It’s Women’s History Month—time to celebrate women’s accomplishments in the workplace! It’s essential to take a moment to recognize our contributions when you consider that in 2020 women still made just 84% of what men earned for the same job and were significantly underrepresented in leadership roles, according to Pew Research.

The argument about whether women can be great leaders is one that needs to be put to rest. Research has long shown that women excel in leadership roles. To empower women colleagues and to reassure anyone who may have an unconscious bias against women who apply for leadership positions, I share these findings:

• Women leaders are rated as being more competent than men on 11 out of 12 dimensions of leadership, according to Forbes.
• Women leaders score higher than men in 17 of 19 leadership competencies, according to Harvard Business Review.
• And 33% of people who work for a female manager are engaged at work, compared to 27% who work for male managers, according to Gallup.

There’s more: Female managers are more likely than male managers to encourage employee development, check in frequently on their employees’ progress, have regular conversations about their performance, and praise their people.  They are also better at collaborating and are perceived as being more empathetic and trustworthy. And they are significantly better listeners.

Perhaps Forbes best summed up the facts:

Having women in senior leadership roles also translates into greater profitability. A study by Credit Suisse found 25% of women in decision making roles had a 4% higher average return on investment—and companies with 50% of women in senior leadership had a 10% higher cash flow return on investment.

“With incontrovertible evidence like this, organizations not aggressively pursuing the cultivation of women executives are making the expressed, intentional choice to disregard evidence, severely undermining performance and compromising their organization’s potential.”

It’s crystal clear that your unique voice is needed to help people thrive! So, as a way of encouraging dynamic women such as yourself to climb the leadership ladder, my acronym WOMEN shares five strategies you can use to create the future of your dreams!

W = Ask WHO Questions

From my experience, successful women are fabulous at focusing on what they need to do, when they need to do it, and why they need to do it. Then they go out and get it done!

We’ve got the what, when, and why down. Now, as more women seek to move into leadership positions, we might want to focus on who. Here are some who questions you can ask to rocket your career to new heights!

• Who can help me do this task?
• Who can I delegate this to, so I can protect my time and build competence in others?
• Who do I want to meet?
• Who can I observe to see how the best and brightest do this task?
• Who do I want on my personal board of directors?
• Who can I endorse and build their confidence, so they are ready to step into a leadership position?
• Who do I want as a mentor?
• Who can I partner with who energizes me?
• Who can I and other leaders champion to help them get more visibility?

O = Be OTHER-Focused

Great women leaders are other-focused while keeping their eye on their own work. If someone asks them for help, they are immediately of service. They think of that person and what is important to them, and ask themselves, “How can I best help them?” They never lose sight of what that person wants to accomplish, sending them articles and ideas, checking in on their progress, and being an accountability buddy to ensure the person is successful.  

Other-focused women leaders know when to tell people how to do a task and when to ask someone to share how they think they would like to do a task. They know this because, just like a good doctor, they diagnose the task and the person’s demonstrated competence before responding. They are mindful of individual differences and communicate, recognize, and encourage people in a way that is meaningful to them.

M = Use MOMENTUM to Make Things Happen

Inspiring women leaders are energized by momentum. They are always seeking to do things better and faster, help the greatest number of people to succeed, and drive organizational vitality. They are always learning, reflecting on their actions, analyzing what they think would be best, and sharing their insights with others.

Momentum comes in many different forms such as speaking up in meetings. Here’s a helpful tip to ensure people listen to your ideas: Instead of giving your suggestions or recommendations in the form of a question such as “What if…” or “How about…,” be direct and say, “Here’s what I think we should do.” That way, people don’t think you are asking a question that drives their need to problem solve.

When you present your ideas, remember: if you hear no, it doesn’t necessarily mean no. No can mean lots of things such as “I’m hungry” or “I’m too busy today and don’t have the bandwidth to consider it.”

Here’s a funny anecdote that some of you may have experienced, between my very rational husband and me. We were driving home with the kids from a long hike, and everyone was hungry. My husband said, “Let’s go out to dinner!” Then he asked me, “Where would you like to go?” I said, “How about that new place?” He thought for a minute and said, “Nooo.” Then I said, “Well, how about the ABC restaurant?” And he thought for a few seconds and said, “Nooo.” And then I said, “I’ve got it! How about if we go to the place everybody loves, the XYZ restaurant?” And again, he said, “No I’m not really feeling that tonight.”

At this point, I thought to myself how come we never get to go where I want to go? So I decided to address that. I asked, “How come you never want to go where I want to go?” He said, “Well, you didn’t say where you wanted to go.” What’s the moral of that story? He was right. I just kept asking questions—and, being a rational guy, he just gave me his answers. Remember this when you’re pitching ideas in the boardroom. State your recommendation (like I should have): “Let’s get off at the next exit and go to Buca de Beppo.” Which I did, and we went, and it was delicious.

One last tip. If you have to say something that might upset someone, don’t start your sentence with “I’m sorry.” Say something like, “Thanks for taking the time to chat.”  This expression of gratitude makes the listener more receptive to what you’re about to say. 

E = Be Comfortable with EMOTIONS

Awesome women leaders realize that emotions should be acknowledged and embraced. Leveraging emotional intelligence is one of their superpowers.

When I was in my doctoral program, I read In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan of Harvard. It was revolutionary for me. I did have a different voice—a woman’s voice. When I was a school administrator, colleagues would often tease me by saying, “Oh Vicki, you’re so sensitive! Do you always have to ask how this will impact the students (or teachers or parents)?”  This often triggered a sense of shame and powerlessness that came from my childhood admonitions. When I was little, I was often told I was too emotional. If I got excited or upset, I would constantly hear negative comments from my parents that sent the message “People like you don’t make it in the real world!” In other words, they felt expressing emotions would hinder my success.

The truth is the opposite. Now, in a time when people are feeling so strongly about everything, the ability to be aware of and acknowledge your emotions and the emotions of others is the ultimate relationship builder. Creating a place where your people can release negative emotions and amplify positive ones is a special gift. It’s what makes women leaders such a tremendous benefit to an organization.

N = NURTURE Yourself and Others

Nurturing is a profound concept. It encompasses mindfulness, boundaries, and caring for ourselves and others. Fabulous women leaders realize that our bodies are the holding tanks for our brilliance. No bodies, no brilliance.

Because of this, women leaders protect their time, helping their people take brain breaks and look after their bodies. They run effective meetings so that people are energized, not drained. They stop every hour for a “mindfulness minute” to drink water, exercise for a minute, call someone, or praise someone. They know self-care renews their energy, their ability to be compassionate, and their ability to focus. And they know it’s much harder to be compassionate when you’re drained.

Last, women leaders watch their thoughts carefully. As Margie Blanchard, one of my favorite women leaders, says: “Don’t say it unless you want it!” They realize there is a profound connection between their thoughts, physiology, and outcomes. Since the brain stores information in images, which the body reacts to, they keep their minds filled with desired outcomes and a vision of what they want.

For example, if I say, “I’m exhausted,” what happens in my body? It wilts. But if I say, “I am so energized and excited to go into this meeting and learn something from everyone,” my body becomes energized.

