Leadership Lessons from Pocahontas

Posted on by Scott

On this day, in 1614, the Indian Princess Pocahontas was married to English settler John Rolfe.

In May of 1607, 100 or so colonists from England founded Jamestown – the first permanent English settlement in America. One of these early settlers was John Smith, a captain who helped direct the settlements survival efforts. From the beginning, Jamestown found life in the new world extremely difficult. They suffered disease, famine, and frequent attacks by the native Indians led by Chief Powhatan.

In December of 1607, Smith and two others were out exploring and mapping a nearby river when they were captured and taken to Powhatan’s village. Smith’s two companions were killed, but according to his accounts he was spared and released because Pocahontas begged her father to show mercy.

Pocahontas began acting as a liaison between the natives and the settlers, bringing them food and learning their customs. A tentative peace was established. Things seemed to be looking up for the settlers.

But in 1609 Smith was injured in an accident and had to return to England. Without his influence, the relationship with Pocahontas and the Indians faltered. Things steadily deteriorated and that winter was especially hard. Many settlers died.

John Rolfe didn’t come to Jamestown until 1610. He introduced the concept of tobacco farming to the settlers and the friendly natives. Hoping to regain a peaceful relationship, Pocahontas once again took on the role of ambassador. The tenuous peace strengthened yet again.

Three years later, in 1613, a new English Captain named Samuel Argall arrived. Seeking to force a more permanent peace agreement, he took Pocahontas hostage. He then demanded the Indian Chief agree to a more favorable treaty in order to secure her release. By this time, however, Pocahontas and John Rolfe had already fallen in love. She converted to Christianity, taking the name Rebecca. And 398 years ago today they were married, solidifying the peace between their two people.

I find it interesting that one person could have so much influence. Here are two cultures that couldn’t be more different. Their customs, religions, goals, and even language were all different. But Pocahontas took it upon herself to bridge the gap. She saw the potential benefit to both groups in working together.

I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds a lot like today’s workplace. The differences between departments – differences in customs, beliefs, goals, and even language – often lead to silos. Employees can find themselves competing for resources, viewing those from other areas as the enemy. This organizational conflict usually has a negative impact on everyone involved.

It’s pretty easy to recognize these siloed workplaces. Frontline employees don’t have the resources they need to assist the customer. Support departments working in isolation develop duplicate processes and then blame each other when something goes wrong.

But all it takes is one person to reach across the gulf to change all that. One person with the desire to find common ground – that win-win scenario. Here’s how to lead like Pocahontas.

See the bigger picture. Pocahontas was able to look beyond the differences between her people and the English settlers. She could see that, despite the barriers presented by appearance, religion, and language, these were just people trying to make a life for themselves. They weren’t evil or even necessarily wrong, just different.

Be willing to stick your neck out. It had to take a lot of nerve for Pocahontas to intervene in the killing of John Smith. Going against the will of the Chief, even for his daughter, wasn’t normal. But she knew that a chance at peace and mutual benefit was more desirable than war.

Keep working at it. The on-again, off-again peace between the settlers and the Indians had to be tiring. Over the years, I’m sure she wondered if things would ever get better. It would be so much easier to just view the other side as the enemy and wipe them out. The constant threat of war, especially after her capture, had to weigh heavily on both sides. But Pocahontas was persistent in her attempts to build a relationship. She knew that the long-term benefits were worth the effort.

Realize the benefits may be far greater than you think. Pocahontas set out to build a relationship between her people and the awkwardly dressed, foreign speaking colonists. I doubt she thought love would enter the picture. In the end, she not only accomplished her objective, but reaped personal rewards as well.

I think every organization needs a Pocahontas (if not several). Is there one in your organization? Is it you?

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 4

Posted on by Scott

A couple of weeks ago I worked with a manager to develop a coaching plan for her team. We spent quite a bit of time identifying goals, skill gaps and specific steps to help each of her employees improve their performance. She was excited about the work we had done and expressed a great deal of confidence in her ability to carry out the plan. The other day I called her up to see how things were going. Right off the bat, I could tell things hadn’t gone quite as well as they could. The level of excitement in her voice was significantly lower than it had been when we first drafted the plan.

She proceeded to tell me that based on our plan, she had held a series of short meetings with her staff to gain their buy-in and begin the process of working on each employee’s development plan. So far, so good. But the next week someone called in sick so she had to cover for them. And then she got a call that she wasn’t expecting and had to deal with that. And something came up at home that demanded her attention. And so the story continued for several minutes. She didn’t have time.

