream that she got anchovies instead of pepperoni! Watch what sort of audible people call and critique it positively. Was it too much or too little? Was the audible called with a sincere attitude to make the situation right or merely as a fast way to get rid of a headache? Don’t forget it ’s seven times more expensive to get a new customer than to keep the one you have. If need be, practice situations over and over to

The Power of the Audible in Building Trust

17

build both skills and confidence. In so doing, you’ll also be building a sense of trust between yourself and your team. With every bit of practice, with every bit of coaching and encouragement you’re telling them in so many words that you do, indeed, trust them. Powerful stuff.

Q MORE CHOICES I know of a family—parents with two young kids—who has experienced the importance of both sides of the audible coin. They recently returned from a trip to Mexico. Coming into their initial destination in the United States, their plane was running a little late. On top of that, they had to face the chore of getting through customs before they could make their connecting flight home. Coming out of customs, they realized they only had a few minutes to make their next flight. Even worse, the gate was a concourse away. As they glanced nervously at the clock, they noticed one of those electric carts that ferry travelers around the airport. The driver was just sitting there with his feet up on the dashboard. They ran up to him. “Can you please give us a lift to the next concourse?” the father asked breathlessly. “Nope,” came the reply. “Why not?” “This cart is for handicapped and elderly only.” My friend looked around and didn’t necessarily see a conga line of wheelchairs and senior citizens stretching around the corner. “But you’re not doing anything now! We only have a couple of minutes!” “Sorry. Policy.” Happily, my friends made their flight—thanks only to a frenzied dash through the airport, dragging both kids and

18

It’s All About Trust

carry-on luggage, imploring people to clear a path. The kids were gasping and nearly in tears from panic as they finally boarded the jet. Sorry. Policy. Now, the happy flip side. This same family recently spent a week at a very nice seaside resort. The daughter in this family loves to bring this huge stuffed dog with her on every vacation that she can. I mean, this thing is huge—bigger than her—and it ’s floppy so that it can be played with and posed in any number of ways. The first day the family returned to their room at day’s end. The maid had been by earlier to clean the room. But, as they came into the room, they discovered the stuffed dog. It was lying on one of the beds, its head fluffed up comfortably with pillows, its legs crossed and the television remote in its hand! Every day, the maid took the time to leave the dog in a different position, reclining on its side or seated in a chair with a magazine, seemingly enjoying the vacation as much as the family was. At the end of the week, the family left the maid a thank-you note and a very generous tip, not to mention praising the maid in a personal discussion with the hotel’s general manager. It was clear that nowhere in that hotel was a room cleaning policy that discouraged the audible. None of this “You have only so many minutes to clean the room and move” nonsensical mandate. And it came down to a few seconds that made a little girl feel very special indeed.

These vignettes show that audibles don’t necessarily have to involve big-time decisions or even problems. They illustrate the importance of trusting your people to handle situations as they see

Access Builds Trust

19

best to build championship customer service. And that starts with you letting them do just that.

Access Builds Trust Another powerful building block to trust is accessibility. Stop and think about it: Recall the annoyance you felt trying to find a salesperson in a store, pulling up to a place of business only to find it mysteriously closed, or the hair-yanking frustration of trying to find help on an Internet site. I currently have a client whose sales are down. They want to invest big bucks to do more Internet and direct marketing. Yet, just as they’re willing to commit huge sums of money, they’re consistently leaving people on hold and not serving those customers they already have. It’s access. It’s not about more calls and more sales. It’s about championship service. Happily, we are helping them get the point. Those are all issues of accessibility. That relates directly to the trust you want to build within your customers. You want them to know: “I’m here when you need me. No excuses.” It also works internally. By being accessible to your customers, you build confidence within your organization. If you’re accessible, you’re ready. You’re prepared. What you have to offer is of real value and you’re ready to stand behind it. That’s a champion’s attitude. How do you build accessibility? In any number of ways. Be generous with your time. If a customer wants to meet after hours, make the time. If someone enters the store minutes before closing, don’t give them the bum’s rush because you’re supposed to be closing. Make sure your customers know just how they can reach you. I know of a hot tub store whose owner puts his home phone number and cell phone on every bit of material that comes from

20

It’s All About Trust

that store, along with the promise to get back to you in no more than a half an hour. By no small coincidence, that store happens to be one of the biggest hot tub dealers in the country.

Trust the One You’re With Another important thing we have learned about trust in working with various organizations is that trust that comes from the very top isn’t necessarily the most important form of trust. Sure, it’s great to say you trust the man or woman up in the executive suite, but there are other bonds of trust that are even more critical. Those are the bonds of trust that you have in the people closest to you—your supervisor, colleagues, and others with whom you work closely and on a daily basis. That means, no matter where you happen to be in an organization, it’s imperative to build trust. To show those around you that you do what you’ll say on a consistent basis. In fact, it’s a lot more important than any kind of trust that can come down from the top f loor! So, work to build it at every opportunity.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE L.L.Bean, the famous clothes and outdoor gear outfitter in Freeport, Maine, is a true champion of accessibility. As most everyone knows, they’re open 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. On a practical level, that means amazing things. How many places can you go and buy a quality Christmas gift on Christmas morning? How many places can you go and buy a top-notch fishing pole at 2 A.M. for a 10-year-old’s birthday when the one you ordered from someone else never shows up? That ’s accessibility. But there’s an equally powerful underlying message. In its essence: We’re never closed. We are always here to serve

The Power of the Promise

21

you, when it ’s convenient for you, not the other way around. No matter what you need, no matter when you might need it, we’re ready. That builds trust that lasts a lifetime and moves seamlessly from one generation to the next.

The Power of the Promise When you really boil it down, not a lot of organizations these days are making promises—real promises, that is. Oh, we hear all sorts of ad slogans and slick buzzwords that try to f ly under the radar as promises, but they’re not, really. Ads entice you to buy something; A promise lets you know in no uncertain terms what you can expect to receive. Big difference. That circles back to trust. If you don’t make any promises, there’s no breach of trust when you don’t deliver. The mind-set seems to be: make promises, and all you’re doing is setting yourself up to fall f lat on your face when, as will inevitably happen, the promise goes unfulfilled. No promises made, no trust to be broken. That’s a mistake. We all need to make promises. Businesses need to make promises. First, it sets up with absolute certainty what your customer can expect. It sets up with absolute certainty what you need to do to meet and exceed that expectation. And, along the way, it cements a foundation of trust. Once again, that happens both inside and out. On the outside, your customer comes to trust you as you deliver on that promise time and time again. And it builds trust on the inside as your organization comes to trust your core values, you and your every decision that works toward fulfilling the promises that you made—both to them as well as the people you serve on the outside. They really do go hand in hand! What customer is genuinely going to build a sense of trust with a company when it’s clear that the company isn’t keeping its promise to its own people—much

22

It’s All About Trust

like the airline mechanics intentionally dawdling as their CEO lugs a fat check home? By the same token, what employee will trust his own company if he knows that the organization isn’t fulfilling its promise to its customers—much like a stock broker told to push one particular stock even though she realizes it isn’t in many of her clients best interests.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Not every company lacks a solid promise. But, once again, Bean’s stands out. Have a look at their guarantee: “Our products are guaranteed to give 100 percent satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from L.L.Bean that is not completely satisfactory.” Not exactly open to interpretation, is it? Nor is that any sort of after-the-fact policy. It ’s been that way ever since the store opened some 100 years ago! In fact, L.L.Bean, the founder, placed this notice on the wall of the Freeport store way back in 1916: “I do not consider a sale complete until goods are worn out and the customer still satisfied.” I’ve known people who’ve brought back jackets after 10 years and returned them just because they were old! And L.L.Bean took them back with a smile! But it doesn’t take much imagination to guess where those people went to buy a new jacket. That ’s the trust and power that comes with a bona fide promise that ’s kept every time it ’s made.

Q MORE CHOICES I know first hand the power of trust that a promise can generate. A few years back I worked with the University of Notre Dame football team as they prepared to face Colorado in the

The Power of the Promise

23

Orange Bowl. The Fighting Irish had to overcome a terrible mind-set of past failures. And, in working with them in various ways, I effectively made them a promise: that they were going to toss the past aside and win the game. Nothing, of course, ever comes easily. In the third quarter, the game was still very much in question. In the heat of the action, this gigantic offensive lineman suddenly ran over to me on the sidelines and yelled: “Coach! Coach! You sure we’re still gonna win?” “Man,” I replied, “I promise you you’re gonna win!” With that, he hefted me up and planted a big kiss on my cheek! And, Notre Dame did go on to win that particular Orange Bowl, 21 to 6. Coach Lou Holtz and the team gave me the game ball that day. But, perhaps even more important, it reinforced in me the power and trust that a promise kept can carry. It sets a standard, a goal, and trust is the fuel that drives you toward those measurements of success. If nothing else, I shudder to think what might have happened had I said: “Hey! I never promised you anything!” I doubt it would have been a kiss that was planted on my cheek by a dirty, sweaty football player.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Trust 1. Consider what a lack of trust can do. Have you really considered the ramifications of all the breakdowns of trust we see all around us every day? 2. Build a set of values that includes the importance of trust. Have you worked with others in your organization to identify

24

It’s All About Trust

those core values that you deem important? List your organization’s core values. 3. Make sure that everyone knows the “why.” Have you included your people in the values process enough so that they understand why the values are important and how they relate to what your organization does? 4. Make more deposits and fewer withdrawals. Are you tracking every time you build someone up—and, conversely, when you bring someone down—so you know for certain that you’re building trust in your organization? Make a list that goes along with the ideas and objectives of Servant-Leadership. 5. Build your trust slowly and systematically. Are you building trust both inside and out so that trust comes to be the expected status quo rather than the unexpected? 6. Let your people feel free to call audibles when they think they’ll work. Are you building trust by working with your people to train and empower them to make championship customer service decisions? Are you practicing those skills so they become confident in calling those audibles when they think they’re necessary? 7. Be sure to make and keep promises. Are you making clear, easy to understand promises—both to your organization and your customers—so that trust in championship customer service thrives both on the outside as well as within your organization? Build a list of your organization’s customer service promises.

2 The Power of Vision Crafting

Most people see what is, and never see what can be. —Albert Einstein

25

I

know and you know that vision is important. Read it in the Bible: “Without vision, the people will perish.” The same holds true for organizations of all sorts. If there is no vision in place, that organization will perish. Particularly when it comes to building a championship customer service program. Let’s start turning that around.

What Is Vision? In Chapter 1, we discussed the importance of developing a set of core values. It is exceedingly important! But it is just as critical to develop and implement a vision for your organization because the two operate very much hand in hand. A vision is a long-term goal. It is an objective. It’s not the same as a set of core values, although those can be part of a vision. A vision identifies where the company should be headed. If a vision is a football team’s goal line, then the core values outline how the team plans to reach that goal—playing fairly, respecting their opponent, and other issues. But a vision to many companies is the same as a football game can be to the fan in the stands. If a spectator watches a well-executed timing pattern, he praises the quarterback’s throw and the receiver’s discipline and focuses on being able to catch the ball with half a ton of defense bearing down on him. But, to the team, that play is far more complex than that. It involves calling the right play at the right time, knowing the nuances of the defense and how they’re likely to react in that given

27

28

The Power of Vision Crafting

situation. And, since it’s a timing pattern, the ball is thrown before the receiver is in the spot to catch it. It’s thrown to where he’s going to be, not where he is at the moment the ball leaves the quarterback’s hand. That’s vision. It’s complicated, takes a great deal of thought, analysis, and introspection, and, most important, identifies where a company will be, not necessarily where it happens to be at the moment. Unfortunately, few organizations have vision. As I analyze organizations in depth on consulting assignments, I help companies identify root-cause problems—deeply imbedded mistakes and misfires that consistently undermine those companies’ successes. And, inevitably, those problems circle back to the reality that people really don’t know where they’re going or don’t know where the company is going. Some don’t even know there’s—at least in theory—a direction to the company at all! And that’s nothing more than a Titanic in search of an iceberg.

Elmer Fudd and Backdraft Why don’t more companies have a real vision in place? Far too often, it’s an issue of time and the pressures of the moment. Everyone from CEOs to department heads are just so stressed. They are strung out trying to deliver the next quarter’s results and trying to make sure that sales are increasing. They’re so focused on all the immediate issues that they don’t ever get a chance to address the question of vision. They’re constantly chasing rabbits—the quarterly sales mark that needs to be hit, the vendor who’s consistently late. These are all justifiable issues, but far too often, that’s all many companies worry about. They’re like Elmer Fudd, always chasing that wascally wabbit! And, you’ll notice that Bugs Bunny always manages to outwit Elmer Fudd in the end.

Elmer Fudd and Backdraft

29

Another way to look at it is through a firefighter’s eyes. Backdraft was a great movie—very visual, very exciting. And a central focus was the firefighters who were constantly being called in to put out massive blazes. It is sad but true that 80 percent of the organizations that I work with are terrific firefighters. They are very, very good at putting out fires. The trouble is, they’re not very good about operating their business. Because all they do is put out fires and respond to crises, they’re distracted from what they actually should be doing to build their business into a champion. And that’s where vision comes into play. There’s another way to gain the perspective of vision and what it truly means. Stephen Covey wrote an extraordinary book called Seven Habits of Highly Ef fective People (New York: Free Press, 1990). One of the keepers that I found from his book is that most people spend the majority of their time concentrating on urgent issues. This is true of most organizations that I visit. They’re not working on the important things like vision and a mission for them to execute. They’re like Elmer Fudd and the firefighters from Backdraft—dealing with urgent issues, but never addressing the really important issues. And, to develop championship customer service, you need to turn that around!

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Wayne Gretzky had it right when it came to vision. The Great One said the reason he was so successful is that he never skated to where the puck was. He skated to where the puck was going to be. Think about that as visually as possible. As three or four players are scrumming in the corner fighting among themselves, Gretzky knows that they’re just chasing rabbits—that the puck is going to be somewhere else very soon. And that ’s where he goes. Shoots. Scores. Game over.

30

The Power of Vision Crafting

That ’s what visioning does—always knowing where you’re going and have to be, not where you’ve just been.

Breaking Down Vision For a number of years, there’s been this tremendous emphasis on strategic planning and other aspects of developing a global strategy for your business. But, in most ways, people missed the point, because the question of what you’re really building as a business was never really addressed. That’s a question of vision. So what do you need to ask when trying to build a vision? Here’s a sample checklist to get your vision ball rolling:
What are you trying to accomplish with your business?
What are the trends in your industry and what can you do to anticipate and even beat them to the punch rather than just putting out yet another fire?
What are your market barriers?
Are you focusing on the issues that really matter? Right now you may be focused on building widgets, but the widget market is bound to change. How? How can we change as the product and the marketplace as a whole change as well?
What do you want your customers to feel?
What do you want you and others in that organization to feel? Not only are these critical questions unto themselves, if you dig just a bit deeper beneath the surface, you realize that they all inevitably come back to customer service. Rephrasing those questions just a bit, what are you really going to be providing for your customers in the years ahead? How are your customers themselves going to change? And how can you foresee what changes are on the horizon and position your company so that you’re there to

Crafting a Vision

31

greet that change rather than having it f latten you? That’s what builds championship customer service.

Crafting a Vision The choice of words you just read isn’t accidental. Visions don’t just pop from the ground or materialize in a puff of smoke. They are crafted. Much like a craftsman who may spend months or years on a single project, smoothing here, adjusting there, fine tuning both the look and feel, so is a vision crafted slowly and thoughtfully. Don’t overlook the importance of the process of vision crafting. Even the very exercise, the ongoing process of crafting a vision is exceedingly helpful in honing your organization’s focus and sense of mission. The most important thing is that you’re moving toward a vision, a sense of mission that, ultimately, everyone in your organization will understand and be able to express both clearly and confidently.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Think what happens in a sporting event when the game reaches a truly critical point. Does the coach tell the team to rush ahead blindly and merely hope for the best? Of course not! They call time-outs. That helps them slow down, take a short break, and discuss in depth what should happen next and why. That ’s how it should be with vision crafting. Step one is you have to stop, slow down, and take a good, long look around you. Look at the trends of the organization. Look at the trends within the industry. You have to be more out there in your thinking, moving beyond your usual concerns so you can address issues of sweeping significance.

32

The Power of Vision Crafting

And, that means taking a time-out. Whatever that means to you—be it retreats, meetings after hours, whatever—it means that vision crafting mandates a slowdown from your usual hectic spin. It ’s hard to really see the scenery when you’re speeding past it at a hundred miles per hour. Slow down to a stroll and you’ll tune into things that were merely a blur.

The Importance of Inclusion That calls up another important issue when crafting a vision for your organization. Many people think vision is created in some sort of mysterious vacuum. There’s the CEO or the chairman or the executive management team, huddled in some dank hole, fasting and chanting, in hopes of gaining a vision. In reality, to get a solid vision and one that your entire organization can buy into, believe in, and can execute, it’s critical that a number of people within the organization participate in the visioning process. Much like what happens when crafting a set of core values, make sure that you include people from every corner of your organization—sales, marketing, manufacturing, customer support, everywhere. The mechanics are very much up to you. Again, like core values, they can be crafted through a series of regular meetings, weekend retreats, or other scheduled arrangements that bring your people together. You may or may not choose to use an outside facilitator to help you along the way. A facilitator, however, may prove helpful. Not only are many organizations too close to certain issues to see them clearly, they may not understand that vision involves the heart as much as the head. But, however you choose to proceed, go out of your way to be as inclusive as you possibly can be.

The Importance of Inclusion

33

That’s important for a couple of reasons. First, the process builds camaraderie. People appreciate being asked what they think. They like the feeling of being valued enough to be included. But, every bit as important, including people naturally builds belief into the process. Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, put it best: “People support what they help create.” That’s a perfect summation. Rather than being handed down something and being directed to believe what it says, being inclusive in the vision-crafting process doesn’t make people believe in what it means or what it stands for. They believe because they helped put it there. A part of them is in that vision. That makes the process of crafting the vision as important as the vision itself. The importance of inclusion also ties in to the values and beliefs of Servant-Leadership. One of the benchmarks of being a Servant-Leader is including those around you as much as possible. It’s not only sensible—the greater the perspective, the better the result—but it’s empowering. And empowering those around you is an ongoing focus of the Servant-Leader.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE There’s still another powerful reason to be as inclusive as you can be in your vision-crafting process. That reason is perspective. When crafting your vision, it ’s critical that you take into consideration a broad array of perspectives on a variety of issues. Nothing is more dangerous than limited perspective. If you limit the perspective that crafts your vision, you can all too easily bypass central issues. Just as unfortunate, you may see those issues, but from a limited perspective that can skew the reality and the impact those issues can carry. That ’s why football teams have coaching personnel on the field as well as high up in the press box. Perspective is everything.

34

The Power of Vision Crafting

When I work with companies, I often lead them through an exercise I call “The Knothole.” In it, I place a chair in the middle of a room or a stage. I then place several items on the chair—jewelry, a pen, a magazine, whatever ’s handy at the time. Then I position four people at all four points around the chair—north, south, east, and west. I start with one person and tell him to form a telescope or knothole with one hand in front of one eye. Next, I instruct him to cover his other eye completely. From there, I have him describe the items that are on the chair. We repeat the process with the remaining three people in the group. The interchanges that follow are real eye openers (excuse the pun)! One person may say, “I see a pen and a magazine!” The next may jump in “No, Bill, you’re wrong. There’s a magazine and an earring! I don’t see any pen!” From there, the third person who happens to be positioned behind the back of the chair may put in: “You both should get yourselves to an optometrist fast, because you’re both seeing things! There’s nothing on that chair that I can see!” It ’s an incredibly valuable exercise. First, it really illustrates the point of limited perspective. All you can see may not be all there is to see. It takes a group and input from everyone within that group to build a complete, accurate picture. I also think it moves people’s thinking beyond the limits of right and wrong. In “The Knothole,” there’s no right or wrong perspective. It ’s simply a matter of the perspective that your particular knothole affords. It ’s neither right nor wrong; it ’s what is. That ’s the kind of perspective and grasp of reality you want your vision-crafting process to have. You want a broad scope of perspectives, you want the strong belief that inclusion fosters and you want to approach it with the idea that nothing unto itself is necessarily right or wrong. What is right

The Importance of Inclusion

35

is a vision crafted from broad prospectives. A group is inevitably more insightful that any one of its members.

Q MORE CHOICES One stumbling block for many organizations, particularly ones with a limited operating history, is getting a sense of itself from which to craft a vision. One way to get past that is to work on a timeline. By that, I mean a detailed outline of where the company has been. Include as many details as everyone can think of—when was the company founded, where was it founded, who was there at the time the company was founded. What was one of the first things you did as a company? Who came on board later and when? What were your biggest successes? Why did they happen? What were your biggest setbacks? What did you do to overcome them? What were the major turning points? What attributes and strengths have consistently worked to your advantage? This is another great exercise. First, it grounds a company and helps them realize where they’ve been. On top of that, it really helps people within an organization remember all they’ve been through as a team. Not only does that build real camaraderie and bring people together, it also underscores all that ’s brought them to where they are now. We all tend to forget so much about what ’s happened to us and how that has shaped who we are. A timeline helps your company remember. And that anchors your past and helps clarify where you may need to be headed in the future. The timeline offers yet one more advantage. When new employees come into an organization, they may receive some rudimentary training as it relates to the skills they’ll need to do their jobs. What they may not get is a sense of what the company is really all about, where it ’s been, and how it came

36

The Power of Vision Crafting

to craft the vision that it has. A timeline is of great value here. In it, the new employee gains a real sense of how things have come to be as they are, where the company is headed tomorrow and, every bit as important, where they fit into that grand scheme of things. A vision helps to achieve that, but a timeline underscores the meaning of the company and how that employee can work to become a meaningful element of that overall picture.

Legacy and Tradition Another positive that a timeline can build is a sense of legacy and tradition. Many people today do not feel a sense of tradition. They don’t feel a sense of belonging to the organizations they work for. They don’t have a basis from which they can work. Tradition and legacy are critical to any organization. Again, I think of my time working with Notre Dame and all the powerful traditions that underscored that program. You could really feel the sense of tradition throughout that institution. It is very important to concentrate on building a tradition, building a lasting legacy in customer service, and to make certain that leaders pass on those traditions, values, and beliefs. That will ensure that organizations deliver the kind of customer service that people truly deserve.

Vision and Customer Service As we mentioned earlier, crafting a vision for your organization is absolutely critical to building championship customer service. If you know what you’re doing and know where you’re headed, that just naturally wraps around the idea of customer service.

Vision and Customer Service

37

Knowing just what you do, as well as what your customers and the marketplace really want, need, and expect, can’t help but build a championship-level customer service. As to specific steps you can take to do that, let’s go to another champion’s choice.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Early on, we talked about the importance of perspective in the crafting of your organization’s vision. Nothing’s more essential to vision than building it based on a broad array of input and, in the process, avoiding the pitfalls illustrated by “The Knothole.” But, specific to customer service, think about one person who may be missing in every single vision-crafting meeting and exercise that takes place. You got it—the customer! Really, when you think about it, is there anyone more important, more central to your goal of building championship customer service than your customer? Work a customer into your vision-crafting process. Set up focus groups. Ask them where they think your company should be heading. Do they think you’re focused on the right issues, issues that are most genuinely valuable to the customer? What are you doing that ’s right and that you should keep on doing? What ’s not so good and should be changed? Carry the importance of a broad perspective over into your vision crafting with customers. If you can, work with more than one focus group. Like your employees, you’re going to benefit from a more comprehensive view than one group could possibly supply you. Getting your customers into your vision crafting is really powerful stuff. When I think of it, I’m always reminded of the movie Apollo 13. In particular, I think of that part of the movie when the spacecraft has first broken down and

38

The Power of Vision Crafting

the people back on the ground have to devise a plan to get the astronauts back alive. As everyone’s scrambling around trying to figure out what to do first, Flight Director Gene Krantz tells his people to talk with everyone involved in the construction of the ship, including the people on the assembly line who put the individual pieces together. I’ve always appreciated why that was so important. Krantz realized that no PhD on the planet, no engineer looking over detailed blueprints, could possibly tell them the things that they might need to know. For that, he knew he had to find the guy on the assembly line with a soldering iron in his hand. It ’s the same with your vision. You can have the brightest, sharpest people on the inside, but they can’t possibly tell you what a customer can tell you. Make sure that they’re there to do just that.

Q MORE CHOICES There are other steps you can take to broaden your employees’ perspective as well. First, you can all fall into the trap of keeping your head in the sand when it comes to really understanding that what you do means much to others. It ’s like someone who builds baseball bats but has never once gone out to the park to see what they actually do. As part of your vision-crafting process, encourage everyone in your organization to get out and see the end result of what they do—the real end result. Go out and see how people are actually using a product or service. See how it makes them feel. See how, in fact, it may be changing their lives. I encouraged this very thing in a company that makes playground equipment. As it happened, the company was located directly across the street from a large playground. I encouraged them to take their coffee breaks and, when possible, their lunch breaks outside with a clear view of the

Introducing and Working with a Vision

39

playground. I urged them to watch carefully, to study how the kids were using the equipment they made, the joy they got from their play. The benefits were twofold. First, the people in that company got a first-hand view of how kids were really using their equipment. Which things got the most attention? Which things did the kids ignore? What things were used in a way that the company would never have imagined had they not seen real live kids doing it? They were seeing the real customers and, as a result, they were able to bring back ideas and suggestions that made their customer service soar. They also came back pumped. They watched the pleasure the kids took in their play, the beneficial exercise, the sheer joy of being with other kids out in the sunshine and fully immersed in their play. What more powerful motivation can you imagine to push your organization and its customer service ever higher? But don’t stop there! There’s always the little matter of your competition. Have your people serve as their own “mystery shoppers.” Have them visit competitors. See what they’re doing in the area of customer service. What are they doing well? What aspects should your own organization avoid like the plague? Much like a pro scout who scopes out another team, we can really go to school by getting to know our opponents as completely as we can. You come to know their strengths, their weaknesses, and what about what they do that you can adopt and use to your own advantage. We’ll talk about this in greater detail later, but make note of it here.

Introducing and Working with a Vision Think you’ve crafted a vision that takes square aim at championship customer service? Congratulations! There’s still more work to be done.

40

The Power of Vision Crafting

First, when introducing and sharing your company’s vision with everyone within the organization, make sure that someone within that organization makes the introduction. Don’t have a consultant or someone else outside the organization unveil it. It’s important to emphasize that it was a process contributed to and completed by like-minded teammates from within the company. Nor is vision a one shot deal—a set of ideas cast in stone never to be revised. Far from it. A vision is something that you have to look at and review. I always recommend that you look at it at least once a year. A lot can change in 365 days. The marketplace can change. You can change. Competitors may appear and fade into the distance. That makes it critical to approach your vision as a living entity that, by its very nature, needs attention and possibly care. So, review your vision every year or so. If need be, repeat some of the exercises and steps you pursued when you first developed it. Talk to customers, visit competitors, go out and see if what you saw a year ago is still the case. Keep your perspective as broad as possible so you get the most complete picture that you possibly can.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Not only should you review your vision annually to see what ’s still works and what needs to be changed, it ’s also important to track the ongoing implementation of your vision. How is it really playing out on a day-to-day basis? Are there parts of the vision that are firmly in place while others seem to have a tougher time taking root? Keep score. Keep a daily tally sheet and, based on what you see and hear, identify those aspects of your vision that really clicked on that particular day. Did you notice something that seemed to run counter to the vision? Have others in your organization do the same thing. What did they feel that

A Different Yardstick

41

they did on that particular day that really jibed with the vision? What were their biggest challenges? When it comes to the vision, what things did they feel they might need the most help with to address?

A Different Yardstick Daily attention to the vision works wonders in any number of ways. For one thing, it brings your organization’s attention back to the participation that helped craft that vision. We built this; now we’re watching it take hold. That creates enormous pride and energy, not to mention belief in what they helped build. But tracking the vision also moves you into a healthier, more effective and more positive way of measuring what you do. This is one part of many businesses that drives me right up the wall! Far too many organizations track the most worthless, destructive things—how many calls handled per hour, how many sales calls made per day, and so on. Those numbers are important, but they aren’t the gospel that many companies believe they are. Not only are they merely a small part of a very large picture, they divert your attention from far more important goals and objectives: those embodied in your vision. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in measurements—TQM, Six Sigma metrics as well as others. But your vision is a key to broaden all the things that you measure. So, by tracking your vision as well, two terrific things happen. Number one, you begin to do what I call measuring the right things. Sure, you’re keeping an eye on sales calls and the like, but you’re paying an equal—if not more—amount of attention to the long-term ideas and priorities that you identified through vision crafting. That keeps rabbit chasing down to a minimum.

42

The Power of Vision Crafting

Second, it opens up opportunities for celebration. Businesses today celebrate far too infrequently, focusing instead on what went wrong or that day’s particular fire. Ongoing attention to the vision lets you celebrate all the time. Make sure you do. Identify those things that are happening that track with your vision. Point them out! Celebrate them as well as the people who had a hand in making them happen. See what I mean by a different yardstick or measuring the right things? It’s not only team building and empowering, you’re focused on those positives that move your organization forward toward its vision. Vision creates that kind of passion, and passion fuels all forms of excellence within your organization, including championship customer service. It’s a f lawless formula.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE One way to take advantage of the importance of celebration with customers I call the “goodbye kiss.” I often do this when I’m wrapping up work with a client. Once the project ’s done, I’ll send them something, but not just any pointless trinket. That ’s nothing more than a parting gift that suggests you may never do business again. A goodbye kiss is something significant—perhaps a director ’s chair with the customer ’s name on it or a desktop pen set that ’s inscribed with something of significance. It ’s supposed to mean something, to remind the customer of the special relationship we just enjoyed. It ’s a celebration, certainly, but it ’s also something by which I can be remembered. And that turns a goodbye kiss into a “until we meet again.” That lets celebration—one element of success of your vision—build a bridge that that customer might cross again sometime in the future.