Embrace Yourself. Embrace Success.

Women leaders: the world needs your unique point of view and your energy—for unleashing the power and potential of others!

Keep on leading. Keep on inspiring. Keep on challenging yourself to take even better care of yourself than you already are! Let others hear your powerful voice. Model for others the gifts of clarity, influence, and autonomy. And watch the world return it to you in abundance.

Reading about how tired we are is fatiguing. So let’s try something different.

We’re built to want to be part of something that’s meaningful. We’re eager to learn. We love wrestling with a challenge. It’s in our nature and we can’t help it. So instead of focusing on how everyone is depleted, why not appeal to our better selves?

Here are things you can do to re-energize yourself and your team.

Make Meetings Energizing

Here’s an all-too-typical meeting: a leader doggedly works through a PowerPoint deck while a restless audience scrolls through social media, checks email, or stares vacantly at the slides.

How do you avoid this and make your meetings more dynamic? Make sure everyone participates!

• Invite people to ask questions, and then elaborate on their answers.
• Ask attendees to call on other participants to share insights.
• Compliment people when they make an insightful observation.
• Have designated people share best practices, then open it up for others to contribute their brilliance.
• Put people in break-out rooms where they work on and create solutions to a current problem (Called Highly Paid Experts Activity.)

If you really want to engage people, ask, “What can we do that will put us out of business?” The purpose of this provocative question is to identify a real-work problem that perpetually pops up. Then have your team fix it. You can end the meeting by having all team members share their inspired ideas and then piloting the best solution.

Beat Meeting Fatigue

What to do if your team is inattentive?

Here’s an obvious solution: Hold shorter meetings. Schedule meetings of 20 instead of 30 minutes or 50 instead of 60 minutes. This will reduce cognitive overload and meeting fatigue.

You could also assign a different team member each week to run the meeting. They would be responsible for gathering agenda items and creating interactive exercises.

Here’s a different suggestion: stop the meeting and ask, “Is there anything we should start doing so we aren’t so drained? What should we continue doing? How can we make sure we’re serving customers and each other at the highest level? If you were running this meeting, what would you do to keep everyone engaged?”

You want to spark a courageous conversation. Your goal is to discover why your people are frustrated. Listen to their answers and weave their solutions into the fabric the workplace.

Hold Short, Weekly One-on-Ones

What? We are recommending another meeting?! One-on-ones are something different. Hear me out.

One-on-one meetings with your people are one of the most powerful tools a leader has to re-engage a fatigued workforce. They’re also one of the greatest gifts you can give someone—you are creating a reliable space where they set the agenda and share what’s on their mind. Another benefit? Since your people know they have this time coming up, they’ll contact you less often about the little things.

Your first job is to just listen. That’s easy to say—but hard to do. Our minds are so busy planning the next big thing that we often listen halfheartedly. What are people’s favorite three words to hear from you? Tell me more.

Here’s a common example of halfhearted listening: instead of focusing on what you were saying, your manager was scrolling through their phone. Now think of a time when you talked with a boss who leaned in, heard what you had to say, and even confided their frustrations and hopes. As the direct report, how much effort would you want to give to the manager who was preoccupied versus the one who genuinely cared?

Make one-on-ones with your people meaningful by asking these questions:

• What’s most important for you to discuss today?
• What would make your life easier here?
• What is energizing to you? What would you like to do more of? What consistently drains you?
• What can we do to make our team more effective?
• What about your job makes you want to take the day off?

Foster Connectedness

Fostering connectedness is a great antidote for fatigue. We can get energy from being around other people. Leaders can create connection by building a culture where people get to know each other, celebrate successes, recognize accomplishments, and generously give praise.

One idea is do a round robin where people share the goals they are working on and you share why they are so important to the team and organization.  This not only builds community, but fosters interdependence.

The business world has historically been a conservative place. But we are living through a unique time. We all need to be inclusive and welcome one another with open arms. People will thrive when you make them feel that they truly belong and introduce them to the amazing talents on their team.

Be Caring

Show others you care. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic—and everyone needs some compassion and support.

If someone looks frustrated, request they stay after the meeting and ask: “What’s going on with you? How can I help you? Do you need more direction on anything? How would you like me to support your ideas?”

Leaders can forget to do this when they’re under pressure—or worry they may create additional stress. But that’s not true. As a leader, your caring words will energize and engage.

Take Advantage of Emotional Contagiousness

Emotions are contagious. Here’s an example that proves it.

We all know what it’s like when that certain person walks into a room. You’re laughing with your colleagues, and all of a sudden, the energy is sucked right out of everyone. The part of the brain that recognizes and reacts to these kind of signals moves incredibly quickly and is observing all the time. So how we present ourselves is extremely important.

Each of us has to decide whether we want to be an energy vampire or an energizer. If you’ve read this far, I know you want to be an energizer.

Think about what energizes you. If you’re not sure, look for things that excite you when you talk, when you share, or when you hear an idea that piques your interest.

We need to acknowledge negative emotions so people can let them go, and also embed positive emotions by calling them out and “catching” their positivity. Energy follows focus: to create a high performing, energized team, be sure you are helping your people pay attention to what’s important.

Engage Online Audiences

Online meetings are a breeding ground for disengagement. People easily get bored staring at a screen, so they start multitasking or don’t pay attention. The fact is, people who are online need interactivity every two to three minutes to keep them focused.

Your challenge is to inspire your people to participate so they feel energized when they leave the meeting. A great way to generate interest is to ask “What was your biggest success this week?” After someone shares, ask them how they achieved it. By doing this, you are engaging and empowering speakers.

Chats, breakout rooms, and polls are other effective tactics for engaging virtual learners. A game/contest at the end of a meeting can add spice. You can create a crossword puzzle or hold an impromptu quiz show where your audience tries to stump top performers/leaders. And remember: repetition and engagement are needed if people are to transfer what they learned to the workplace.

Give the Spotlight to Your Top Performers

Have an employee who’s knocking it out of the park? Ask them to share with the team what they’re doing that helps them be so incredibly successful. Let them share their secret sauce.

When you do this, you’ll energize the person who gets to teach. You’ll also give your team a huge gift because they’ll learn how one of their peers is successfully tackling a challenge. Now all of your people will be energized because you have painted a picture of what a good job looks like and had someone show what to do to achieve it.

So there you have it: Lots of tips to fight pandemic fatigue.

We’re passing through extraordinarily difficult times, but we can still bring energy and vitality to the workplace. When you share the gift of connection and engagement with your people, you’ll inspire them and help them thrive.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is Vice President of Applied Learning for The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is the author of Brilliance by Design, Legendary Service: The Key is to CARE, and Leading at a Higher Level. Vicki is the co-developer of Blanchard’s Legendary Service, and SLII® training programs.

Here is the synthesis of the brilliance from amazing leaders just like you.