Excuse #4: “I don’t have time to coach.”

This is an all too familiar excuse. I’ve used it and I’m sure you have too at one time or another. In fact it’s so familiar that everyone uses it for a variety of reasons. The lack of time seems to get in the way of many good intentions. We’re all busy. We all have a number of things that require our attention, and inevitably some of it gets pushed to the side.

But this excuse is rarely about time. It’s about priorities.

When something is really important, we find the time to address it. We make the time. We push other, less important, activities to the back burner so that this task gets crossed off the list. In order to prevent this particular excuse from hindering your coaching efforts, you have to make it a priority. Here are five steps to conquering the time/priority issue.

1. Call the spade a spade. The first step is to honestly assess the priority of your coaching activities in relation to the other items on your to-do list. Laura Vanderkam suggests replacing the phrase “I don’t have time” with “It’s not a priority.” If you’re comfortable with how that makes you feel, then perhaps time really is the issue. If not, you need to …

2. Get your priorities in order. I have a hundred items on my to-do list, with some being more important than others. For every high-priority item, there are 10 low priority activities. But it’s the low priority items that seem to eat up my time. In my quest to mark things off my list, I focus on the quick-and-easy, low-priority items. At the end of the day, I’ve done a lot of work, but often feel like I haven’t accomplished much. I’ve found that I need to tackle the high priority items first, otherwise I’ll get sucked into focusing on the little things and putting out fires.

3. Schedule it or delegate it. The high priority items on my to-do list are typically complex, requiring more time and physical or mental energy. As a result, my tendency is to procrastinate – to put off the more challenging tasks in favor of the easy stuff while proclaiming how busy I am. I’ve learned that there are some things I can delegate to other members of the team. They may not complete the job the way I would have, but if I can live with the result, it’s worth letting go in order to free up time in my day for the items that do require my involvement – like coaching. Important items that only I can address go into my calendar. This prevents others from scheduling meetings or other activities that could pull me away from the important task. Scheduling the activity keeps it in front of me and I’m less likely to forget about it.

4. Pile it up or spread it out. If you have several employees to coach, staring at a long list of activities can be overwhelming. Knowing how you work best can help you manage the work load. If you’re a “pull the Band-Aid off nice and slow” kind of person, tackle your coaching in small chunks. Don’t schedule three employee one-on-ones in the same day. If you prefer to yank the bandage off with one quick yank, schedule a day to focus on nothing but your one-on-ones.

5. Use the buddy system. It’s easy to blow off an activity when there’s no accountability. To make sure you don’t postpone or ignore a coaching activity, let someone else know what you’re planning to do. Find another manager and agree to serve as each other’s accountability partner. Share your planned coaching activities and then call each other up to see how things went. Knowing someone else is expecting a report on your progress will help keep you focused on the right things.

Coaching is a critical leadership activity. It can’t be accomplished haphazardly or on the fly. Effective coaching requires a good measure of discipline and time management. I hope these tips help you give coaching the priority, and therefore the time, it deserves.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 3

Posted on by Scott

My first sales position entailed taking inbound phone calls from people wanting to set up new cable TV service. My job was to convince the new customer that, instead of “basic” cable, they really wanted/needed one of our packages that included premium channels, additional outlets and other extra services. Training consisted of two weeks in the classroom learning the products and software along with a few hours here and there listening to experienced reps take calls.

I finished the training class and was assigned to a cubicle. When it came to start taking calls, my supervisor plugged in and listened as I stumbled my way through the first three. As the third call ended, he unplugged his headset and said “Well, it looks like you’re good to go.” He walked away, leaving me to fend for myself. That was the extent of the coaching I received. The next time there was any discussion of my performance was during my annual evaluation – one year later.

Excuse #3: “I coached them last week/month/year.”

This excuse implies that coaching is an event; either a one-time occurrence or even a series of unrelated meetings that have to be spaced out over time. In fact, a lot of well-intentioned coaching programs support this belief. In order to provide structure and accountability to the coaching process, they advocate scheduling each coaching activity, allowing time in between for employees to practice and develop specific skills.

And, to a degree, this is true. When you dedicate time to teaching someone a new skill, it takes time for them to achieve mastery of the skill and still longer before the new behavior becomes a habit. Scheduling a specific time at some point in the future allows the employee to work on their technique and integrate the new skill or skills into their daily work style. But simply walking away until the next scheduled meeting rarely produces the desired results.