A Different Yardstick

43


My Vision All-Star
One company that readily jumps to mind is Eboatloans.com, a Miami-based Internet firm that now has about 30 employees. It’s been around for about five years and, from the start, they had latched onto a great concept: providing loans for boats over the Internet. It was fast, it was convenient, and it focused exclusively on providing funding for watercraft. A great idea, sure, but what did that really mean in terms of the company’s vision? What was it really providing its customers and how could they convey that central message to those customers as clearly as possible? I recommended that they work with friends of mine, Ed and Leslie Rosenberg of Positioned2Soar.com, who help companies craft a vision that offers clarity, vision, and inspiration. We got them to look at the company with their hearts as much as their heads—to really feel what they offered and what it meant to their customers. Just as important, they involved a broad array of people throughout the company, not just the owners. And, ultimately, they came up with a vision summarized by the phrase: “Lending for the Good Life.” What a terrific, moving summation! Not only does it point out that they lend money, but those funds go to help obtain dreams: For the Good Life! It’s practical, it’s to the point, but it’s also very magical. It’s a vision that everyone can articulate.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Eboatloans.com’s visioning experience brings up two more points. One that we addressed earlier—but one that ’s important enough to point out again—the importance of using your heart as well as your head in crafting a vision. A vision isn’t

44

The Power of Vision Crafting

just what you do—it ’s also how it makes you feel, how it makes your customers feel, and what it really means. So be sure to use your heart when crafting your vision. The other point is that it ’s exceedingly powerful to be able to put your vision down in a few words—a meaningful phrase. Like Eboatloans.com, a short, powerful summation of what your vision means is not only great communication with your customers, it ’s also great communication within your organization. It brings people back to the true focus of what you’re trying to do. And that builds championship customer service from within that naturally spreads outward. When someone asks an Eboatloans.com employee what she does, she can say “I help lend money for the good life.” That ’s the hallmark of a well-crafted vision.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Vision 1. Understand what vision really is. Have you or your organization ever considered what your vision might be, how it’s different from your core values? Write down what you think your vision might be. 2. Identify your rabbits. What rabbits and fires are you constantly dealing with that are detracting from your development of a vision? 3. Start to craft a vision. Have you thought about some of the sample questions that appeared earlier in this chapter that can get you started toward a vision? Write down some initial thoughts. 4. Make it inclusive. Have you made certain that your vision crafting includes a broad variety of people from within your

A Different Yardstick

45

organization? Remember that Servant-Leaders make empowerment real, not a cliché. 5. Consider a timeline. If your company is new, have you worked to remember how things came together for your organization so you have a basis to with which to begin building a vision? 6. Broaden your perspective when possible. Have you included customers in your vision crafting? Have you encouraged employees to discover just what your product or service really means to the rest of the world? 7. Track your vision. Are you and the rest of your organization keeping tabs on how the vision is taking hold on a daily basis? Are you celebrating your successes? Are you beginning to measure those things that really matter to your success and the crafting of championship customer service? 8. Use your heart in your vision. Are you trying to feel what your vision is as much as what it might say? 9. Consider a phrase that summarizes your vision. Is yours a vision that can be put down in a few words that effectively convey the meaning and the feeling of your vision?

3 Generating Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is the best protection in any situation. Wholeheartedness is contagious. Give yourself, if you wish to get others. —David Seabury

47

I

’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of extraordinary coaches, but one who always stands out in my mind is Mike O’Cain. When we first hooked up, he was head football coach at North Carolina State. The simple truth was, they weren’t winning enough ballgames—not necessarily because of a lack of talent, but because the players were consistently focusing on last week’s loss or even a loss from a previous year. And we all know what that brings—pressure from fans and alumni, not to mention a barrage of negative press that not only recounts past problems but even foretells continued failure. It was a simple matter of belief and enthusiasm. The first thing we did was work with Coach O’Cain to map out his vision for the ball club. Once he had a clear sense of where he wanted to go, his enthusiasm blossomed. Then we brought that vision to the assistant coaches and did the same thing. That brought more and more enthusiasm. Then we brought the vision to the seniors on the team. Did they think that they had the capability to win and even go to a bowl game? We even had them replace the thought of losing with the thought of the bowl to keep reminding themselves of the enthusiasm they were building. The change was amazing to watch. A bunch of insecure kids began to scream “Bowl. Bowl. Bowl.” throughout ballgames. You’d hear it from the coaches, too, and you could see from the power of the enthusiasm that they really believed they could do it. They went on to have a spectacular season. Just as important, you could see the transformation right before your eyes as young people came together for a common mission. Yes, they won. Their enthusiasm helped them develop a winning attitude.

49

50

Generating Enthusiasm

What Is Enthusiasm? Entheos is a Greek word that means “God within.” I’ve seen the power of enthusiasm in my own life for many years. Something absolutely magical happens when someone becomes enthusiastic. People tend to dismiss that, but I believe it is absolutely true. And nowhere is enthusiasm more important than in customer service—winning customers and keeping them for the long term. Enthusiasm is a demonstration of the spirit within us. It’s the power that fuels dreams. It is powerful and it creates energy. It can literally change the world. I know first-hand what enthusiasm can do. Over the course of my speaking and consulting career, I would estimate that I have spent about 22 years in a hotel room. That is no one’s idea of a good time. But my enthusiasm for what I do, the people whom I meet, and the things I see far override the drudgery of packing and unpacking in yet another hotel. That’s enthusiasm overcoming obstacles. Take that thought and move into the realm of customer service. Imagine what enthusiasm can do there. Think of all the phone calls that don’t necessarily have to be made that will be made. Think of the extra attention to detail it will foster. And, once that enthusiasm is in place, it can only build. The other thing to notice is the overall f low that’s being generated. First, you set up the basic core principles of your business. That, in turn, leads you naturally to craft a vision for where you want your organization to be. And, as we discussed, that builds belief. And belief is the engine that drives enthusiasm.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE In fact, let ’s put those ideas down as a mathematical formula to show just how naturally and powerfully those ideas and forces move from one to the next:

Building Enthusiasm

51

Core values + Vision + Belief + Enthusiasm > Any obstacle Copy that out and print it. Make copies of it and post it throughout your organization. It ’s a reminder of how you are crafting your organization within a perfectly sensible, yet no less powerful framework. It ’s a formula and, like any of the great formulas of the world, it ’s been proven time and again. So, make sure everyone is aware of that formula.

Q MORE CHOICES Sometimes, a simple phrase does a very nice job of summarizing that formula. I was recently driving into a small town when I happened to pass a McDonald’s. I was actually looking for something else, but the words on the marquee outside the restaurant just grabbed my attention:

“Come in and meet the world’s best employees.” What a great focal point to build enthusiasm. If I had been passing by around lunch, you know for a fact that I would have pulled into that parking lot in an instant. I’d want to meet these great employees. I would want to have them show me their stuff. After all, they’re the world’s best. And, if I were an employee in that restaurant, I’d do my utmost to live up to that sign. And it ’s a sure thing the franchise owner of this McDonald’s knows it because he sets the tone for better than terrific service. What phrase characterizes your customer service? Is it something you’d post for the passing world to see?

Building Enthusiasm How to do you foster the sort of enthusiasm that unto itself produces top-f light customer service? Start with yourself. People

52

Generating Enthusiasm

want to work for an enthusiastic leader. They want to work with somebody who creates an emotion of excitement and positive thinking. As a result, I’ve seen enthusiasm win ballgames and I’ve seen enthusiasm change companies. And the only difference, as it was with the Carolina State football team, was an attitude of enthusiasm that started from the top. Be enthusiastic, and enthusiasm naturally fires up everyone around you. Why should you be so enthusiastic? A skeptic might suggest that enthusiasm is nothing more than hollow rah rah—cheerleading with no substantiation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Look back at your formula. Enthusiasm, genuine enthusiasm, doesn’t just spring from the ground. Rather, like a beautiful rose, it is planted and nurtured, and its beauty is the result of systematic attention and planned steps. The same with genuine enthusiasm. It is built and it is very real. Sure, we’ve all seen false enthusiasm—someone whom you could tell in a heartbeat didn’t really buy into his own enthusiasm. Hollow words that you can pop as you would pop a balloon with a pin. That’s not the case with real enthusiasm. You know what it is and where it came from. And, as a result, you have every genuine reason in the world to be enthusiastic yourself. For many years, when asked how I’m doing, I have responded, “Better Than Terrific!” To those who know me well, I just say BTT. It’s amazing. I’ll bet I have said “Better Than Terrific” several hundred thousand times, but it still creates enthusiasm, not only with the person I say it to, but also within me— every time. That comes back to the role of the Servant-Leader. By being part of a team, by really being involved in a team effort, a ServantLeader is naturally enthusiastic. Why? By being so close and so involved with those with whom she works, she sees first-hand lots of

Building Enthusiasm

53

reasons to be enthusiastic. And she builds on that very real, very genuine enthusiasm every opportunity she gets.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Here, as we’re talking about building enthusiasm within yourself, I think it ’s unfortunate but absolutely critical to discuss the other side of the coin. What if, despite everything you know—the vision, the belief system, all the evidence that shows why enthusiasm should come so naturally—you just don’t feel it? You simply don’t come into work pumped, ready to give it your all, every single day? Then, my friend, you would do well to give yourself a gut check. What is missing in your capacity for enthusiasm? Do you simply not care for what you do, fail to see its value or its importance? Is it that you simply don’t feel a part of your team, that you’re somehow or another on the outside looking in? Knowing all that you do, you may want to opt for Plan B. Find something that fires your enthusiasm and your passion. Life is simply too short to wade through a career with a flickering flame of enthusiasm. This isn’t a case of being right or wrong—it ’s an issue of fit. It ’s a tragedy, an absolute tragedy, when people won’t take the time to find their passion, a focus for genuine enthusiasm. Don’t make that mistake. Find something that truly fires you up. This is particularly true for people in leadership roles. If you’re not enthusiastic—and, again, returning to our formula, you have every logical right to be—find something that does enthuse you. First, like everyone else simply putting in the time, work without passion is a waste of life. And, just as critical, you may be damaging the enthusiasm of the people

54

Generating Enthusiasm

with whom you work. Simply put, you can’t coach what you don’t have.

Building Enthusiasm in Others Let’s get back to a more positive premise. You’ve got the fire in your belly. You know how the formula works. Now, the next step is imparting that enthusiasm to the people with whom you work— those who are on the front lines in your customer service team.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Finding and hiring the right people for your organization is essential. You don’t need to be told that. Much like a sports team that knows its needs and scouts those players that may best fit those needs, you need to find the right people who will further your organization’s growth and success. Here’s the thing: I’ve been around enough sports teams much of my life to realize a critical element in how they find the right players—not necessarily the best players, but the right ones. Skill is important, of course, but every bit as essential is attitude. In fact, many sports programs place attitude at the top of their recruiting criteria. In their eyes, attitude—a player ’s mental approach to the game, how he or she interacts with others, the attitude with which they confront adversity—is far more telling than how far they can throw a football or their time in the 40-yard-dash. Use that concept in your own hiring practices. Look for attitude, not just skill set. See how enthusiastic someone is. Get a sense of how willing they’ll be to pitch in as needed. Are they ready to learn? Are they ready to grow? Have them tell you about a time they had an obstacle in their life and what they did to overcome it.

Nurture Enthusiasm

55

Remember: Skills can always be taught. Most everyone can learn how to handle a cash register, a word processing system or the mechanics of making and tracking sales calls. Attitude is something else entirely. Look for it wherever possible.

Nurture Enthusiasm It’s also important to nurture enthusiasm at every opportunity. Just like Coach O’Cain did, continually build it within the people with whom you work. There are a number of strategies that let you do just that. One terrific way to do that is to show your appreciation for all that they do. Take a few minutes every morning to greet them as they walk in the front door. Say, “Thanks for being here today” or “I appreciate what you do.” You’ll be amazed how that little bit of affirmation will fire them with enthusiasm for the day ahead.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Students at the University of Florida will occasionally wait for 24 hours outside the gym in line to make sure they can see a big game. We’ve all seen these sorts of images at various schools—students sleeping in makeshift tents, huddled against the cold, waiting for the moment that the ticket booth opens. It almost looks like some sort of refugee camp. At many schools, end of story. Not so at Florida. Athletic director Jeremy Foley and coach Billy Donovan will actually buy the kids pizzas—no small expense—and go out and shake their hands to thank them for being there. It doesn’t take much to imagine the kind of enthusiasm that generates. It ’s a real gesture of appreciation and support. By showing your organization the very same sort of

56

Generating Enthusiasm

appreciation you can build that very same level of enthusiasm. Whether you’re at the front door in the morning, walking around to say thank you, or showing your appreciation at day’s end by thanking people for a job well done, appreciation that ’s consistent and heartfelt can only build enthusiasm—genuine enthusiasm. It doesn’t even have to be put into words. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed seeing is a CEO or president of some major corporation eating his or her lunch in the cafeteria. They wait in line just like everybody else, choose the same meals, carry their own trays to a table, and pick up after themselves after they’re done. That ’s brilliant on several levels. First, it ’s a terrific ear to your employees—what they’re feeling, saying, and thinking. Not a shred of executive isolation to be seen. But I also think it generates a ton of enthusiasm. By eating where everybody else does, it shows you’re all on the same team. It shows that you are a member of that team. It ’s a powerful image that really fosters both camaraderie and enthusiasm. I recently completed a tour of 10 Air Force bases with Lieutenant General Richard Reynolds. At each base, he insisted on dining with the troops and not at the officers club. Given that he is an amazing leader, he knows that the best way to get a feel for his people is to be with them. You can also see the appreciation when a three-star general cares enough to forgo the perks his rank entitles him to because he cares and because he knows it ’s the right thing to do.

Q MORE CHOICES When I was in the first grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Lemon. I remember sitting at my desk, waiting to receive a gold star for our very first assignment. She went around the

Nurture Enthusiasm

57

room, a smile on her face, from one desk to the next: “Congratulations. Here’s your star.” But, when she reached my desk, her smiled creased into a frown and she literally threw the paper at me. Her voice rose so everyone could hear: “I don’t know what ’s wrong with you. You’re just not as smart as your brothers.” Although that was painful at the time, that moment eventually became a rallying point for me later in life. As I discuss in my book Permission to Win, I ultimately decided that I was not the loser Mrs. Lemon decided I was. I, in effect, gave myself permission to win. But it also points out something else of importance. We all like gold stars. We all want gold stars, even as adults. A gold star is a form of recognition and an affirmation of a job well done. It builds enthusiasm as much as anything I know. What type of gold star you choose to use is up to you, be it consistent praise, extra time off, whatever you think appropriate. But don’t overlook the impact of a gold star. They’re powerful. Warning: Don’t confuse gold stars with compensation. Far too many organizations fail to compensate their people adequately and hope to make up the difference with gold stars. Those are lollipops, and people don’t want lollipops in that situation. Gold stars are an affirmation of performance and an enthusiasm booster, not a substitute for fair compensation. But, never overlook the enthusiasm gold stars can generate. I recently hired a new team member and, to celebrate the moment, I sent her a plant. No big deal—it took a few minutes to order it, a few bucks to pay for it, but it was her gold star, the affirmation that she had succeeded, that she was the one we wanted on our team. And you could see the enthusiasm on her face as a result. It was a big deal to her.

58

Generating Enthusiasm

Delight the Internal Customer When I was working in the insurance industry, I knew I was a very good salesperson. But I also recognized that I was not particularly skilled at detail work. I would submit applications but many would come back because I overlooked some important fact or detail. I knew I had to get the office people on my team. So, with my supervisor’s approval, I took everyone in my office out to lunch one day. We went to a wonderful restaurant and, while we were there, I went around to each person at the table and told each one how much I appreciated everything he or she did for me. And, lo and behold, not one application came back again, ever. The practical reason, of course, was that these folks were taking the time to make a phone call themselves to address whatever information I had overlooked. That’s because I had brought them onto my team by showing them I valued what they did for me. This is a perfect example of delighting the internal customer—generating enthusiasm on the inside by making sure the people with whom you work feel important and valuable. And, as happened with me, that helps customer service shine.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Take the time now to draw up a checklist of ways you can delight your internal customers. It can be anything—a meal out, perhaps some flowers, even something as simple as a handwritten thank-you note. But draw up a list and follow it. I guarantee your customer service will blossom as a result.

The Power of Empowerment When discussing enthusiasm and how it can be nurtured on an ongoing basis, it’s important that we return to a topic we hit ear-

Get to, Got to

59

lier: empowerment. We saw how important empowerment was in the vision-crafting process, how essential it was to include a broad array of people and opinions in that process. By including people, we were empowering them and, in so doing, building a belief system in that process. Empowerment is just as critical in building enthusiasm. Here, empowerment means freedom. You want to give your organization the necessary freedom to call their own shots as need be—the audible that we also discussed in Chapter 1. In that discussion, we showed how empowerment builds trust. It also builds enthusiasm. When you tell someone that they have the freedom to react as they think best, that naturally generates enthusiasm. People get pumped when you say, in effect, “I know you’re going to do the right thing.” People get excited, they gain confidence, and they approach what they do with more enthusiasm because of that empowerment. Of course, it doesn’t always work smoothly. People will make decisions on the f ly with which you may not agree. But never beat somebody up for, in effect, comping a customer a cup of coffee, Instead, if you don’t agree, work with them, coach them so they can help refine their ability to make those sorts of calls. Like so many other things, learning how to handle empowerment is a skill, one that some people will take more time than others to grasp and master.

Get to, Got to Another side of nurturing enthusiasm refers to a story Zig Zigler told in one of his books. As I recall, it went something like this: A woman, an executive, had to put her elderly mother in a nursing home not far from where she worked. And, since she was really busy all the time, the executive told her secretary to block off Thursday afternoons so she could go visit her mother.

60

Generating Enthusiasm

The schedule held for a couple of years. No matter how busy she was, no matter how focused on a boatload of issues and problems, every Thursday afternoon this executive visited her mother. That is, until one Thursday morning. The executive was in a meeting and her assistant took a call from the nursing home. Her boss’s mother had just passed away. Immediately, the assistant was in a panic. How would she ever be able to tell her boss that her mother had just died? Finally, after wrestling with a number of ideas, she decided just to be as straightforward as possible. As her boss came out of her meeting, her assistant called her aside and told her the bad news. And, naturally enough, the executive sank into tears. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” said her assistant, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I couldn’t think of any other way to tell you.” “It’s not that,” her boss said, looking up at her through a wash of tears. “It’s that I just realized something. All these years, every Thursday afternoon, I’ve been thinking, ‘I’ve got to go see my mother.’ And, all this time, I should have been saying, ‘I get to go see my mother.’ ” It’s a subtle but, nonetheless, huge distinction. The first phrase—the “got to”—smacks of drudgery, of unpleasant obligation. I’ve got to do this, no matter if I really want to or not. But the second—the “get to”—brims with enthusiasm, with commitment, with the joy of approaching something as a privilege instead of punishment. Encourage a “get to” attitude in your organization. Start with yourself. Think that you get to work with terrific, talented people. You get to offer a great product or service. You get the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives through what you do. If you embody a “get to” attitude, it will most surely spread. In fact, you’re experiencing it right now. I get to write this book! And you get to read it!

Get to, Got to

61

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Remember when we mentioned in Chapter 2 that it ’s critical to start measuring the right things in your organization? Get to’s are a perfect example. Start keeping track of all the get to’s you see. Make a note of when someone displays real enthusiasm, goes out of his or her way for a customer out of the sheer joy and satisfaction of going that extra bit of distance. Share your notes with others in your organization, not only for the recognition and support of a culture of enthusiasm, but also to show that you’re paying attention to another “right thing.”

Q MORE CHOICES Here’s one concrete example of someone I know sharing a get to. One of the generals I work with—I mentioned him before, General Richard Reynolds, Vice Commander of Air Force Materiel Command, is extraordinary at sharing get to’s. He used to have a communications tool called WIGO—an acronym for “What is going on?”—and every Monday morning, he would set the tone for the entire organization by celebrating the successes of what was happening within the command and within the Air Force. It was really nothing more than a compilation of get to’s. But it generated an enormous amount of enthusiasm because everyone dreamed about being featured in a WIGO one day. Think about what your own WIGO could achieve. It ’s not hard to imagine the kind of enthusiasm that a chairman of the board or president of a company could create when everyone comes into work Monday morning and reads about the highlights and successes of the organization—all the get to’s. It ’s an enthusiasm that derives from affirmation—I know you, I

62

Generating Enthusiasm

value you, and I genuinely appreciate you. And that ’s one powerful feeling that ’s almost impossible to water down. Should you choose to follow General Reynolds’ lead, your WIGO doesn’t have to be exhaustively long or time consuming. What it has to be is genuine. Even a few lines on a memo congratulating a customer service representative for terrific customer feedback or pointing out some other instance where someone went above and beyond a get to culture that your customers are bound to pick up on as well.

Enthusiasm Also Means Pride Believe it nor not, just for a moment I’m going to ask you to forget the goal line—what you want your organization to achieve, your vision, and other long-range objectives. Instead, let me ask you a simple question: Are you proud of what you do? A simple enough question, but one that carries important ramifications. Again: Are you proud of what you do? Do you know its value? Can you feel a sense of value? Do you appreciate that value? Can you honestly say that you’re proud of your role in providing others with a service or product? Pride is essential to generating enthusiasm. It validates and underscores what you do. It’s a reminder, even on an unconscious level, that you should feel privileged to do what you do because it is inherently valuable. That’s why Notre Dame has that sign placed where it is, where the players can read it just before they head out on to the field. In so many words: You have every right to be proud to be here. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations simply don’t have a lot of pride. Perhaps they think that what they do isn’t particularly valuable or they’re not particularly happy with the way their organiza-

Enthusiasm Also Means Pride

63

tion conducts itself. Whatever the cause, a lack of pride can strangle enthusiasm. If people don’t take pride in what they do and genuinely value it, what motivation could they possibly have to bring enthusiasm to what they do? I know of people who go to sports stadiums on a Sunday and scream their lungs out for a team with which, in reality, they have no real connection, short of the fact that they like the players. And the same people drag into work Monday morning, hoarse from the day before, with absolutely no pride in an organization to which they are connected in any number of real ways. Pride can be addressed in a variety of ways, many of which we’ve already touched on. An organization that encourages participation in the visioning process fosters pride. An organization that empowers its employees builds pride. An organization that recognizes the value of what it does—which has gone out and seen for itself the end result of its labors—builds pride. And an organization whose leadership feels pride and encourages it in every way possible builds pride. So, build enthusiasm by building pride. Draw up a list of all the reasons you’re proud to work in your organization. Remind your organization that its services or products are important. Remind your people that you’re proud of them and have enough faith in them to call their own audibles. Put your logo on T-shirts and hats and pass them around. Sports teams don’t wear the same gear just to distinguish one from another. Pride comes from sharing the same colors and the same logo. I know a sanitation engineer in my community whose name is Louie. Notice that he’s not a garbage man. He’s a sanitation engineer, and for very good reason. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone, anywhere who has more pride in what he does. Now, some of you will recoil from that, thinking “A garbage man! Some job to be proud of!” But, he is and fanatically so. He doesn’t just see his job as hauling other people’s trash. He sees it as

64

Generating Enthusiasm

keeping the community clean, raising the level of sanitation, and making our town a healthier place to live. That’s the sort of enthusiasm that derives from pride. So don’t be like the sports fan who’s proud on Sunday and glum on Monday. Be like Louie—the proudest sanitation engineer on the planet.

Enthusiasm Overcomes Fear A lot of positives lie beneath the surface of enthusiasm. Belief. Confidence. Pride. A joy in getting to do something rather than having to do something. Every bit as important: Enthusiasm overcomes fear. I saw it recently. I was visiting friends who have a loft. One of the other visitors brought his young son and naturally enough, he scampered up the ladder like a monkey. The problem came when he tried to come down. He put one foot out very gingerly and kept looking around him, obviously unnerved by the height. All of us at the bottom immediately began shouting enthusiastic encouragement: telling him he could do it, just take his time, and step carefully. And he made his way down that ladder in nothing f lat—thanks, in part, at least, to the enthusiasm we offered him to overcome his fear. What was really funny, though, is that when the little guy made his way down, my friend told me that he had recently hosted the CEO of a big company. Like the little boy, the CEO wanted to see what the loft was like. And, just like the little boy, he got a case of cold feet and had to be encouraged to get down. CEO or 11-year-old, we all have fears. It’s part of being human. But the support, the belief, and the confidence that underlies real enthusiasm can overcome those fears. And that’s as true with championship customer service as it is with any ladder that any of us has to climb down.

Building a Safe Environment for Enthusiasm

65


My Enthusiasm All-Star
I’ve been blessed to have met and worked with a vast number of people and organizations who would easily qualify for all-star status. In fact, I should be compiling an entire team. But, if forced to name just one that really sticks out in my mind as an icon of enthusiasm, it would be Bill Hicks, the strength coach at North Carolina State when I worked with their football team and currently the head strength and conditioning coach with the University of Syracuse football team. His enthusiasm was absolutely contagious. He was enthusiastic in the weight room, he was enthusiastic during practice, and he was enthusiastic during games. If you didn’t get enthusiastic yourself just standing alongside this guy, you needed to check to see if you had a pulse. Bill was a naturally enthusiastic guy, but his enthusiasm also came from many of the ideas we’ve been discussing in this chapter. He took real pride in what he did because he knew and appreciated the importance of his role within the overall football program. He saw what he did and why it really mattered. He saw the value of his coaching when a player made a particularly solid block or tackle. I think he implicitly knew that it was important to pay attention to the value of his contribution. And, as a result, he was as enthusiastic a part of that team as you could ever hope to have. In fact, if Bill were in the business world, I know he would use those same skills to develop anyone with whom he worked. Because, with Bill, enthusiasm isn’t a football thing. It’s a team thing.

Building a Safe Environment for Enthusiasm The great thing about enthusiasm is, it spreads naturally. So, if you’re aware of building and nurturing enthusiasm within your

66

Generating Enthusiasm

organization, your customers will inevitably experience it as well. It just can’t be helped. You’ll likely see it in any number of areas— the follow-up phone call to ensure that a customer received service that simply wowed her, a smile and a thank you when someone fields a complaint, even something as simple as that extra word that really cements a relationship between a customer and your organization. That leads to one final element about enthusiasm. This is going to sound absolutely off the wall, but there are far too many organizations that, consciously or otherwise, discourage enthusiasm. For them, someone displaying real emotion, real enthusiasm, or real joy in their work is somehow or another distracting or unprofessional. Granted, that may be the case with a few organizations, but most companies would only stand to benefit from a greater infusion of enthusiasm. And that can happen only in an organization that works to create a safe environment for enthusiasm. That means a place where enthusiasm isn’t going to be stif led or ridiculed but, rather, encouraged. Again, a good place to start is leadership. If an organization’s leaders are enthused, that naturally sends a message to everyone else that enthusiasm is something to be embraced and celebrated instead of muff led. Again, too, foster enthusiasm through every bit of communication you have with everyone in your organization. Celebrate successes, great cases of get to’s, other things that testify to the important role enthusiasm has in everything you do. And that, in the end, builds a safe environment for enthusiasm, one that encourages everyone to build and show his or her enthusiasm at every opportunity. Enthusiasm is something you catch, and an environment that’s safe for enthusiasm makes catching it very easy. It’s a simple, but powerful question: How’s your enthusiasm? And what would others on your team say about your enthusiasm?

Building a Safe Environment for Enthusiasm

67

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Enthusiasm 1. Be enthusiastic yourself. Do you display a genuine sort of enthusiasm, or is it forced and shallow? Do you need to rethink your attitude toward what you do so that, in turn, you can coach others to be enthusiastic? 2. Hire for attitude as well as skills. Are you recruiting and hiring people who are enthusiastic and positive, rather than merely technically competent? 3. Show your appreciation to your employees. Are you praising your organization enough, thanking people for what they do—in effect, handing out enough shiny gold stars? 4. Empower your organization. Are you giving your organization enough independence to build a culture of enthusiasm? 5. Get to, got to. Is yours an organization that has many more get to’s than got to’s? If not, are you working to turn that around so that get to’s are the rule rather than the exception? 6. Encourage pride. Are you building enthusiasm by fostering pride for what your organization does? Are you offering enough opportunities for your organization to recognize the value of what it does and, in turn, build pride? 7. Build an environment that’s safe for enthusiasm. Are you building an organization that welcomes and encourages enthusiasm in all forms or is yours one where enthusiasm is seen as unprofessional or immature?

4 No One Whistles a Symphony— It Takes an Orchestra to Play It

A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat. —Paul “Bear” Bryant

69

T

ake a moment to think of your favorite piece of music. No matter if it’s a classical symphony that’s hundreds of years old or the latest country or rock chart topper, chances are good more than one musician performs it. Perhaps a hundred-piece symphony orchestra, or a five-piece band, but there’s normally more than one musician and instrument in the mix. There are really two essential things in play here. First is the issue of teamwork. No matter if it’s a massive symphony or a simple duet, music mandates teamwork—working together to make what happens greater than any of its individual parts. That comes back to the title of this particular chapter. No one can whistle a symphony. It takes the power and capability of an orchestra to play it. But it’s also a question of the conductor. He’s easy to spot with an orchestra—that’s the person up in front on the podium, waving the baton around. But even the smallest band has an onstage leader. He or she is the person who directs the remaining musicians and keeps them all on the same page, musically speaking. The fact is, there’s always a leader for any musical group. They’re essential. Even the best-rehearsed ensemble can wander off into different directions if there isn’t someone there leading them and keeping their focus. It’s no different in any other sort of organization. No one person within that organization can hope to achieve championship customer service on his or her own—your organization’s symphony, if you like. It takes the entire group coming together, working as a unit and coordinating each and every one of its activities.

71

72

No One Whistles a Symphony

It’s an issue of blending often-disparate parts into an effective whole. Just as an orchestra meshes brass with strings and percussion, so must your business mesh different skills, work habits, and personalities. But, to do that effectively—to really play a beautiful symphony—a conductor has to be there. And that’s a question of leadership, what an organization’s leaders do to be effective, inspiring conductors—everything they do to unite everyone in question and to make them play their individual parts to the utmost. When you are working toward getting a sports team to really click, magic happens when you sense that it is working with one single heartbeat. It’s a wonderful thing to behold—a basketball team, fighter pilots f lying in formation, or customer service champions all winning with one heartbeat. You can’t touch it, but you can surely feel it!

The Leader as Leader, Not Player One of the common misconceptions about being a truly effective and inspiring leader is that, by definition, you’re the single best person within that entire organization. Again, it’s very much like an orchestra—if you have a conductor up on the podium, leading dozens of world-class musicians through every twist and turn of a sophisticated piece of music, it’s assumed that the conductor is the single best musician, technically speaking, in the entire bunch. Not so! Sure, there are conductors who are remarkable technical musicians. But that isn’t the primary prerequisite for being an extraordinary conductor. The fact is, in any world-class symphony, there are probably several musicians in the ensemble who can play circles around the conductor.

