Communication

How Well does Customer Support Answer Questions?

How Well does Customer Support Answer Questions?

Over the last month and a half, I had quite the customer service experience with my car insurance broker and car insurance provider. All to get an answer to two questions on the renewal of my car insurance policy. Two questions…sound simple?

As you can tell from the duration of the back and forth, turned out to be far from straightforward. So many things went awry there are several blog posts I could write, and, today I’m going to focus on how their customer service did at answering my questions.

What abilities were the customer service representatives and customer supervisor lacking that resulted in their own manager being shocked once the escalation reached her?  Would customer service for the product / service you’re responsible for do any better?

Click Read More to:

  • See what:

    • My customer experience was

    • Abilities the customer service personnel below the manager were lacking

  • Reflect on these questions to see if customer service for the product / service you’re responsible for would do any better

"Shoulding" All Over People?

"Shoulding" All Over People?

At work, do you find yourself saying things like the below?

  • “You should talk to Pete about the change”

  • “Cathy, as your mentor, I’m telling you, you should take this course”

  • “My advice, you should….”

How about in your personal life?  End up saying things like:

  • “Patricia, you should listen to me, I know what I’m talking about”

  • “You should just leave, you hate working there anyways”

  • “Dan, you should talk to your daughter”

Notice in all of the above statements, you’re telling someone they “should” do something. 

As change agents and leaders, we're often providing recommendations.  And there is a difference between providing a recommendation and telling someone they “should” do something.  If you answered yes to the above questions, you’re actually “shoulding” on people.  What’s the big deal with doing this and what’s the difference between the two?

Click Read More to see what:

  • The difference is between providing a recommendation and “shoulding” on people

  • “Shoulding” on people is costing you at work and in your personal life

What Does Your Word Really Mean?

What Does Your Word Really Mean?

Whether I’m interacting with an individual coaching client, organization, prospective client, service provider, or someone else, something I hear often are the words “I will…”, it may be “I will:

  • Do that action by Mar 13th”

  • Have the information to the team on Wednesday”

  • Send the contract on Monday”

  • Email you the link next week”

Or some other action they're pledging to do in the future.  These pledges are also known as commitments.

As change agents and leaders, we’re often making commitments, whether at work, in our personal lives, or to ourselves.  The question is, how often do you follow through on what you say you will do (i.e. your commitment)?  In other words, what does your word really mean?

Click Read More to reflect on:

  • Which of these definitions aligns with what your word means

  • How you may be getting perceived based on what your word means to you

  • Whether you're a change agent / leader who is standing out from the crowd when it comes to your word

How Accurately are you Reading Communications?

How Accurately are you Reading Communications?

As you prepare for the holidays doing your gift shopping, decorating, baking, planning, cooking, and more, it can feel like a very busy or even stressful time of year.  And when you’re busy, you may be more prone to hurry through your to-do list.  On that to-do list is probably several communication items, whether it’s responding to emails or texts, an invitation, a proposal, deciding what your response is going to be to a recent presentation at work, or some other communication item.  The question is, how accurately are you reading these communications before responding to them?

Now your first thought may be, “of course I’m accurately reading them.”  And, what if this thought is actually untrue at times?  Click Read More to see if these situations ever happen to you and what misreading a communication may be costing you.

What Effect do Your Words Have?

What Effect do Your Words Have?

Happy New Year!! I had an entirely different blog post written and then Jan 6th, 2021 happened. Here’s to continuing to pivot during this pandemic.

As change agents and leaders, the words we choose matter. Our words can inspire and lift people up, they can hurt and bring people down, they can inspire collaboration, they can plant a seed, they can ignite conflict / violence, and more. Unfortunately inciting conflict and violence is what we saw happen in the United States Capitol on Jan 6th, 2021. As you reflect on what happened that fateful day, think about what effect your words have been having on your team?, your employees?, your spouse?, your children?, and others? Unsure of the effect of your words? Or how to shift the effect?

Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Effective in Bringing about Change