Extreme Team and Business Makeover

There are many reality makeover shows on television that relate to fitness, appearance, one's house or yard.  How about a business and team makeover as a way to bring in the New Year and welcome new success?
Years ago, when I had two businesses, I loved the last week of the year.  For me it was a time to clear up old projects and make room for the new.  I used this time to de-clutter and reorganize the office, catch up and clear away outstanding projects, take stock of resources and supplies needed for the coming year, and to revisit values and goals for the team and our company.
Ed Horrell, author of the Kindness Revolution, talks about his idea of an Extreme Corporate Makeover.  He suggests the following steps to your makeover.

• Survey your customers needs - find out their challenges and needs
• Prepare to do what your customers want
• Focus group to plan the changes and set goals
• Develop a customer credo (the Ritz Carlton's is "Ladies and Gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen)
• Talk about customer service every day in the team.  Keep it front and centre, make it important
• Review customer service objectives
• Put your standards out for others to see
• Make our motto and credo a promise and part of your staff's uniform
• Practice kindness in every single conversation and contact

As you move forward in 2012, identify five areas of focus for your extreme team and business makeover.  For example, sales, customer service, team relationships, systems, referral process, etc.  Once you have completed this step, identify five actions for each area.  That will start your year with 25 designated steps toward your corporate makeover.

Wishing you great success!

Over My Head

I have been asked many questions at the seminars and workshops I have presented. One of those questions pertains to a common situation and I have been asked it so often. As a supervisor, how do you cope with a staff member that won't accept your answer and goes over your head to your manager for "a second opinion"?

Believe it or not, this is so common there is an actual term for it. We refer to it as "triangulation". It needs to be met with firmly yet with diplomacy and compassion as well.

One way to deal with these situations is for the manager to let the supervisor know about the conversation. If the supervisor has already dealt with the situation, the manager could advise the employee that it was not appropriate to disregard the supervisor and bring him/her forward in such a manner. But, communication is essential between the supervisor and the manager. Not just in this situation but also in the time leading up to it. Both the supervisor and the manager need to know that they can comfortably approach each other and discuss these situations in order to come to a resolution in them. It is also essential for the supervisor and the staff member to have open lines of communication because it may well be suggested by the manager for them to come together and discuss the situation again. It needs to be found out why the staff member was not happy with the original decision made by the supervisor. It should also be requested that the supervisor provide feedback about how the employee handled the situation and provide coaching about the organizational expectations around issue management.

I would like to point out two very important factors in this becoming a successful conversation. As mentioned, open lines of communication between all levels of an organization is very important. It needs to be a part of the corporate culture. The second factor is that there needs to be a clear plan regarding issue resolution within the workplace and all employees need to be educated as to what that plan is and the expectations of the organization when such situations arise.

Following these guidelines will help to ensure a healthy and happy workplace environment that can move through issues quickly and smoothly.