The Leader as Leader, Not Player

73

What matters more from a conducting standpoint are other elements—an understanding of the piece being played, a sense of the mix of the instruments and, every bit as important, those steps that she knows she has to follow to get the orchestra to play as one. In effect, to be the best leader possible so that others—some of who are better skilled—can perform at their highest level. The same dynamic exists in every organization. Say your company manufactures umbrellas. Of all the people in your company, would you be able to make umbrellas better than anyone else? Could you go down to the assembly line right now and, pitted against the others on that line, make an absolutely superior umbrella? Would yours open faster and easier than the others or repel water any more effectively? Likely not. Chances are rather strong that there’s going to be someone there who’s a better, more technically superior craftsperson than you are. And, try as mightily as you wish, that person’s umbrella is going to be better than the one you built. That’s how it should be! The point is, your primary role in the company is not to necessarily be the best umbrella maker. Your role is leadership—to direct the company as thoughtfully and consistently as you can, to provide that person on the assembly line with every tool possible, every bit of training possible, so that he or she can excel and, in the end, to bring all the elements of your business together as smoothly as possible so they perform at their very best. I call this idea intentional congruency. Break that term down and you’ll see what I’m getting at. By congruency, I mean that all parts function in synch with one another. And that kind coordination and teamwork happen only by intent, at the direction or guidance by you, the leader of that organization. That’s why I often give CEOs and other people in leadership roles a director’s baton. It’s a powerful image. A baton can’t play a

74

No One Whistles a Symphony

single instrument, but it may be the most important piece of equipment in any orchestra.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Sports offer terrific examples that illustrate the leader as a leader rather than someone of superior technical skill. Think of any great coach or manager in most any sport. Now, take their careers a step back. Certainly, some were truly gifted athletes in their own right, such as Joe Torre of the New York Yankees. But, as often as not, some of the most gifted coaches and managers were anything but exceptional athletes in their playing days. Think of people like Tony La Russa, who, as of this writing, is managing the St. Louis Cardinals. La Russa is often considered one of the finest baseball minds around— but only in a managerial sense, because his playing days were nothing to write home about: six seasons, a paltry .199 career batting average, and not a single home run. Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, is another great example. He has an absolutely brilliant mind; he is a brilliant strategist and a grand master at preparing his team as thoroughly as possible. But he was no great player himself. He played for a small Division Three program, then went into professional football as a special assistant. Not a single professional down played, but nevertheless an icon as a leader. These guys and others like them illustrate people who have excelled as leaders—not because their technical skills were all that extraordinary, but because they learned what a leader was and how to mold the people around them into a cohesive, powerful unit. That ’s a powerful distinction that every great leader recognizes. So, give some serious thought on your own to what it means to be your orchestra’s conductor rather than just an-

How to Get to Carnegie Hall

75

other musician in the mix. What can you do to lead? In prior chapters, we’ve talked about developing cores values, a vision, and generating enthusiasm and belief, among other issues. Those are central elements of what it means to be a conductor. But there are a number of other steps that every great conductor takes to ensure the best possible performance.

How to Get to Carnegie Hall At the risk that you’re the only living, breathing soul who has never heard this joke, here goes: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. An old, perhaps even stale joke, to be certain, but for our discussion it has real meaning. Let’s say championship customer service is your Carnegie Hall—your vision, your goal. How are you going to achieve that goal? Practice, practice, practice. Practice is essential. And, just like a symphony orchestra or band of any size, you need to practice as a group. In the first chapter, we talked about the various advantages you can achieve in customer service through role-playing exercises. This is the perfect example of your “orchestra” practicing as a group—working with one another, critiquing each other’s performances, and offering practical tips on how to improve. Practicing as a group also comes back to working together as a team in the visioning process, in generating enthusiasm within one another and other steps that cement unity and teamwork. The more you focus on these elements over and over, the more you’re practicing as a team. And the more you practice as a team, the better your performance as a group.

76

No One Whistles a Symphony

As conductor, it’s also essential that an organization’s leadership provide the tools that are necessary for effective practice. Think about that: an orchestra is coming together for group rehearsal, however, the string section has no bows. What if the conductor merely shrugs his shoulders and tells them to do the best they can? Outlandish, but that is precisely what’s happening in many companies. They want their people to practice, they encourage them to practice, yet they don’t provide the means to practice. What’s the point of that? Don’t make the same misstep. Give your people the tools they need to practice and improve. And that means providing sufficient training, seminars, workshops, and other educational programs that let them practice, learn new skills and improve. Not only does that provide your organization with the practical means to practice and get better, it also sends them the message that you want them to get better and stand ready to help them in every way possible. Here’s another aspect of effective Servant-Leadership. A servantleader recognizes that improvement doesn’t come from just hope and good intentions. He knows it takes resources. As such, he’s constantly prospecting for those resources that he knows will be important to the growth and improvement of those around him. And that means constantly! Even if there’s no immediate need, he always has an eye peeled for some resource or tool that may better someone’s practice in the future.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Sports offer a really concrete image of the absolute necessity of providing your organization with the necessary tools to practice. Think of a football team with everything from blocking sleds to sophisticated gear designed to build team speed. Think of a baseball team with radar guns, slow motion

The Importance of Individual Practice

77

photography that captures nuances in swings and pitching motions. Those are not toys. They’re essential practice tools. Approach the tools you need for your organization to practice the very same way. Improvement and teamwork simply never happen by accident. Not only must it be encouraged, that encouragement needs to be backed up by a commitment to provide the best tools possible for the best practice possible. One without the other cannot provide championship-caliber performance.

The Importance of Individual Practice Every orchestra practices as a group. But that’s only one small part of its overall practice regimen. For every hour that the orchestra puts into practice, each and every single musician in that orchestra is practicing on his or her own. They all know that, to perform better on the stage alongside all the other musicians, it’s essential that they work on their own to address particular techniques, work to overcome problems, and raise their overall skill level. It should be exactly the same way with every business and organization in America. One thing that really bothers me about business today is an attitude that it should all be the company’s responsibility. If I’m not doing my job to the very best of my ability, it’s the company’s fault—completely and totally. They didn’t give me the best training. They haven’t coached me in the right way. I’m not paid enough to do that good a job. The excuses go on and on. Granted, some of that is all too true. I just mentioned a few paragraphs back how essential it is that companies and organizations of all sorts provide the best tools and the best training possible. It’s critical, and far too many organizations give it short shrift or ignore it altogether.

78

No One Whistles a Symphony

But it’s every bit as important that the people within an organization practice on their own as well. Don’t assume that the responsibility is just the company’s. Individuals should want to practice on their own, they should really want to get better at what they do. And this comes back to elements such as vision, values, belief, and enthusiasm. If all those things are in place and the people within an organization helped put them there, that’s a natural catalyst that makes people want to improve on their own. They know they’re a part of something that matters and they feel a responsibility to better their contribution. So, if you’re part of an organization, how do you practice on your own? Read a book (Oh, right, you’re already doing that! Way to go!). Take a class. Listen to tapes on customer service. There are a host of ways that you can take the responsibility for bettering your performance through individual practice. And, if you want to get better and, in the process, improve what your organization as a whole does, it’s a critical step to take. Organizations can also do more to encourage this sort of individual practice. If you as a leader find an interesting article that you think might benefit your organization, copy it and send it around to those people who might benefit from it. Keep your eye out for seminars, college courses, and other programs that your employees can attend. Offer to pick up the tab if there is one. Encourage your organization to practice and improve, not just as a group but individually, piece by piece. It’s a powerful path toward a championship performance.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird is an icon of the power of individual practice. A gifted athlete, to be sure, but nothing along the lines of a superlative natural talent such as a Michael Jordan.

Conduct the Entire Orchestra

79

Bird recognized that fact early in his development as a player. As a result, he developed an incredibly demanding practice schedule. He knew that how he performed on the court with four other players alongside him depended in large part on those skills that he developed painstakingly on his own. At one point, Bird put that mind-set into words. Remembering how hard he worked to develop his skills, he once said: “I still wonder if somebody, somewhere, was practicing more than me.” Remember when we talked about WIGO in Chapter 3— an ongoing communication with your organization to share successes and tips? If ever you want to instill the value of individual practice, I’d give strong consideration to passing along Bird’s thoughts. They’re a concise summary of the importance of individual practice and how you as an individual should never, ever let someone else outwork you.

Conduct the Entire Orchestra When a leader is trying to direct an organization, it’s assumed that, by trying to lead that group, he or she is guiding the entire company. It’s a perfectly natural thought. When you consider a group, you’re thinking of each and every part, right? Or are you? Give it some thought. Are there parts of your organization that you’re conducting more than others, perhaps to the detriment of the entire group? Certainly, there are times when extra attention is mandated toward a particular part—say, for instance, that shipping is having a hard time keeping on schedule. As a matter of course, you’re certainly going to turn your conducting energies a bit more toward that until any problems are resolved. But are you unbalanced as a rule? If, for instance, you come from a technical background, are you consistently conducting that

80

No One Whistles a Symphony

area of your organization but ignoring others, such as sales and marketing? Are you, consciously or otherwise, playing favorites? A skilled conductor knows to conduct the entire orchestra. Imagine what would happen if, by chance, the conductor directed only the brass and let the percussion section go where they wanted. You might have a piece of music that blared with trumpets while the drums beat an entirely different rhythm. What you would most certainly not have is smoothly f lowing harmony. Failing to conduct your organization in a balanced manner opens up several cans of very slimy worms! First, it fails to treat your organization as a balanced whole, as a team whose performance depends on each and every part. We’ve all seen companies whose product is terrific but whose customer support is terrible, whose customer service is terrific because the product is subpar and, as a result, has to be that good to offset an inferior product. Those may be cases of a conductor who’s off balance, who may be favoring one element over another and bringing the whole organization down as a result. Unbalanced direction has other pitfalls. First, if you conduct in an unbalanced manner, there’s the real risk of over-management with that part of the group that’s getting an undue amount of attention. People don’t like to feel like someone’s always looking over their shoulders, that they’re always under the microscope. Even without intending to so, you run the risk of compromising trust—a factor that’s central to an organization playing as one. At the same time, you also take the chance of alienating other parts of your organization who may feel slighted—a “What makes them so special?” kind of animosity that squashes trust and smothers enthusiasm. By the same token, always taking time to evaluate that your conducting is balanced—that you’re treating no one element of your organization as more important than another—is a

Conduct the Entire Orchestra

81

critical building block to building a smooth functioning unit capable of championship customer service.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE The basic point in the preceding discussion has to do with balance and consistency. Championship customer service should never come and go, and the conductor of that particular symphony should make sure that it ’s always hitting the right notes. Here’s an example of one time when it didn’t. I had a motor home, and I was running into some problems. I brought it to this dealership and was very pleasantly surprised that the vehicle was ready to go by the end of the day. Halfway home to Miami, I noticed there was a cassette in the cassette deck. I put it in and I turned it on and it said, “Hi, Mr. Pelletier. This is Ron, your service writer. First of all, we want to thank you for your business. What a pleasure it must be to own such a beautiful motor home. Mr. Pelletier, here’s what we did on your motor home today. We did [this, this, this, and this]. By the way, Mr. Pelletier, I know you’re going to have a great trip back. However, if there’s any problem, please write this down. This is my home phone number. And here’s my cell number. If you have any problem at all, please just go ahead and call me and we’ll make sure somebody’s there to take you in. If you’re close enough, I’ll run down there myself. Please don’t hesitate to call. Thank you so much for your business.” Now, fast forward to when I began to write this book. I place a call to that dealership and ask to speak to the owner. Well, he lives in Pennsylvania. They put me through to the service manager, and I leave a message in his voice mail saying that I’d like to feature the dealership in my book. Never heard a peep back from them.

82

No One Whistles a Symphony

There’s a perfect example of an orchestra that ’s out of balance. Championship customer service on one end, a complete letdown on the other. And that also shows the sorts of mixed, discouraging music an out-of-balance orchestra can play.

Stop the Music! When an orchestra is in rehearsal, the goal, of course, is to work toward a point where a particular piece of music can be played perfectly from beginning to end without stopping. That’s the point of practice. You don’t go to a performance where an orchestra starts, then stops suddenly with the conductor turning to face the audience and saying “Sorry, we messed up. We’ll take it from the top.” That’s what practice is for. And that’s why, if you watch an orchestra in a practice session, there are constant stops and starts. If the conductor hears something that seems wrong, they stop and correct it. Why more companies don’t do that very thing, I do not know. Think about your organization. You know if something is not operating as it should. It can be any element of your business. Do you stop, shut things down, however brief ly, and fix what’s wrong? As often as not, the answer is no. You just keep doing what you’re doing, moving merrily along, but all the time knowing that there’s problem that keeps resurfacing, time and again. One word: Stop! If you know something is misfiring, don’t be gun shy about stopping whatever’s happening so you can address the problem. An effective leader should never be afraid to call a halt to something that he or she knows simply isn’t working. Perhaps you know a salesperson is making the same mistake, time and again. Take him or her out of the rotation for a day or two and work to solve what’s wrong. You may lose a little sales time in the process,

Conducting for Adversity

83

but a problem that’s shut down and addressed is far less destructive than one that continues to grow and possibly fester. To prevent that from happening, organizations need to allot down time to focus enough time and effort to adequately address what’s wrong.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Sports teams have recognized the importance of stopping the flow of events since games were first played. Why do you think a coach calls a time out? Because he needs a bathroom break? Because she wants to catch up with what ’s new in her players’ lives? Of course not! There’s a problem that needs to be addressed. It may be that a particular play isn’t going according to plan or that a player ’s confidence has been shattered and needs to be built up again. It may be an issue of momentum—the other team is in a flow and, by calling a time out, the opposing coach wants to interrupt that flow. Whatever the reason, coaches in every sport know to solve a problem: You have to stop. You have to focus. You have to communicate. You need to find a solution. And those critical considerations cannot be addressed if the action of the game simply continues as usual. You hear from sports commentators: “That was a smart time out.” There’s a reason they say that. By stopping the flow of play, a coach was addressing a problem intelligently, emotionally, and efficiently. Look to use smart time outs in your organization as well.

Conducting for Adversity One of my new team members used to be a musician in a band. In chatting with him one day about that, I asked him how many

84

No One Whistles a Symphony

mistakes his band might make in a given performance. Not surprisingly, he said they always made a few, but that one of the band’s long-term goals was to reduce the number of mistakes with every show they played. But then he added something interesting: “Ray, I think what we worked on even harder was not showing that we knew that we made a mistake.” He went on to explain how important it was that they never let their audience know that someone had just played a clinker. No grimaces, no sidelong glances at others who slipped up, nothing to give it away. He said that they practiced the importance of simply moving on and playing the piece to the best of their ability from that point on. He said the group’s leader would repeatedly correct people who made faces when they made mistakes, saying that only magnified the mistake. That, to me, is conducting for adversity. It’s easy to prepare for all the things you hope will go right. It’s just as important to prepare for all that might go wrong and how you react to that misstep. And that’s the conductor’s job—not merely to strive to succeed but learning how to cope with adversity as well. It’s the same in sports. When I work for a football team and I’m getting them ready, one of the things I tell them time and again—in the locker room and just before we take the field—is to expect something bad to happen. Count on an interception. Count on a fumble. Count on a run back touchdown or an injury. That’s all built into our game plan. We know we’re going to face adversity. When you let a team realize they’re going to face adversity and they’re going to have challenges, they don’t lose their confidence if something happens. They’re prepared for it. The exact same thing should happen in every business in America. Few businesses plan for adversity. Organizations should prepare like a ball club does. If I’m a leader today overseeing customer service people or overseeing an organization as a whole, I

Conducting through Flexibility

85

want people to know that there are going to be challenges. There’s going to be adversity. How can you do that? Again, training, role playing, and other practical exercises are essential to building an ability to cope with adversity. It’s just like a sports team. If you don’t coach a defensive back on how to react after the other team has just beaten him for a touchdown, it’s unreasonable to expect him to somehow or another know what to do out of sheer intuition. Likewise, if a telephone customer service representative is dealing with a caller intent on bringing her to tears, it’s really unfair to expect her to know how to deal with that adversity unless she’s been schooled in precisely what to do. But handling adversity is more than practical skills. It’s also an issue of the internal emotions of your organization. If you’ve taken the time to begin to construct some of the essential elements we’ve discussed in prior chapters—things such as values, vision, belief and trust—you’re building an organization that, by the very core of its makeup, can handle adversity. You’re a team. You know where you’re going. You support one another. And part of that emotional togetherness, that camaraderie, is knowing you can handle any sort of adversity that anyone or anything can dish out.

Conducting through Flexibility One of the least known, or perhaps least understood, elements of a football game is the halftime. A lot of people still have this vision of Knute Rockne trailing his players into the locker room and rallying them with an impassioned speech to win one for the Gipper. End of halftime. Now get out there and fight! Truth is, in most locker rooms, before any coach says a single word to any player, there’s a brief, mini-meeting of the coaching

86

No One Whistles a Symphony

staff. In it, they do a quick rundown of what’s happened so far. What’s worked. What has f lopped. And, before they go to talk to the team, they work out those adjustments in their game plan that they feel are necessary. That comes down to f lexibility, a characteristic that I think every great coach, conductor, or leader has. It’s an ability to be comfortable with whatever adjustments, changes, or updates are necessary to better the organization’s overall performance. It’s an ability to make a plan but not to be afraid about changing as you go to react to what isn’t functioning as efficiently as it should be. In my experience, many leaders are more than a bit nervous about being f lexible. They don’t like being asked questions. They don’t like to adjust. I think, in their eyes, their ability to lead and conduct is somehow compromised if they deviate ever so slightly from their original course. Nothing’s farther from the truth. If a conductor hears a particular passage that somehow sounds off, she’s bound to be f lexible in adjusting the way the orchestra plays to make that portion of the music f low more smoothly. Again, in sports, coaches make adjustments all the time. It’s not considered a weakness—it’s expected. In fact, part of being a f lexible leader is soliciting input from those around you so you can make more effective adjustments. A conductor may ask the first violinist for his or her opinion. A football coach may go to the team’s veterans to sound them out on any adjustments that may be necessary. A great conductor or coach also makes him or herself accessible, so that the players under their guidance can feel comfortable about approaching them without being asked. Flexibility is essential in conducting any organization toward a superlative performance. Even if the f lexibility impacts only one musician or player, it can have far-ranging consequences. Coach even one person more effectively through f lexibility, and the group inevitably benefits.

Conducting through Flexibility

87


My Conducting All-Star
Once again, I come back to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Belichick and the entire organization embody many of the principles of a great orchestra under the direction of a gifted conductor. A conductor with no professional experience but who knows what it genuinely means to be a leader—to prepare a team completely, to ready oneself for adversity, and to be sufficiently f lexible to toss aside an ineffective strategy in favor of one with a greater chance for success. But Belichick is also a great conductor because he demands that you do your job. He demands that you study and practice on your own. He demands that you know what you’re doing, all the time. The team ref lects those conducting strengths. They’re unified. Always focused. They have their star players, but no one person on the team is necessarily more important than another. In every sense of the idea, Belichick conducts the entire team—not random parts, not one particular unit at the expense of another. It’s an entire team, coached as an entire team. And when they play, they look like a skilled orchestra performing a concert, with one heartbeat at its very core.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Effective Conducting 1. Lead, don’t play. Are you focused on being an effective leader and not just a person with a greater number of skills than others in the organization? 2. Encourage group practice. What are you doing to encourage group practice and, in so doing, foster teamwork and enthusiasm? Are you providing adequate training and other tools for

88

No One Whistles a Symphony

practice? Are you practicing Servant-Leadership by constantly prospecting for useful resources? 3. Encourage individual practice. What are you doing to encourage others in your organization to improve their skills on their own? 4. Conduct the entire orchestra. Are you leading your entire organization or do you pay an unnecessary amount of attention to one part of your organization at the expense of others? 5. Stop! If you see an ongoing problem, do you stop and take the necessary time to focus on the problem to address it completely? 6. Conduct for adversity. Are you preparing your organization not merely for success but also for adversity? Are you showing them ways they can handle problems, missteps and even outright disasters? 7. Conduct for f lexibility. Are you a conductor who’s comfortable with making adjustments to better your organization’s overall performance?

5 Character

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. —Helen Keller

89

C

haracter matters to championship customer service. In fact, it’s central. When I think of all the great leaders I’ve been fortunate enough to meet, those who resonate as being the most significant are ones with excellent character. The people who were great leaders in the Bible all had excellent character. All of us have character, but it’s more a matter of what kind of character we have. That’s what our challenge is—to go from being ordinary to extraordinary in terms of the excellence of our character. And that inevitably carries over to the character that championship customer service expresses.

Character Def ined What precisely is character? That term means a great many different things to different people. But for me, it boils down to an issue of integrity. Are you genuinely a person who means what you say and says what you mean? Do you stand by what you say and believe? Can others count on you? Are you the same person behind closed doors as when you show yourself to the rest of the world? Think of someone whose character you don’t respect. What was it about them that alienated you? What element of how they conducted themselves led you to question their character? Although it’s not necessarily any fun to have to think of people whose character you question, it teaches an essential lesson: You remember good character. But you also remember questionable

91

92

Character

character. And, in running an organization, those sorts of memories carry long-lasting implications.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE There’s an old saying that begins “Out of the mouths of babes . . .” It hits on the inherent honesty of the young. Those of you who’ve had young children in your life for any amount of time have all experienced the embarrassment of a child saying something that was absolutely true but nonetheless awkward! Well, it may be awkward, but your children can often be the best gauge of your character. It ’s an interesting, revealing exercise. Ask your kids what they think your character is. If they’re young, explain what you mean by character. Ask them for your strengths and weaknesses. What do they think about you is most reliable? What less so? Again, it may be uncomfortable, but it ’s bound to be both honest and revealing. They know perfectly well what you stand for. It may seem silly, but this exercise can prove exceedingly valuable. You’re asking someone for an opinion, someone who knows you exceedingly well and who won’t pull any punches. And by gaining a sense of what your kids see in you, you get a feel for what your organization may see in you as well.

A Character Checklist To gain a further sense of your character—and, every bit as important, what’s positive about it and what may benefit from some attention—it can be helpful to ask yourself some pointed questions. If you like, write your answers down on a piece of paper and review

The Theme of Giving

93

it afterward for thoughts that really jump out at you. To get you started, here’s a few questions that may prove thought provoking:
If you had to express it in one word, what kind of person are you?
What is it that you really believe? What are your most important beliefs?
Are you the kind of person who wants to make a positive difference with your life?
Are you others-focused or me-focused?
Are you the kind of person who derives great pleasure from seeing other people succeed?
Are you the kind of person who can feel the rush of victory watching other people accomplish something as a result of your efforts and your guidance? Can you celebrate their success?
Are you the kind of person who can go ahead and give yourself and your personal desires up for the greater good to make a positive impact?

The Theme of Giving You no doubt noticed that several of those questions hit on a common theme. That topic can be summarized by the word giving. Are you a giving person? Do you put others ahead of yourself with the idea that, in so doing, you’re giving them something of genuine benefit? Do you give yourself up for the greater good? Do you recognize that, in giving to others, everyone benefits, including yourself ? That makes a focus on giving a central element of one’s character. That should come as no surprise. People who are self less, who make a habit of putting others ahead of themselves, generally

94

Character

have solid character. They know that people recognize someone who is purely self-serving and how that can alienate others. As a result, they’re consistent in their emphasis on giving of themselves so it becomes a natural expression of their character and values. Placing a value on giving as an element of character hits at the very heart of championship customer service. Customer service boils down to a love and enthusiasm for giving. It’s placing the highest possible value on giving as an expression of you and the organization with which you’re connected. If you have excellent character, odds are excellent that you place a premium on the power of giving. And, if you value giving, you’re on the way to building championship caliber customer service. It’s as simple as that. But character is also highly contagious. It spreads through every crevice of a business or organization. When people know that those with whom they work have character, they work to develop their character as well. They raise their standards. And that culture of character is ref lected in any organization’s every move and every decision. It’s that pervasive.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE When I think of how closely intertwined giving and character are, I always think of former President Jimmy Carter. The debate of his merits as president is best left to others. But, I think even his most ardent detractors would acknowledge his strong character. Whether you agree or disagree with him, Carter had conviction. He had unquestionable integrity. And he stuck to his guns. Moreover, his entire life has been characterized by giving. His work with Habitat for Humanity. His ongoing work with human rights through institutes such as The Carter Center. His efforts to bring world attention to the elimination of life-threatening diseases. All those are outgrowths of his char-

Use Adversity to Your Advantage

95

acter and his strong commitment to giving. And, no matter your political convictions or your feelings about how he performed as president, you inevitably admire those powerful character traits.

The Servant-Leader and Character The importance of Servant-Leadership—of being a mentor and a model of productive behavior, not just a source of orders—is central to character. When we talk about how effective ServantLeadership can be in building belief and values in your organization, it all comes down to character. What character do you have? What character do you display to others? No leader can be an effective Servant-Leader without solid character. How can you possibly serve as a model of ideals when you don’t live those ideals yourself ? It’s central to character, to Servant-Leadership, and, ultimately, to championship customer service.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Mother Teresa is the best example of a Servant-Leader with extraordinary character. She understood her calling and her mission. She was so passionate about her mission that she would involve you in her dream and God’s calling on her life. She didn’t tell you to get involved, to become concerned about the poor and lepers. She would involve you because of the strength of her own involvement. That ’s a true ServantLeader in action.

Use Adversity to Your Advantage Granted, some people are just born with superior character. No question. But just as often, character is built and forged over the

96

Character

course of a lifetime. And, to my way of thinking, character that’s consciously built can often be stronger than one that’s simply there to begin with. You know where you are and what it took to get you there. That permeates an organization. Many of the most successful leaders that I’ve ever encountered have forged character through adversity. It’s how they handled a setback, often a devastating one, that helped build the kind of character that allowed them to come back and move on. It’s hard to believe in something when there’s nothing to believe in. It’s hard to really reach down within your soul. And, in that sense, you can actually use adversity to your advantage in fostering positive character.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE We’ve all coped with failure. It ’s a fact of everyday life. But, in terms of building character and encouraging good character around you, one important step to take is acknowledging failure and taking responsibility. We’ve all certainly been around others who, somehow or another, seemingly never took responsibility for a single thing in their entire lives. Every mistake, every slip up, every plan gone sour, was somehow someone else’s fault. Or it was a matter of bad luck. Or bad karma. And on and on, through a wash of excuses and flimsy explanations. Think how you reacted to someone like that. Did you respect him, somehow or other admire his ability to slither through the cracks without admitting any responsibility for anything that happened to go wrong? Of course not. Instead, you may have questioned his honesty or, if nothing else, his grip on reality! That shows the central importance of admitting when you’re wrong and taking responsibility. If you did something

Use Adversity to Your Advantage

97

wrong, it ’s by no means a sign of weakness to admit to it. Precisely the opposite. It shows character. It shows selfconfidence and conviction. It shows a willingness to admit to your limitations. Just as important, it shows a belief in giving. By admitting you made a mistake and taking responsibility for it, you’re really giving a part of yourself to others. You’re saying that you trust that they will support you and help correct the mistake you made. It shows character and solidarity—again, characteristics that you want at the very bedrock of championship customer service.

Q MORE CHOICES I do an exercise in my seminars that shows what can happen in an organization with character, belief, and camaraderie. I place a large ladder on the stage, then ask someone to be the “leader ”—the real leader is no longer available and someone needs to step in. There are also a couple of suitcases in the exercise that illustrate the pressures he has to cope with in assuming the leader ’s responsibilities. I then ask him to climb up a couple rungs of the ladder. The point, I say here, is that the leader is trying to lead the organization toward success. I have him climb a few more steps. Then, I begin to rock the ladder slightly. This, I explain, represents the after effects of mistakes, the pressure, the uncertainty, and the danger that the leader may take a fall. I then turn to the audience and tell them that they’ve really disappointed me. They’ll ask how so. I’ll say that they’ve done nothing so far to help the guy up on the ladder. Even worse, I tell them that I’m going to count to 40, then I’m going to knock him right off that ladder.

98

Character

I then ask the rest of the group what they intend to do. He’s made mistakes, certainly, and things are getting rocky. It ’s amazing to watch what happens next. To a person, those people rush onto the stage, surround the ladder and support it. Even though their leader has made some serious mistakes with real ramifications, their only reaction is to lend every bit of support that they can so he won’t fall. I even try to infiltrate them, to make my way through the group to try to knock the leader off the ladder, but there’s no way in the world I can get past those people! That illustrates what admitting failure can do for an organization. People naturally rush to help in any way they can. It ’s empowering. It ’s a trait of human nature that most people don’t like failure. Nor do most enjoy failure in others. And we all know that we’re saddled with baggage—past mistakes, failures, maybe problems that are outside the office. By acknowledging failure, you naturally draw out that natural tendency to help and support. That reaction is also one that fosters inclusion, vision, values, and some of the other elements we’ve already touched on. Translate that to a championship customer service program. Imagine the mind-set it creates. Rather than looking for excuses or pointing fingers, an organization built on character and giving naturally rallies. Instead of explanations, they look for solutions. They naturally look to make things better. They always want to go the extra bit of distance because they know everyone around them will do precisely the same thing. That ’s character and that ’s giving of oneself. That ’s a champion.

Q STILL MORE CHOICES I have a friend who’s a general in the Air Force. And he made a multimillion dollar mistake. He crashed a plane. Utterly de-

Giving Others the Right to Fail

99

stroyed the entire aircraft. One of his crew was killed and a very expensive airplane was destroyed. Sure, it ’s a tragedy and a failure. A big one. But he’s grown from the tragedy because he doesn’t believe the Air Force treated him as a failure. Instead, he sees it as a multimillion dollar investment in him. He believes the Air Force has invested millions in him to become better at what he does. That ’s real character, having the strength to come back from a loss and a mistake like that and see it as a step in his development in the military and in his character. Extraordinary people make mistakes. Ordinary people avoid the risk of making mistakes.

Giving Others the Right to Fail Failure certainly isn’t a one-way street. You know that you’re going to fail on occasion. You know that it helps build character. And you certainly recognize that those around you are going to fail as well. It’s critical that you let them do just that. Many organizations with which I work have a very wellintended, but nonetheless basic f law. They’re terrified, absolutely petrified to let their people fail. They don’t let them take chances, they don’t want them to pursue unexplored options and avenues. And if by chance something goes wrong, there’s always a convenient excuse ready. That may seem comforting and supportive, but it really isn’t. Just as it was with you, it’s important to allow your people the opportunity to fail. Yes, opportunity. Rather than seeing failure as nothing more than a disheartening snafu, failure is the best education there is. You learn what not to do the next time. And, as we discussed earlier, it’s central to the development of character—

100

Character

someone who confronts their mistakes honestly, owns up to them, goes forward stronger and better able not to repeat that mistake.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE I once worked with a college football program that had a very gifted wide receiver. He was fast, ran exacting routes, and had extraordinary reflexes. The coaching staff knew his potential and worked with him at length to develop his skills. Unfortunately, there were two problems. First, despite his speed and quickness, this receiver had trouble holding onto the ball when it was thrown to him. It often didn’t matter that the quarterback led him perfectly and hit him squarely in the hands. Far too often, the ball bounced to the ground as though he was trying to catch it between two salad forks. But that wasn’t really the worst of it. Occasionally, when this receiver muffed a pass, he would immediately pull up and act as though he had just pulled a muscle. He’d start limping and hopping back to the huddle. Everyone there knew full well he was faking it. For one thing, nothing about the way he was running prior to the “injury” suggested a problem. It never looked as though he made any sort of misstep or anything like that. But, every bit as telling, these sorts of things would only happen after he muffed a pass. It happened far too often and far too consistently for anyone to think otherwise. It was obvious. He was afraid to fail. He was so petrified of dropping a pass, particularly an important one, that he had an automatic excuse at hand. He simply couldn’t admit his failure, his inability to catch the ball consistently. And, even though it was painfully obvious to everyone there that his slew of pulled muscles and cramps were bunk, he kept up with his act.