As I discussed in the first article of this series, very little of what’s discussed in a classroom training setting ever makes it into real-life practice. A number of factors contribute to this:
• Too much information was presented, so only bits and pieces are retained.
• Information focused more on theory than practical application, so the employee isn’t sure how to modify their behavior.
• The employee isn’t motivated to actually change their behavior.
• Once the employee returns to their normal work environment, they see no evidence that they are actually expected to change.

The point I’m trying to make here is that coaching is a process, not an event. As in sports, a good business coach understands that in order for the team and the individual players to perform at their best, constant coaching is required. And a variety of coaching methods, both structured and unstructured, scheduled and unscheduled, will be used.

Since we’re in the midst of March Madness, allow me to use a basketball example to illustrate. Let’s say a basketball coach wants to integrate a new offensive set into his team’s game. He’ll use a variety of tactics to accomplish this. Possible structured/scheduled coaching methods are listed here along with some unstructured methods [added in brackets afterward].

• In a meeting, the coach will explain how the set works. He’ll detail under what circumstances it makes sense and why it’s so effective. He’ll use diagrams and film of other teams to clarify expectations so that everyone can see clearly what is supposed to happen. [During and following the meeting, the coaching staff will check for understanding by periodically checking with each player to ask questions and reiterate their particular role in the new play.]

• The coach will devote specific blocks of time to practicing the new concept on the floor. He starts by walking through the movement of the ball and how each player should position themselves as the set unfolds. The team will repeat this over and over until they understand what’s required. [Members of the coaching staff will observe how the players move, provide reinforcement, and where necessary pull a player aside for individual attention. They’ll model the desired behavior, have the player practice it and then observe them as they reenter the larger group.]

• The coach will then bring in a defensive squad. This allows the team to practice the play in a slightly more realistic scenario. This will be repeated several times. [Play will start and stop as the coaches observe small tweaks that need to be made. The tempo will gradually increase so that the behavior can be practiced in increasingly game-like scenarios.]

• The new offensive strategy will then be incorporated into a full-blown scrimmage game. The new set will be mixed in with established plays so the team can get used to switching tactics as needed. [Like a dress-rehearsal, this full-blown role play will test to see how well individual players can modify their behavior on the fly. Play doesn’t stop in order to address issues. Coaching takes place in real time. By now the team will have demonstrated an understanding of what’s required and spot coaching and reinforcement takes the place of heavy coach involvement.]

• Finally, the new concepts will be implemented in the midst of an actual game against another team. Once the coach feels his players have grasped the concept to the extent that they can demonstrate the desired behavior repeatedly and consistently, he’s ready to unleash it on the other team. [Even as the game is taking place, the staff is actively engaged in coaching. Players are applauded for demonstrating their new competencies. Others are pulled to the side, or even off the floor, to receive corrective coaching after a missed opportunity. Timeouts are utilized to reinforce the need to properly execute the new skills.]

I hope you see the importance of viewing coaching as an ongoing process rather than a periodic activity. There is a definite need for a system of scheduled, well-structured coaching sessions. But it’s just as important to take advantage of the unscheduled, in-the-moment opportunities to restate expectations, provide positive reinforcement and correct undesirable behavior. Top coaches know that their number one job is the development of the individuals on their team. They never stop coaching.

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 2

Posted on by Scott

This article is the second in a series that looks into the reasons managers give for not spending more time coaching. In the first post I looked at the over-reliance some place on the role of formalized or corporate training. Today, we look at another common response.

Excuse #2 – “They’re a top performer. They don’t need coaching.”

Managers are often reluctant to coach top performers. Some of the comments I’ve heard related to this excuse include:

“They’re at the top of their game. What could they possible learn?”

“They’ll get upset. I don’t want to lose them because they feel I’m micro-managing.”

“I don’t feel comfortable coaching them. They’re better than I am.”

Lack of coaching amongst top performers typically results from a feeling of discomfort on the part of the manager. They don’t know how to approach a coaching scenario with someone who’s performing well, so they avoid the issue all together. Unfortunately, this can have less than desirable consequences.

Early in my career as a sales manager, I too held the belief that my top producers didn’t need coaching. One day, this perception was shattered by a sales rep named Linda. I was managing a large call center at the time and on this particular day I had been working with a new rep on her outbound telephone skills. We would take turns making calls so she could listen to me model the technique and then I would listen as she made a call so we could discuss the results.