To rally your people to unleash the dream of Legendary Service and fuel repeat business, drive customer loyalty, and increase employee devotion, you must:

• Listen to people’s ideas for improvement. Really listen. Spotlight situations where you have acted on their ideas. Listen with curiosity, not necessarily to find solutions.
• Empower your team. Set clear agreements about their decision making authority. Ask them to describe circumstances where they would like the power to solve a customer’s issue without manager approval. Continually build their authority by increasing their scope of influence.
• Generate Meaning for the work they do. Let them see the impact of their efforts on the greater purpose of the organization and the world. People thrive when they know their work is meaningful.
• Energize others. To keep people energized, hold standing or walking meetings—20 percent more energy goes to the brain when you are standing! Get them to set a goal for taking better care of themselves. Help them remember to take regular breaks during the workday. You can also energize emotionally by asking them to share with you what they are proud of or how they achieved one of their great successes.
• Notice Your People. Look at them when you walk by. Ask them about the project they are working on. Pay attention to what they say and ask questions to engage. Start sending out birthday notes. In addition, help them to notice each other. People often tell me after the training experience how much they loved being with and learning about their peers. They say it enabled them to better serve their external customers—and they felt more inclined to find opportunities to serve at the highest level.
• Develop Their Capacity. Send people videos, white papers, books, links to TED talks, and articles you think will up their game. Educate them through the power of learning and have them teach each other what they put into action from that learning.
• Attend to their needs to either be taught or teach others. When they come to you with something to discuss, ask my favorite question: “Would you like me to share my ideas for how to do this, or would you like to share your ideas for how to do this?” If they want your ideas, they are asking for help. If they want to share their ideas, they are ready to unleash their talents.
• Recognize their efforts. Celebrate small and large successes. Start meetings with status reports where people share what they are proud of or how they made a difference due to their ingenuity. And give them opportunities to praise each other at meetings.

There is one last, vital element:

• You! You are the person everyone is watching at work and discussing at the dinner table. How are you taking care of you? Are you leaving your people with the same legacy of service that you want them to leave with external customers?

Use these nine ideas and strategies to create L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y (can you see the acronym?) internal and external service in your organization!

About the author:

Dr.Vicki Halsey is VP of Applied Learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care. 

But can summer also teach us something about creating memories with our clients?  Yes!  It can help us remember that when emotion is attached to a memory it becomes more indelible.  People are more likely to remember experiences— both good and bad—when they are tied to emotion.

How do you want customers to remember their experiences with you?  Here’s a six-step S-U-M-M-E-R plan that can help.

State your intention. Let your team know that this summer you want everyone to deliver legendary customer service. You want them to look up and notice people—smile at them, inspire them, and listen to them. Last week I was shopping at an upscale boutique to purchase a magical present for a friend who is turning 40. I found it interesting that the salesperson never actually looked at me.  She looked at my shoes (hmmm—maybe they weren’t upscale enough for her standards), at the merchandise, and at the cash register. She never looked at me. I left the store feeling invisible and unimportant.  Share this with your team: customers fuel business. And tell them you want them to appreciate each and every customer who chooses your establishment!

Understand customer needs. Have your team ask questions that drill down into specific customer needs. It’s nice to begin with “How may I help you?” But then, after listening to the customer, check for understanding by repeating back to them what you heard. If the person is doing a home improvement project, listen to their vision and ask clarifying questions. Make it your top priority to understand the customer’s needs. I once watched a woman share that she wanted to grow some vegetables in her garden, and the salesperson silently pointed to the back of the store where the plants were located.  As I looked to the left, there stood a rounder with seeds of every type. I wondered if the customer had wanted plants or seeds. When you understand customer needs, you save them time and show you care.

Mine new ideas. At this time of year, people are rushing to get home so that they can be with others and have fun.  Have you made it easy for them to do business with you? Ask your team and your customers: “What can we do to make it easier to do business with us?” Write down the top ten—and implement five of them as soon as possible!  At a five-diamond resort where I was training, one of the customers made a suggestion: “You could entertain my kids while I am checking in.” What a great idea! And now it is a practice embraced by that hotel so that parents can focus on checking in. Many simple ideas, put together, create a conscious flow of new ways to engage people.

Make memories. Do little things that let people know you care. If a customer tells you they are shopping for a certain item, don’t just point in the direction of that department—take them there. On the way, remind them of what else they might need to make their purchase even more fulfilling and complete. Recently, I was purchasing a sundress and the salesperson said, “We have a sandal downstairs that matches this shade perfectly—would you like me to run down and get a pair in your size so you can try them on?” Well, of course, I got the sandals, too!  Note: Because of the caring and personable way the salesperson made the suggestion, I saw it as a helpful idea, not an up-sell.

Engage the emotions. Summer is fun, joyous, and light. It gives people an opportunity to relax. When you infuse your conversations with action verbs and emotions, you actually wake up the hippocampus—the part of the brain that activates long-term, meaningful memories. Infuse your language with emotions such as “Wow, that must have made you feel joyous”—or blissful, thrilled, wonderful, enthusiastic, exuberant, assured—you get the idea!

Reconnect: How do you create lasting memories of summer? With the last memory you give to your customer. Be sure to follow up with customers and see how they like the product, if they have any suggestions, any other needs, or any examples of how they used it. And if you think of something else they might need, give them a call and let them know you thought of them and had X Y or Z for them.

Remember, summer is a time for making memories.  Use this six-step S-U-M-M-E-R acronym to remind yourself and your team how to create positive memories for the people you serve this season. Give someone a mini-vacation by giving them legendary service. Set an intention that everyone in your presence will feel just a little better about their life after being with you. And have a great summer!

About the author:

Dr.Vicki Halsey is VP of Applied Learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care. 

If you guessed customer success manager, you’re right. Customer success is a new approach to customer service that is proactive instead of reactive. Customer success means anticipating the needs of the customer to drive adoption, reduce churn (customer attrition), increase upselling, and promote customer devotion. After all, if a customer doesn’t use your product successfully, how likely is it that they will remain a customer?

Let me give you an example.

My mother recently switched cable providers. She didn’t feel the one she had was easy enough to access, competent, or thorough. A technician arrived a couple of weeks ago and set up her new system. She was happy that she would now be able to easily access new networks, new TV shows, and movies.  She was a very excited new customer!

When I talked to her a week later, what do you think she said about her new cable provider? She said she HATED them! Why would she say a thing like this? Because she didn’t know how to use the new remote control.  She felt frustrated and let down.

In a reactive customer service approach, a customer service team might field a call from a customer having problems using a remote—but how many customers don’t call? The customer service representative does their best, after the fact and via the phone, to help the customer use the product successfully.

This approach can work with simple questions, but with more complicated operations—even as common as learning all of the functionality of a new remote—the results usually fall short.  Customers either give up and never fully use all of the product’s capabilities or they keep calling back in an effort to learn more. In the case of my mother, the cable company was spending a lot of money on follow-up home visits—in this case, expensive “truck rolls”—to do what should’ve been done at installation: teach the customer how to use the equipment in a way that they can retain the information.

How might this example be applicable to your products and services? What would be in it for you to create that team in your organization that proactively looks to increase customer advocacy and customer success?

Here are a few suggestions for getting started:

• Analyze your current log of customer service calls. What are some common pain points customers keep calling about?

• Collaborate with other departments to create a process that will increase customer success and product adoption. For example, a customer success rep, a graphic artist, and a technical writer design a laminated card customers can lay under the remote. Arrows on the card point to different parts of the remote and are accompanied by an explanation of what each part does.