Character Can Be Unpopular

101

But the coaching staff addressed the problem in the best possible way. Rather than confronting the receiver about his so-called injuries, they simply kept throwing the ball to him, over and over. Bit by bit, he began to hold onto it more. His confidence grew. And, eventually, it got to the point that he was catching almost everything that was thrown his way— balls he had to jump for, throws he had to scoop off the turf to control, you name it. And his muscle pulls and strains miraculously vanished! This is a terrific illustration of the importance of letting people fail. By allowing his mistakes to occur and letting him work through his problem, the coaches showed faith in the receiver ’s ability to overcome what once were bad hands. And, in demonstrating that faith, they let his character develop, one that ultimately realized that fake muscle sprains were not the way to address his shortcomings. Equally important, the coaches didn’t really pay attention to the fake limp, a mere by-product of the essential problem. They focused on the problem itself and, in so doing, the issues along the edges took care of themselves. Consider that when letting others around you fail. Are you focused on solving the problem and building character, or are you paying too much attention to the distracting buzz that can often cloud the real issue at hand? Like the receiver learned, overcoming problems and building character in the process is really nothing more than keeping your eye on the ball.

Character Can Be Unpopular Don’t misconstrue that statement. People generally like and admire others with character. In fact, if being liked by others matters

102

Character

to you, there are few more certain roads to popularity than following one that builds and fosters character. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case all the time—nor should it be. Character also means being unpopular on occasion. People with character have to say unpopular things now and again. They have to point out truths that others may be hesitant to acknowledge. They may suggest solutions that are inconvenient, even unpleasant, but no less necessary. In fact, this is often the most challenging aspect for many people who wish to build character within their organization. We all know the importance of a positive, supportive environment. We’ve discussed the key role enthusiasm can play in developing trust, belief, and camaraderie. Building others up and supporting them is essential to every element of your organization, including customer service. But so is honesty. And honesty occasionally means pointing out problems, missteps, and other issues that can make others uncomfortable—even alienate them occasionally. If you see a customer service representative who’s rude to a customer, your character mandates that you point that problem out immediately. If a salesperson isn’t timely with follow-up calls, point that out as well. It’s important on several levels. First, it’s another form of giving. You’re giving up how someone may feel about you, however temporarily, for the greater goal of championship customer service. Moreover, it shows a basic sense of fairness. You’re not going to play favorites and ignore rough edges just so everyone can remain happy and smiling 24/7. It’s also team building. It shows that you care about the organization and those in it. It demonstrates that you’re focused on building the best, on bringing out the very best in everyone. People who don’t care are glad to ignore what they know needs to be corrected. People who do care address it head on. It’s that simple. Moreover, it’s your job!

Associate with People of Good Character

103

Associate with People of Good Character Want to better your own character? Want to build character within your organization? Do you want your customer service to shine with character each and every minute? There’s a great way to do it. Associate with people of good character. On the surface, that may seem way too simple, but it’s absolutely true. You can hear all about the value of solid character, know full well the central importance of solid character to your organization, but nothing brings it home more vividly than simply being around those who have good character. The reason that’s so effective is that you see character in action. It’s not an abstract principle. A person with character shows it naturally all the time. It’s not turned on and off on a whim. It’s always there and it always shows. It comes back once more to the pervasive nature of character. It just f lows from one person to another. If you have it, it moves throughout your organization. It can help those with character issues overcome them, like the college receiver who tried to mask his unreliable hands with a never-ending series of mysterious injuries. Good character naturally encourages character within others. So, expose yourself and those around you to as much good character as you can. Bring in guest speakers whom you feel really embody good character. If you’ve been in a business that you felt expressed good character, encourage those around you to visit it themselves so they can experience that sort of character in action. It’s contagious.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Our discussion about exposure to character circles back to a central point of our entire discussion. Attributes can all be

104

Character

built within an organization. And, if they are built thoughtfully and constructively, they naturally express themselves in everything your organization does, including customer service. Anything so ingrained can’t possibly disappear! So many organizations try to build championship customer service by saying, “We need to do this, this, and this.” That may be so, but “this, this, and this” don’t simply spring from the ground. They need to have a source as well as means to nurture their growth. Without it, they’ll likely die. Things such as values, belief, trust, vision, enthusiasm, and character offer both the source and the means to nurture championship customer service. With them, all the things that you associate with a champion—doing whatever ’s necessary to really impress a customer, owning up to a mistake and doing what ’s right to correct it—all occur because the values naturally put them into place. You don’t need to say, “We need to do this to become a customer service champion.” With a solid basis, the magical “this” happens on its own, over and over.

Q MORE CHOICES W Mitchell is another man of extraordinary character. I’ve always counted myself as being exceedingly fortunate in having met this man. For those of you who don’t know the story: W Mitchell is a former Marine who once worked as a gripman on the cable cars in San Francisco. Much of his life has been marked by nothing but tremendous success. He founded Vermont Castings, a $65 million fireplace and woodstove company that employs thousands. He was twice elected mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado, and once ran for Congress. But all that seemed to fade to insignificance when tragedy struck him over and over. First, he had a serious mo-

Character Doesn’t Mean Winning at All Costs

105

torcycle accident, which burned more than half his body. Then, an airplane crash, which left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A person of lesser character would probably wallow in that tragedy and let it control his life from then on. But Mitchell is hardly that. He’s since developed a successful career as a motivational speaker. He is my friend and I have the privilege of being in the Speakers’ Hall of Fame with him. I often bring him in to work with clients to help them deal with adversity. And the overriding point of his message is that character means confronting what is. Not what was. And, moreover, how you choose to handle what is and take advantage of every element of your character, rather than embracing failure on its own. His work and words show that. His most recent book is called It ’s Not What Happens to You, It ’s What You Do About It. Every bit as powerful is a comment he made to a hospital patient who, like him, was coping with paralysis: “Before I was paralyzed, there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I lost, or focus on the 9,000 I have left.” That embodies everything we’ve been talking about character. Using adversity to your advantage. Never making excuses. Facing reality square up. And sharing the power of that character with those around you. That ’s the kind of character you want to be around.

Character Doesn’t Mean Winning at All Costs Let’s face it. Our society loves winners. We hold winners up as virtual deities. It cuts across everything: sports, politics, business, you name it. We love a winner. We teach our children about the importance of winning.

106

Character

On one level, that’s a good thing. We should love winning. That’s why we compete—to overcome adversity and to come out on top. Competing against yourself or someone or something else and winning is immensely satisfying. It builds character. It helps you identify those hurdles that you need to clear to reach an objective. It’s a pure form of dealing with adversity. Unfortunately, that love of winning all too often carries over into a winning at all costs attitude. The ends justify the means. Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. One winner—the rest are losers. That’s a tragic attitude to take, one that runs absolutely counter to sound character. As I wrote this, we were in the heat of a closely contested presidential election. And, everywhere you looked, across the complete political spectrum, a winning-at-all-costs attitude was everywhere. You saw it in personal attacks, in innuendo, in out and out lies. First we win, then make apologies after the fact. I have the pleasure of having nine championship rings. Each one of them has a story. Each one of them is part of something bigger than myself—a spirit, one heartbeat, one team, one attitude, one vision, one commitment—the things that really excite me. But I can’t fathom what it would be like if I had to look at one of those rings and admit that we had cheated—that we didn’t really earn it, that I knew we didn’t deserve it. How sweet would the victory be? It would feel worse than the pain of defeat because I would know that I was living a lie. If you’re a person who’s going to win at any cost, you really have no character at all. People without character are trying to find the easy way. They bend the rules without a heartbeat of remorse; they’ll cheat and keep on cheating so long as they don’t get caught. They’ll say and do most anything and justify it with success built on falsehoods. Even worse, that kind of mind-set can spread through an organization like wildfire. It’s very easy for people to see others

Character Doesn’t Mean Winning at All Costs

107

without character getting ahead and decide if that’s how the game is played, that’s what they’re going to have to do as well to succeed. It’s tragic, absolutely tragic when they see other people without character being rewarded or recognized. It’s a short-term win, but nothing more than a set up for long-term failure. Winning at all costs not only poisons an organization internally, it’s murder on the outside as well. There’s a well-worn phrase that got that way because it’s true: Reputation is everything. At day’s end, all you can rely on is what those around you think of you, what you think of yourself, what you and others know to be true about you because of what you’ve said or done in the past. And nothing is more poisonous to reputation than winning at all costs. We’ve all encountered people and organizations that happily adopt that attitude. What did you think of them? Did they strike you as trustworthy, someone with whom you would do business with confidence? Of course not. And, as likely as not, you mentioned it to someone else. And she mentioned it to someone else, and so on. One reputation: Rest in peace. Don’t downplay the importance of winning. That’s why we play sports, why we run a business. We all want to succeed. But winning at all costs is a contradiction in terms, both emotionally and practically. No one who will do anything to win can possibly truly win. However, building an organization of value, belief, and character always wins, because they naturally drive people to do the right thing. And that’s the stuff champions are made of.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles was preparing for a very big game with the University of Miami, their arch rival. Just days before the game, Coach Bowden

108

Character

learned that his grandson and son-in-law had been killed in a car accident after Hurricane Francis. Amid all the time and work in gearing up for a major game, he was suddenly saddled with enormous grief. I was amazed by one of the quotes in the newspaper from his team—it addressed the issue of character. One player said: “I see the character of the coach and I see his deep faith which speaks louder to me than anything I’ve ever seen.” Absolutely amazing. This huge game looming over him and not word one about the game itself. Just about Coach Bowden’s character and the strength he was conveying to his team in the midst of his own gut-wrenching sorrow. That ’s what a character that won’t have anything to do with winning at all costs can do. Sure, the game was important, but Coach Bowden’s character let everyone know that there were things of far greater significance than a football game. Even as they readied for a game with national implications, his way of dealing with his sorrow reminded them that it was still a game and nothing more. For him and everyone else, there were issues all around that carried much greater weight. That ’s character.


My Character All-Star
Having people such as W Mitchell and Bobby Bowden to choose from makes selecting just one all-star too difficult. So, I’m going to choose still someone else. Years ago, I happened to be at Tampa Airport waiting to speak to a large insurance company. With time to spare, I decided to go have a shoeshine. One of the people working in the shop was an elderly African-American woman. When my turn came, I climbed up into the seat.

Character Doesn’t Mean Winning at All Costs

109

First thing you noticed was the enthusiasm she brought to shoe shining. If ever I’ve seen someone with a real passion, a complete immersion in the joy of a task, it was this woman. She shined every shoe as though it was going to be her last. We got to chatting and I found out her name was Mrs. Cole. And she told me that she was the daughter of a sharecropper and that, as a little girl, she always dreamed of living in a small, beautiful white house with a white picket fence and black shutters. The story got even better. With pride that just filled every corner of that massive airport, she announced that she now did, indeed, live in a small, white house with a white picket fence and black shutters. And, with that, she looked up at me, her eyes proud and wide and shouted for all the world to hear: “Ain’t it great!” What could I do? Nothing except say right back at her: “Ain’t it great!” She responded: “You know, if I had to do it all over again, I would.” “You would?” I asked, puzzled, to which she said: “Knowing what I know now, I would have dreamed of having a big white house with black shutters and a big white picket fence!” Today, Mrs. Cole is a dear friend, one whom I make a point to see every time my travels take me to Tampa. For me, she lives the power of character, of the strength to overcome adversity, to lock so firmly onto the positive that any dream seemed reachable. And she happily shared that character with the world—something that championship customer service is bound to do as well.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Character 1. Understand what character is. Have you given thought as to what character means and what it can mean to customer service?

110

Character

2. Get a sense of your character. Have you asked someone close to you, particularly your children, to say what they see in your character? 3. Understand that character means giving. Have you made the connection between character, giving, and exceptional customer service? 4. Turn adversity into advantage. Have you taken a problem or an obstacle in your life and grown in character as a result of dealing with it effectively? Write one down and give it some thought. Draw up a timeline and identify significant events where your character was tested and grew stronger as a result. 5. Let yourself and others fail. Have you made the mistake of being afraid to fail or to allow those around you to learn through failure? 6. Be ready to be unpopular. Are you ready to accept that some things you say or do because of character may be uncomfortable or disliked by those around you? 7. Associate with character. Are you spending time with people of character to learn how they came to acquire elements of good character? Who are your heroes? What in their character do you find attractive and would like to develop within yourself ?

6 Conflict Management

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. —Theodore Rubin

111

I

grew up in a house with four brothers. If that sounds like a lit match near a gasoline can, you don’t know the half of it! We fought constantly. About everything, from things we thought meant life and death to the most insignificant topics imaginable. Whether it was girls, sports, or whose turn it was to do the dishes, if it came up, it was worth fighting over. The thing is, though, my parents always managed, somehow or another, to settle the fight and bring us back together as brothers. They always managed to point us to some common ground. Every single time. And I think that has everything to do with how close we remain to this very day. It’s also planted in me the importance of conf lict management. Just like any family, conf lict is going to take place in any organization. That’s inevitable. But, what’s more important—particularly when building championship customer service—is an ability to recognize it and deal with it as effectively as possible.

Conf lict Within, Conf lict Without One of the reasons that conf lict management is so critical to customer service is that it’s a two-headed monster. One head’s slightly more visible than the other. By that, I’m talking about conf lict resolution with clients and customers. That, at least to me, seems to be the most obvious aspect of conf lict management— fielding a complaint or problem from someone outside your organization and then working to address the problem. That’s not to

113

114

Conflict Management

say that every organization is skilled at that—far from it, actually—but at least they know the need is there. And, even though they may not do a particularly good job of it, at least they know that poorly handled conf lict with customers harms overall customer service. But there’s an equally dangerous form of conf lict—the internal kind. For one thing, it can take on various forms, from two salespeople who simply don’t get along to two departments whose operations and goals bash heads. Internal conf lict can f ly under the radar. When a customer comes in screaming, that’s all too easy to see. Not so with the internal variety. That can boil under the surface and fester, often with few obvious signs. Communication breaks down. Cooperation is strangled. The overall goal of serving the customer is sacrificed at the altar of petty power plays. And don’t think for a heartbeat that a client or customer doesn’t see what’s going on. Calls don’t get returned. If they do, they often conf lict. If they don’t, they’re needlessly repetitious. Your entire organization is called into question as a result. Your clients and customers wonder what the heck is going on. And, even more important, they begin to question why they’re continuing to do business with you. That makes conf lict management a key component for any successful organization or leader. If you don’t resolve conf lict, you’re going to develop a cancer—one that can often prove fatal. If nothing else, there’s going to be a negative mind-set that inevitably harms relationships. But it’s not as easy as spotting the problem and just slapping it like a f ly. Dealing with conf lict honestly and openly doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to be resolved every time. But by focusing on it, you can prevent long-term loss. And, if you don’t stop it right out of the gate, it invariably gains both speed and power.

Conflict Within, Conflict Without

115

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Here’s an example of what can happen when conflict starts, grows, and begins to move through an entire organization. I was recently called in to a very large government organization in which two leaders had conflict, that affected two very strong and powerful government agencies and bred discontent down through the ranks of both organizations. Instead of working together in harmony for the greater good, it was organization against organization. That little bit of conflict going unresolved resulted in adversely impacting two very large powerful organizations. And, in the end, they both lost. Here are two powerful lessons about conflict, both of which are essential to understand from the very beginning. If two people or two groups have conflict, both assume that they somehow or other can win. They want to “beat ” the opposition. If you were to ask them what that meant, they would be hard pressed to give you a reasonable answer. What do you really want to happen to the person or group on the other side of the fence? Do you want them to disappear? Become completely ineffective? What? It ’s a great question to think about. Most of us in conflict lose sight of what ’s really going on and what we really want. Deep down, it ’s rare that we wish any real harm on those with whom we disagree. But, in the heat of the moment, it ’s easy to lose sight of that perspective. The other point is that, if conflict is allowed to grow unchecked, no one really wins. Only the conflict itself is the real winner. Just as happened with the two government organizations I described earlier, both sides in a conflict do little more than just bring each other down. In a sense, it ’s a joint suicide. Both sides fight, they pummel each other and,

116

Conflict Management

in the end, both go down. No winner, only losers. And, in the case of customer service, there’s a third—the client or customer on the outside, wanting what you have to offer, only to stand on the sidelines while two warring factions trade body blows.

Why Conf lict Often Goes Ignored What with all the problems, all the damage that conf lict can do, both within and without, you would think that any organization geared for success would make it a priority to deal with conf lict as efficiently and effectively as possible. Amazingly enough, that’s hardly the case. I cannot tell you how many organizations I’ve worked with where problem number one has been conf lict of some sort. And, the deeper I dug, the more appalled I was to learn how long that conf lict had been in place, growing unchecked, almost as though the company was ignoring it in hopes that it would just go away on its own. The more I encountered this, the more the reason behind it came clear to me. Leaders are rarely trained in conf lict management. They simply do not know how to cope with it. What with all the sophisticated training they may have received in other areas, if two people are squared off ready to pound each other, they’re totally at a loss. They haven’t any idea what to do. This happens both inside and out. If two employees are at each others’ throats, leaders turn a blind eye, somehow trusting that everything will come out all right in the end. The same can be true with dealing with conf lict on the outside—with customers and clients with a beef. Rather than dealing with the problem head on, they assume that whoever is handling it will make everything right. How that might happen, heaven only knows. If

The Four Steps to Conflict Resolution

117

they happen to be the ones dealing directly with a complaint, they may listen to it, they may hear a customer’s wrath or dissatisfaction. But they’d really rather not be there in the first place. And they certainly don’t know what to do to resolve the problem—if nothing else, in a consistent and effective manner. It may come out okay one time, but the next instance brings a disaster. And after that, yet another catastrophe. And all because they were simply never trained how to resolve conf lict.

A Servant-Leader Never Ignores Conf lict If you’re intent on being an effective Servant-Leader, you should never make the mistake of turning a blind eye to conf lict management. First, by being involved as a Servant-Leader, you’re more likely to spot conf lict than a hand’s off manager who’s far less in tune with what’s going on. But, by following the principles of Servant-Leadership, one of your goals is to buffer employees from unnecessary pressure. And, more often than not, that’s what conf lict is—needless stress in an environment that may already be sufficiently stressful. That makes effective conf lict management a problem-solving tool as well as an important tool to lighten the emotional load of an organization. Again, never ignore it. Rather, train to deal with it and keep an eye peeled for any sort of conf lict that warrants constructive attention.

The Four Steps to Conf lict Resolution Like a coach mapping out a step-by-step strategy for a particular game, it’s essential that you be equally thorough in drawing up a

118

Conflict Management

plan to address and resolve conf lict—both inside your organization as well as externally. As a suggestion, here’s a four-step strategy that has worked exceedingly well for me in the past: 1. Identify the problem. 2. Build a plan to address the problem. 3. Talk individually with everyone involved in the conf lict. 4. Bring everyone together for a group discussion. That’s it. Follow these steps in order and the chances are excellent that most conf licts will be resolved—efficiently and constructively. We’ll discuss each step in detail.

Identify the Problem Step one, on the surface, may seem straightforward enough. Admit there’s a conf lict. Acknowledge it. Agree that it’s there. But that’s not as easy as it might seem. As we discussed earlier, many leaders don’t want to admit there’s any sort of conf lict. Since they don’t know what to do about it anyway, they probably figure the best course is to ignore it from the get go. Whatever you don’t acknowledge can’t possibly do you any harm. Wrong. Most of us are intelligent enough to know conf lict when we see it. We see it before our very eyes or someone else tells us about it. No matter how much we would like to think otherwise, we know full well what’s in front of us. That makes it imperative to start by saying, “Yes, there’s a conf lict here. And we need to deal with it.” Simple as that. It’s impossible to address a conf lict—really any sort of problem whatsoever—if you don’t agree that it exists in the first place. But there are practical reasons to admit that conf lict exists beyond the fact that you’re simply agreeing with reality. First is the

The Four Steps to Conflict Resolution

119

scope of the problem. Far too many conf licts, left unchecked, can grow into monstrous problems. They become needlessly damaging, unnecessarily complicated, potentially involving an increasing number of people with every passing day. That boosts the likelihood of real damage, some of which may not be repairable. And, just as important, it makes them more challenging to solve. But acknowledging conf lict also comes back to an issue of trust and camaraderie with those around you. By ignoring conf licts they know exist, leaders send a message of indifference. Whether intended or otherwise, they’re telling those around them that they don’t care enough to take action. At its lowest level, it comes across as: I have better things to do with my time. Solve your petty problems on your own. And, in the end, that can prove more damaging than whatever harm the nastiest conf lict can cause.

Build a Plan to Address the Problem Once you’ve agreed there’s a problem, you can then move forward so you can address it. And that means building a plan. On a practical level, this really means following up on steps three and four—talking individually, then bringing everyone together in hopes of reaching a satisfactory conclusion. But a plan may also mean revising your basic attitude toward addressing the problem before you start talking. The most essential point to re-emphasize is that you’re not looking to determine winners and losers. This is not a contest or battle where someone comes in first and second. Rather, you’re looking to solve something. You want to find that common ground where everyone can agree. That means keeping your focus on the solution—not the problem itself, not the warring parties, but the answer. It’s not easy, particularly if you’re involved in the conf lict yourself. People get emotional. They can get all bent out of shape, often saying

120

Conflict Management

things that, deep down, they really don’t mean. But, don’t take the bait. Stay on purpose. And that purpose is resolution, not winners and losers. There aren’t any, anyway, so it’s a better use of your time and energy to stay locked on the right answer.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE There is an old cliché in business that consists of two basic rules. Rule One: The customer is always right. And Rule Two: When in doubt, refer to Rule Number One. That may seem a solid set of principles to argue against but, in conflict resolution, it ’s not always so cut and dried. There are often many sides to an argument, every one of them valid. Maybe a customer misunderstood something. Maybe a customer expected something he had no reasonable right to expect. Maybe a customer isn’t telling the entire truth. Whatever the issues at hand, the importance of customer service reinforces the idea of finding a solution. Again, no winners, no losers—just a simple matter of reasonable resolution. On a small level, it may mean a free dessert for a restaurant order that was botched. On a bigger playing field, it may mean an adjusted bill or an outright refund. But, whatever the determination, it has to address a reasonable ending—not who was necessarily right or wrong.

It’s important for several reasons. First, most customers or clients who have a problem really aren’t all that interested in being declared “the winner.” They’re much more focused on getting satisfaction. They want the matter resolved and to move on. You can keep the winner’s trophy for someone else, thanks all the same. But focusing on a solution is just as important to the people within an organization. If there’s a problem, not only do they

Talk Individually with Everyone Involved

121

want it solved as much as the customer, they know they may have made a mistake. In fact, they may be painfully aware of it. They don’t need to have the point reinforced that they were somehow or another “wrong,” that they are the loser in the situation. That’s needlessly demoralizing. Instead, focus on a solution, both to the problem at hand as well as strategies to avoid the same thing happening in the future. Look to your vision in crafting a potential solution to a conf lict. It’s important that any foreseeable answer parallel the basic beliefs and values of your organization. For instance, it can set a bad precedent if you decide to limit someone’s ability to call an audible in problem solving if a central element of your vision is consistently empowering your people. That can undermine everyone’s belief in the vision that you want them to wholly embrace. So, use your vision, not only to suggest possible answers, but to make sure that any answer you consider jibes with that vision.

Talk Individually with Everyone Involved in the Problem With your attention geared to finding the right solution to the problem, the next step is to talk individually with whomever may be involved. This is essential for several reasons. First, it’s the most efficient way to get everyone’s side of the story. Conf lict is rarely simple. Remember the “knothole” exercise that we discussed in an earlier chapter? Same thing here. Everyone’s going to have a different take, a different perspective. No one is necessarily more accurate or valid than another. But you need to take each into consideration before you can move on to suggesting a reasonable solution. The other essential thing about talking with each person separately is that it allows each person to vent. If there’s any emotion

122

Conflict Management

churning beneath the surface, this is the time to let it boil up and out. No matter how long, no matter how emotional, let them go on until it’s out of their system. For one thing, it’s a much needed release. Once whatever anger, frustration, or other emotion is gone, the person can then move on to talking about what’s bothering them and what they think might be a suitable answer. That can give you hard, substantial information to help build a solution.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE One of the interesting things I’ve discovered in working with athletes at various levels is a common attribute that always goes into making a champion. All of these people have been in their sport for years and often decades. Baseball players in their thirties were playing Little League at age five. Football veterans can’t remember a fall when they weren’t playing a game on a Saturday or Sunday. For some people, that might breed complacency or even boredom. But not a champion. One common thing I always saw in almost every champion: They were still playing the game as though it was their very first time on the field. It was as though it was all new, all fresh, even though they may have done the exact same things thousands of times before. It ’s the eye of the tiger—you can tell in an instant if someone has it or not. If they don’t, the game has passed them by and they need to get off the field; that, or remind themselves about the difference between “get to” and “got to.” That holds a key lesson for championship customer service. No matter if it ’s an internal issue or a customer with a problem, listen to what they say as though you’re hearing it for the very first time. You may have heard the same thing, the same problem, the same complaint so many times before, you swear you’re going to scream if it comes up even once

Talk Individually with Everyone Involved

123

more. Don’t do it. Don’t even let on that, to you, this is very old news. Treat it as though you’ve never heard anything like it before. Keep in mind that it ’s your job. You can be a pro, or you can be an amateur. The decision is yours. It ’s powerful stuff for a couple of reasons. First, never make the assumption that what you’re hearing is absolutely identical to something you may have handled in the past. No matter how similar it may seem, history rarely repeats itself letter for letter. There are always different issues, little wrinkles that make every situation unique. Please, please don’t interrupt. Let them vent and get it all out. That makes it essential to listen as though you’ve never heard anything like this before. You’ll likely hear information or an angle that may be central to solving the problem. Fake your way through it—listen half-heartedly or, worse, not at all—and you’re bound to miss something important, no matter how familiar it may seem on the surface. And, it also comes back to character. By listening carefully, you’re showing respect for the other person. You’re telling him that what he’s saying matters to you. You’re telling him that you’re genuinely committed to finding a solution that ’s going to satisfy everyone involved. And, by doing that, you’re naturally encouraging him to be more constructive, to move beyond the emotion of the moment and focus on practical problem solving.

Q MORE CHOICES Only 15 percent of our communication comes through words. The other 85 percent is nonverbal—body language, gestures, facial expressions, and other means of communication. I have studied body language for many years. Entire books have been written about body language and nonverbal

124

Conflict Management

communication—the topic certainly justifies it—and this is not the place to address such a broad and detailed topic. But, it ’s important to point out that most of what passes back and forth between people has nothing to do with the words that come out of our mouths. That means it ’s essential in conflict resolution to make sure that you gain the best understanding of what is being said. Once someone’s had his say, an effective technique is to say, “This is what I heard you say” or “If I correctly heard what you said, you mean . . .” On one level, it shows the other person that you’re paying attention. It shows that you’re really trying listen and really trying to gain a sense of what he’s trying to get across. If what you say doesn’t reflect what he meant, it gives him the opportunity to rephrase it so it comes across more clearly. He may be able to put into words something that he expressed with body language at first. He may have rethought what he said and want to say something in a different way. No matter what actually follows, repeating what you heard him say is a terrific way to get his message while leaving as little unspoken as possible. (This works equally well at home with spouses and kids, by the way.)

Get to the Baggage Another important issue to tackle is that conf lict is rarely what it seems. That may come as a surprise to some who think that most disagreements are fairly obvious and above board. Maybe someone sees an issue differently than another, maybe she thinks that two people or groups simply don’t get along. For whatever reason, she thinks conf lict is fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, most conf licts are complicated, often involving several layers. There may be a host of reasons—some obvious,

Bring Everyone Together

125

others less so—why conf lict exists. Even more confusing, conf lict often has a history. What results in conf lict today may actually have its roots in something that happened a long time ago and, at the time, seemed completely meaningless. It may even take the form of some long-term resentment that really can’t be traced to a single incident. That means it’s important for you to do some digging to uncover everything that’s in play in a conf lict. And one great way to do that is to first let the person speak his or her piece. Then, I simply ask: “Is anything else bothering you?” Ask if there are any other issues. Keep going until he or she runs out of things to add. That’s where you can often uncover some real nuggets that may be central to solving the problem. In fact, it can often be more valuable than what may have been said in the first place. By drawing someone out a bit, you make him comfortable expressing something that he may not have been comfortable talking about at first. You get a more complete sense of what’s driving the conf lict, other aspects that play into the problem. In fact, the person may be moved to discuss his role in the conf lict as well—a key step toward the eventual answer. Also, it also reinforces your role as someone who’s really interested in getting every side of the issue that you possibly can. And that builds you up as caring, trustworthy, and completely focused on the solution, not just finger pointing.

Bring Everyone Together The last step in the process is to arrange a meeting with everyone involved in the conf lict. Here, you hope to come to some sort of mutually agreed-upon solution. But there’s some prep work involved. First, arrange for a place and time where you won’t be interrupted. One of the most important considerations in conf lict resolution is making sure that

126

Conflict Management

everyone feels as safe as possible to express whatever he or she feels a need to. That can be pretty hard in a public place or, by contrast, if you’re constantly breaking off to talk with someone else. So, set aside a private room. Choose a time when you’re not going to be focused on something else. Turn off your cell phone. Set the ground rules. If you get a chance, read a book beforehand that may help your mediation skills. One terrific one is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. The four agreements are: 1. Be impeccable with your word. 2. Don’t take anything personally. 3. Don’t make assumptions. 4. Always do your best. It can also be helpful to draw up a suggested resolution before the meeting. Based on what you’ve seen and heard from everyone, come up with something that you think might satisfy everyone. Make sure it’s balanced, that everyone comes away a winner as much as possible, with as little animosity or blame as possible. Finally, plan on thanking everyone for taking part. Acknowledge that there’s a problem to be addressed and say how much you appreciate their willingness to solve it. Applaud them for their efforts to come together to find a common ground. If your suggested solution doesn’t f ly or you’d rather let them work it out for themselves, be prepared to mediate. Let people have their say. Don’t interrupt them. Don’t play favorites. If someone is hesitant to speak, draw him or her out. If emotions start to run high, remind everyone that the focus should be on solving the problem, not trading punches. Keep notes so you can refer back to points made earlier in the discussion. Keep the atmosphere as positive and constructive as you can. If everyone agrees to a solution, it’s often a good idea to write it down. Not only—in a worst case scenario—might that head off

The Servant-Leader in Conflict Resolution

127

any potential legal problems, it’s also helpful in that everyone knows clearly what’s agreed to. If it’s on paper, nobody can really come back after the fact and claim that that wasn’t the solution they thought they had supported.