Linda was one of the top producers on my team and I hadn’t spent much time with her beyond reviewing her numbers and thanking her for her efforts. She noticed I was on the floor working with another employee and during a break she asked why I never worked with her. I replied that honestly, I didn’t feel she needed help. Her production was always at the top and my time was better spent with those who need the most help. Linda convinced me to spend a couple of hours coaching her anyway and the experience was rewarding for both of us. I walked away with a new perspective on coaching that has impacted my career ever since. Here are some of the things I learned from Linda regarding coaching top performers.

They want you to coach them. One of the reasons top performers are, well, top performers is that they’re always looking for ways to improve. In fact, if you ignore them too long, you may find yourself involved in what I call scuba-diver management. This occurs when a top performer feels ignored and subconsciously lowers their level of performance so that you begin coaching them. You work them back to top performer status and then dive back down to coach another low performer. Spending time with a top performer keeps them producing at a high level.

Linda’s performance level hadn’t dropped, but I quickly began to see this pattern in another top performer, Michael. Michael would be top dog one month, but fade into the middle of the pack the next. After a couple months of this back and forth, I realized what was going on. Once I began providing him with a more consistent coaching diet, his performance stayed more consistently in the top tier.

Everyone has something to learn. My reluctance to coach Linda stemmed from a fear that I had nothing to offer. I was worried that my attempts to model would fail or that she would ask a question that I couldn’t answer. I was, in fact, intimidated by her record of performance. But I could tell that she sincerely wanted my time, so I dove in.

During the time I spent with Linda, she was able to pick up on a few techniques – phrases I used or questions I would ask – that hadn’t occurred to her before. She was able to relate specific calls where these ideas would have come in handy and helped her secure more sales. As she took notes and practiced what she’d heard, I knew without a doubt that the time had been well spent.

You get more bang for your coaching buck. Spending time with top performers allows you to capitalize on the skill set that already exists. So your time is spent fine-tuning rather than developing. Let’s say you’ve got two employees to coach. One is an average performer who produces 10 widgets per week. The other is a top performer, producing 50 widgets per week. A 10% improvement in the average performer will gain you one additional widget, but a 10% improvement from your top performer gets you 5.

I’m not suggesting that you leave new employees or low performers to fend for themselves. You need to coach everyone. Your best employees need coaching, although the approach may be different. You have to be flexible enough with your time and coaching skills to accommodate employees at all levels.

Coaching keeps them engaged. When I talk about coaching, most managers think I’m talking about a process that identifies specific skill gaps and works with employees to address them. And while this is often true, coaching isn’t always about specific skill development. I believe coaching is a multi-faceted activity. Ultimately, coaching is any activity that helps an employee do their job better. Simply spending time with a member of your team, showing them attention, illustrates their value to you and the organization. Sometimes a little attention is all that’s required to recharge someone’s batteries.

During the couple of hours Linda and I worked together that day, we discussed her feelings about the organization, her views on particular projects outside of her responsibility, and even her career aspirations. As she talked, I could see the passion she had for her job. She truly loved helping people and felt her role allowed her to match customers’ needs with products and services that would make a difference for them. The opportunity to share that with me, her boss, was obviously important to her. She had an extra skip in her step for several days afterward.

You might learn something. If your top performers are really that good, then they probably have a few tricks to share. I’ve never walked away from a coaching session with one of my best employees without a few new ideas. I pick up techniques that will help another employee, or get inspired to improve an existing process after hearing their feedback.

I was apprehensive about coaching Linda. But I’m so glad I did. She learned a lot and so did I. The things I took away from the time we spent together that afternoon have helped me become a better listener, a better coach, and ultimately a better manager. I doubt she knows just how much I benefited from her insistence that I coach her.

So what are you waiting for Coach? Get out there and spend some time with a top performer.

A Comeback Story: How to Bounce Back From Service Defects

Posted on by Scott

Last night, my alma mater, Western Kentucky University, played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Hilltoppers played Mississippi Valley State for the 16th seed in their bracket and a chance to face Kentucky in the second round.

By all accounts, it was an ugly game. With 28 turnovers and 30% shooting, WKU played the part of a losing team – right up until the final five minutes. That’s when the comeback happened. Down 16 points, the team managed to rally and came away with a 59-58 win.

Comeback wins are exciting to see. While it’s stressful to see your team fall apart, the thrill you get watching them pull it back together is priceless. Comebacks happen in business too. Whether the breakdown occurs with a single customer or is widespread, a well executed recovery can make things right. In fact, research has shown that a customer who experiences a problem, but has that issue resolved to their satisfaction, becomes more loyal than someone who never experiences a problem in the first place.

Here are a few tips to help you pull off a come-from-behind win.