• Design online video tutorials that can be accessed by customers who want to learn at their own pace, by installers who need to learn how to teach customers the basics of the remote control, etc.

A proactive customer success mindset means anticipating customer needs before they occur. Support your customers throughout the life cycle of their experience with your products or services. Being there all through their journey will actually reduce the cost of serving customers, drive greater revenue, and increase customer satisfaction.

About the author:

Dr.Vicki Halsey is VP of Applied Learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care. 

We chatted about how the new direction had impacted her and she said that she now looked forward to coming to work. She proceeded to show me a new display of jewelry on the counter (as opposed to behind/under the counter where it had been before) that she had influenced.  She also pointed to the new purse display that her friend had created.  Wow!

Let’s dissect this interaction in terms of consistently delivering the Legendary Service you want your organization to be known for.

1. It is important to remember that people thrive when they feel their work is meaningful, when they have a chance to grow, and when they feel autonomous and recognized for their contributions. The salesperson was very excited to share with me that she had a new manager who acknowledged her ideas and allowed her to implement them. The truth is, a new manager can bring a real sense of hope to a team. If you are a manager who has been with your team for a while, think about this and ask yourself: What outdated or ineffective patterns of management behavior could I freshen up in order to lift my team and inspire them anew?
2. On a regular basis, whether they serve internal or external customers, ask your people for their ideas on how to improve customer service. This will keep them always thinking of new ways to create a better customer experience.  This is the backbone of Legendary Service: creating a culture that inspires people to think: If I were in charge, what would I do to serve customers at the highest level?
3. Because your frontline people interact with customers every day, they are at the forefront of knowing what your customers want. Take advantage of what they know! When they share their ideas with you, act on those ideas whenever possible. My service provider’s idea was that customers would be happier if they could actually touch the jewelry, instead of having to wait in line for her to show them different pieces.  Her new manager empowered her to act on her idea—so she took lower priced, but still sparkly and beautiful earrings, necklaces, and bracelets and created six different displays on the counter.  The result? Sales have increased and customers are happier—they can now have fun matching jewelry to their new outfits!

How can you update your management style?  Can you promote a Legendary Service culture by asking front-liners for ideas, and accelerating those ideas into action? As we move into a new quarter, think about what you can do to inspire innovative, customer-centric ideas and let your people know they matter.  They will appreciate the opportunity and you’ll be surprised at the great ideas they come up with to serve and delight customers!

About the author:

Dr.Vicki Halsey is VP of Applied Learning and coauthor (together with Ken Blanchard and Kathy Cuff) of the new book, Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care now available in bookstores everywhere. You can read an excerpt from the book, download an online quiz, and learn more about Legendary Service at this book page.

I recently had an opportunity to experience this technique from the customer’s point of view while setting up an account with a Microsoft technician so that I could access one of their buildings to train an upcoming class. Before we began, he assessed my technological skill and said, “Since you’re new to this, would it help if I walked you through the steps to ensure your success?”

Wow, I thought to myself. As a beginner on accessing this information, I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to figure it out alone. What a gift it was to me to have a highly directive level of support! Because I had no experience in this specific area, that was exactly what I needed.

Today’s internal and external customers are looking for personalized, specific, efficient attention. They want people to serve them in the way they would like to be served and give them exactly what they need in the shortest amount of time possible. For example, a customer who is new to a task or product is hoping someone will share steps about how to do the task or use the product. They don’t want to be told, “It’s easy. You’ll figure it out.” A customer who has great ideas but is not terribly experienced is looking for a service provider who will patiently ask clarifying questions and listen carefully to the answers while ensuring the customer’s lack of experience doesn’t lead them down the wrong path.

Service Flexibility Quiz

Let’s see how flexible you are in giving people exactly what they need. Take this quick assessment.  Rank yourself on a scale from 1 (I can’t do this) to 6 (I’m a rock star at this!) on each point below:

SCORING

If you scored 40-48, you are a rock star at these behaviors! Your flexibility enables people to take clear action and move forward on their goals. You develop people when they need it; listen to them when they lack confidence and aren’t competent; and delegate the task when they are competent and committed.

If you scored 30-39, you are flexible, yet you could benefit from determining the specific type of help a customer needs before you speak or interact. Increase your flexibility by withholding your thoughts and encouraging theirs if they have been successful at the task, can teach a customer or show an example, or can show you the steps for how they might proceed.

If you scored 29 or less, you might need to work on your skills of being other-focused. Pay attention if you see that someone is still learning and needs you to provide clarity on what to do and how to do it. Or, if you check in with a person who has successfully done the task or used your product or service and find that they feel motivated and confident about their ability to move forward, you can go ahead and trust their talent—let them make the decision about what to do in the future.

Great customer service is about caring to give people what they need, not only what we want or know how to do. Develop your skills to serve customers completely. Learn how to assess and deliver the appropriate style when needed—and you’ll be on your way to delivering Legendary Service.

About the author:

Dr.Vicki Halsey is VP of Applied Learning and coauthor (together with Ken Blanchard and Kathy Cuff) of the new book, Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care now available in bookstores everywhere. You can read an excerpt from the book, download an online quiz, and learn more about Legendary Service at this book page.

I just got back from teaching a class on our Situational Team Leadership content. Before class started, people were very quiet, even wary, about talking with one another.  Some even passed the time by doing individual work at their computer.

To start the class I shared that since this was a course on teams, I’d like them to introduce themselves and then share something that they were proud of that their team had accomplished. WOW! The energy in the room jumped to amazing decibels—and for the rest of the day, that energy was transferred into amazing participants who felt great about themselves and participated at the highest level.

If a winter chill has crept into some of your interactions with others, or you’d like to get to know people better, here is a six step way to purposefully SPRING into reigniting the joy and inspiration of working together.

Step 1: Smile. Many times we can become so busy that we don’t even lift our heads to look at, or engage with others. We walk by, we say hi, but we don’t really notice others. Ready for a change? Look up, make eye contact, smile, and say good morning.

Step 2: Personalize your conversations. Connect with others on what’s new in their life, what they’re working on, and what is important to them.  Asking questions about others is one of the best ways to naturally engage people.  My son, Nick, makes it a point to learn three things about everyone he meets which really helps build relationships in his new role as a tax analyst.

Step 3: Relate your commonalities. Share some of your experiences that resonate with what you have learned about them. Sometimes we hesitate to share our experiences because we don’t want conversations to be all about us. Yet sharing our own experiences creates shared memories, often adds humor, and builds deeper relationships. Relate what is going on currently in your life to what is going on in theirs.

Step 4: Inspire. Blanchard’s research on motivation states that people are motivated by autonomy, relatedness, and competence. One of the ways to feel a renewed focus and delight in life is to learn something new, or to take on new behaviors. How are you keeping your brain flexible? As you feel inspired by what you are learning, inspire other people around you (and embed the new information in your brain so as to remember it) by sharing interesting models, facts, articles, and books.

Step 5: Notify. Share opportunities and possibilities for future experiences. People want to connect, but often find it easier to go home to their favorite place on the couch and watch TV. Notify people of what is coming up that they could take advantage of to add energy to their lives.  These possibilities can include what is coming up in the organization, in the community, workshops, conferences, or training opportunities.