The Servant-Leader in Conf lict Resolution We talked earlier about how a Servant-Leader never ignores conf lict. Well, there’s more to it than that. A Servant-Leader looks to find solutions, not mandate decisions. She’s focused on getting to know people as people and, as a result, working toward an answer that’s suited to everyone involved. That’s also effective conf lict resolution. Not a matter of declaring winners or losers, not bringing someone down so someone else can move up. It’s participating in a constructive process through which everyone can agree on the right solution. And, believe me, it really does work.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE We’ve talked about the usefulness of role playing in other parts of building championship customer service. It ’s particularly valuable in conflict management. That ’s not hard to understand—with an issue that makes people jumpy just to think about it, the more you practice your conflict resolution, the better you’re going to be at it. So role play. Practice working with conflict that ’s within your organization as well as the kind involving customers and clients. Work with a variety of issues. Trade roles so that everyone gets a chance to be on both sides of a conflict. Practice serving as a mediator as well as instances where you’re dealing one-on-one with a dissatisfied customer. The more

128

Conflict Management

wrinkles you can practice, the more confident you’ll become in your ability to deal with all sorts of conflict. Practice also builds an important element of your organization’s set of beliefs. By practicing, you’re saying that you recognize that conflict is out there and that you’re ready to deal with it. You recognize the importance of conflict resolution as an important part in championship customer service. Like any good coach, you’re readying your team to cope with the unforeseen. And that cements the belief that you’re committed to developing a truly championship customer service system—one that celebrates success as readily as it overcomes adversity.

Don’t Expect to Bat 1.000 Everything we’ve hit on in this chapter has been geared to developing a solid plan for resolving conf licts both inside and outside your organization. Remember, since few leaders have any real training in this area, you’re already miles ahead of many of them! But, part of preparing to deal with conf lict resolution is the recognition that it isn’t always going to work every single time. Despite your best, most sincere efforts, disagreements between employees will remain. Not every customer is going to walk away completely happy with the solutions you’ve offered. That’s part of life. Not everything necessarily has a solution. If it did, life would be a good deal simpler. But the fact is, conf lict is out there. And not every bit of conf lict can possibly be solved. But the process of conf lict resolution is still valuable, no matter if you succeed or fail in the end. Even if conf lict remains, the fact that you and your organization made every effort possible to solve the problem paints a telling portrait of who you are and what you stand for. It ref lects a real commitment to bring your utmost

Don’t Expect to Bat 1.000

129

energy to every element of customer service—even those types of conf lict that live on, no matter how hard you tried. And that frames you as a real champion, both within your organization as well as to the world around you.


My Conf lict Resolution All-Star
Believe it or not, my conf lict resolution all-star is someone I’ve never met. Nor, for that matter, have the people who worked with this person ever met her face-to-face. A young couple was preparing to adopt a baby from another state. And, since they didn’t know exactly when the baby was going to be born, they couldn’t make airline reservations. Finally, the call came. A baby girl. And the wife needed to f ly to that state to begin the legal process of bringing the child back home. The trouble was, when they called airlines, they were facing an enormous ticket expense because of the last-minute reservation. Time and again, no exceptions, that’s our policy. They explained that they were adopting a baby and had no choice but to wait. Sorry. Too darn bad. And they were getting more and more exasperated. Finally, they called another airline. Despite their best efforts, their frustration showed. But, rather than playing into that anxiety, the customer service representative said: “Well, this sounds like a family emergency. Let’s see what we can do.” The end result: a super cheap fare that got the woman to the city where the child was born and, ultimately, back home several days later. The story doesn’t end there, though. Three days after the baby came back home, a package was delivered to the family’s home. They didn’t have the slightest clue who the person identified as the sender might be. Inside, was a Noah’s Ark and small stuffed figures representing all the animals on the ark. With it, came a note:

130

Conflict Management

“Just wanted to say how glad I was to have a hand in solving your problem. Here’s to getting her off to a wonderful start in life.” With that, the family sat right down and wrote a letter to the airline’s chairman of the board pointing this woman out and encouraging him to give her the biggest raise imaginable. Moreover, they also said that was the sort of customer service that every representative in that airline should strive to achieve. An amazing story, not only for thoughtful attention to detail after the fact, but the simple knowledge to focus on the problem at hand and find a solution. Not buying into the emotion of the moment, not a mindless adherence to company policy. Conf lict resolution, pure and simple.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Conf lict Resolution 1. Understand that conf lict happens both on the inside and from the outside. Where do you see most of your organization’s conf lict—between people in the organization or from outside customers and clients? Draw up a list and see which one is more common. 2. There are no winners. Have you handled a conf lict in the past where, in the end, there were clear winners and losers? Was it settled or are parts of the conf lict still smoldering? 3. Never ignore conf lict. Have you consciously ignored a conf lict in the past? Is it still a problem? Do you still find it hard to admit that a problem exists? 4. Build a plan to resolve the conf lict. Have you mapped out a specific strategy to deal with a conf lict? Write it down, setting out each element step by step in the order you plan to have them happen.

Don’t Expect to Bat 1.000

131

5. Talk to people alone. Are you letting people vent their frustrations in private? Are you asking them questions to draw them out further? Write down an example of some surprise “baggage” you may have discovered in a conf lict. 6. Talk to everyone together. Have you stressed the importance of solving the problem? Have you set aside a specific time to meet that’s private? Have you thanked people for making an effort to solve the conf lict? 7. Don’t expect to bat 1.000. Even though you have role played and practiced extensively, are you prepared to have some conf licts go unresolved? Are you prepared to accept that you did your best and to not take it personally?

7 Competition

Champions keep playing until they get it right. —Billie Jean King

133

E

very winner loves to compete. I’ve seen it in every championship sports team with which I’ve worked. You see the love of competition in the quarterback who wants the ball with a minute left in the game; the basketball player who knows that he’s going to be the one to take the final shot; the pinch hitter who lives for bases loaded, two outs in the ninth, with a 3–2 count. Competition is the fuel that drives—and never drowns—the champion. But the spirit of a champion—like that in the athletes I’ve come to know and respect—doesn’t just happen out of the blue. A lot of people assume that certain world-class athletes were just born that way and just blossomed from there. Not so. They trained incessantly. They maintained their focus. They built a belief system to support their goals. They brought others on as training partners and teammates and brought them into their belief system. And, just as important, they thought over and over about what it meant to be a champion—the mental side, that space between your ears that defines a champion every bit as much as physical skill. If that sounds familiar at this point, it should. Up to this point in our discussion, we’ve been hitting those issues in great detail— the importance of vision, a belief system, practice, and including others in that systematic development of a champion. In your case, championship customer service. Now comes the importance of competition and how it can take all that we’ve done so far and move it ahead.

Def ining Competition It’s not accidental that this discussion follows one on conf lict resolution. That’s because, in far too many people’s eyes, competition

135

136

Competition

means unhealthy conf lict, a battle to the death where neither side can possibly win. Left to its own devices, that’s possible. We see examples of unhealthy competition around us all the time. We see it in Little League, where screaming coaches and parents try to browbeat boys and girls into winning. We see it in high school and college gymnastics where young women starve themselves to near death in hopes of gaining a slight advantage in a f loor exercise. And we see it at the highest levels of sport—steroid use, rivalries that spark violence and other forms of extreme behavior. That kind of competition is really nothing more than an exercise in selfdestruction. That’s why it’s absolutely essential to define what we mean by competition—healthy competition, that is. For me, that means several things. First, it’s a contest. You’re pitting yourself against someone else in hopes of winning. Simple enough. But healthy competition is not just a race with a competitor. In competing, you’re trying to raise the level of your performance. Fueled by the spirit of a competitive atmosphere, you’re trying to get better, to improve, to constantly better what you do so that, in the end, you win. As we’ve discussed earlier, healthy competition doesn’t mean winning at all costs. Anything but. We’ve already discussed how damaging that can be, both within your organization as well as on the outside. It taints whatever you may win. And, virtually every time, your willingness to win at all costs is found out. Ask someone like an Olympic sprinter stripped of his gold medals from steroid use whether he’d do it again to win. See the distinction? In a nutshell, healthy competition is constructive. It builds you up and encourages you to contribute to that building process however possible. It really raises your game on every level. Competition at all costs, on the other hand, is destructive. You may think you’re doing what you have to do to

Defining Competition

137

win, but all you’re really doing is tearing away at your values, your beliefs, and an honest enthusiasm to compete—all the elements that, by definition, go into a real champion. Healthy competition is also the goal of the Servant-Leader. In encouraging those around her to compete, a Servant-Leader constantly emphasizes the importance of productive behavior—no less competitive, but never personal and never destructive. Servantleadership supports the idea of competing to win, but to do so in a way that builds the competitors and makes them all better at what they do. Not just a question of winners and losers. But there’s an additional angle to competition. That’s inner competition, competing with yourself. In many ways, this can even be more important than competition with others. Think about it: If you’re competing against someone else, you really have no inf luence whatsoever over their performance. Certainly, a batter may be facing a pitcher with the nastiest slider imaginable, but what really matters in the end is not so much the pitch but how the batter reacts. That’s something that the pitcher has no inf luence over at all. But what happens on the inside is another story. If you’re competing with yourself—monitoring your performance, evaluating yourself and determining how you can keep improving— it’s totally under your control. You call each and every shot. You’re not measuring yourself against another competitor whose performance is totally beyond your control. It’s all there within your reach and what happens depends completely on you and you alone. That’s why so many athletes consider themselves the only real competitor they may have. And that provides a powerful example for organizations of all sorts—certainly, we have outside competitors around every corner, but what truly defines a champion derives from how successfully you compete within yourself.

138

Competition

Inner Competition and Customer Service That begs the question: How do you encourage inner competition in yourself ? Perhaps even a bigger challenge: How you do you encourage it in those around you? Happily, in many cases, the answer is simple: You don’t really have to because it’s going to occur on its own. Once again, let’s go back to our earlier discussion about core values, inclusion, vision, and enthusiasm. If an organization of any sort has been really systematic about building those values and beliefs within themselves, they’re probably cemented in a pretty firm foundation of the company’s everyday mind-set and activities. And that, unto itself, just naturally makes people want to compete against themselves to improve. If they believe in an organization’s vision and values and admire how that organization carries itself in its activities each and every day, then they’re going to want to consistently better what they do. They want to see what they did yesterday and evaluate how they can do that even better today. They want to go the extra distance to consistently get better. If they made a mistake in the past, the enthusiasm that fills an organization built on belief and vision will naturally spur them to find a solution to ensure the same mistake doesn’t happen again. I compete with myself, each and every day. I want my program today to be better than my last program. I know that I want to measure the effectiveness of my last program. I know that I want to find out what the audience responded to or what my client responded to in a consulting assignment. So my personal competition within Ray Pelletier, within myself, is to constantly strive to do it better than I did it last time. It’s the best way I know of to avoid the trap of mediocrity, habit, or routine. In a nutshell: Champions look forward to competing against themselves because their values and beliefs drive them to constantly improve. It can’t be otherwise. And what powerful fuel for an organization working to build championship customer service.

The Importance of Internal Competition

139

The Importance of Internal Competition Competing against yourself isn’t the only form of internal competition. Championship service of all sorts can also be built by fostering healthy competition between people and groups within an organization. But, like other types of competition, it has to be handled carefully so that it never crosses that line into destructive competition. The basic framework of healthy internal competition really depends on how the competition is set up. Here, a personal example may work best: When I first started working for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, I had a natural competitor within the organization named Mike Catron. We were both great salespeople and really great friends, but we were also enemies— but enemies only in the sense of competing on the basis of sales. He and I would compete all week long to see who could bring in the most applications at Friday’s sales meeting. As much as commissions were important and as much as getting more business to provide for my family was important, I think it was easier for me to sell against Mike. That’s because it was healthy. It was a good thing because it raised the bar and both of our performances went higher. We weren’t competing against each other out of fear. We were competing against each other to boost our own performance. And it worked. And today, in fact, we remain dear friends because I think we earned each other’s affection and respect through that competition. That’s the difference between healthy internal competition and one that’s little more than destructive. Remember the movie Glengarry Glen Ross? Most every loser in that sales contest got a pink slip. That may seem outlandish, but it’s a great example of injecting fear into internal competition, creating a very unhealthy and downright destructive form of competition. Events that foster internal competition, such as sales contests, can be terrific ways to build competition within an organization

140

Competition

and, as a result, raise everyone’s game. But it has to be done positively. It has to be based on the reward of winning, not the consequences of losing. It’s also a matter of measuring the right things. Make sure that internal competition happens on the basis of performance versus performance. When you get into personality versus personality, you’re crossing over into an area of potential catastrophe. There, you’re not measuring performance. Instead, you start measuring people. Big difference!

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Another problem that many organizations encounter in internal competition is undue attention to the wrong measures of success. Far too many companies simply track the wrong thing. For instance, a company may measure the number of phone calls that one person receives in the period of an hour. They may even set up competitions. Who can handle the most? Who can work their way through the most customers in a given period of time? Who can push them and shove them out like cattle? That ’s not always the best way to measure performance. What was the quality of a call? Did we really delight the customer? Did we wow them? Did we make them feel better than terrific at the end of the call or did we just so quickly try to get to the new number or get to the next phone call? That suggests that there are other yardsticks that can be used in measuring internal competition of all sorts. Rather than sales, try looking at repeat customers. Rather than simply adding up the number of calls handled in an hour, track the number of callers who went away satisfied versus those that were less than pleased. This shows that championship customer service isn’t as simple as numbers added up on a tote board. The underlying

The Importance of an “Enemy”

141

factors beneath those numbers are often more telling. Pay as much attention to them as you do any straightforward number or statistic.

The Importance of an “Enemy” Any organization recognizes that competition cannot possibly be just a matter of competing against yourself. There are competitors all around you, all eager and hungry to dominate you and take whatever business they can away from you. But one of the major problems that many organizations face in the arena of external competition is that they really don’t know who their competition really is. That may sound laughable, but it’s completely true. In many of the organizations with whom I’ve worked, one of the first issues we’ve tackled is getting a firm grasp of their real competition. And it’s not always easy. In government or in the military, we know we’re now in a fight against global terrorism. But also we’ve always had a defined enemy. Before the Cold War ended, we knew that our enemy was Russia. It was clearly defined and therefore, everyone knew we had a common enemy and we could unite against that enemy. Now there are threats but you don’t necessarily have a clear bead on where they may be coming from. The simple issue is: In competition, it’s genuinely helpful to have an enemy—someone whom you want to dominate and, if need be, destroy. Why do organizations need a clearly defined enemy? Before I continue, I want to make sure no one takes this out of context. I’m not trying to get people to hate people. But, identifying your competition—and working up real emotion toward that competitor—makes you work together more as a team. You’re one team,

142

Competition

with one attitude and one commitment to defeat your enemy. It’s unifying and it’s very empowering.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Identifying an enemy with whom you’re competing also means having somebody that you can rally around. Everyone assumes that a rally point has to be on the inside of an organization but that ’s not always true. Rally points can also be found outside an organization—in a competitor, an enemy. An ideal example is Nike. One of the reasons Nike was able to establish itself as the powerhouse brand that it ’s become is that they had one mantra within the organization: all they wanted to do was crush Adidas. That was their rally point, the common enemy that everyone within Nike stared down, day after day. There was a shared emotion, a common enthusiasm that drove everyone in the company. And, in the end, they did, in fact, seriously wound Adidas.

Find Your Enemy Finding your true enemy is really simpler than many organizations make it out to be. Compare yourself with someone else within your industry. Which one is closest in size, in goals, in potential target markets? By the same token, is there someone who’s bigger and perhaps better than you whom you’d like to overtake? Both of these possibilities can make excellent enemies (yes, that phrase really does make sense!). When I work with organizations, I often ask them who are the three companies that they hate, that they absolutely despise with every fiber in them. Which companies do you really want to

Find Your Enemy

143

overtake and dominate? It’s interesting: Most organizations don’t feel emotion in terms of a real hatred. If I were to say to the Florida State Seminoles, “Who do you hate?” you know they’re going to say Miami. Ask a Boston Red Sox fan who they hate, the word “Yankees” will be out of their mouth before you even finish the question. That creates emotion, emotion that fuels enthusiasm to defeat an enemy. Again, this isn’t an issue of personal hatred. You’re not looking to cause physical harm. But, in terms of competition, building a competitive hatred against a competitor focuses your attention and your efforts. It gets you and everyone around locked onto a common target. And, always knowing with whom you’re competing and why builds champions.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Bear in mind that your enemy may be constantly changing. A football or baseball team doesn’t play the exact same team time and time again. The schedule naturally changes and, with it, the competition that ’s the enemy of the moment. The same is likely true with your organization as well. Let ’s say you’re tenth in market share in your particular industry. Who’s your natural enemy? Number nine. What ’s it going to take for you to beat out number nine? What do you need to do as a team to overtake and defeat that particular competitor? And, once they’re out of the way, what do you have to do to overtake number eight? Delineating clear, controlled steps like that is a natural form of progression and, like a sports team, lets you build a strategy that ’s specific to each competitor you face. Just as important, it keeps you focused on the enemy that ’s most effective in building championshipcaliber performance.

144

Competition

Q MORE CHOICES When competing against a particular enemy, focus and attention can be everything. That means it ’s critical not only to lock on your competition but to lay out in the most specific terms possible what you’re going to need to do to achieve success. Here’s a great way to do just that. Coach Lou Holtz—formerly of Notre Dame, now at the University of South Carolina—says the word “win” really stands for three essential words: “What ’s Important Now.” There is one perfect way to focus. Instead of wringing your hands and trying to tackle everything at once—not to mention getting distracted by fringe issues that really have no bearing on the moment at hand—look only at What ’s Important Now. What do we need to do now to prepare to defeat the enemy we happen to be facing today? How can we come together as a team to focus on that common enemy? Not the day after, not some other competitor—What ’s Important Now? Looking at winning that way lets you take a step back and gain perspective on the issues of the moment. And, central to that is your enemy and your ability to key on them utterly and completely. Beating them is, indeed, What ’s Important Now. Everything else will take care of itself when the time comes.

Got an Enemy? Scout Them! Every sports team you can imagine studies its opposition. By that, I mean they examine their habits and tendencies, critique their prior performance. What are they doing that’s effective? What are their weaknesses? What are their patterns and tendencies? Do they ever throw precedent to the winds and try something that’s completely fresh and different?

Prepare to Compete for Six Quarters

145

That level of study is critical to success. Without it, you don’t know how to plan on your own. You don’t know what you may have to react to. You don’t how to take advantage of an opponent’s weaknesses. Every bit as critical, you can’t possibly know those elements of their game plan that you can adopt and use to your own advantage. The ancient classic The Art of War ( by Sun Tzu, translation at www.sonshi.com) says, in so many words, that every battle that was ever fought was won or lost long before the armies in conf lict actually took the field. Translated, that means that preparation is everything. Knowing your enemy is everything. And, the only way to prepare adequately for victory is to do some scouting. So, follow sports lead. Scout your opposition, your enemy. Visit their businesses, be their customers, get to know what their operation is all about. Send others in your organization out to do the same. Get to know what they do well, what they don’t do as well. Learn those aspects of their business that may be useful to yours. In a word, learn at every possible turn how to defeat your enemy. Scouting makes this all happen. Far too many businesses are so internally focused, so exclusively locked on what they’re trying to do and nothing else, they lose sight of everything they may be able to gain from their competitors. So, just don’t know who the enemy is—study who he is, why he is, what he does, and how you can take the battle to him rather than the other way around.

Prepare to Compete for Six Quarters Every sports fan—even people who aren’t that pumped about sports—knows how long games last. Or, rather, how long they’re supposed to last. In football, there are four quarters of 15 minutes each. In baseball, nine innings. In ice hockey, three periods, 20 minutes apiece. That’s very common knowledge.

146

Competition

What many don’t know is that many smart coaches who prepare for those games ignore the usual time limits that games are supposed to have. Instead, they prepare for much longer contests—in football, a coach may have an overall plan spanning six quarters instead of the usual four. Does he have enough plays, the right plays? How is his team’s conditioning? In the World Series, a manager making out his lineup card isn’t just thinking about nine innings. He wants to be ready in case the game moves into extra innings. What batters will he have available? Right-handed or left-handed? How many relievers? When did they last pitch? What about the next game? Am I going to spend all my bullets on this game and have nothing left? Any sports strategist prepares for the eventuality that a game may take longer than usual. The reason for that, of course, is that competition rarely follows a formula. It has no plan, no preordained course. When two people or groups compete, the amount of time it takes to determine a winner depends on the competitors and a host of other factors—not how long it is supposed to take. That’s equally true in business. No matter how much you prepare, how thoroughly you may prepare, competing with an enemy doesn’t follow a clock. It’s not, boom, 5 P.M., another competitor gone. You don’t compete against an enemy for a year and, if you get more sales than they do, you win and they go away. It’s just not that defined. That means, just as any experienced coach or manager does, it’s important to prepare for the long term—longer, perhaps, than you think may even be necessary. Changes are going to occur, adversity’s likely to crop up. Those and other factors make any timeline that you possibly prepare remarkably murky and unpredictable. When you’re competing, when you’re going up against an enemy, it’s critical to prepare for a longer battle than you may first anticipate. You need to have something ready and mapped out should the battle go on and on. You need to, in effect, over-

Prepare to Compete for Six Quarters

147

prepare because, like a football coach facing overtime, you don’t want to go into a late phase of play without any idea of what you intend to do.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Here’s an example that illustrates the importance of getting your team ready to play six quarters. Identify an enemy and an objective. Say you want to take away 25 percent of their business. Now, begin to map out all that you think that you’ll need to do to achieve that—maybe a fresh marketing strategy, perhaps new salespeople. Map it out in as much detail as possible. Now, put a timeline to it—say, two years to achieve that 25 percent takeaway. Aggressive, I realize, but let ’s think aggressively. Now, toss in some variables. Say, your industry as a whole is hit by a downturn? What will you have ready to compensate so that you stay on your 25 percent target? What will you do if your best salesperson quits? What if your competitor reacts by adding more sales staff or rolling out its own marketing strategy? Keep tossing in variables, situational changes, setbacks. Pretty soon, that two-year timeframe seems dicey, at best. That ’s okay. The point of this exercise is really twofold. There, right before you on paper, is a vivid example of how rarely anything goes as planned. No matter how exhaustive your planning, no matter the depth of your strategic thought, there are simply too many variables in the mix to ensure that everything happens in the moment when you expect it to. That, in turn, shows the importance of preparing for more than you expect. Always, no exceptions. Too many things can happen, and you never want to be in a position to be so flatfooted from a planning perspective that you don’t at least have an idea of what to do or how to react. In effect, go on

148

Competition

the field to play a four-quarter game, but prepare yourself for no fewer than six.

Build a Two-Minute Warning Attitude Once more we go to the sports world for a powerful example. In professional football, as the game nears halftime and the end of the game, there’s something called a two-minute warning. Probably most of you know what that is. If you don’t, the referees stop the clock with two minutes to go. It is a signal to both teams that the half or the end of the game is quickly approaching. What often happens after that is what’s referred to as a twominute drill. The team with ball often goes into a hurry-up mode of play. They call plays in advance, execute them quickly, get back up the line as quickly as possible and keep moving. The thinking is, if there’s a reasonable chance to put points on the board, the two-minute drill has the best chance of making that happen since it’s, by definition, fast, efficient, and time-conscious. It’s focused on those two minutes and those two minutes alone. Two-minute drills often work beautifully. But, they have one drawback. Watching a two-minute drill, a fan is tempted to ask: “I don’t get it. If they can play like that in the last two minutes, why don’t they just play like that all the time?” From a football perspective, two-minute drills are incredibly intense—both from a physical and mental standpoint. I’m not so sure many teams could maintain that level of intensity and unwavering focus over the course of the entire game. Nor might they really need to. Still, though, the two-minute warning is an important dynamic in building a champion. So, too, it can be useful within your organization. We’ve already discussed the importance of focus and enthusiasm, how they can drive your organization in a consistent and positive fashion.

Flush It

149

Sometimes, though, you really need to kick it into high gear. Perhaps you’re having a promotional event, or there’s a particular sales goal that’s looming. You want to bring your organization’s focus and intensity up a few bars. Here, it’s helpful to use the framework of the two-minute warning. Bring everyone together and emphasize that this particular phase of your overall business is short-term (one of the few departures you should make from a long-term perspective). Spell out just how long that phase might last, just as a coach points out to a team that there’s two minutes remaining in the half. From there, focus their attention. Remind everyone how short-term goals play into the company’s vision (one that everyone helped craft, by the way!). Show how the short-term goal parallels the basic beliefs of what the company does and means. Encourage teamwork, friendly competition, cooperation, mutual support, and other elements we’ve touched on. In short, just like a coach does with a two-minute drill, reframe their reality, however brief ly. Get them highly focused on the immediate. Again, in the overall concept of competing, keeping things at this high a pitch really isn’t feasible for long. People can only be stretched so far before they snap. But, for short-term goals and objectives, put them into a two-minute drill. If you frame it in line with the bedrock of well-founded belief in your organization and those underlying values that you’ve already put into place, your customer service team may achieve championship results far beyond what you may have ever reasonably expected.

Flush It By its very definition, competing doesn’t always mean winning. No matter how thoroughly you prepare and execute whatever it is you happen to be doing, winning often simply isn’t in the cards. Every sports team knows that, no matter how successful they may

150

Competition

be over the long haul. If you take the field to compete, there’s always a chance that you may end up on the short end of things. Now, at the risk of being just a bit gross, I’m going to clue you all into something that you may have seen in a football game and wondered what it meant. Say, for instance, a defensive back is beaten on a play for a touchdown. Just f lat out faked out of his shoes and left in the dirt. As he comes off the field, he or one his teammates may make a particular gesture. Basically, it involves reaching the hand over their head, their elbow at a ninety-degree angle and pulling their arm down with a sharp jerk. That translates to two words: Flush it. That’s it. Flush it, like you reach up over your head to pull an old-fashioned toilet chain. What they mean by that is simple. Yeah, you got beat. Yeah, you may have looked awful in the process. Sure, take a lesson, go to school on the mistake so it doesn’t happen again. But, then, f lush it. Don’t dwell on the mistake. Put it in the past and move on. However unsavory that may be to some, it’s a great example for any organization that wants to build itself into a champion. Mistakes happen. No doubt whatsoever about that. And you have to learn from them, because they all offer valuable lessons. But, then, put it behind you. Get ready for the next challenge. Wallowing in mistakes keeps your attention behind you when you have to be focused on what’s coming up in front. You’ll have problems in customer service. Even those companies that are world-famous for their customer service stumble and make mistakes, some of them real whoppers. But they learn from them. And, then, you can be sure, they f lush them. Make a point to pull that particular chain yourself!

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Legendary Green Bay Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi was justifiably famous on a number of levels—as a motivator, a

Competition and the Customer

151

master strategist, a wonderful teacher who knew just how far to push someone to excel and no further. But Lombardi also had a knack for teaching his teams how to overcome adversity and defeat. And, it inevitably circled back to the idea of taking whatever the defeat could teach you, then moving on from there to the next game and the next challenge. On one level, that meant teaching the importance of absorbing a mistake but immediately getting ready for the next play. He once told his defensive backs that they would get beaten on pass plays. All the time. They would make mistakes. But, what mattered more was that they didn’t become a habit, something that happens from wallowing in past failures. As he put it: “You’ll make mistakes, but not too many if you want to play for the Green Bay Packers.” In fact, some of the Packers were so confident in their ability to win, they never said they lost any games. Rather, they just ran out of time. That ’s the focus on the next game that every team, every organization should have. You didn’t really lose, time just ran out on you. Next time, there’s going to be enough time to win.

Competition and the Customer Competing against—and defeating—an enemy means preparing in every way possible to beat that enemy. We just covered that in great detail. But, never overlook your most precious ally in that preparation—your customer. Championship customer service isn’t a matter of what you think it is. It matters what the customer says it is. And, as we pointed out in the very beginning of this book, you need to be obsessed with that to build the right kind of customer service strategies and beliefs.

152

Competition

Be obsessive in every way imaginable. Solicit feedback at every turn, covering both the good and the bad. Be obsessive about interacting with your customers and coming to know their needs, wants, likes, and dislikes. That’s the only way you can delight them. And, in the process, defeat whatever enemy might be out there. This is particularly important if you’re competing against a large chain store or other big operation. You can’t hope to compete with them on price. Customer service is your ace in the hole. Frankly, when I go into a large chain store, I’m not expecting championship customer service. To be blunt, I’m expecting cheap. On the other hand, when I go into a smaller competitor’s organization, I’m expecting top-f light customer service. And the only way they can provide me with that is to be obsessed about what I value in my relationship with them.

Competition and Attitude A final point about competition refers back to an important issue we covered earlier in the book, but which is no less essential to competing effectively. Competition can be encouraged and, yes, you can coach your organization on ways to compete more effectively and, if need be, efficiently. But there are those who really love to compete and those that simply don’t care for it. Some people really get into the emotion of competing, the uncertainty of the outcome, the excitement of winning and even the emotional, yet satisfying drain of losing despite the fact that you knew you gave it your all. Those are the people you want on your organization. It comes back to a salient point made earlier: hire according to attitude, not necessarily by skill. You can teach most anyone a particular skill, but it’s hard to build a love of competition where there isn’t a whole lot to begin with. Hire an attitude that takes in a love of

Competition and Attitude

153

competition, and you’re on your way to building a championship customer service team.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE One of the major points I make in my presentations and seminars is having what I call a January 1 attitude, every single day of the year. That means it ’s a brand new day with each new dawn. December 31 has come and gone; it ’s history. January 1 lets you start anew. And that attitude is central to competing. Sure, you can lose if you compete—it happens to all of us. But if you approach every new form of competition with a January 1 attitude, your enthusiasm and effort to compete and win will blossom. That, I promise you!