1. Apologize. Occasionally I run into self professed “experts” who claim you should never apologize to a customer. They say that admitting you are wrong leads to concessions and a customer base that takes advantage ot you. Apologizing, they say, shows weakness and hurts your place in the competitive landscape.

What a bunch of malarky. When you screw up, the customer knows you screwed up. Refusing to apologize doesn’t hide the fact that something went wrong. Saying your sorry simply communicates that you acknowledge the error. It allows you to move from stating the problem to solving it. When you dismiss the issue (or worse, try to spin it as the customer’s fault), you show that you are out of touch have no concern for the value your customer is supposed to be receiving from their relationship with you. Apologizing doesn’t make you look weak; it shows you care.

2. Acknowledge the impact. Have you ever had someone who keeps explaining the problem even after you’ve apologized for it? That’s an indication that you haven’t properly shown enough empathy. In order for you to move the conversation past the customer’s frustration and into an agreeable resolution, you have to demonstrate your understanding of the extent to which the problem affects them.

Vocalize one or two of the impacts this issue will have on your customer’s time, finances, reputation or family. This gives your apology some meat and aligns you with the customer so that you can start working together again. You can;t start down the road toward a resolution until you’re both on the same page.

3. Explain what happened. There’s a tendency when resolving a customer’s issue to move directly from issue identification to problem solving. But customers want to know that we recognize the root cause. They want to see that we’ve determined the gap in the process that caused the breakdown. Otherwise, they may assume that we’ve simply applied a band-aid solution to a much bigger problem. There’s no confidence that the issue won’t arise again in the future.

I’m not advocating that you engage in a mole hunt or start blaming other departments in fron tof your customer. That shows a fractured organization – one that is likely to encounter additional problems. But a simple explanation of the underlying events that led to the issue can show your customer that you’ve done your due diligence and start to restore their confidence.

4. Agree on a solution. It’s important that you communicate with the customer in a way that allows them to agree to the course of action being taken to resolve the problem. Even if your response is painfully clear, you still need to ask for their agreement.

Customers often feel out of control when they bring a problem to your attention. They feel victimized. Asking for their agreement to a solution restores a measure of control. It also positions you as a partner rather than an adversary.

5. Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention. A customer who alerts you to a problem is doing you a favor. Most of them grumble, walk away and take their business elsewhere – never giving you the opportunity to salvage the relationship. To make matters worse, they start to tell their friends about the rotten service your company has provided. Your reputation is taking hit after hit and you still don;t even know there was a problem.

When a customer tells you about a gap in your service, consider it a gift. And since every gift deserves a “thank you,” give them one. Let your customer know how much you appreciate the fact that they brought this problem to your attention so that it can be addressed. Let them know how other customers will benefit thanks to their action. Let them know how much you value their business.

Even the best organizations have bad days. Problems are bound to arise. Service stumbles happen. But if handled properly, the realationships involved can be strengthened as a result. Oh, and Go Hilltoppers!

Why Managers Don’t Coach, Part 1

Posted on by Scott

As a kid, I didn’t participate in many organized sports. I played Little League Baseball for two or three seasons, but don’t recall much about it. I do remember the summer my parents signed me up to play soccer. I only played one year. My fascination with the game quickly waned because of one simple fact – we didn’t have a coach.

We had one at the beginning of the season, but for some reason he quit after only a few practices. Someone might have stepped up to serve as the official coach of record, but we never received any “coaching.” For the bulk of the season, our parents would drop us off and we’d just mill around on the field until the final whistle blew and we ran to the concession stand for our free snow cone. It wasn’t any fun because, without an active coach, we didn’t develop as players or as a team. And we certainly didn’t win.

I believe that one of the most important duties of a manager (if not the most important) is the development of their staff. The primary way this takes place is through regular coaching. Unfortunately, many managers fail to take advantage of the opportunities to maximize the performance of their team by engaging in this critical activity.

Over the years, I’ve heard a number of explanations (I call them excuses) as to why coaching gets placed on the back burner. Through the next few posts, I’ll share some of these excuses and provide some easy-to-implement steps for moving past them. So let’s get started.

Excuse #1 – “I don’t need to coach. They went to training, so they know what they need to do.”

Too many managers falsely believe that sending an employee to a training class will magically result in a significant change in performance. These managers are in for a big disappointment, however, because training alone rarely impacts an individual’s ability or desire to perform. Training is only one tool. And like most jobs, you need more than one tool to do it right.

Millions of dollars are invested in training every year. In fact, developing and delivering training is a big part of what I do for a living. But without the benefit of coaching, most training programs fail. Sadly, when this happens, the blame is placed either on the training curriculum, the trainer or the employee.