Step 6: Gratitude. Share the gratitude that you have for your new or deepening relationship.  Say thank you for all they bring to your life and the work that you do together.

Too often people don’t recognize the impact they have on the people around them. While keeping their nose to the grindstone, they sometimes lose track of the need for connectedness.  SPRING ahead by taking the time to reestablish the human connection in the groups you work with.

About the Author

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner and Vice President of Applied Learning for The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Let’s focus on five key areas where you can set clear boundaries.

1. Time.  Are you one of those people who works 24/7? What if you set a boundary that you would stop working at 7:00 p.m. every night, or stop doing work on Sundays? Set aside some time for yourself—you may find it liberating. It’s very important to block out this time on your calendar. After all, taking care of yourself is as essential as any other calendar entry—and the less stress you feel, the better you will be able to accomplish all of those other things on your calendar!

2. Sleep. Are you getting enough sleep? Can you think of a boundary you could add to your life that would help you get more sleep? I recently read about something many of us are guilty of doing: having a death grip on our phone or tablet until we go to bed. Studies have shown that light from an electronic screen stimulates our brain into thinking it’s daytime, not time for rest. This can interfere with both our sleep pattern and our quality of sleep. So set a boundary for electronic “lights out” time. What could you do for the last hour before you go to bed that doesn’t involve an electronic screen?

3. Relaxation. When is the last time you fully relaxed? The last time you let your guard down, stopped focusing on the things you were working on, and just took a break? Build one event a week into your schedule where you can relax. Use that time to do whatever relaxes you. Go for a walk in the hills. Go to the library. Get a frozen yogurt. Do something you enjoy that makes you think “for the next few minutes (or hours), I’m just going to relax.” Add a relaxation event to your self-care repertoire once a week.

4. Nutrition. Most of us know what optimal nutrition looks like—but do we operate on those principles on a day-to-day basis? Really? This holiday season, when “goodie” temptation is at its peak, commit to setting a clear boundary around nutrition. We know the more sugar and fat we eat, the more our body has to process, and the less it is able to stay energized so we can do our work and have good times with family and friends. What about adding more fruits and vegetables? Set a boundary that specifies you will eat five servings of fruits or vegetables every day. I remember when my kids were young, at night they would recite the five fruits and vegetables they had eaten that day (and no, Jake, ketchup still doesn’t count). What is a clear boundary you can set for yourself around nutrition?

5. Love. The holidays are about love and being with the ones you love. Have circumstances kept you from being with certain special people during the holidays in years past? Make a point this year to set up a time during the holidays to get together with those loved ones. Maybe it’s extended family, maybe it’s an old friend, or maybe it’s your unconditionally loving dog. Whoever you love, make this year special for yourself and for them—show you care by setting up some clearly defined time together.

Set boundaries to give yourself the gift of time, sleep, relaxation, nutrition, and love during the holidays. Welcome the serenity of self-care—and know that it will ultimately help you take care of others. Have a wonderful and peaceful holiday season.

About the Author

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner and Vice President of Applied Learning for The Ken Blanchard Companies.

Rank your service through the eyes of your customers. How would they respond to this statement:

After an interaction with me, an internal or external customer would say they felt: A) Brilliant, Respected, Alive, Independent, and Noticed; or B) Bored, Rejected, Apathetic, Insecure, and Neglected.

To move responses in a more positive direction, consider using a neuroscience approach.  What would it take to help people feel brilliant, respected, alive, independent, and noticed?  Here are five ways to get started.

Brilliant: To feel brilliant, the pattern-seeking brain takes in millions of bits of information, seeking to connect them with other previous ideas and information. You can help people feel brilliant by making those connections—showing people how to connect what you are sharing to what they already know. For example, if you are selling a software solution, move beyond an early awkwardness with the new technology by sharing similarities to software the customer is already using successfully.  Showcase the skill and brilliance that the customer already has.

Respected: Listening is one of the most powerful strategies you can use to show respect. In many of the classes I facilitate, I use a ten-minute activity called “Being with…,” to show the power of truly listening. I divide the class into pairs and ask one person to speak and the other to listen—but in a very special way.  The speaker uses sentence stems such as, “Something I have been wanting to share with someone is…,” or “Something I am proud of is….” The listener just gets to say, “Thank you,” “Tell me more,” or “I understand.” The amazing outcome is that everyone connects at a powerful level and realizes that in their daily lives they are usually problem solving or speaking instead of really listening.*

Alive: In today’s world, people zoom from one thing to another which often causes them to miss the fun, engagement, and joy of life. You can help rekindle the feeling of being alive for customers by being unique, being a bit vulnerable, or increasing your level of generosity of thought and practices. I was at major department store getting supplies for my college grad in his new apartment. The salesperson went beyond just pointing me to what I wanted and, instead, took a moment to ask who the purchase was for and what was happening with this new transition. Because of this interaction, I felt a renewed energy and focus for the rest of my day. One person has the ability to create a space in which someone else is renewed. You can be that person.

Independent: Building competence in others is another great way to deepen relationships.  Teach people how to use the products they are purchasing.  Show them how to be successful.  Building and reinforcing valued skills in others deepens neural connections.  People love to learn new skills—it leads to increased independence.

Noticed: To connect, you first have to notice. Use customer’s names. Stop and really notice who they are. If face-to- face, look at them. If on the phone, listen to what is not being said as well as what is being said. Remember that each person you interact with has a life journey, experiences, and rich knowledge different from any other person. Find out what is unique about your customers.  Calling it out builds deep, permanent relationships by fulfilling the brain’s craving for relatedness.

Use a BRAIN-based approach

Apply the learnings from neuroscience to your customer service strategies.  Use the BRAIN acronym to remind yourself (and others on your team) about the impact you can have when you help people bring the full capacity of their brain to the experience.  Create connections that allow people to feel Brilliant, Respected, Alive, Independent, and Noticed for who they are and what they have done in their lives.  It’s a great way to create a lasting brain bond with customers.

*To learn more about the listening technique described above, I highly recommend Straight From the Heart by Paul and Layne Cutright

About the author

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner and one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.

How do you save people from this arduous task? How do you get them think of you and their last interaction with you before surfing out into the land of other possibilities? Easy—just follow the PATH.

My friend Renee was just telling me a story of her recent stay at The Galleria Park Hotel in San Francisco. As she was checking out, the front desk person, Bina, asked her how her visit was and if there was anything they could have done to make it even better. Renee paused as she thought about the black spot on the back of the shirt she was wearing under her jacket. Seeing Renee’s hesitation, Bina said, “Please—share anything.” So Renee said, “Well, I realized too late that the iron I used last night had a black substance on the bottom and it melted onto my shirt. I wasn’t going to mention it as the shirt wasn’t expensive.” Immediately, Bina said, “Oh no! You must have felt just terrible. I’m so sorry. We have to make this right. I’ll take the price of the shirt off your bill at once.” She followed with, “We are so grateful that you stayed here and want you to always think of The Galleria Park Hotel when you come to San Francisco.”

What was the PATH to ensure that Renee will come back to The Galleria Park?