My Competition All-Star
I’ve been fortunate enough to have met and worked with a lot of great competitors, but one whom I have to cite is Coach Billy Donovan of the University of Florida basketball program. Of all the people I’ve encountered with a taste for competition, Coach Donovan stands out. He’s a master of preparation and he always keeps the interest of his players foremost in his mind. But above all, this man hates to lose. Here’s how I know. I once worked with Coach Donovan while I was laid up in the hospital. We had never met face to face. But, when we started working together, Coach Donovan made it clear to me that he would follow whatever advice I could pass along because he wanted to win. Case in point: Prior to an NCAA tournament semifinal game against perennial powerhouse North Carolina, I told Coach Donavan to take off the blue tie he had been wearing and, instead, put on a red one. I explained that

154

Competition

red was a powerful color. His wife went out and bought him a red tie and, later, Florida upset the Tar Heels. After that huge win, Coach Donavan was thoughtful enough to thank me on national television. Mind you, this all happened sight unseen. And, much of the credit goes not to my suggestions, but to Coach Donovan’s willingness to use them. That’s a competitor. That’s someone who wants to win and wants to pursue every legitimate means to do so. And that’s the kind of attitude and sense of purpose that builds championship customer service.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Competition 1. Define what competition means. Are you competing both internally and externally? Are you encouraging the people within your organization to compete against themselves? 2. Build healthy competition. Are you encouraging healthy competition that builds enthusiasm and skills? Make a list of ways your organization competes—are they healthy or unhealthy? 3. Find an enemy. Have you identified your primary competitor? Do you know why an enemy is important? Make a list of your competitors and try to define which one might make the “best” enemy. 4. Scout your enemies. Do you know what they do well and what they struggle with? Make a list of all that you know and pick out those issues that may be most helpful to your business. 5. Prepare for six quarters. Are you preparing to compete and then, preparing even more to account for every possibility? Map out a possible competition scenario and identify every possible event or issue that could change the entire picture.

Competition and Attitude

155

6. Build a two-minute attitude. Can you raise your organization’s focus and enthusiasm over the short term as need be? Write down those issues that you think can raise their focus and energy over the short term to meet challenges. 7. Flush it. Once you’ve made a mistake and learned from it, have you really put it behind you? Think of a problem or mistake that may have occurred in the past that really hasn’t been forgotten completely and, as a result, may still be causing you or your organization harm. Reach up, f lush it, and move on!

8 The Art of Coaching

Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do. The visible signs of artful leadership are expressed, ultimately, in its practice. —Max De Pree

157

E

arly in my speaking and consulting career, I would often look at an organization and try to understand why it was so successful in one area but a complete f lop in another. For a while, I was completely stumped. It just made no logical sense whatsoever that a company could be so great at one thing, yet, so terrible in something else. And then I started to look at the people within the organization. I started to study leaders and managers in a different way than I ever had. And, since I was blessed by all the time I had spent in the sports world, it suddenly came to me. It all came down to a question of coaching—good coaching. It was amazing. I would go from a locker room and back into a boardroom or into a company and it was completely obvious. The corporate world lacked coaching skills—actually teaching people how to do things, holding them accountable, giving them new techniques and helping them grow, letting them know what their responsibility was and what was expected of them and, when they didn’t measure up, letting them know in no uncertain terms. And, mind you, the missing piece was huge. This wasn’t a matter of a modest lack of coaching skills; most people had none at all. It was devastating. The irony to all this is that this often involves people who are very, very good at what they do. You can have a sales manager or customer service manager who’s a genius at handling complaints over the phone or dealing with a customer face to face. But, make him a manager and ask him to lead other people, and he falls short because he doesn’t know how to coach what he knows how to do himself.

159

160

The Art of Coaching

After hundreds of one-on-ones and focus groups, I discovered the majority of them also did not have great coaching models themselves. There seemed to be a common thread—those with a strong background in sports or the military seemed to be more successful since they had a better grasp of teamwork and coaching. I have worked with many executives that stood out as leaders. I later learned that they had been a part of a team and had modeled their approach after a coach’s approach. The same holds true with military service. Those with a military background had to deal with issues of structure, discipline, and rank. Given that experience, it seemed that they had a better understanding how to lead and coach since they had learned it from the bottom up. That’s why a lot of organizations will literally ruin people because they’ll take a top performer and ask her to be a manager. The trouble is, that assumes that simply by being a manager, she’ll be able to share and nurture her skills with others. That rarely ever happens. So, when building championship customer service, coaching is an essential element in attaining that goal. And, it’s every bit as important to know what really goes into making a good coach, one who can build on an organization’s values and vision and constantly make others better at what they do.

What Is a Coach? Like so many other terms, this may be one that many people think they know. But, for me, being a coach is so much more than first meets the eye. First, a coach is a superlative teacher. She knows what she needs to communicate to those around her. She knows the best way to achieve that. A great coach is also tireless. She’s always teaching, in one way or another. To her, every moment is an

What Is a Coach?

161

opportunity to coach, to share skill or wisdom. And, inevitably, she takes advantage of it. But great coaching does more than just impart skills. It builds camaraderie. It builds accountability. It builds responsibility. It fosters inspiration. It’s a tremendous motivator. Understanding the art of coaching is supremely critical to making sure that you drive the performance of your organization—not only up to your expectations but beyond them as well. A good coach is also a natural Servant-Leader. Servant-leadership means direction, but it also takes in so much more than that. A Servant-Leader is a teacher, mentor, coach, and even a cheerleader. Through whatever means may be at his disposal, a ServantLeader strives to make the team around him better all the time. Just like any coach would do as well.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE One of the best coaches I ever had in my life was also one who was the toughest on me. His name was Walter J. Boverini, and he was the head coach of Lynn English High School. He went on to become the Senate Majority Leader for the State of Massachusetts. And I’ll never forget what happened once in a practice. I was an offensive lineman and, although I can’t remember exactly what, I guess I must have made some sort of mistake during one particular practice. With that, Boverini suddenly grabbed my facemask and pulled it right up to his face. It was so close I could see the spit coming out of his mouth. He just looked deep into my eyes and growled: “Pelletier, I don’t know what ’s wrong with you. The problem with you is I believe in you more than you do. Now get out there!” When he said that, all kinds of emotions burst inside of me. One was, “I’ll show him. Who is he to talk to me like that?” I wanted to prove him wrong. But the real

162

The Art of Coaching

magic was, somebody believed in me more than I did. Just knowing that somebody believed in me drove me to practice harder, to play harder. I wanted to go ahead and show him and the rest of the world that he was right. Several years later, I sat in his office in the state senate building and thanked him for the positive difference he has made in my life. That points out another ingredient to successful coaching: a belief in others. You genuinely know in your heart that someone is truly capable of what you’re coaching her to do. By taking the time to coach her, you’re telling her that you believe in her. You feel she is worth your time, your knowledge, and your effort. And that builds champions.

Q MORE CHOICES Before we proceed with the discussion, let ’s take a short break to think about the best and worst coaches you have ever had. Draw up a list of both. Then, write down a reason or two that made them so good or so ineffective. That should offer you a great start on thinking about what makes a really solid coach as well as those skills and strategies that you may want to bring to your own coaching.

First, Love the Game Look at any coach on the sidelines. Look at any manager in the dugout. Take notice of their enthusiasm and their intensity. Their focus is complete and unbroken. Personalities will differ from one person to the next—some will scream, rant, and rave while others will rarely show any emotion at all—but it’s clear that they are completely consumed by the game they are watching and directing. That’s not hard to understand. That’s because it’s clear that they love the game in which they’re involved. No matter if it’s the

First, Love the Game

163

strategy, the ebb and f low of momentum, or the sheer beauty of the game itself, they love their game with a great passion. I’ve worked with countless sports people, and it’s been as clear as day with each of them. It makes sense. If they didn’t love the game, they wouldn’t be where they are. They wouldn’t be as successful as so many are. They wouldn’t be the great coaches that they are, reaching those under them and motivating them often to do things they didn’t think they could. They couldn’t impart their passion for their game, their complete love for it, to those around them if they didn’t feel that at their very core. The same is true with coaching the people in your organization. To be an effective coach, you have to love the game that you’re in. And, in your case, that means your business or industry. Make sure you feel a genuine love for what you do. If that’s already there, great. If not, go back to what we talked about in earlier chapters. Think about what you do, and its value to others. Think about how you may be benefiting or improving others’ lives. If need be, go out and see how what you do impacts the real world. To coach great customer service, reinforce your love for your role in the world. Even if only a small part of what you do earns your love, find it and embrace it. It’s essential to being a great coach.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE It is important to bring up a brief reminder of a point we raised in Chapter 3 in our discussion of enthusiasm. There, we talked about finding something that generated your enthusiasm. And, if you could not, to consider doing something else with your life that does spark your enthusiasm. The same warning holds here. To be a great coach, you simply have to love what you do. There are no shortcuts or substitutions. It ’s essential and, if you try to coach without

164

The Art of Coaching

that love in place, those around you will see it in a heartbeat. It can’t be faked. So, if you find that, in trying to coach, that you can’t find a love for what you do somewhere inside, you may want to give some thought to a Plan B. Investigate something else that you can come to love. That may seem blunt and even a bit harsh, but there are two strong reasons for that advice. First, if you want to be a really effective coach, one who both teaches and inspires, you simply can’t achieve that without a bona fide love for what you do. One simply cannot exist without the other. Do you think a coach in the heat of a playoff game is thinking, “Gosh, this is so hard. If I’d only gone to dental school like mom wanted me to!” Not very likely. And if there is someone who’s thinking like that, I know one coach who’s going to walk off the field at the end of the game on the short end of the score. But, just as important, life is just too short to spend your time and energy on something that doesn’t excite your passion, or really make you love what you do. Sad to say, but far too many people settle for that existence. That ’s the proper word, by the way, existence, not life. If you find yourself in that position, don’t settle. Do something about it to make a change for the better. Life is too short. My dad used to tell my brothers and me that our goal should be to find something we loved and just do it. Only, try to do it better than anybody else.

Love Your Company This goes hand in hand with a love for what you do. To be a great coach, you have to love your company or organization every bit as much as what you do. In most cases, that makes sense. If you

Love Customer Service

165

love what you do, chances are reasonable that you’re going to love the organization in which you pursue that love. They’re closely intertwined. But, on occasion, it happens that a love for what you do conf licts with a distinct lack of affection for your organization. You see it all the time in sports—the great player competing at a high level but nonetheless unhappy with the team for which he plays. It occurs elsewhere—the talented salesperson who’s very good at what she does despite the fact that she doesn’t particularly care for the company where she works. However, a coach needs to love his company. Without that, he can’t impart all that he can share with those around him with any genuine enthusiasm. He can’t bring his all to his coaching. He has no fire that underlies the knowledge and experience he’s trying to get across. So, if need be, reinforce your love for your company. Again, look to see what value you bring to others, how you may improve their lives. Look to see how the organization conducts itself. Pinpoint examples of integrity and worthwhile purpose. If your organization is built on values and vision, that love shouldn’t be that hard to find.

Love Customer Service Very early in this book, we established that championship customer service required obsession—a consuming attention to everything you can do to make customer service an extraordinary experience, each and every time. That, too, comes back to love, particularly from the perspective of coaching. To coach great customer service, you have to love customer service. You have to appreciate it from a variety of angles, acknowledge its enormous value and love the feeling it can

166

The Art of Coaching

give a customer when he gets championship service. Sure, you know its value to your organization, but you also love it simply for what it is. Once more, that comes back to seeing what championship customer service really is. Read a letter from a customer who came away enthralled with your customer service. Listen in to a conversation at a cash register where a customer is clearly happy with his experience. Seek out instances that illustrate the joy and the sheer satisfaction that great customer service means. If you have that simple joy, you’ll be able to share it in your coaching.

Love the People You’re Coaching In the movie Hoosiers, just before the state championship game in which the tiny school is taking on the big city powerhouse, the coach—played by Gene Hackman—gathers his team together. They’re the little guys from nowhere. And, he says very simply: “I love you guys.” End of speech. And, David goes out and slays Goliath. A bit schmaltzy, perhaps, but it does illustrate an important element in being a successful coach. In one way or another, you have to love the people you’re coaching. You have to respect them and value them. Even if you don’t like certain aspects of who they are, you have to love them in some capacity. It’s essential to being a coach with whom they can work. It makes sense on several levels. First, it’s a whole lot easier to coach someone for whom you have affection. If you don’t like someone, if you don’t have one iota of respect for who they are, it’s awfully hard to work up the enthusiasm to coach them successfully. You have no basic desire to see them improve and help them every step along that process of improvement. It’s by no

Are You Coachable?

167

means impossible, but it makes the challenge of coaching that much more imposing. But loving the people whom you coach also makes you a more effective coach in another respect. You come to know them. You know what motivates them. You know what they value. You know what they’ll respond to and what they’ll reject. You get to know the ins and outs of who they are. And, in knowing all that, you craft your coaching to fit the individual. Maybe someone needs coaching every day, needs a check-in to keep him on course. You know that. By contrast, someone else may only need once-a-week contact, to touch base on a less detailed level. Maybe she doesn’t like the idea of a coach looking over her shoulder all the time. You know that, too. So, try to love the people you’re coaching. Find that spark in them that resonates within you as well. It not only makes the coaching a whole lot more fun and rewarding, it also makes the challenge of coaching less difficult than it often has to be. In fact, my friend Ed Rosenberg and I were brainstorming one day on what a coach was. When we finished, we decided that a great coach is a loving guide. That may seem a bit soft to some, but the description does fit.

Are You Coachable? This may be the single most important issue you can address in any coaching relationship. A simple enough question, but one that you should ask anyone whom you may be coaching: “Are you coachable?” It takes some people by surprise. Some even act indignantly. Of course, they say, of course I’m coachable. What a question to even ask!

168

The Art of Coaching

But, once they start to roll the question around a bit, to really think through its significance, many will admit, no, I don’t think I am coachable. It’s no capital offense. But, the fact is, some people simply are not coachable. Maybe they don’t like the idea of receiving detailed instruction. Maybe they’re not comfortable being critiqued, however positively. Maybe some are simply too independent by nature to accept a coach’s direction. With me, if the answer is no, I simply won’t work with that person. I know, for me, it’s essential that the person with whom I work is willing and completely ready to accept and apply whatever guidance I can offer. Anything short of that is a waste of my time and theirs. That makes it critical that you ask anyone in your organization whom you’re considering coaching to see if, in fact, they think they’re coachable. They have to answer with complete honesty. Even if they don’t, the truth will become evident down the line anyway. But you have to make sure to ask. Unfortunately, that can set up an awkward situation. If someone says they’re not coachable, you may be facing a relationship that simply isn’t going to pan out over time. What happens from there really depends on the circumstances of the situation. Maybe the person will, in fact, do just fine without coaching. But, maybe they won’t. But, no matter the outcome and how you choose to handle it in the long run, you need to know from the get go whether someone is willing to be coached. If they truly are, then the relationship has the best possible chances for success.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE If you think some people are somehow or another above the question “Are you coachable?” think again. It was the first thing I asked Billy Donovan, coach of the University of Florida basketball team, when he contacted me to work with him. Imagine that. Asking a coach, a world-class one at that,

Train to Be a Coach

169

whether he, himself was coachable. But he took the question completely seriously and told me that he believed he was. And so we went on from there. Again, not everyone is coachable. But, in a coaching relationship, it ’s essential to establish that from the very start. That way, you’ll know going in that what you say and what you do will be received with genuine enthusiasm and a willingness to put that guidance to use.

Willing versus Able The question of whether someone is really coachable or not naturally moves into a follow up: Is it a question of whether the person is willing to do what’s being asked of him or is he really able to do what’s asked of him? That is a huge distinction and one that any talented coach will learn to recognize. To my mind, able is the more important consideration of the two. Most companies assume that, should someone perform poorly, they’re simply unwilling to do well. That’s usually not the case. Rather, if an employee receives poor training or inadequate direction, they may be unable to perform up to speed no matter how willing they may be. So, in your own coaching, examine the distinction between willing and able. In my experience, most people are willing, because everyone wants to succeed. Whether they’ve been provided the tools with which to be able, on the other hand, is a task that any winning coach will address.

Train to Be a Coach Being a successful coach is like many other things. There are those of us who are natural coaches. They know what information is

170

The Art of Coaching

important to get across. They know how to get it across on an individual basis so each person processes it in the best manner possible. They know what motivates the people with whom they’re working. They know what level of coaching is enough and what might be overkill. But just as many of us are not natural coaches. We may know our jobs inside and out, we may know our organization up one side and down the other, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to an effective coach. We may not know how to get that across in the most effective way. We may not know the specifics of motivation, how to generate enthusiasm, and other aspects that go into making a truly effective coach. That means many of us can benefit from training that hones our coaching skills. Again, the military is a great example. When I was in the Air Force, there were some key ingredients to success. One was basic training. Everyone wearing that uniform needed to have basic training. Then, once that was completed, we were prepared to move on to technical school to train us within our specialty field. But the training took in more than just learning technical skills. As you continued to gain rank, there were different leadership programs that were built in order for you to become a more effective leader, a more effective coach. The Air Force knew that moving up the chain of command meant more than just greater knowledge. It mandated more thoughtful, carefully honed leadership and coaching skills. Corporations should do the very same thing to make those within the organization better coaches. They need to focus on training that makes better coaches, not merely better workers and employees. It’s not difficult. As we’ve hit on before, inclusion is the key. Bring together a focus group from people currently in those positions to ask them what the training should be so they can become better coaches.

Train to Be a Coach

171

Then all you need to do is take it external. Find a trainer or somebody who has a good understanding of what a good coach should be within the definition of your company’s values and vision. Doing this will build better coaches from the outside in, and the result will be better coaching throughout an organization. There’s an important point here—building good coaches throughout an organization. The wonderful attributes that coaching can produce need to be spread throughout an organization, not just slathered on at the top.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE I once worked with a particular military command. I asked an audience of perhaps 65 senior-level people how many of them had been to an executive development training course or to a war college. Every hand went up. And then I challenged them. I said, “Well, what a tragedy it is that all these resources are spent on you but not enough resources in the development of leaders and coaches within your own organization.” I told them they had a responsibility to provide that training to each and every person that ’s in a supervisory role within the organization—to train better coaches. They got the message. Today, they’re devoting the resources necessary to train better coaches at various levels, not just at the very top. Of course, that raises the age-old bugaboo—money. So what else is new? What ’s one of the first things that a company trims if the bottom line is suffering? Training. The trouble is, that ’s eventually going to be a cancer to the organization. If you don’t have well-trained people and you haven’t taught them how to be a coach, they’re going to fail. Coaching and leadership skills just don’t happen. It takes a real commitment—monetarily and otherwise—from a

172

The Art of Coaching

company to build suitable training programs to actively nurture these skills.

Q MORE CHOICES A company needs to invest in better training to build better coaches throughout the organization. That ’s an undeniable truth. But, as we’ve discussed earlier, it isn’t all on the company, though. If you’re determined to develop your coaching skills, opportunities exist elsewhere. Take it as a personal challenge to yourself. Go to a local junior college and pick up some courses. Go to Dale Carnegie training. There are any number of ways to develop yourself as a coach. Yes, the responsibility’s on the organization. But if you work for an organization that ’s not committed, that doesn’t give you an excuse not to seek the training that you need. Take it upon yourself if you need to. Lest you think I am above all this, think again. I have coaches. There are people that I hire because I want to get better at what I do and so therefore, I invest in my own coaching. I spend thousands upon thousands of dollars every year to sharpen my skills and get better at what I do. That ’s my personal responsibility to myself and my clients. Each individual needs to look at this and say, “What do I need to invest in my own personal development so that I don’t need to rely solely on the company? Where does my personal responsibility lie?”

Q MORE CHOICES A great coach is always looking for a legal, legitimate, and competitive advantage. One great way to do that is to study

Coach the Basics

173

the traits and the styles of other coaches. Why is that coach successful? What are they doing? And they actually break it down like they would a game film to find out what is that particular coach is doing that results in victory. This has a proven track record of success spanning many years. You can bet that many successful NFL coaches today have studied people like Vince Lombardi or Don Shula. Great baseball managers get to know the strategies and motivational techniques of predecessors such as Sparky Anderson or Walter Alston. John Wooden has influenced more basketball coaches than we could possibly imagine. The value of studying other great coaches speaks for itself. All of us have had coaches our entire lives. We’ve had really good coaches and we’ve had really bad coaches. The challenge is not picking up some of the negatives of the poor coaches. I’ve been blessed—the best coach that I’ve ever had has been my mom. She was a phenomenal coach. The worst coach was a first grade teacher who told me I was stupid. I work hard every single day to try to make sure that I model my coaching after the coaches in industry, the military, and sports whom I admire and respect and whose motivations are pure. If a coach has a motive to build that individual in every area of his or her life, then they’re going to be much, much more successful. If I work for a leader who is like that, then I’m gaining an education on how to do it.

Coach the Basics I’ve done several studies over the years about the mechanics of being an effective coach. Here’s a question for you: It’s the fifth game of a college football season. A play is called in the huddle.

174

The Art of Coaching

What percentage of players in that huddle don’t know what to do in that particular play? Ten percent? Five percent? Less? After all, it’s the fifth game. Between actually playing games and practice, they should certainly have the plays down by now. Not so. About 70 percent of players in that huddle will not know exactly what to do. Nearly three out of those four players in the huddle won’t know who to block, what pattern to run, even where they’re supposed to be on the field! Amazing, but true. That comes back to the basics—a failure on the coach’s part to adequately stress basics and make sure that everyone involved has a firm foundation in those basics. That relates to coaching within your organization. If you’re not certain what to coach or unsure what sort of coaching is appropriate for someone, at the very least make sure the basics are in place—no matter what those happen to be. For some it may be sales skills, for others it may be record-keeping skills or other forms of support. But, start by reviewing the basics of what they need to know. Do they know basic terminology? Basic jobs skills? Make certain that they do. Without them, any coaching beyond that will likely prove ineffective and frustrating.

Coach to Win If you receive solid training in your coaching skills—or, by chance, you’re one of those lucky naturals—you’re aware of a mistake that many coaches make day in and day out. Rather than coaching to win, they’re coaching not to lose. It’s a huge distinction and it comes back to the question of what’s urgent versus what’s important. An example of that would be an organization where everybody’s worried about quarterly results. They know

Don’t Overlook Discipline

175

there’s a lot more pressure on them. So they’re doing everything they can to try to do whatever’s necessary to do as well as they did the last quarter. They want to break even. They don’t want to get in trouble. And, if this is the message they’re getting from their leadership, they’re being coached not to lose. On the other hand, coaching to win is supportive. It’s always focused on an organization’s vision and long-term goals. It encourages sensible risk taking to try to achieve the spectacular rather than the merely mediocre. It’s not so consumed with shortterm mistakes and hurdles. Coaching to win solicits the input from those around you on what really matters now. Perhaps most important, coaching to win means you’re not afraid to fail. You may have mistakes along the way, but they don’t intimidate you into a defensive frame of mind. Coaching to win means you’re willing to accept an occasional failure, learn from it and move on to make sure those mistakes don’t happen again. So, make certain that you coach to win. In your coaching, encourage risk taking and creativity. Urge those around you to approach issues from differing perspectives. Use the “knothole” exercise I described in an earlier chapter to gain fresh perspective on a problem or issue. Use every opportunity you can to coach to win. Coaching not to lose is almost a sure ticket to the loser’s bracket.

Don’t Overlook Discipline We’ve all heard of coaches who were known as disciplinarians— the guys who laid down the law and stuck to it. If you want to play for me, it’s my way or the highway. Take it or leave it. Discipline is an important element of coaching. Offering supportive, enthusiastic guidance that lifts people is important, but so,

176

The Art of Coaching

too, is discipline. People need to know the rules to play by. They need to know what’s expected of them and when it’s expected of them. If I’m working with someone as a coach, I first identify their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. Then, I set what I call smart goals, that is, they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals to which I can hold someone accountable. That’s the element of discipline that’s so essential to coaching real improvement. Discipline also means having to say some unpleasant things on occasion. If someone’s not measuring up, no matter how much you’re attempting to coach them and bring them along, you have to let them know that as clearly as possible. You have to let them know that there may be consequences should things fail to improve. This element of discipline isn’t exactly enjoyable, but it is obligatory. You owe it to the person with whom you’re working and you owe it to your organization. But discipline never gives you the right to beat someone up. If a person simply isn’t responding to your coaching, work with them and critique them, but don’t tear them down. Never belittle them. Don’t be snide or sarcastic—all that does is tear f lesh. Discipline is about setting guidelines and seeing to it that everyone measures up to those guidelines. It should never be a license to be anything more than that.

Accountability The issue of discipline also touches on accountability. By setting up guidelines of discipline, you’re encouraging accountability. You’re fostering responsibility and a sense of obligation. But don’t overlook your sense of accountability as well. Make it clear that, as coach, you also have a sense of responsibility and obligation. You’re as much a part of the network of accountability as anyone else is.

Be a Good Recruiter

177

However, keep your priorities straight. Yes, you are accountable to your people. You’re obligated to offer them the best coaching and leadership that you possibly can. And, yes, you’re accountable to yourself. You need to know that you’re putting forward your best effort all the time, that you’re constantly working to become a more effective coach. But your ultimate accountability should be to the organization itself. If the organization doesn’t succeed, if the program doesn’t succeed, then no amount of accountability to others or yourself really matters. That means putting the interests of the organization first, even if that translates to some tough, uncomfortable decisions. It means keeping your focus on your organization’s values and vision. It’s important to remember that the organization and its values are the one enduring part of the equation. People come and go, coaches come and go, but the organization is a constant. And that’s why your accountability as a coach should ultimately be to that organization. Remember, a college coach effectively has a completely new team every four years. How does he or she recruit players? By being accountable to the program and making it something that others naturally want to become a part of. And, by being accountable to your organization, you’ll naturally build an environment that attracts others and makes them want to excel.

Be a Good Recruiter We’ve discussed the importance of finding people with the right attitude, not just job skills. Another side to that coin is always being aware of your staffing needs and trying to forecast what you may need in the future. A college coach knows that every one his players will leave the system in a few years. So he’s always looking for talent, the right talent, to fill those vacancies. To maintain championship customer

178

The Art of Coaching

service, you should do the same. Watch the people with whom you work and try to anticipate needs. Does someone seem discontent and likely to move on? Is someone a candidate for a promotion? Keep in close touch with human resources—or maintain an active file of interested job seekers—so that you’re never left in the lurch if someone suddenly leaves. If that happens and you’re not prepared, championship customer service can suffer.

Creating a Safe Coaching Environment One final aspect of becoming a successful coach is creating what I call a safe coaching environment. Again, not everyone with whom you’re working is going to be completely comfortable with the notion of being coached. Nor is everyone going to be comfortable being coached in the same manner. So it’s important to establish an environment that’s safe for a positive coaching relationship. On one level, that can mean letting others know that you’re not necessarily a perfect coach, that not every area in your life is as ideal as you’d like it to be. That creates a sense of safety and helps others understand the importance of the time you’re spending to coach them. Having a safe environment also addresses some of the nuts and bolts of coaching. Will some people prefer to be coached as a group? Will they be okay with having their performance critiqued in front of others? How about the frequency of coaching? Some people will naturally benefit from more ongoing contact, while others will do better with more intermittent coaching. This inevitably comes back to the affection you hold for the people you coach. Because you care, because you want to see them succeed, you’ll recognize that not everyone responds to coaching in the same manner. So, you’ll take the time to craft your coaching skills and strategies to ensure the best possible result with each and every person with whom you’re working.

Creating a Safe Coaching Environment

179


My Coaching All-Star
Mike O’Cain, formerly of North Carolina State, currently at Clemson, was a terrific teacher. He was as good an Xs and Os coach as you’ll be likely to find anywhere. He had character and he had integrity. But he also recognized that being a coach was addressing players’ and coaches’ needs and working to build their skills rather than tearing them down. Remember when we talked about how we worked with a receiver with poor hands, continually throwing to him until his skills improved? That was coaching—knowledge of the issue, and the player and a specific strategy to obtain positive results. Coach O’Cain is a man of great integrity. His priorities are correct. Spiritual first, family, and then football. There isn’t one player who didn’t know that. Not that he told everyone about his priorities—rather he lived them, in every practice, film session, or game. But Mike also did little things to make him feel connected with players. For instance, I visited with him every week when we were playing an away game. We met just before we left for the stadium. The team was staying in a hotel. But Mike refused to stay in a suite. He had a regular room, just like every player on the team had. True, he was accountable to the program, but he was also accountable to his players, and he showed it at every possible turn.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Effective Coaching 1. Understand what a coach is. Do you appreciate that a coach is a teacher and a motivator who’s always teaching and trying to bring out the best in others? Draw a list of your skills. Do you think you’ll be able to coach those skills? 2. Love what you do, your company, customer service, and the people you’re coaching. Do you have genuine affection for all

180

The Art of Coaching

these things that go into coaching? If not, are there particular elements you can focus on to build that love? 3. Are you coachable? Have you asked this question of every person you intend to coach? 4. Train to be an effective coach. Have you taken advantage of every opportunity in your organization to train to be a better coach? Have you pursued outside training on your own? 5. Coach to win. Do you coach to win or merely not to lose? Write down a recent challenge you faced and how you approached it. Was it with the intent of winning or not losing? 6. Be disciplined and accountable. Do you use enough discipline in your coaching? Do you encourage accountability, in others as well as yourself ? 7. Create a safe coaching environment. Have you looked at the people you’re coaching and determined which coaching techniques and strategies work best with each person? Write down a list of all the different ways you approach a successful coaching relationship.

9 Listening

The effects of really good listening can be dramatic. These effects include the satisfied customer who will come back, the contented employee who will stay with the company, the manager who has the trust of his staff, and the salesman who tops his quota. —John L. DiGaetani

181

L

isten up! That’s a phrase we all hear all the time. The trouble is, it’s rarely acted on the way it should be. Most of us don’t do a very good job of listening. Listening doesn’t mean just what you’re hearing. It means body language, it means the environment that you’re in. It isn’t just a question of words. It’s an area I struggle with every single day. As soon as I hear something, I start to think about what I need to say next instead of absorbing what is being said. And that’s one of the challenges. I think we need to do a much better job of absorbing what people are saying. There could be nuggets of gold just sitting there but, because our brain is going in a different direction, we’re leaving it on the ground. It was there. We were just so busy, we didn’t hear it or we didn’t sit down long enough to process what is it that we just heard.

Poor Listening Harms Customer Service Powerful listening is absolutely critical to developing championship customer service. It’s painfully evident. How can you possibly provide superior customer service—service that routinely exceeds expectations—if you don’t know what the customer really wants or needs? Poor listening can wreak havoc on an emotional level as well. It’s disrespectful. It is a huge withdrawal. It shows a lack of value and appreciation for the other person’s thoughts and perspective. It results in complete disconnection. In many ways, it’s better not to have the conversation at all rather than listening without really hearing.

183

184

Listening

The only way to really find out what people are really saying and feeling is to listen. And to listen with intent and skill. But listening is also critical from an internal standpoint. The same formula is in place: If you don’t listen to the people with whom you work, you can’t possibly know what they’re really thinking, feeling, or what they would like to bring to the goal of championship customer service. The same pitfalls of disrespect and lack of appreciation that occur with customers can also harm relationships with others within your organization. In many ways, championship customer service lies on either side of everyone’s head. They’re called your ears. And it’s critical to learn how to use them correctly.

