And, you got side-tracked by a gliche… the idea that what we’re seeing for organizational growth and change is DIFFERENT from what was seen in the past. It isn’t… much.

Your solution though made a nice jump over that gliche to something broader. What did you do to make this jump? Might I suggest that somewhere along the line, Anna, you considered the attributes or characteristics of problem… time, space, numbers of people, complexity, size, 24×7 responsiblities, etc. and then matched those with appropriate symbols of success.

Now, about the measures of success — customer service, quality, on-time/on-budget. Those already exist and they aren’t working. What else might work? What really measures complexity?

For example, how would we measure customer satisfaction when our customers can only communicate through email, websites with standardized messages about how to solve problems, and through call center staff for whom the customer’s primary language is the staff’s second, third or fourth language? How do we measure satisfaction without measuring dissatisfaction as well? Without measuring complexity of customers’ experiences, how can we adequately define the metric against which our leaders are asked to work.

And, while we’re talking about measuring leadership, let’s talk about the triple bottom line and how to measure leaders against more than just financial (single bottom line) related measures, which all the previously mentioned measures are — measures of how loyal our customers are to us ($$), sales, revenue, etc. Triple Bottom Line (TBL) measures environmental impact and sustainability as well as the social impact and sustainability as well as finances. These get back to your other blog post on changing nature of the workforce.

I challenge you to create a new model of how to measure leadership in times of complexity with workforce talent that exceed expectations but can not be paid more and who work virtually around the world in multiple languages with all the inherent miscommunications that could come about… go for it.

And, you got side-tracked by a gliche… the idea that what we’re seeing for organizational growth and change is DIFFERENT from what was seen in the past. It isn’t… much.

Your solution though made a nice jump over that gliche to something broader. What did you do to make this jump? Might I suggest that somewhere along the line, Anna, you considered the attributes or characteristics of problem… time, space, numbers of people, complexity, size, 24×7 responsiblities, etc. and then matched those with appropriate symbols of success.

Now, about the measures of success — customer service, quality, on-time/on-budget. Those already exist and they aren’t working. What else might work? What really measures complexity?

For example, how would we measure customer satisfaction when our customers can only communicate through email, websites with standardized messages about how to solve problems, and through call center staff for whom the customer’s primary language is the staff’s second, third or fourth language? How do we measure satisfaction without measuring dissatisfaction as well? Without measuring complexity of customers’ experiences, how can we adequately define the metric against which our leaders are asked to work.

And, while we’re talking about measuring leadership, let’s talk about the triple bottom line and how to measure leaders against more than just financial (single bottom line) related measures, which all the previously mentioned measures are — measures of how loyal our customers are to us ($$), sales, revenue, etc. Triple Bottom Line (TBL) measures environmental impact and sustainability as well as the social impact and sustainability as well as finances. These get back to your other blog post on changing nature of the workforce.

I challenge you to create a new model of how to measure leadership in times of complexity with workforce talent that exceed expectations but can not be paid more and who work virtually around the world in multiple languages with all the inherent miscommunications that could come about… go for it.

I love your suggestion to write about power in this context–I’ve got it on my list, and thanks for the thought Sharon!

Those practical keys were the essence of the course. I like your “silence” one and the “distraction” idea. Neither of those were in the course but they do work.

Questions are always the way to engage the other person. There are other ways to open that door as well, but they are harder to do with someone you do not know at all and may never see again.

A couple of the ideas I remember from the course I taught include several techniques for saying “no’. Today, it’s just not at all acceptable to say no, but, when working with customers (and managers… or employees… or children and spouses), “no” is still valid, at times. The two techniques?

– I’ll give it a final try to see if we can find a way to do that. Are you willing to let me try and get back to you with the answer. I’ll call you by {set a time}.
* If the answer really still is “no”, the call back consists of, “I tried again for you. Here’s the answer I got: {answer} I’m sorry it’s not the answer you wanted, where do you want to go from here?”
* Usually, people give up at this point and live with the “no”. If they won’t, they probably have to tackle something larger like writing to an executive, politician, or getting a lawyer. Regardless, at this point the next step is theirs — accept our decision or take higher action.
* Usually, customers thank you for taking the time to look for and work for their preferred solution, even if it doesn’t work out the way they wanted it to.

– “However,” — This is a great tool for shifting the focus away from the “no” by pointing out reasons or factors in the decision. “However, most people understand that our policy is there to protect their rights, their credit ratings, and their privacy.” “However, you might like to know that we our standard is set this way so that we can server all of customers to a very high standard all the time.”

“However..”, is a difficult skill to learn. It takes practices. It’s so much easier to blurt out “NO” than to look for ways to make a refusal more acceptable.

In either case, we have to learn to accept the realitly that “no” is valid. It protects us as individuals and our organizations. The challenge is making it acceptable to our customers who see it differently and have very valid if different perspectives.

You’re right, Anna, much customer service is about the reason for its existence and not about the practical actions of the person. Performance is about action… “doing”.

P.S., while you’re considering customer service, consider the problem of how an employee tells his or her superior(s) “no” I won’t do that. It might be that the course is illegal or unethical, it might be that it is unwise (though who decides what’s wise and what is not, can be a challenging discussion), or it might be that the proposed action is invasive of the employee’s rights (if such things exist any more.)

I’ve been working virtually from home for several years now. I’ve noticed that my coffee breaks are less frequent at home (though sometimes longer) and that my days are often longer. I end up so involved in something that time just flies by. The longer breaks happen when I need some “think time” or when there’s nothing particularly challenging happening… when I’m waiting for someone else to come through with something or other.

Anna, please take the idea of power… and maybe even the idea of cell-phone power bars and give it one of your think pieces. I’d be interested in your insights.

Regarding your point about workers who could be doing personal things even when they’re sitting in a cubicle–that’s a point I often make with regard to the perception of smokers, by the way. I’m not a smoker and this isn’t an ad for smokers’ rights, but people often think that smokers take more breaks just because they’re visible breaks. In reality we have no idea how much break time non-smokers take. It’s an argument for tolerance in the workplace.