P: For Bina to take charge and make the situation right without checking with anyone meant that she knew her level of authority and autonomy. A clear playing field obviously had been established by hotel management up front. She had been taught what to do, when.

A: Acting in Renee’s best interest meant issuing a refund to pay for a new shirt so she would leave with a smile on her face and in her heart. Bina went the extra mile when she noticed Renee’s hesitation and immediately checked to see what that hesitation meant. Because Bina was able to fix the problem without manager intervention, the issue was handled quickly and efficiently so it didn’t waste a minute of Renee’s precious time.

T: Bina shared gratitude for Renee’s business and reinforced a neural circuit in the brain to “Come back to The Galleria Park Hotel!” Now every time Renee tells this story to someone, the neural pathway is strengthened.

H: Hopefully, Bina or her supervisor huddled with the housekeeping staff afterward to ensure that the problem was taken care of and no future guest would have a similar experience.

The PATH to the door of your organization is filled not only with distractions but also with possibilities. In every company that provides a product or service, our work is to embed in our customers a memory of care, thoughtfulness, and follow-through to ensure their return. By following the PATH, all roads will lead back to your business.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner and one of the principal authors—together  with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.

Last week, I was invited to Orlando to deliver a speech at one of the Disney resorts. I had been working and traveling all week and showed up at 11:00 p.m. I was greeted at the car by Loren, a uniformed man with a welcoming smile and a genuine interest in how long and how far I had traveled to arrive at their establishment.

Loren passed me to a gentleman with an electronic tablet, Tom, who walked me to reception (probably so I wouldn’t get lost) and introduced me to a desk clerk named Jenna. She gave me my room key, directions for the quarter-mile walk to my room, and a schedule of nearby events that would be taking place during my stay.

Upon completion of her tasks, Jenna called over a bellman, Travis, and asked if he could show me to my room since it was so late. Not only did Travis walk me there, he found out what I was doing at the resort, chatted about my speech and, upon learning that I had forgotten to make some copies, offered to get them made for me and leave them at the front desk. He absolutely radiated care and concern.

What did all of these interactions have in common? Service providers who:

• were genuine;
• desired to help me;
• had the ability to act on what they knew to be true;
• knew what their job was and how well they were doing; and
• were confident in their ability to make a difference.

We need to ask ourselves five questions to effectively serve our internal customers (our people) so they can deliver on the promise we share with our external customers:

1. Am I genuine with my people?
2. Do I clarify my expectations about how to serve customers?
3. Do I build competence by sharing information and teaching skills for success?
4. Do I value the unique contributions made by each person?
5. When people are competent in a task, do I build confidence by asking them for their ideas before sharing mine?

Customer service is an inside-out issue. Wowing external customers begins by wowing internal customers. What can you do to build competence, confidence, and energy in your people?  Model the behavior you want to see to create a positive work environment that drives praise from customers like me, who so appreciated the kindness and care I was shown.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies.  You can read Vicki’s posts as a part of our customer service series which appears on the first and third Thursday of each month.

Typically this time of year people are feeling more emotional than usual. This is an opportunity for us to bring a little peace to people that we care about and help them relax and enjoy the holiday season versus being overwhelmed by it. It is important to know that the emotion zone in the brain is the same as the memory zone.  You can leverage emotions to create lasting memories.

So, how do you bring a little peace?

P stands for Prioritize and focus. Help people (including yourself) prioritize and focus on the tasks and goals that are truly important. When people are overwhelmed they are usually taking on unnecessary tasks, producing worry that keeps their brain on spin. Creating laser-like focus reduces stress.

E stands for Energize to act. Help those around you with the one or two steps that they need to take in order to get started on their task or goal. Getting started is half the battle and task completion will increase as people just take that first step.

A stands for Acknowledge emotion. What happens when we don’t acknowledge emotions? They can get bigger and bigger and less manageable. Sometimes just the mere acknowledgement of someone else’s emotion, or even your own, can provide relief and support. Remember the last time someone did this for you and you said, “Phew, so glad to get that off my chest!”

C stands for Cherish Successes. Try to notice where others are doing things right and call it out. Listen to people and really make them feel special for who they are and what they have achieved. Cherishing success can be a wonderful gift that you can give to those around you this holiday season.

E stands for Enjoy the holidays. Don’t forget to stop and enjoy the moments and the people that matter. Be grateful for all that you are blessed with by doing random acts of kindness. Sometimes it’s the little things we can do for people that really make a difference.

So give the gift of peace! Happy Holidays!

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies.  You can read Vicki’s posts as a part of our customer service series which appears on the first and third Thursday of each month.

Last week I was with a client teaching a session on the topic of Legendary Service.  There were people in the room from six different countries and we were beaming out to three more. The participants represented a rich blend of values, generations, depth of knowledge of technology, and history with customer service content.  It was an amazing opportunity to see what service looks and feels like given different life views.  The dialogue was frequent, fiery, and focused.  Below are a few pearls of wisdom I captured from the group’s spontaneous suggestions—with important morals for interacting with anyone.

• Some of the women felt that a mentality exists that women are not as technologically savvy as men. These very smart women feel talked down to when a product or process is being explained to them. They are left feeling insulted, irritated, and humiliated rather than cared for.  Moral: When explaining a new product or process, treat every customer as if they were the smartest person you know who is simply learning something new.

• Some of the men felt that women take too long to get to the point when sharing their thoughts. These men want to know up front what women want—their specific, targeted needs or ideas—as opposed to spending time reflecting on whys, hows, and back stories. This reminded me of a football metaphor regarding the difference in men’s and women’s communication styles. Picture the players on the line of scrimmage: “64, 56, 72, HIKE!” Like football players, these men are eagerly waiting to get the ball and run with it.  Moral: Do your work ahead of time so you can speed up the focus and desired actions from conversations.

• From an international participant:  People don’t seem to listen anymore. Most attendees agreed that people have lost the talent of listening. Many act as if they have heard every question a thousand times. They don’t focus on finding out specific details, but rush to generalize the question and dive into their prepared spiel.  We had a rich discussion on the cost of NOT listening to people—it causes rework, doesn’t solve the problem, and leaves the other person feeling uncared for.  Moral: Give people the gift of listening. Listen to learn. See each interaction as the first you’ve had with that person and clarify what you heard before you share your thoughts.

• From a brilliant Latin American woman: Many people think they are being efficient with others’ time by diving right into the task—but they forget that some people need to know that there is deep appreciation for their time, ideas, and culture before they can truly listen.  Others in the room agreed that in many Latin, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries it is crucial to build a relationship BEFORE transacting business.  Moral: Build the relationship and show respect before addressing the task.

It’s exciting to live in a generation where we can learn so much about the different ways people solve problems, leverage their history, and stay energized.  Customers expect us to know their needs.  We can learn about and leverage the rich diversity of their values, ages, and ethnicities and their competence at using our products, services and processes. Let’s deliver value to all customers by listening to their voice and communicating with them in a way that ensures they feel heard.