Approach Listening as an Art Only 15 percent of our communication is verbal. Give that some thought. All these words pouring out of our mouths all day, every day but they’re only one-quarter of the way we communicate with others. The remainder comes in other ways. It’s how you watch your body language to make sure that the person across from you sees you as being open and receptive. It’s not being behind your desk. It’s watching the way you have your legs crossed, your arms positioned, the blocking of your overall body. Listening and communicating effectively are an art that requires real study. I did a seminar not too long ago where we spent probably an hour and a half on body language. The people in the group were trying to grow their businesses and become more effective in sales. They were also dealing internally with employees. The problem was, their words went one way, but the remainder of their message was headed in a completely different direction. The words they spoke were very positive. But, at the very

Getting Past the Voice of Judgment

185

same time, their body language was saying, “I really don’t care about you. I’m not really listening to you. I’m blocking you. This is a one-way conversation.” And all that does is push the other person out the door—they’re not challenged, inspired, or motivated and they leave feeling as though no one even heard them. In fact, a sales manager who took part in the seminar called me just a few days ago to comment on how powerful this training was in his internal dealings and with his customers. He said it’s like he had just learned a new language. Think back to a conversation where you absolutely knew that the other person wasn’t listening. Recall how that felt. How demoralizing. How frustrating. In some cases, simply insulting. And, at its very core, an utter waste of time. It’s those feelings and a sense of total disconnection that illustrate how critical it is that we all start to become better listeners. And I mean right now.

Getting Past the Voice of Judgment Think back to a recent conversation in which you took part. Someone was speaking to you and, on the surface at least, you were listening. But what was really happening? Were you already thinking of a response before the person was done with his or her comments? Were you passing judgment on what was being said—again, long before you had every bit of information with which to do that? Were you, in effect, saying to yourself: “This is such baloney!” Maybe it was: “I don’t need to be hearing this!” Or: “I know this already!” Or it may have been any number of dozens of other comments and little editorials that skipped through your mind. You weren’t listening. You were judging. You were passing sentence on what was being said before, truth be told, you were in any fair position to do so. I call this the voice of judgment. It’s a

186

Listening

response that occurs when you’re trying to listen to someone but, in the end, shut them out with some sort of judgment before they have a chance to get their entire point across. That’s ineffective listening on a couple of levels. First, as I mentioned earlier, you’re analyzing what’s being said with insufficient information. That makes no sense at all. That’s like going to a doctor, saying “I have a pain,” and having the doctor diagnose you based on those four words. What pain? What kind of pain? Where is it? How intense? Trying to diagnose something with that strategy is just as nonsensical as passing judgment on someone’s words without listening to each and every last one. Inner judgment harms in other ways as well. If you pass judgment on someone’s comments before they’re through, you’ve effectively stopped listening. And, no matter how hard you try, that’s going to become painfully evident in your body language. The crossed arms that show impatience. The glaze in the eyes that suggests boredom. The pursed lips that say the only thing you want is to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible. So, inner judgment sends messages of impatience and disrespect. Those messages can also strangle initiative and creativity: “I tried that before. Why are you wasting my time?” Next time you’re talking with someone, shut off your voice of judgment. Try not to think about what’s being said. Instead, just listen to what’s being said. You’re likely to get a more complete message and, at the same time, let the other person know you value what you’re hearing.

The 20 Percent Rule Many sports teams, and sports in general, base their success on certain percentages. Perhaps a football team that’s building its program is looking to a .500 season as a barometer of progress. In

The 20 Percent Rule

187

baseball, a .300 batting average is usually considered a successful season. There are numbers everywhere that offer a succinct summary of whether something is a success or not. The same holds true with listening. We just finished discussing the importance of listening to someone without judging what’s being said in the process. To put it in the simplest terms possible, great listeners don’t really talk all that much. Their strength is listening, really listening, then asking pointed questions with the objective of listening some more. I call it the 20 percent rule. Any great listener should never talk more than 20 percent in any given conversation. Eighty percent of their effort should go into listening. The remaining 20 percent should be geared to thoughtful feedback and questions that drive the conversation further. We all want to come across intelligently. We all get a kick out making some pointed, pithy remark that delights and surprises the people with whom we’re talking. But the art of listening isn’t in answers and it isn’t in clever comebacks. The art is in the ability to listen far more than you talk and then to ask good questions. Real magic can occur when you listen and ask great questions. The success of my speaking and consulting work is a result of asking useful questions. I spend a great deal of time developing these questions. Before every speaking engagement, I call the participants and ask carefully constructed questions. Then, I just listen. The way to connect with them is to listen and value what they think and feel. They appreciate it—so much so that many comment that they have heard many, many speakers but none has ever called them before. Yes, it is good customer service but it’s also imperative to connecting with the audience. It’s like the old quote says: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Track this the next time you’re in a conversation: What percentage is made up of listening? How much are you talking?

188

Listening

When you’re talking, are you asking useful questions or are you just trying to come across as smart or witty? If you want to be a great listener, aim for 20 percent talk and no more. Any more than that, and you’re likely losing valuable elements of any conversation.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE When halftime comes in a football game, both teams head for their respective locker rooms. That ’s entirely practical. Some players have injuries that need attention, some may need ankles retaped, and some just have to go to the bathroom. But another reason that they spend halftime in the locker room is that it ’s a suitable environment to discuss the first half of the game. They’re away from the other team. They’re away from the noise of the crowd. When a coach speaks at halftime, the locker room is the best place for players to really listen to what ’s being said and to put it to the best possible use in what remains of the game. Put another way, it ’s a safe environment for listening. It ’s a setting that makes good listening easier to achieve. It ’s something you should aim for in your organization as well. Find places to talk that are private. Pick a room where you can be alone, away from ringing telephones and clattering computer keyboards. Leave instructions that you’re not to be disturbed during your conversation. That sort of safe listening environment achieves two key objectives. First, by the very nature of the environment, good listening becomes easier. And, by ensuring privacy and focus, people become more comfortable and more willing to ex-

Stop in the Name of Listening

189

press themselves and listen thoughtfully to what others say as well. That, too, builds good listening.

Stop in the Name of Listening One of the reasons so many of us are poor listeners is the pace of the world today. There’s just so much to process, so much coming at us at once. It’s hard to listen effectively if you’re being bombarded from every side for most of the day. That makes slowing things down another essential ingredient in the art of effective listening. Part of that ties back to building a safe listening environment. If you move a conversation to a place that’s well suited to listening, by that that very choice you’re also deciding to slow down. You’re taking what time is necessary to shift the venue to a place where better listening simply happens. Things have to slow down as a result. Work to slow the pace of the conversation as well. Listen to what the other person has to say. When she’s done, don’t feel obligated to jump back with a comment or remark. Take the time to process what was said. Roll it around so you can review its meaning from various perspectives. Then, when you think you have something to say, offer it. You can even let the other person know that you want to slow down the pace of the conversation. Say, “Give me a moment to stop and think about what you said.” Or words to that effect. Whatever you choose to say, get the point across that you want to absorb what the other person said before moving on with the conversation. That gives you the time you need to interpret what the person really meant to get across. Answer too soon, and you may not give yourself enough opportunity to really absorb their meaning. And, as is the case with other solid learning skills, slowing things down

190

Listening

shows respect. It demonstrates that you value what the other person has to say and that you want to take enough time to do the conversation justice. That’s invaluable in customer service. As we’ve mentioned before, many people in a customer service situation simply want to be heard. They want to get their point across, perhaps to vent. And nothing solidifies an atmosphere of genuine interest and respect than taking the time to have the customer feel that he, indeed, was given the time and the place to make his point.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE A bit of a refresher course here, but one that ’s essential to listening skills. One communications technique that I pointed out earlier was repeating to someone what you thought you heard them saying. In so many words: “If I hear what you’re saying,” then telling them what you believe you heard. This technique is also central to slowing down a conversation to encourage solid listening. If nothing else, it ’s a fail safe. If what you tell the person is correct, you’re on the right track. If what you say was not what they really said or meant to say, then you have the opportunity to correct that lapse in communication. In either case, it ’s another way of slowing things down to make listening more effective and constructive.

Listening Generationally Another challenge all of us face is the impact of age on the listening process. Depending on how old we are, we all listen and respond in a different manner. People of a certain age listen one way; those who are younger or older may listen in a very different way. It’s the nature of the listening beast. When I’m getting ready for a speaking engagement, I want to know the makeup of the audience. If, for instance, it’s 30 percent

Listening Generationally

191

or more Gen Xers, I know I have to alter my presentation to make certain that my communication style is in synch with them. And that means doing some homework on my part. I get teased by my friends and family about how much MTV I watch. Frankly, I’m not an MTV music fan or even a visual fan of MTV; however, I know that’s what my audience is watching. So I need to understand what they’re going to respond to. I know my program has to be entertaining. It has to be very quick. I know I can’t dwell on one point for a long period of time. Their minds are going so quickly that they need that stimulation in every aspect—from the information itself to the tone of my voice. Ultimately, I have to make sure that it’s designed to be an action-packed program. Other generations are different. Older people, for instance, tend to be a bit more patient than younger folks. They’re more likely to sit through a program that’s more involved and get far more out of it than a younger audience would. Their comfort is with a pace that’s a bit slower. The point is, not only do different generations listen differently, they also express themselves in very different ways. Some get their points across in f lashes, in fast hitting bits and pieces. Others take more time, add more layers to the conversation, perhaps take longer to get to the heart of the point they wish to get across. That means you need to listen generationally. As I did with my young audience, get to know how they listen and how, in turn, they express themselves. That lets you prepare to be a more effective listener. If, for instance, you’re listening to a relatively young customer, be prepared to get the gist of his comments in fast-hitting bits and snatches. If the customer is somewhat older, the conversation may very well take a slower, more involved route. A great Servant-Leader learns to listen generationally. Servantleadership means getting to know the people around you as human beings, not merely employees. And that ties directly into the importance of listening generationally. By coming to know what people

192

Listening

are like—what they believe and feel, not just how they do their jobs—you come to know what’s important in their lives. And that makes listening to the different nuances of each generation less of a challenge. You hone in better on what matters in someone’s speech, what they’re really trying to get across to you. Role playing is a great way to hone these skills. Practice listening to people from various generations. Get to know the ins and outs of how they communicate, how they convey what they have to say. Repeat back what you thought you heard and see how well you were really listening, how effectively you adapted your listening skills to the age and generation of the person doing the talking.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Every business inevitably has to deal with the challenge of listening generationally, both on the inside as well as on the outside. We all have employees of varying ages, just as we have customers from various generations. And that underscores the importance of learning to communicate and listen generationally. Organizations could be much more effective at this if they would only do two things. One is to bring in retired people as coaches. Not only can you tap into their wisdom and experience, you can also practice listening generationally first-hand. The other step is to bring in very young people. Have them work as interns or in some other area where they may have solid skills, such as computing. That gives you the chance to engage in generational listening from various sides of the age spectrum. It also results in great energy, a synergy that comes from a broad array of perspectives and experience. In that sense, not only does your organization benefit from generational listening, other inherent strengths that come from a broad mix of

Listening Generationally

193

people and ideas boost you in areas that go beyond building solid listening skills.

Q MORE CHOICES Here’s a great example of one way that generational listening boosts your overall ability to really hear what others are saying. I was retained by the Disney Corporation to facilitate a spectacular program in Paris. It was called “The City in 2020.” They brought together 43 world leaders to discuss change. These were some of the smartest people in the world. The challenge was that most of the people seated in this room were all world-renowned and had very strong egos. Many of them were published authors and very successful in their own right. They were from all over the world so we had cultural differences as well. But we needed to unite them. We needed them to feel like what they were working on was going to impact the future. So we arranged to have local kids come in from the first, second, and third grade. We asked the kids to do a color drawing of what they thought the world would be like in 2020. Then we had them march in as they sang, “It ’s a Small World After All.” Then, one by one, each child handed his or her picture to one of the participants saying, “Please work hard for me.” That became a very emotional and positive experience. Over the next two days, that became the true north for the participants: that it wasn’t about me, it wasn’t about my ego, it wasn’t about what I knew or the university or the organization that I was representing, it was about creating a future for these kids. If anybody got distracted, somebody in the audience would just say, “It ’s a Small World After All,” and it would bring everyone right back to who the true customer was and the importance of that customer.

194

Listening

That also illustrates a powerful example of generational listening. When these great minds and world leaders listened to kids, they weren’t listening as adults. They were listening as children themselves. They felt the kids’ optimism, their fears, and their anxiety. They knew precisely what the kids were saying and the emotion that underscored those words. If they had been listening as adults—and, in effect, ignored generational listening—they couldn’t have felt a fraction of the message the kids were trying to get across.

Q STILL MORE CHOICES Want to practice your generational listening skills? Do what we did in Paris. Talk to an eight-year-old. Ask him to describe what he did on that particular day. Ask him to talk about a movie he’s just seen. The topic really doesn’t matter, just so long as it involves details and several bits of information. Now, most eight-year-olds I’ve been around tend to meander when they talk. They’ll start on one subject and something else will grab their attention and off they go in a different direction. Thirty seconds later, and they may be back to their original point. They may be on to something completely different. No matter how jumpy the pattern, listen carefully and follow along as best you can. Then, when—or should I say if— your young friend finally gets to the end of he has to say, tell him what you thought you heard. Highlight those points you thought most important. Share a sense of the feelings that he was trying to get across. This is an absolutely terrific generational listening exercise. For one thing, it ’s likely to be a lot of fun. But it ’s also a real challenge. Few eight-year-olds are known for their cogent, logical pattern of speech. And that ’s just the point. If

Listen for Intent

195

you’re listening, really listening, you should be able to grab on to the important points, the important messages that can often be hidden in a cloud of chatter. It ’s another example that we all convey our meaning in a different matter and that it ’s essential to adjust our listening skills to the people doing the talking.

Listen for Intent The basic challenge of effective listening is being able to hone in on the real message. Sure, you can hear all sorts of words, but what’s really being said? What’s the real essence of the message that someone’s trying to get across? I call that listening for intent. It boils down to a basic question: Why is this person telling me this? Is it purely informational or for entertainment? Or is there something else in play? Is she trying to win me over to a particular point of view? Is she trying to sell me a bill of goods? Are her intentions honest and forthright or is there an underlying agenda that may be somewhat less so? Here, slowing down the conversation is important to gain a framework of intent that surrounds spoken words. Look at body language that accompanies conversation, then take some time after someone finishes talking to put the words in a useful perspective. Why is she saying this? Why is she saying this now? As is the case with other scenarios, repeat back what you thought you heard. If you examine those and other sorts of reasons, you can obtain a more complete picture of the message (even, perhaps, if it’s something the speaker didn’t even intend to say at all). Not only can you gain more information about what a person’s says by taking intent into account, it can also serve to establish a greater sense of trust and belief between those involved in the conversation. A football coach may do or say something with which a

196

Listening

player disagrees. But, if the player knows that the intent of the comment was honorable and in the ultimate best interests of the team, he’s likely to respect the decision even though he may not agree in the least with the idea itself. That shows another point of value about intent—it can implicitly communicate such important values as honesty and belief, no matter what the actual words may be saying.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE A great way to practice listening for intent is to listen to music—specifically, songs with lyrics. They may be beautiful poetry, but as you listen, clue in to their underlying meaning. What ’s the song’s real intent, its real message that goes deeper than the words themselves? As you listen, read the album’s liner notes. I’ve done that and a discussion of a particular ’s song’s meaning or significance often turned out to be very different from what the words implied on the surface. Messages—no matter in speech or in music—aren’t always obvious. Practicing listening for intent is a terrific way to boost your ability to get more out of every word you hear.

Listen with Empathy So much of what we’ve been discussing with regard to listening skills boils down to a sense of caring. You want to show that you really care about that person and what he’s saying. That’s why you listen without judgment. You listen within the framework of generation. You investigate intent. Putting all that together, it comes down to listening with empathy. You want to let that other person know that you have a sense, however small it may be, of what it feels like to be in their situation. You’ve been there. You know what it’s like. And, driven

Recruit Good Listeners, Encourage Good Listening

197

by that knowledge, you’re going to do whatever you can to address whatever issue needs to be addressed. It’s absolutely critical to championship customer service. Customers want results, certainly, but they also want to feel appreciated. They like knowing the fact that someone on the other side of the counter knows what they’re feeling. They have confidence that someone who’s clearly listening with empathy genuinely intends to do the right thing. Notice, it’s not listening with sympathy. Sympathy means you feel sad for someone else. Empathy shows an ability to put yourself in that person’s shoes, to really relate to them and the issue they wish to address. Bring out your sense of empathy. Here’s a particular pattern that may help. I call it “feel, felt, found.” Start with “I know how you feel,” then move to “I have felt that way myself before.” Finally: “However, I have found . . .” See how that sequence creates empathy and moves toward resolution? Bonding comments such as these are essential to cement a basis of trust and belief between you and those outside your organization.

Recruit Good Listeners, Encourage Good Listening How do you build great listening in your organization? First, hire great listeners. Focus on listening skills during the interview process. Say something and have them interpret what you said. See how well they identify some of the most important elements of what you say in the interview. Have them share an experience when their listening skills were challenged and tell what they did to address the situation. Additionally, encourage good listening. Make its development a priority in your organization. Establish listening as an element of

198

Listening

genuine value. When you see someone doing a particularly good job of listening, praise her for her skill and effort. By the same token, if you come across an instance of poor listening, do some coaching. Point out where the person may have made a mistake or used an inappropriate listening strategy. The more you can emphasize listening as an important element of what you and your organization do every day—and encourage those around you to work on their listening skills—the stronger the foundation you’ll have for championship customer service.


My Listening All-Star
My friend and colleague Ed Rosenberg is the best listener I know. He embodies everything we’ve discussed in this chapter. He does very little talking. He repeats to make sure he’s hearing what you’re saying. He consciously slows things down for effective listening. He builds environments that are suited to effective listening. In a sense, what he does mandates that kind of skill. As I mentioned earlier, he and his wife Leslie work with companies to help them develop a vision. And what sort of vision is possible if the person helping to craft that vision doesn’t listen with exceptional skill? That Ed does—consistently and thoughtfully.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service through Effective Listening 1. Understand that listening matters. Do you really recognize the importance of good listening skills? List any instances where you’ve tried to build them within your business. 2. Approach it as an art. Do you appreciate that listening is a detailed, learnable skill that has various elements, all of which need to be practiced and encouraged?

Recruit Good Listeners, Encourage Good Listening

199

3. The 20 percent rule. Are you trying to talk no more than 20 percent of the time in any given conversation? Write down a recent conversation you had when you talked more than that. Was it an effective conversation? If not, was it because you spoke more than you should have? 4. Stop. Are you taking the time to slow down and foster effective listening? Think about a place where you can consistently go for an effective listening environment. 5. Listen generationally. Do you understand that different generations communicate differently? Practice with different age groups so you can learn effective listening based on a person’s generation. 6. Listen for intent. Are you trying to identify the intent of the message, not just the words that are being spoken? Listen to music to practice this skill. 7. Listen with empathy. Are you, in effect, using your listening to put yourself in someone else’s shoes? Practice using certain phrases that build that sort of empathy.

10 Caring

Good management is largely a matter of love. Or if you’re uncomfortable with that word, call it caring, because proper management involves caring for people, not manipulating them. —James Autry

201

I

f you want to build championship customer service, you’d better care about it. That simple statement takes in much more than you might first think. The simple act of caring is the foundation for great performance because it takes in so many different areas, of which each and every one is central to championship customer service. That’s why this book ends with a chapter on caring. We’ve discussed a broad array of significant issues—values, vision, enthusiasm, trust, and character, among them. But, if you were to blend all those elements together, the brew that would come out once the recipe was done would be one of caring. Pure and simple as that. So, make caring an important ingredient of everything you and those around you do. Caring can happen. But it can also be built. Here’s how.

Why Caring Is Important First, it’s important to discuss what I mean by the term caring. To me, caring means putting other people and other things above you. You value them so much that you put them ahead of yourself. You want to do everything possible for their benefit. In an organization, everyone naturally cares about success. They care about turning a profit and keeping their jobs and their salaries. But real caring goes beyond those rather everyday issues. If you care about your company, you want it to succeed, but you want it to be more than that. You want it to do the right sorts of

203

204

Caring

things. If you care about the people with whom you work, you want them to succeed, but you also want them to hold the same sort of positive values. They, too, should be growing in the right sorts of ways and doing the right things as well. The trouble is, many people today have lost a sense of caring for the company that they work for. They have a sense it’s not okay to care. You’re just going to get hurt. You’re going to get downsized or moved or somebody is going to get a promotion or recognition that you deserved but didn’t get. Fortunately, looking back at some issues we discussed earlier, a healthy, positive level of caring naturally occurs in an organization whose framework has been built in a thoughtful manner—an organization built of values and vision, that includes everyone in that building process; one that encourages enthusiasm and embraces character. A genuine sense of caring naturally grows from those seeds. Think, too, how that translates into customer service. Certainly, you care about making a sale, but it’s so much more than that. You genuinely care that the customer is satisfied, that she selected the product or service that was in her best interests. You care about following up after the fact to make absolutely certain that everything is as it should be. If it’s not, you care that it’s made right. In that sense, caring moves everything you do to a slightly higher level, a level of greater value and significance. And, in so doing, it promotes a culture of customer service that’s consistently second to none.

Caring and the Servant-Leader Think back to all the issues we’ve discussed in relation to ServantLeadership. Getting to know your people as people. Encouraging inclusion and productive behavior. Being a great coach. Taking the

Start with Yourself

205

pressure off others whenever possible. In short, being as involved with the team as you possibly can on as many levels as possible. Toss all those attributes together and you come out with a leader who cares. Simple as that. If you look at them carefully, every element of Servant-Leadership revolves around caring. You care enough to be inclusive. You care enough to be constantly on the lookout for resources to help those around you improve. You care enough to work to make things better, rather than merely working to get things done. A Servant-Leader is a leader who cares—in every way possible.

Start with Yourself Being a Servant-Leader who genuinely cares means, naturally enough, starting with yourself to build a climate of caring. It doesn’t really matter where you may happen to be within that organization—example is everything. You need to demonstrate a genuine level of caring—for your company, for those with whom you work, for everything connected with your organization. Try asking these questions and see what sorts of answers come up:
Do I really care for my company, for my particular department?
Do I really care about what we’re doing?
Do I really care about others as people, not just colleagues?
Do I really care about our success, success that means more than just profit?

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE In building a sense of caring in yourself, it ’s helpful to dig a bit deeper into the true meaning of what you do. Remember when I had that company watch kids across the street on a

206

Caring

playground so they could understand how the products they made were really used, how youngsters really benefited? That same sort of exercise can also be helpful in building a true feeling of caring. Reminding yourself that what you do touches lives—and not just wallets—can really fuel a feeling of caring.

Leaders Have to Care Having a sense of caring and sharing that feeling with those around you is particularly important if you’re in a leadership role. People within an organization naturally look to their leaders as models. That’s why the word “leadership” begins with “leader.” Many of the things you do and believe inevitably spread to those around you, so it’s critical that what you’re sharing is constructive and positive. Not only are you serving as a model for others to follow, you’re also building an environment where, in effect, it’s okay to care. We touched on this concept earlier. For instance, with enthusiasm, it’s important to build an environment where people will feel comfortable in being enthusiastic and promoting enthusiasm in others. Sad to say, not every organization does that. The same holds true with caring. There are organizations that simply don’t care and, as a result, make it clear to those within that organization that they are not particularly concerned whether they care or not themselves. That can make it genuinely hard for someone who does care to make that emotion known to others. Not only is it frustrating trying to care in a place that simply doesn’t promote that attitude, you may even be held up as a source of ridicule. That’s why it’s so critical that people feel that it’s safe to care. Caring is so central to an organization’s very being—and as a natural result, its customer service—that caring must be promoted. People need to know it’s safe, that it is simply wonderful to care.

Leaders Have to Care

207

This is also closely related to our discussion of the idea of Servant-Leadership. People can’t be made to care; they care if they genuinely feel it and feel comfortable with it. That’s what a Servant-Leader really does—instead of saying “this is the way things are,” he promotes positive attitudes, nurtures them, and establishes their value. He encourages a sense of caring rather than mandating it. So, take steps to encourage caring in others. Talk about its importance, point out and celebrate instances of real caring. Make caring as much a central focus of operation as any other objective your organization may have. Inject a sense of caring into your each and every action.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Years back, there was a movie you may remember called Nine to Five that portrayed a company, that, in effect, did everything it could to make its employees miserable. The pay was awful and the management dimwitted and oppressive. Even the physical environment was suffocating. No family pictures were allowed in work stations or cubicles. No plants. The walls were even painted an oppressive, dank color. In short, the company made it clear: We don’t care a lick about the people who work here. Don’t like it? There’s the door. Then, largely by chance, three female employees gain control of a particular department. Knowing what it felt like working under the former regime, they begin to make changes. Family pictures are encouraged. Plants and other pleasant knickknacks are now allowed. Programs such as job sharing are introduced. Even the walls are brightened with a fresh coat of colorful paint. The result: Productivity soars. Absenteeism plummets. Why? Because the people in that department felt as though someone cared about them. And, as a result, they cared, too.

208

Caring

Fiction, of course, but that ’s a nice example of a culture of caring in action and what it can produce. The old joke “the beatings will continue until morale improves” has stuck around for as long as it has because it hits on a central truth. Misery doesn’t bring about motivation. Caring does. It ’s basic human nature and it will never change. Think about your work environment. Even if it ’s little more than a cubicle, does it show a sense of caring? If you’re in a leadership position, do you encourage others to set up their work environment as they like it so that it empowers them to work more effectively? When I go into large organizations, it ’s important that I see people being able to express themselves within their cubicles. But sometimes I walk into a cubicle and I see that it ’s nothing except things about the company. Well, that ’s not what my life is, that ’s not what anyone’s life should be. It ’s not exclusively about the company. I want to see kids’ pictures there. I want to see pictures of grandkids. I want to be able to see people that employees are close to and care about. I want to see people and things that are nurturing. That ’s the way you establish an environment of caring. And, in so doing, you encourage someone to care about the company in return. Environment is essential to caring because it brings people back to those things in their life that they value. If you remember why you’re there in the first place, you care. On top of that, you care for an organization that encourages you to care. And that shows up in every element of what you do for that organization.

Q MORE CHOICES Coach Billy Donovan of the University of Florida basketball team is an inspiring example of caring. Coach Donovan re-

Leaders Have to Care

209

cently recruited a ballplayer who’s now being chased by the NBA. Now the coach had something of a quandary on his hands: Is it really better for the athlete to stay in the university or is it better for Coach Donovan not to lose that talent? But, everyone involved knew that Coach Donovan would do the right thing for the player in the end. That ’s because, from the very beginning of their relationship, he made it clear that he cared about that player. Sure, he wanted to see him develop as a basketball player, but his caring took in more than that. He wanted to see him develop as a student, as a person, and as a young man. That was made clear from the very minute he began recruiting that player for his team. And, with that basis of caring in place, you simply knew that he was going to make the right recommendation. But it was more than just the honesty and integrity of doing the right thing. Another plus is that other players were watching. The entire team knew that the coach really cared about that individual and not just about wins and losses. That ’s a powerful mind-set of caring that, in the end, promotes winning. People see examples of caring, they know someone will genuinely care for them when the time comes. I knew how important caring was to that program when I worked with them. For instance, when preparing them for a big game in the NCAA Tournament, I had them write the name of a loved one down on a piece of athletic tape. Then, I had them attach the tape around their ankles. The reason? Every time they looked down, maybe exhausted, maybe frustrated, they would see their loved one’s name. And it could remind them of someone they really cared about and how winning that game related to that level of care. They wanted to win more because that person cared about them.

210

Caring

Q MORE CHOICES Here’s a shocker to many. Many of the generals with whom I work sign their notes or letters to me “Love.” “Love, General So and So.” Surprised? Don’t be. The fact is, we do love each other. And it has nothing to do with anything more than a deep abiding affection and respect. So, they have no problem using the word love in their communications. It may be uncomfortable for some, but letting someone know that you love them is an exceedingly powerful thing. It takes some getting used to and it may take a good deal of inner security but letting those around you know that you love them and appreciate them moves to a level of caring that ’s exceedingly solid and beneficial.

Take Caring Outside the Organization The power that pictures of family and loved ones can have to a culture of caring points out another important issue. To build a sense of caring internally, you also have to encourage it externally. The two very much go hand in hand. The pictures of kids and grandkids are perfect examples. Although the pictures are in a workspace, they show people who are outside the organization. But, reminding us of people we care about promotes a sense of caring for the organization and for what we do. Care more about what you do, perform better, and those loved ones inevitably benefit. But caring on an external basis goes beyond that. Think about what sort of legacy you would like your organization to leave. How does it fit into the community as a whole beyond the basic

Take Caring Outside the Organization

211

function of an organization that makes something or sells a particular service? How does your organization contribute to society? Think about your how organization’s sense of caring carries over to the outside. Is the organization involved in community activities, in outside projects that build a stronger, healthier community? Do you volunteer for some sort of valuable work? Do you encourage those around you to do the same? Do you offer them ample time with which to pursue those sorts of volunteer activities? Taking caring outside your organization is a powerful tool that works on any number of levels. First, it reinforces your organization’s belief in the value of caring as an overriding value. You think it’s as important on the outside as you do on the inside. It’s a basic principle, a belief that applies no matter the setting. On the inside, that further builds the importance of caring about what you do as an organization. No matter what kind of service you perform or the product you sell, a consistent culture of caring naturally spreads to the basic function of your business. It has to happen. You can’t have a culture of caring on the outside and one that shrugs it off internally. It also shows to those outside that yours is an organization that cares, both within the concerns of business as well as in other areas. If you involve your organization in caring about others outside your company and the community as a whole, you establish yourself as people who genuinely value issues and goals that go beyond profit and loss. While that transcends business, it also attracts people to your business. Again, a sense of caring can’t possibly exist in a vacuum.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE Retired General Lester Lyles is another person who had an incredible impact on his organization because of his caring

212

Caring

style. Moreover, he had a great knack for encouraging a sense of caring on the inside by taking it outside the military. Here’s one example: He promoted a program where people could put in extra time or work really hard in some other way so they could earn an extra day off. It was promoted as a way to build long weekends so that people would have more time to spend with their families. On one level, it was a public demonstration of his heart and his sense of caring. But it also worked to build caring internally through opportunities for more family time on the outside. And, as result, people knew that he cared about them, about their families and about their role in the overall mission of the U.S. Air Force.