Training is intended to provide individuals with the information necessary to perform a certain task. But the ultimate goal is really sustained behavioral change. Following the training class, you want the participant to perform a certain way – to either modify their current behavior, or add a new set of behaviors to their current job role. Training alone simply cannot achieve this goal because information alone is not enough to cause behavior change to take place. As I mentioned in an earlier post on interviewing, there’s a difference between knowledge and skill.

Even if an employee is excited about the material being presented, they won’t remember everything they’ve been exposed to during the class. Studies show that as little as 10% of the material delivered during a typical corporate training session is retained by the time an employee returns to their usual work environment. There are ways to improve this, but you’ll never hit 100%. And remember the goal here. It’s not knowledge retention. It’s modified behavior.

No, transforming knowledge into skill takes time and repetition. For knowledge to evolve into demonstrated skill, it has to be put into practice. And to maximize the potential, this needs to happen as soon as possible. Ideally, the employee will begin implementing what they’ve learned immediately after the class is over. But too many things – customer demands, deadlines, interruptions, peer pressure, and even old habits – present barriers to the immediate integration of the new information into existing work practices.

This is where coaching comes in. Coaching provides the employee with the accountability, motivation and support necessary for them to first begin using the newly acquired knowledge and then to continue down the path toward skill mastery. Here are some steps you can take as a coach to help your employees down that path.

• Perform a training debrief. You ought to know what the training class is intended to teach before sending your team member to it. Therefore, this debrief isn’t for you to gain an understanding of what the course was about. The purpose of this meeting is to ascertain what the employee actually learned. Ideally, the two of you discussed what you wish for them to gain from the session before they attended. Now that the training is over you need to reinforce, or reintroduce, the concepts you feel are important.

• Set some expectations. Let the employee know which aspects of the training you want to see incorporated into their work routine. Reiterate why it’s important that they begin to modify their performance to meet the standards set forth in the class. Ask them what they feel they need in order to be successful and communicate what additional steps you will take to support them.

• Follow up. Especially during the period immediately following the training class, it’s critical to follow up with employees to make sure they are working to meet your expectations. This accountability will help them to focus on their behavior early – while the training is still fresh in their minds. Ignore them during this important window and old habits will quickly reassert themselves and any benefit gained from training will be lost. I’ll present some specific follow up methods in a later post.

Training is an important part of any organization’s strategy. Get the most out of your training investment by coupling it with a solid coaching program. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be well on your way.

Bad Passes & Missed Free-throws: Mistakes That Can Cost You the Game (And How To Avoid Them)

Posted on by Scott

Basketball has long been my favorite sport. Although I never played organized ball, I’ve always been drawn to the fast pace, the feats of athleticism and the drama of a close game. Of course, having a high-schooler on the local basketball team probably has something to do with it too.

I’m always amazed at how many games are won by the wrong team. By that I mean that the better team, at least according to the stats (and conventional wisdom), loses. How is it that the teams with all the talent, the best coaching, and the home crowd so often come up short – hanging their heads while the underdogs celebrate?

Usually, when a championship calibre team suffers a defeat, it’s not because of some sudden explosion of talent from the other bench. Rather, it comes down to fundamentals – basics of the game that don’t receive much attention until a failure to execute them results in disaster. There are certain aspects of the game that can spell ruin for even the greatest team – whether its on the basketball court or in business. Here are three problems to watch out for, and how to avoid them.

1. Bad passes. The handoff between departments is an important part of handling any customer interaction. Whether its transferring a customer call, or the movement of documents from one area of responsibility to another, great care should be taken to ensure that “passing the ball” is handled properly. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than to see great service suddenly go bad because someone dropped the ball.

How to avoid this problem:
– Identify your danger zones – steps where the ball is passed from one person or department to another. Engaging in some simple process mapping will force these into the open.

– Develop strategies to ensure tasks (and customers) crossing through the danger zone don’t fall through the cracks. Implement checklists, notification systems or other accountability measures to make sure important items aren’t missed and customer confidence is maintained.

– Once your new process is established, communicate its importance, making sure to emphasize how each individual contributes to the success of the team. Train everyone involved. Conduct skill drills and role plays to make sure they understand how the work is supposed to flow. Don’t forget new employees. Don’t let a service breakdown be their introduction to the desired process.

– Review the process regularly to make sure it reflects any changes to technology, regulations or customer expectations.