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About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their “others-focused” posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

It was their once-yearly, twenty-five-percent-off-anything-if-you-donated-five-dollars-to-charity day, and by the time we got to the shoe part of mom’s outfit it was late in the day.  The place looked like it had rained shoes.  Shoes and stacks of shoeboxes were everywhere. A long line of customers waited outside the mysterious “back room” for a salesperson to come out and help them find the right size. Unfortunately, even after viewing this scene with the knowledge that getting someone to help would be a long shot, mom found the perfect shoes and wasn’t leaving until she got to try them on.

I found her a place to sit and dove into the fray.  First of all, even though there were at least seven people working in the department, no one could get anywhere near them. With chins down and arms piled high with boxes, each of them had a purposeful desire to avoid eye contact and keep moving.  Just when I thought, This is SOOO not happening, a young woman popped out from behind a huge pile of shoeboxes, looked me in the eye, gave me a megawatt smile, and said, “Just one minute and I’ll be right with you—it’s kind of a zoo today!”  She zipped off to deliver the boxes to an elderly woman sitting near my mom, taking a moment to open the first box of shoes and say to the customer, “These are a half size larger than you wanted, but they were the only pair and run small so I brought them to you, too.”

She turned and smiled at my mom, looked at the shoe she was holding, shared that those were her favorite shoes in the store, and asked what size she needed. She then said, “I’ll get them as soon as I can—we have only three people finding shoes in the back, two on the floor, and two at the cash register, so it might be a few minutes.” WOW!  What a way to inform and delight a customer!  She looked like she was having fun, delivered personal service, and proactively soothed a frustrated customer who had to wait.

How did she do this—and how can you do this with both internal and external customers to make them feel valued?  By putting the FUN into customer service:

F:  Focus your attention: Step one is to focus your attention. Look up and see who is there. Acknowledge their existence. Describe three things about them in your head so when you open your mouth to speak, you are all about THEM. Be sure to notice the small details.

U:  Understand their world: Step two is to understand their needs.  Do a little detective work. Check in—ask them what they are looking for.  If you are not exactly clear what they want, double-check by reflecting back what you heard or add value by suggesting something they may have not thought about.  Sometimes a person’s needs are very subtle and if you capture them accurately, you will have a customer for life.

N:  Nurture them: Step three is to nurture—to celebrate who they are, respond to what you now know they need, and let them know you care.  It is sharing—either overtly or covertly—that they have value and are important, and that you want to improve the quality of their life for the time you are together.

So put the FUN back into serving and create lasting memories! Now more than ever, people need reminders about why to show up wholeheartedly, believe in themselves, and enjoy their lives.  Take pride in the small things can you do to get big responses out of people. Make every moment magical by realizing that every day you have the power to create smiles and touch lives.

PS: And yes, my mom did get the shoes!

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About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

What would happen if your direct reports “secretly shopped” you as a leader?  What would they report back?  Here’s an exercise to help you find out.  You are going to “meta-cognate” or watch yourself by designing a personal secret shopper scorecard.

Identify your ideal self

First, take a few minutes and think of your vision of yourself as a leader. On your best day—the one you would like to be recorded for the nightly news as a model for leaders everywhere—what do you see yourself doing? In interactions, are you focused on the other person? Are you listening to their world and trying to help them succeed in the important work they are doing? Do you recognize their effort and courage?  Do you help your people gain clarity around their purpose and goals? What exactly is your vision of YOU at your best?

Create your secret shopper questions

Second, reframe a few of your observations (no more than three) into your own secret shopper questions, such as:

1. To what degree did the leader use the word you versus the word I?
2. Were listening strategies used to enhance communication?
3. Was specific praise or recognition used to build the relationship?
4. Did the leader make the individual feel important?
5. Did the individual leave the interaction ready to act?

Create your scorecard

Third, create a small, written assessment that you can use to remind and assess how close you are behaving to your ideal self in your interactions with people. This self-assessment should include four items—the top three things you intend to do, your self-assessment of your success, the level of care the individual felt as a result, and the chances that they will come back again for a similar experience.  Here’s mine so you can see an example:

My Secret Shopper Leadership Scorecard

Upcoming interaction:  Discussing goals with Lisa

Three things I want to observe myself doing:

1. Taking some time at the beginning of the meeting to reconnect
2. Keeping the conversation focused on goals, tasks, and the work we need to accomplish
3. Reviewing agreements and letting Lisa know that I am available for direction and support

Self assessment of this interaction: (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Level of CARE the individual felt: (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Chance s/he will want to come back for a similar experience: (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Being your own secret shopper is a great way to begin the task of creating and becoming the leader you want to be. Use this scorecard  to purposely plan and notice yourself in action.  Self-reflect on each interaction with an employee.  Ask yourself the questions you generated and strive toward higher and higher ratings. With a little bit of practice, you’ll soon notice the impact that being “customer focused” can have on your performance as a serving leader.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

When asked for an example of what he meant by this, he said, “Well … we are asked to acknowledge the customer, get details about the situation, listen, ensure relationship building occurs, and exceed the customer’s expectations. But when I call my manager with a question, he just gives me an answer.  For example, I needed to know if we could redo one of our customer policies given some new circumstances. My manager didn’t clarify, listen, or anything. He just said, ‘Follow the policy.’”

Chad’s observation intrigued me, as it made me realize that we forget sometimes how closely our people are watching us.  I love the question: “What are people saying about YOU at the dinner table?” As service champions, to properly support our frontline service providers we must model the service we expect others to do—we must CRAFT a vision of collegiality.

C – Connect:  Our role is to build relationships of care with the people who will be serving our customers.  One of the kindest ways to bring people together is to acknowledge the importance of their position and note that they have the power to change problems they discover. “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We want to ensure our policies and procedures serve the customers at the highest level. Let’s follow the policy today, but let’s bring this up at our weekly meeting to see if others have similar issues. Maybe we’ll come up with a great idea to solve the problem.”

R – Recognize: We need to recognize the good others are doing. Praise individuals to the whole team—send an email specifying what someone did, how it made you feel, and its importance to the organization.  For example, let’s say the manager addresses the aforementioned issue at the weekly staff meeting. She could say, “I would like to take a minute to thank Chad for bringing up an issue that was driving a customer away and for providing his insights. It helped us to clarify our policy and exceed this customer’s expectations while creating a new policy to serve future customers at the highest level.”

A – Analyze: Consistently analyze information regarding customer issues so that you can see and share trends while proactively problem solving.  At weekly meetings, be a catalyst for innovative change by having people share their issues, examine the causes and impact of those situations, and then brainstorm best possible solutions. Creating communities of practice increases motivation to act and serve.

F – Follow up: Check back in to be sure customer situations were resolved properly, and to draw out ideas that could be utilized in the future to build organizational intelligence. A few days after resolving the situation above regarding the flawed policy, the manager might call Chad and say, “I want to thank you again for bringing up that issue regarding the policy change. Did it feel to you like our solution was a success? Do you have any other thoughts?”

T – Talk: Ask open-ended questions, listen, and acknowledge emotion while connecting to the heart of the situation. In the example above when Chad called his manager, the manager might have asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to share so I am sure I understand the situation correctly?”