Caring Emphasizes Today One of the points that I’ve emphasized throughout this book is the importance of taking action, of putting the things we’ve discussed into place right away. The importance, in other words, of embracing today and making it worth all that it can be. Caring hits at the heart of that. By caring about yourself, your company, the people around you, and customer service, you’re immersing yourself completely in the moment. You’re placing total value on the moment and everything you can bring to that moment because it can all change very quickly. I recently saw this first-hand on a trip. I missed my plane in Orlando and all other f lights were canceled due to bad weather. When I got on a plane the next day, I sat next to a young woman. It was probably three seconds before I knew why my original f light had been canceled. She was probably in her late 30s. She was f lying back to New Jersey for a funeral because her twin sister had

Don’t Keep a Scorecard

213

just been killed in a car accident. I knew then why I had been delayed. I knew why today was so special. In that young woman’s grief, I saw the importance of caring, of putting yourself completely in the moment. Again, it can all change so fast.

Don’t Keep a Scorecard We all have the habit of keeping score. It’s human nature, I suppose, and there are certainly plenty of opportunities to do it. In sports, every game naturally has a score. Why play the games if you didn’t? We also keep score in business all the time. No matter if its sales, returns, days lost to sickness or injury, what have you, there are tabs being kept all the time. It’s everywhere. Throw away that scorecard when it comes to caring. Nothing is more destructive, nothing drains the value and power of caring more than keeping score—expecting something in return for your ability to care and act on it. It’s easy to question the truth of that. Like the football or baseball team locked in a game, what’s the point if you don’t keep score? What’s the point of my caring if I don’t get something in return or, at the very least, someone notices my caring and points it out? Simple answer: If you’re keeping score, people know it. As a result, they question why you care in the first place. They question your motives. They also question your integrity. If caring is of such importance to you, why is it so important that you expect something in return? Why is recognition so vital to you? It completely def lates the value and impact of caring. I often give my own team members gifts. A few say, “It’s not necessary for you to spend this money.” Well, I tell them that I really feel grateful and I want them to know I feel grateful.

214

Caring

Sometimes, when I work with a client I buy a director’s chair with their name on it. That’s not my name on the chair. It’s their name. I want them to look at it and think, “Boy, my business is really appreciated. Wasn’t that great of Ray to send that to me!” It’s not about me. It’s about them. And that’s one of the things that I think really generates the magic that can come from caring—when it’s clear that it’s not about you, that it’s about someone else. Keeping score also runs completely counter to the very definition and meaning of caring. If you care, you take a genuine interest, you’re involved in something or someone out of a sense of wanting to contribute to the right thing. It’s for a higher purpose than scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. In that sense, caring isn’t a pure transaction; it’s more of an investment, a willingness on your part to give of yourself with no guarantee of any sort of return. But the thing is, if you really care and display that care without any sort of expectation, more often than not you’re paid back 10 times over. If you show you care, you’re placing a seed of emotional attachment in someone else, one that’s bound to grow. And, it may not be today or next week, but sometime in the future, it will revisit you. That really hits at the heart and value of caring in customer service. If you truly care about the customer and a service or product— and show that without any hint of expectation for something in return—chances are excellent that your caring will, in fact, provide enormous benefits—perhaps a repeat customer, referrals to others who are also looking for a customer service program that cares. In the end, perhaps customers for life. In that respect, caring can be so simple on the surface, yet its impact can be deeply profound.

Q A CHAMPION’S CHOICE I know a story that shows how caring inevitably comes back to you. There was a woman who was incredibly generous—so

Don’t Keep a Scorecard

215

much so that, when people came to her house and complimented her on a knickknack or something, at the end of the evening she’d say, “Here, honey. You take that home with you.” “No, no,” they’d answer. “I didn’t say it for that purpose.” “No, no,” she’d always answer right back. “You take it home with you. I want you to have it.” That was really the story of her life. For 40 years, she did that with everybody who came to her house. “Oh, that ’s a beautiful candle,” she’d hear someone say, to which she’d immediately reply: “I want you to have it. You take that home.” And 40 years later, her house burned down, flat to the ground. What happened? The people in town got together and helped her get a new house. But they didn’t stop there. One by one, these people came back and gave her back the things that she had given them. That shows the real magic of caring. In one instance, everything in her life was destroyed, in the next, it was filled with both possessions and the love of those around her. Because she had given so freely and with such care—without a moment ’s thought as to what she might get in return—God blessed her and she really had more back than she had ever given away.

Q MORE CHOICES Glenn McCusker at Viking Products is another person who knows the value of caring and giving without expecting anything in return. Years back, there was terrible rioting in Watts, California, around Thanksgiving. Naturally, that left a lot of people without anything with which to celebrate the holiday. Glenn decided to do something about it. He rented a tractor trailer truck, filled it with turkeys and drove it into Watts just to hand turkeys out to the people there who had nothing at

216

Caring

all. He involved all his employees in doing it so that they had that thrill of caring, of giving for the sake of giving. Did he do it to somehow or other score points? Did he do it to rub people’s face in the fact that he had all this money and they didn’t? Absolutely not. He did it because he cared. He did it because it was the right thing to do. He did it without a shred of expectation of getting one single thing back in return. But, in fact, he did. Don’t think for a moment that all those employees who had a hand in that selfless act of caring didn’t know full well what sort of an organization they worked for. What sort of man they worked for. And, in that sense, without ever asking, Glenn was paid back more than he ever could have asked for.

 My Caring All-Star  I have a very special Granny. She’s 95 years old and has more wisdom than any person I think I’ve ever met. When I first met her, she said: “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, my new grandson. I’m your Granny.” She has corresponded with many, many world leaders. She’s a friend of generals, to CEOs, to little kids. There’s something magical about her because she breaks life down to its simplest terms. All she does is care about people. And she will make you feel like a million dollars. I’ve been part of a program with her. She sat there and for one hour just shared pearls of wisdom. It’s all about her heart. It’s all about being simple. It’s all about caring. It’s all about loving. It’s all about making the other person more important than yourself. I can be in the middle of running at top speed getting ready for the next consulting assignment, or speaking engagement, or wrestling with a report that’s due, or building a PowerPoint presentation. Suddenly, the phone will ring and I’ll hear that unmis-

Under the Bleachers

217

takable voice on the other end of the line: “Ray! It’s your Granny.” She melts my day, and it seems to take away all the pressures that I’m under and make them evaporate. Often I’ll say, “Granny, I can’t talk to you right now. Can I please call you back?” She always answers: “You better! I need a hug by phone from you. I need to talk to you.” The thing is, though, when she talks to me or anyone else, it’s all about me or that other person. It’s all about the joy that she’s creating in people’s lives. She’s so enthusiastic. She’s so positive. She’s so genuine in her sense of really caring for others. In a word, she can be overwhelming with just how wonderful she is. When I grow up, I want to be like Granny. So should you!

Under the Bleachers I want to share one last story. I was attending a high school assembly with my late brother Bill in Northern Florida. While I was speaking, there was a little bit of commotion under the bleachers. As I was being escorted from that assembly to go to a teacher’s meeting, a teacher and a student pulled me aside and said, “Mr. Pelletier, there’s a girl who really needs to talk to you.” This little girl was under the bleachers and she was crying her eyes out. She had a suicide note. With that, I didn’t care one bit about the teacher’s meeting I had to go speak to. She was now the most important thing in my life. She was a young girl, the daughter of a minister, and she was pregnant. She was overwhelmed: How would she ever be able to tell her dad? I had the privilege of being able to help her. We had a meeting with her dad. She told her dad she was pregnant. It was an amazing meeting to see the healing of that family and to see how positively her dad actually reacted. It all worked out.

218

Caring

My brother Bill put it best that day: Our mission, our purpose in our business was that we needed to continue until no one was left under the bleachers. In what we do for a living and how we work and interact with others, we can’t rest as long as any one is under the bleachers in some way. A young girl facing an unwanted pregnancy is under the bleachers; a teammate facing a professional challenge is under the bleachers; a customer with a problem or a complaint is under the bleachers. In all that we do, let’s all keep working until there’s no one left under the bleachers.

G AME P LAN What You Can Do to Build Championship Customer Service by Caring 1. Know why caring is important. Have you considered why caring is central to customer service? Identify recent examples when a sense of caring really improved a customer service experience. 2. Start with yourself. Do you care about your company and those within it? Have you done anything lately that lets others around you know that you really care about them? 3. Build an environment of caring. Does your organization have an environment that encourages people to care about the organization, what it does and the people who work for it? 4. Focus on reasons to care. Is your work space filled with pictures of loved ones or other people of significance? Do others with whom you work have other similar things that help them focus on reasons to care? 5. Take it outside. Does your organization encourage outside activities and programs that build a sense of caring for your community?

Under the Bleachers

219

6. Don’t keep score. Do you care and work with a caring attitude because it brings you joy and satisfaction or do you always expect something in return? Can you think of an example where you thought you should get something in return and, as a result, an instance of caring was compromised? 7. Know that it does come back. Do you understand that acts of caring usually come back in a positive way? Identify an instance in customer service where you did something simply out of caring and, as result, benefited in some way, even though that was not your intention?

Index A Accessibility: building trust, 19–20 L.L.Bean as example of, 20 –21 Accountability, 176–177, 180 coaching and, 176–177 to the organization, 177 to your people, 177 to yourself, 177 Adidas, Nike versus, 142 Adoption story, 129–130 Adversity: character, and using for advantage, 95–96, 106, 110 conducting for, 83–85, 88 reframing defeat (“time ran out”), 150 –151 Air Force, 6, 13–14, 56, 61– 62, 98–99, 170, 211–212 Airlines: customer service representative helping couple adopting baby, 129–130 mechanics’ conversation overheard, 10, 22 missed Orlando f light, 212–213

Airports: electric carts (“sorry, policy”), 17–18 Tampa, shoeshine shop, 108–109 All-Star Team, xxiii caring (“Granny”), 216–217 character (Mrs. Cole, shoeshine shop), 108–109 coaching (Mike O’Cain), 179 competition ( Billy Donovan), 153–154 conducting ( Bill Belichick), 87 conf lict resolution (airline representative), 129–130 listening ( Ed Rosenberg), 198 trust (Gregory Martin), 13–14 vision ( Eboatloans.com), 43–44 Alston, Walter, 173 Anderson, Sparky, 173 Apollo 13 (movie), 37–38 Appreciation, showing, 67 Art of War, The (Sun Tzu), 145 Ash, Mary Kay, 33 Associating with people of good character, 103, 110 Athletes, competition with self only, 137

221

222 Attitude: coaching and, 177–178 competition and, 152–153 f irst-time, 122–123 “f lush it,” 149–150, 155 “get to” versus “got to,” 60 – 61 hiring for, 54 –55, 67, 152–153 January 1 ( brand new day), 153 two-minute-warning, 148–149, 155 Audible, power of, 14 –19, 24, 59 Autry, James, 201

B Backdraft (movie), 28–29 Bank account, trust as (more deposits, fewer withdrawals), 8–12, 24 Basic job skills, coaching, 173–174 Belichick, Bill, 74, 87 Better Than Terrif ic ( BTT), 52 Bible, leaders in, 91 Bird, Larry, 78–79 Body language, 123–124, 185 Boverini, Walter J., 161–162 Bowden, Bobby, 107–108 Boy Scouts, 6 Bryant, Paul (“Bear”), 69

C Car dealership: championship customer service at, x example of unbalanced organization, 81–82

Index Caring, 201–219 All-Star (“Granny”), 216–217 building environment of, 208, 210 –211, 218 Champion’s Choice, 205–206, 207–208, 211–212, 214 –215 Game Plan, 218–219 importance of, 203–204, 218 leaders as models, 206–207 outside the organization, 210 –211, 218 safe environment for, 206–207 score, not keeping, 213–214, 219 servant-leadership and, 204 –205, 207 starting with yourself, 205, 218 today/in-the-moment, emphasis on, 212–213 “under the bleachers” story, 217–218 Carter, Jimmy, 94 –95 Catron, Mike, 139 Celebration, importance of, 42 CEOs: eating lunch in cafeteria, 56 receiving raises during struggling times, 9–10 Chain stores, large, 152 Champion’s Choice, xxii, xxiii caring, 205–206, 207–208, 211–212, 214 –215 character, 92, 94 –96, 100 –101, 103–104, 107–108 coaching, 161–162, 168–169, 171–172 competition, 140 –141, 142, 143, 147–148, 149–151, 153 conducting, 74 –75, 76–77, 78–79, 81, 83 conf lict resolution, 115–117, 120, 122–123, 127–128

Index enthusiasm, 50 –51, 53–54, 55–56, 58, 61 listening, 188–189, 190, 192–193, 196 trust, 5– 6, 16–17 vision, 29–30, 31, 33, 37–38, 40 –41, 42 Character, 89–110, 123 admitting mistakes and taking responsibility, 96–99 adversity, forging character through, 95–96, 110 All-Star (Mrs. Cole), 108–109 associating with people of good character, 103, 110 careful listening and, 123 Champion’s Choice, 92, 94 –96, 100 –101, 103–104, 107–108 checklist for, 92–93 children as guide to, 92, 110 def ining/understanding, 91–92, 109–110 failure, allowing, 99–101, 110 Game Plan, 109–110 giving and, 93–94, 110 ladder exercise, 97–98 leaders in the Bible, 91 servant-leader and, 95 unpopular, willingness to be, 101–102, 110 winning at all costs (not), 105–107 Children as gauge of character, 92, 110 Clemson, 179 Coaching, 157–180 accountability, 176–177, 180 All-Star (Mike O’Cain), 179 basic job skills, 173–174 Champion’s Choice, 161–162, 163–164, 168–169, 171–172

223

coachability, 167–168, 180 corporate world’s lack of skills in, 159–160 def ining/understanding, 160 –161, 179 discipline, 175–176, 180 enthusiasm/love for: customer service, 165–166, 179–180 game, the, 162–164, 179–180 people you’re coaching, 166–167, 179–180 your company, 164 –165, 179–180 exercise ( listing best/worst coaches you ever had ), 162 Game Plan, 179–180 recruiting and, 177–178 retired people as coaches, 192 safe environment for, 178, 180 servant-leader as coach, 161 studying styles of other coaches, 172–173 training, 169–171, 172, 180 willing versus able, 169 to win, 174 –175, 180 Cole, Larry, xx Communication: body language, 123–124, 185 nonverbal, 123–125 technique (repeating/rephrasing what you thought you heard them say), 124, 190 verbal (percent from words), 123–124, 184 (see also Listening) WIGO (what is going on?) tool, 61– 62, 79 Community activities, 210 –211 Companies, struggling, and trust, 9 Compensation, gold stars versus, 57

224

Index

Competition, 39, 133–155, 172–173 All-Star ( Billy Donovan), 153–154 attitude and, 152–153 Champion’s Choice, 140 –141, 142, 143, 147–148, 149–151, 153 coaches, studying other, 172–173 customer and, 138, 151–152 def ining, 135–137, 154 “enemy”: “competitive hatred,” 143 f inding/identifying, 142–143, 154 importance of, 141–142 scouting, 39, 144 –145, 154 “f lush it” (not dwelling on mistakes), 149–150, 155 Game Plan, 154 –155 healthy versus unhealthy, 135–137, 154 importance of, 135 internal, 139–141 January 1 attitude ( brand new day), 153 “mystery shoppers,” 39 preparing for more than you expect (“six quarters”), 145–147, 154 servant-leader and, 137 two-minute warning attitude, 148–149, 155 winning at all costs (not), 136, 149–150 against yourself, 137, 138 Conductor, leader as, 69–88 adversity, 83–85, 88 All-Star ( Bill Belichick), 87 Champion’s Choice, 74 –75, 76–77, 78–79, 81, 83 encouraging group practice, 75–76, 87–88 encouraging individual practice, 77–78, 88

entire orchestra, 79–80, 88 f lexibility, 85–86, 88 Game Plan, 87–88 leader as leader, not player, 72–74, 87 stopping to f ix problems, 82–83, 88 unbalanced direction, 79–81 Conf lict management, 111–131 All-Star (airline representative), 129–130 building plan to address the problem, 118, 119–121, 130 Champion’s Choice, 115–117, 120, 122–123, 127–128 digging to uncover everything that’s in play in a conf lict, 124 –125 expectations for resolution, 128–129, 131 four steps, 117–118 Game Plan, 130 –131 identifying the problem, 118–119 ignoring conf licts, 116–117, 130 inevitability of conf licts, 113 internal/external conf licts, 113–117, 130 leaders rarely trained in, 116–117 as problem-solving tool, 117 servant-leaders, 117, 127–128 talking to everyone together, 125–126, 131 talking to individuals involved, 118, 121–125, 131 winners, no, 130 writing down solution, 126–127 Congruency, intentional, 73 Core values: building set of, 5– 6, 23–24, 27, 51 trust and, 5– 6, 23–24, 27 vision and, 27, 51

Index Core values + vision + belief+ enthusiasm > any obstacle, 51 Covey, Stephen (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), 29 Crested Butte, Colorado, 104 Customer(s): “always right” (exceptions), 120 competition and, 151–152 conf lict with, 113–117 soliciting feedback from, 152 vision crafting, including in, 37 Customer service: def ining, xix obsession with, xix, 151–152 poor listening skills and, 183–184 vision and, 36–37 Customer Service Champion, xviii

D Dealership. See Car dealership De Pree, Max, 157 DiGaetani, John L., 181 Director’s baton/chair, 73–74, 214 Discipline, 175–176, 180 Disney Corporation (“It’s a Small World After All”), 193–194 Dog, stuffed ( hotel anecdote), 19 Donovan, Billy, 55–56, 153–154, 168–169, 208–209 Downturns, preparing for, 147–148

E Eboatloans.com, 43–44 Einstein, Albert, 25

225

Elmer Fudd (chasing rabbits), 28–29, 41, 44 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1 Empathy: listening with, 196–197, 199 sympathy versus, 197 Empowering employees: enthusiasm and, 58–59, 67 trust and, 14 –19, 24, 59 End result, seeing, 38 Enemy/enemies: changing, 143 f inding, 142–143, 154 importance of, 141–142 scouting, 144 –145, 154 Enthusiasm, 47– 67, 102 All-Star ( Bill Hicks), 65 building in others, 54 –55 building in yourself, 51–53, 67 Champion’s Choice, 50 –51, 53–56, 58, 61 checklist, 58 def ining, 50 empowerment and, 58–59, 67 example (Mrs. Cole in shoeshine shop), 109 false, 52 fear, overcoming, 64 Game Plan, 67 “get to” versus “got to” attitude, 59– 61, 67 “God within,” 50 hiring for attitude, 67 internal customers, delighting, 58 key role in developing trust, belief, and camaraderie, 102 mathematical formula (core values + vision + belief + enthusiasm > than any obstacle), 51 pride and, 62– 64, 67

226

Index

Enthusiasm (Continued) safe environment for, 65– 66, 67 showing appreciation to your employees, 67 Environment: of caring, 208, 210 –211, 218 safe: for caring, 206–207, 218 for coaching, 178, 180 for enthusiasm, 65– 66, 67 for listening, 188–189 work (personalizing), 208, 210 –211

F Failure: admitting, 96–99 fear of, 100 –101 giving others right to fail, 99–100, 110 Fear: enthusiasm overcoming, 64 of failure, 100 –101 Feedback, soliciting, 152 First-time attitude ( listening as if ), 122–123 Flexibility, conducting through, 85–86, 88 Florida, University of, 55–56, 153–154 Florida State Seminoles, 107–108, 143 “Flush it” attitude (not dwelling on mistakes), 149–150, 155 Foley, Jeremy, 55–56 Fudd, Elmer (chasing rabbits), 28–29, 41, 44

G Game Plans, xxii–xxiii caring, 218–219 character, 109–110 coaching, 179–180 competition, 154 –155 conducting, 87–88 conf lict resolution, 130 –131 enthusiasm, 67 listening, 198–199 trust, 23–24 vision, 44 –45 Garbage man ( Louie), 63– 64 Generationally, listening, 190 –192, 194 –195, 199 Generosity story (woman whose house burned down), 214 –215 Gen Xers, 191 “Get to” versus “got to” attitude, 59– 61, 67, 122 Gifts: director’s baton, 73–74 director’s chair, 214 parting (“goodbye kiss”), 42 for team members, 213–214 Giving: character and, 93–94, 102, 110 honesty as form of, 102 placing value on, 93–94 Glengarry Glen Ross (movie), 139 Global terrorism (def ined enemy), 141 “God within” (enthusiasm), 50 Gold stars, 56–57 “Goodbye kiss,” 42 Government agencies (conf lict example), 115–116 “Granny” (caring All-Star), 216–217

Index

227

Greenleaf, Robert, xxi Gretzky, Wayne, 29 Guarantees, 22

It’s Not What Happens to You, It’s What You Do About It (Mitchell), 105

H

J

Habitat for Humanity, 94 Hicks, Bill, 65 Hiring/recruiting: anticipating needs, 177–178 attitude, 54 –55, 67, 152–153, 177 listening skills, 197–198 Holtz, Lou, 23, 144 Honesty, 102 Hoosiers (movie), 166 Hotels: author’s accumulated stay in, 50 stuffed dog story, 19

January 1 attitude ( brand new day), 153 Jordan, Michael, 78 Judgment, listening without, 185–186

I Inclusion, vision and, 32–33, 44 –45 Insurance industry, 58 Intensity (two-minute-warning), 148–149, 155 Intent, listening for, 195–196, 199 Intentional congruency, 73 Internal customer, delighting, 58 Internal/external competition, 138, 139–141 Internal/external conf lict, 113–117, 130 “It’s a Small World After All,” 193–194

K Keller, Helen, 89 King, Billie Jean, 133 Knothole exercise (perspective): coaching, 175 conf lict, 121 vision, 34 –35, 37 Krantz, Gene, 38

L Ladder exercise, 97–98 La Russa, Tony, 74 Layoffs, 9 Leader(s): caring in, 206–207 as conductors (see Conductor, leader as) conf lict management, training in, 116–117 f lexibility in, 85–86

228

Index

Leader(s) (Continued) leading/not playing, 87, 206–207 as servants (see Servant-leadership) Legacy/tradition: caring, 210 –211 vision, 36 “Lending for the Good Life,” 43 Listening, 122–123, 181–199 All-Star ( Ed Rosenberg), 198 as art, 184, 198 Champion’s Choice, 188–189, 190, 192–193, 196 customer service and, 183–184 with empathy, 196–197, 199 as if f irst time, 122–123 Game Plan, 198–199 generationally, 190 –192, 199 importance of, 183–184, 198 for intent, 195–196, 199 without judgment, 185–186 recruiting skills in, 197–198 stopping/slowing down, 189–190, 199 20 percent rule, 186–188, 199 valuing skills in, 197–198 verbal communication percentage, 123–124, 184 L.L.Bean, 20 –21, 22 Loft anecdote (overcoming fear), 64 Lombardi, Vince, 150 –151, 173 Louie (sanitation engineer), 63– 64 “Love,” generals signing letters with, 210 Love/caring. See Caring Love/enthusiasm (in coaching): for customer service, 165–166, 179–180 for the game, 162–164, 179–180 for people you’re coaching, 166–167, 179–180

for your company, 164 –165, 179–180 Lyles, Lester, 211–212 Lynn English High School, 161

M Martin, Gregory, xi, 13–14 Mary Kay Cosmetics, 33 Mathematical formula (core values + vision + belief + enthusiasm > than any obstacle), 51 McCusker, Glenn, 215–216 McDonald’s, 51 Mediation skills, 126 Metrics: measuring success, 140 –141 sports (success based on percentages), 186–187 tracking the vision, 41–42 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 139 Military: Air Force, 6, 13–14, 56, 61– 62, 98–99, 170, 211–212 coaching model, 160, 170, 171–172 generals signing letters with “love,” 210 plane crash, 98–99 Mistakes: admitting, and taking responsibility, 96–99 “f lush it” attitude toward, 149–150, 155 orchestras ignoring, 84 –85 Mitchell, W, 104 –105, 108 Mother Teresa, 95

Index Mrs. Cole (in shoeshine shop), 108–109 Mrs. Lemon (f irst grade teacher), 56–57 MTV, 191 Music/lyrics (practice listening for intent), 196 “Mystery shoppers” (studying/ scouting competition), 39, 144 –145, 154

N Nike versus Adidas, 142 Nine to Five (movie), 207–208 Nonverbal communication, 123–125 North Carolina State, 49, 52, 65, 179 Notre Dame: football team, and power of the promise, 22–23 Holtz at, 23, 144 sign, “Play Like a Champion Today, xvii, xxiv, 62 traditions, 36

O Obsession (about customer service), xix, 151–152 O’Cain, Mike, 49, 55, 179 Orchestra analogy. See Conductor, leader as

229

Organizational core values: building set of, 5– 6, 23–24, 27, 51 trust and, 5– 6, 23–24, 27 vision and, 27, 51 Organizational levels, building trust throughout, 20

P Paris meeting of world leaders (“The City in 2020”), 193–194 Parting gifts (“goodbye kiss”), 42 Pelletier, Bill, 217–218 People versus process, xx–xxi Permission to Win (Pelletier), 57 Personalizing work environment, 208, 210 –211 Perspective: importance of (vision), 33–34, 38, 45 knothole exercise: coaching, 175 conf lict, 121 vision, 34 –35, 37 Playground equipment, 38–39, 205–206 Policy, versus empowerment (power of audible), 14 –19, 24, 59 Positioned2Soar.com, 43 Practice: conf lict resolution, 127–128 group, 75–76, 87–88 individual, 77–78, 88 stopping/taking time out, 82–83 tools, 76–77 Pride: enthusiasm and, 62– 64, 67 example (Mrs. Cole), 109

230

Index

Priorities, keeping straight (accountability), 177 Problem solving tool, conf lict management as, 117 Promises, making/keeping, 21–22, 24

R Rabbits, chasing, 28–29, 41, 44 Railroad analogy (people/process), xx–xxi Recruiting. See Hiring/recruiting Reputation, importance of, 107 Retired people as coaches, 192 Reynolds, Richard, 56, 61– 62 Rockne, Knute, 85 Role playing: calling audibles, 16–17 conf lict resolution, 127–128 generational listing skills, 192 Rosenberg, Ed, 43, 198 Rosenberg, Leslie, 43, 198 Rubin, Theodore, 111 Ruiz, Don Miguel (The Four Agreements), 126 Russell, Bill, xi

S Safe environment: for caring, 206–207, 218 for coaching, 178, 180 for enthusiasm, 65– 66, 67 for listening, 188–189 Sales contests, 139–140 Sanitation engineer ( Louie), 63– 64

Score keeping: not (caring), 213–214, 219 vision (daily tally sheet), 40 –41 Scouting competition, 39, 144 –145, 154 Seabury, David, 49 Servant-leadership, xxi–xxiv caring, 204 –205, 207 character, 95 coaching, 161 conf lict management, 117, 127–128 def inition, xxi–xxiv enthusiasm, 52–53 generational listening, 191–192 healthy competition, 137 recognition that improvement takes resources, 76 relationship with employees as human beings, 191–192 trust, 12–13 Shoeshine woman (Mrs. Cole), 108–109 Showing appreciation, 67 Shula, Don, 173 Six Sigma metrics, 41 Skills versus attitude, hiring for, 54 –55, 67, 152–153 Slowing down (taking time outs): conducting, 82–83, 88 listening, 189–190, 199 vision, 31–32 Smart goals, 176 Suicidal girl “under the bleachers,” 217–218 Summarizing phrase (vision), 43–44, 45 Sun Tzu (The Art of War) (www.sonshi.com), 145 Symphony orchestra. See Conductor, leader as Synergy, 192–193

Index

T Tampa Airport shoeshine shop, 108–109 Team building, character and, 102 Teamwork. See Conductor, leader as Teresa, Mother, 95 Timeline, using, 35–36, 45 Time outs (slowing down): conducting, 82–83, 88 listening, 189–190, 199 vision, 31–32 Today, emphasis on, 212–213 Torre, Joe, 74 TQM, 41 Tracking the vision, 40 –41, 45 Training as a coach, 169–171 Trust, 1–24 accessibility and, 19–20 All-Star (Gregory Martin), 13–14 audible, power of, 14 –19, 24 as bank account (more deposits, fewer withdrawals), 8–12, 24 building on every level of the organization, 20 building slowly/systematically, 24 Champion’s Choice, 5– 6, 7, 9, 12, 20 –21, 22 empowerment and, 14 –19, 24, 59 Game Plan, 23–24 importance of, 3–5, 23 pervasive lack of trustworthiness, 3–5 promises, making/keeping, 21–22, 24 values, building set of, 5, 23–24 “why” of, understanding, 5–7, 24 Turkeys, giving away, 215–216

231

20 percent rule ( listening), 186–188, 199 Two-minute-warning attitude, 148–149, 155

U Unbalanced direction, 79–81 “Under the bleachers,” 217–218 Unhealthy/healthy competition, 135–137, 154 Unpopular, willingness to be, 101–102, 110

V Values: building set of, 23–24 trust and, 5– 6, 23–24, 27 vision and, 27, 51 Verbal communication, 184. See also Listening Vermont Castings, 104 Viking Products, 215 Vision, 25–45 All-Star ( Eboatloans.com), 43–44 Backdraft (movie), 28–29 celebration and, 42 Champion’s Choice, 29–30, 31, 33, 37–38, 40 –41, 42 checklist for, 30 –31 conf lict resolution and, 121 core values and, 27 crafting, 31–32, 44 customer service and, 36–37 daily tally sheet, 40 –41 def ining/understanding, 27–28, 44

232

Index

Vision (Continued) development company (Positioned2Soar.com), 43, 198 end result and, 38 example from sports, 49 Game Plan, 44 –45 inclusion, importance of, 32–33, 44 –45 introducing/sharing, 39–40 knothole exercise, 34 –35 legacy/tradition and, 36 in mathematical formula (core values + vision + belief + enthusiasm > than any obstacle), 51 perspective, importance of, 33–35, 45 rabbits, identifying your, 28–29, 44 reviewing annually, 40 –41 slowing down (taking time outs), 31–32 summarizing phrase for, 43–44, 45 timeline, using, 35–36, 45 tracking, 40 –41, 45 values and, 27, 51 Volunteer work, 211

W Watts riots, 215–216 Web site (www.raypelletier.com), xxiv What’s Important Now ( WIN), 144 Why, understanding, 6–7, 24 WIGO (what is going on?) communications tool, 61– 62, 79

Willing versus able, 169 WIN ( What’s Important Now), 144 Winning: at all costs (not): character, 105–107 competition, 136 coaching for, 174 –175, 180 conf lict resolution and, 130 not always: competition, 149–150 conf lict resolution, 120, 130 “f lush it” attitude, 149–150 society’s love for, 105–107 Wooden, John, 173 Work environment, personalizing, 208, 210 –211 World leaders (Paris meeting, “The City in 2020”), 193–194 “World’s best employees” slogan, 51 World Series, preparation for long game, 146

Y Yourself: accountability to, 177 building enthusiasm in, 51–53, 67 caring starting with, 205, 218 competing against, 137, 138

Z Zigler, Zig, 59