2. Missed free-throws. Free-throws are those easy-to-get-right transactions and activities that occur every day; things like getting the order right, showing up on time, and returning a phone call when you said you would. Customers expect you to get the little things right. Take care to hit the mark on the easy stuff and they’re more likely to trust you when it comes time for something involving a greater degree of risk. But fail to execute on the simple things and your credibility will suffer.

How to avoid this problem:
– Set expectations you know are attainable, not ones you think you can meet. Give yourself some wiggle room. Leave plenty of room for appointments to run long rather than shoe-horning meetings into every available bit of free time. If you think you can get an answer by lunch, tell your customer you’ll call them by the end of the day.

– Develop systems to make success almost guaranteed. Use your calendar to schedule return phone calls and set an alert so you won’t miss it. Design quality checks into the order-filling process so that you can deliver with confidence. Prepare back-up systems so that customers aren’t left in limbo because the one person who can help them came down with the flu.

3. Failure to rebound. Problems happen. Despite your best efforts, you will miss the mark occassionally. So, being ready to bounce back from a miss is critical. When service issues arise, your ability to rebound can turn a customer whose faith has been shaken into an advocate for life. In fact, research has shown that a customer who has experienced a problem, and has subsequently seen that problem resolved to their satisfaction, is more loyal than one who has never experienced a problem to begin with. Customers understand that mishaps occur; but they expect you to respond appropriately.

How to avoid this problem:
– Identify where service breakdowns are most likely to occur. Every business has them. You should know what your’s are. If you don’t, ask a few customers. They’ll tell you where you fall short.

– Develop automatic rebound strategies for these issues. Specify an appropriate response to each service issue. When problem “A” happens, we respond with solution “B.” When “X” occurs, we do “Y.”

– Train your employees and empower them to execute the strategies you’ve developed. If you’re smart, you included them in both the problem identification and solution development phases, so adoption should be easy. People are more likely to buy into solutions they helped develop.

Too many times, we focus on our newest product roll-out, the latest store remodel or the shiny new technology; when all our customers want is for us to execute on the little things that affect them most. Invest the time and effort necessary to shore up these base-level expectations and you’ll create a foundation of trust upon which to highlight your organization’s product or service.

From Problem to Promise: Taking Advantage of Hidden Oportunities

Posted on by Scott

I just returned from a three day business trip to San Antonio. The Alamo is the number one tourist attraction in Texas, drawing over 4 million visitors, including me, every year. But it’s the city’s number two attraction – the River Walk – that always captures my attention. What started out as a problem area became a major economic benefit.

The San Antonio River loops through downtown. When a horrible flood claimed fifty lives in 1921, plans were drawn up for a flood control system to help divert water away from the area. The downtown loop would be paved over as a storm sewer. As work began on the flood control channel, a new idea for the downtown bend was proposed. Rather than covering up the river, the new plan called for highlighting it. The new, safer loop of the river would be surrounded by shops and restaurants ushering in a wave of commercial development and tourism.

Today, an expanded River Walk is the home of numerous hotels and specialty shops. Thousands of people each day take a ride on a River Walk Taxi or Cruise Barge. And numerous conferences and events take place there year-round.

I love how this problem wasn’t just fixed, but turned into a competitive advantage. As I thought about this turnaround, I was reminded of other cases where opportunity rose from frustration.

My favorite examples of this type of innovation come from The Walt Disney Company. They have perfected the art of turning problems into opportunities.

What’s the worst part of any theme park ride? It’s the time spent waiting to get on. Well, at Disney, they recognized this source of frustration and added video monitors that explain the story upon which the ride is based. It’s done so well that the time spent in line becomes part of the attraction. They also created the Fast Pass – a system that lets you reserve a spot on the more popular rides then visit something else instead of waiting.

And when you look at your pictures from vacation, who’s always missing? The family member taking the picture. Disney addressed this by hiring hundreds of photographers and stationing them around the parks at the best photo spots. Now everyone gets to be in the picture and Disney has a new revenue stream.

And it doesn’t stop once you leave at the end of the day. Don’t know where you parked the car? Disney’s parking lot attendants can get you to the right section based on the time you arrived at the park. Lock your keys in the car? Disney has locksmiths that can get you in quickly. It’s no surprise that Disney is the number one vacation destination for families. They don’t just fix problems – they turn them into strategic opportunities to grow revenue and increase customer satisfaction.

So, what’s your problem? I’ll bet your organization has a few of these hidden opportunities as well. Every business has obstacles that get in the way, barriers to customer satisfaction, stumbling blocks that get in the way of excellence. I challenge you to identify them and then forget about fixing them. Maximize the opportunity.

Where Is The (Customer) Love?

Posted on by Scott

20120214-204110.jpgYesterday was Valentines Day. If you’re among the 62% of adults who celebrated the holiday, good for you. I looked up a few statistics regarding the holiday and found that here in the United States, we spent about $448 million on candy, bought 58 million pounds of chocolate, and mailed 150 million cards.

Although commonly associated with love and romance, Valentine’s Day has evolved into much more. My oldest son, a high school Junior, spent the day delivery gifts and singing “Val-O-Grams,” most bought by parents for their kids. My youngest headed off to school with a box of Valentines for her classmates and snacks for the class party. My wife even scored a few Valentine’s Day gifts from some of her students who wished to express their appreciation for her.

So here’s my question for you – Who got some of your love this week? Your significant other? Your kids? Your parents? Your friends?

How about your customers?

When’s the last time you told your customers how much you love them? When’s the last time you did something special for them – no strings attached? That’s right, sales pitches and discounts posing as customer appreciation don’t have quite the same impact as a stand-alone “Thank You.”

When customers feel appreciated, they become more than satisfied, they become loyal. They become advocates. They stick around longer. They buy more. They refer their friends and family to you.

But they have to sense that the love you’re giving them is sincere. The best gifts are those offered without condition or expectation of something in return. And they don’t have to cost you much, if anything.

~ Mail a hand-written note to the customer you just spoke with. Tell them how nice it was to meet them.

~ Send a card to a customer on the anniversary of their first order with you. Thank them for their continued business.

~ Cut out a press clipping about a customer, or better yet – one of their kids, and send it to them along with your congratulations.

~ Shoot off an email to a customer – just because. Tell them you were thinking about them and hope they are doing well.

~ Copy an article about a customer’s business or hobby and send it to them.

~ Buy a book related to their business and send it to them with a personal note written on the inside cover.

There are thousands of ways to show your customers some love. Implement one of these ideas each week and see how much of that love comes back.

5 Things I Look For During an Interview

Posted on by Scott

20120207-195634.jpgA couple of weeks ago I wrote about common mistakes managers make during interviews. Since then, I’ve had a few questions about what I look for when interviewing a potential new employee. So as a follow-up to that post, here are some of the qualities at the top of my list.

1. Skill vs. knowledge.
There’s a difference between knowing how to do something and being good at it. I know how to hang drywall, but you don’t want me handling your next home renovation.

Its easy to be fooled into thinking you’ve got a great job candidate just because they know the right things to say. Luckily, there are interviewing techniques to help you better assess the critical soft skills.

2. Attitude vs experience.
Some managers place a lot of weight on experience. And I admit that, for certain jobs. it’s a must. But I learned early on not to rely too heavily on experience.

When you hire someone, they bring their learned behaviors, good and bad, to your organization. I’ve hired experienced sales people only to learn that their experience, gained with a no-holds-barred competitor, didn’t fit with my customer service oriented approach.

But give me someone with the right basic skills coupled with the right attitude and, regardless of inexperience, I’ll train them how to do the job well. Anyone you bring into your organization will have to be trained on your accepted methods. Just be sure you don’t have to “untrain” them first.

3. Coach-ability.
The best players on my team are always looking for ways to get better. They don’t assume they know everything. By continuing to grow their abilities and adding new skills, the stay sharp and continue to bring more and more value to my team.

So when interviewing, I look for people who appear coachable. They’ve learned from their mistakes. And even when successful, they can articulate improvements they would make given another chance.

4. Team fit.
Teams succeed when they work well together. That takes chemistry. So I always let the team have a shot at any potential new coworker. If the team gets a bad feeling, I know not to hire. They see team fit issues I might miss.

Of course, this assumes you have an existing team that works well together, knows each others’ strengths and weaknesses, and knows they are only as good as the weakest member of the group. If this doesn’t sound like your team, you’ve got a whole different set of problems.

5. Passion.
I’m not looking to fill a position. I’m in the process of building something. So I need people on my team that can get excited about the vision we’re working toward.

During an interview, I look for someone whose eyes light up when they talk about projects similar to what we’re working on. They want more than a job. They want to be part of something bigger.

There you have it. If you’re getting ready to interview for a new job, blow the panel away by demonstrating these characteristics. And if you’re getting ready to interview for an open position, add these qualities to your list. I guarantee you’ll wind up with a better candidate.

If you’d like more information regarding how I structure an interview, shoot me an email and I’ll send you an outline.