By collaborating with your service providers and unleashing their best thoughts, you are modeling the service you would like them to provide for their customers. As leader and service champion, you need to CRAFT, then showcase, the behaviors that will create the devoted customers who will become your #1 sales force.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

See if this sounds familiar. Our family is going out to dinner.  My husband is driving.  We pull into the parking lot and I see a fabulous parking place right in front. (I love to find great parking places and I think everyone else should also.)

So I start to share my expert-parking-place-finding-radar-response and guess what happens next?  He is NOT interested and says, “Don’t even think about it!”

Why the quick response?  Because he and I have been over this ground many times before and I know I am not to speak during parking lot time unless we are going to die.  But changing behavior is an ongoing challenge and just because we know what people want us to do, that doesn’t make it any easier.

3 ways to help yourself change

Still, my experience working with many different leaders over the years has convinced me that we can change anything we want if we put our mind to it. Here are three tips if you are committed to changing some hard-wired behaviors. 

1. Focus on the other person’s wishes—be clear not only on what the other person wants, but why he or she wants this.  In my example above, after realizing this situation had come up numerous times before, I decided to find out why my significant other wasn’t interested in my brilliance. He said it distracts his driving when he has to look where I want him to look.  (Well that was informative.  And to be honest, I actually would rather be safe than have the closest parking place also.)
2. Practice what you want to replace your usual behavior with by rehearsing what you are going to do in a similar situation the next time. For me, rehearsal meant chanting, “Never miss an opportunity to exercise,” as I practiced parking as far away as possible while my hard-wired brain kept pointing out, “There’s one, there’s another one, and oh look, still another one.”  (I also kept reminding myself of why my husband doesn’t share my passion for prime parking spots—his value of family safety is more important than that front row space.)
3. Recognize when you do it right by celebrating when all goes well.  Embed your new skill into your brain by creating a pattern for your new behavior so next time it won’t take as much energy. Even though your new behavior may leave you feeling somewhat dissatisfied—or underutilized in my case—take your attention off of yourself and celebrate how you made the other person feel.  Mentally go over what you did, why you did it, and what the fabulous results were.  (This actually creates a stronger neural connection to the behavior that makes it easier to access next time.)

It takes practice and time

Figuring out what others want and acting on that knowledge is a rare, but powerful, way to build lasting relationships—at work and at home. It takes focus, practice, and a recognition of results.  Everyone likes to be treated in the way they like to be treated.  Our challenge as leaders is to flex what we want to do to meet the needs of others.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

My first realization that this was not a “business as usual” situation was encountering Troy at the front desk.  He immediately welcomed me to the Hyatt, shared his name, and told me to remember it in case I needed anything while I was visiting.

While checking me in, he asked the purpose of my visit to Denver and when I said it was to speak at ASTD, he said, “Then we must get you a quiet room.”  He listened to a special additional request I had and immediately took care of getting my friend a room a few doors away from mine which made my trip incredibly meaningful.  In addition, he made sure that I knew where I was going, had instructions for the elevator  (it required a room key to access the floor I was on—did he know how many times I have exhaustedly stood in the elevator waiting for it to go to my floor and after five minutes  or so realizing it hadn’t moved?)  Lastly, he asked if I needed a wake-up call (I said I would call down later) and said he would take care of my friend when she was due to arrive in an hour.

Just the start of a Legendary Service experience

Troy was just the start of an amazing visit to the Hyatt.  Here are a few other highlights.

When I called for a wake-up call, the lovely person on the line asked me if I would like to order breakfast, schedule a massage, or if she could help me in any way.  WOW—instead of feeling a bit like a pain for asking for help, I was treated like royalty.  I left a note for the housekeeper to leave a few extra decaffeinated green tea bags and she had them arranged in a cup like a flower for me when I got back to my room.

My wake-up call the following morning was a gentle woman who shared it was time to rise and shine and the weather was 57 degrees and she was sure I was going to have a wonderful day.  Within a few minutes, Bob, a young, friendly in-room dining staff member brought me my breakfast and inquired about my day.  He carefully set up the tray and inquired if there was anything else I might need.  He had a vibrant personality that started my day out with hope.

My last interaction was leaving my suitcase with the bellman downstairs.  He exclaimed, “What?? You have to go so soon? We will miss you but we’ll take good care of your bag until you come back later for it.” To my amazement, he even remembered which bag was mine when I came back to retrieve it!

A clear sign of great leadership

Being next door to the convention center, this hotel is probably always packed with people, which could cause many employees to become tired and frustrated.  Instead, they demonstrated an ownership and pride as they served each and every customer at the highest level.  They were personable, friendly, interested, and did things for me that I could have done for myself, but gladly, let someone else do.

To me, this is a sign of excellent leadership at the top of the organization in training employees how to treat their customer and make them feel welcomed.  Great leaders recognize the importance of getting all employees trained on the company’s standards of what excellent service is and then (hopefully) praising the employees’ great efforts!

I know that I felt loved and cared for during my stay at this hotel, and would gladly stay there again and recommend it to others.  That is a sign of Legendary Service—when the service is so good, that your customers are doing the selling for you!

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

What are you probably thinking while they are talking?

A. What you were doing before the person ran in, even though it means only half-listening to their story?

B. Internal brainstorming on how you would handle X?

C. Preparing to respond with all the things others have done in a similar situation so you can share them as soon as the person is done talking?

D. Carefully listening to the situation to be sure this person gets the help he or she needs on X?

Answers A, B, and C are SELF-focused, and answer D is OTHER-focused.

Now, ask yourself, “Which one do you think will best meet the needs of this person, over time? Which one might make them a ‘customer’ who feels cared for?”

Yes, answer D.

Changing your focus

To improve your ability to focus on the needs of others instead of your own, here are four questions to consider when someone comes to you with an issue or situation.

1. What is the issue/focus for this person?
2. What is their understanding of the situation? Who, what , when, where, how, etc..
3. What does he or she think should be done—or what is the help he or she needs?
4. How can you help them follow through with their solution, or deliver what is needed?

Let’s replay the scenario and see how this works in practice.  Once again, someone runs into your office (or calls on the phone) and says, “I need help with X.”

Step 1: Understand the Focus—You immediately stop what you are doing, becoming present and focused on that person. Then, as the person is sharing, you are listening carefully to ensure that you understand what the issue is. When he or she is done talking, you say, ”Ok. Your situation/issue is….”

Step 2: Get Information—Before generating a list of what to do, the next step to empowering this person over time is to get him or her to share the background or other pertinent information about the situation so all are clear. Before jumping in with your solutions ask what he or she thinks is the best possible outcome for the situation.  (This is not as easy as it seems!) Reflect back what you hear.

Step 3: Identify Options—To get the best possible outcome, now you ask what options can be considered.  What does the person think or feel should be done? What does he or she need to do that? What learning is necessary? Who could help? By when could it be done? What else?

Step 4: Follow up—Your final job is to follow-up to help the person deliver the solution that’s been generated. Your follow-up is to ensure that he or she acts on his or her best intentions.  Checking in within 24 hours to see how it is going is an uncommon practice that will generate a lifetime of gratitude.

First, you engender collegiality. Second, you act as a catalyst to help the person move on his or her idea—or revisit the situation, in case the person needs additional help to move forward.  The important thing to remember is, it’s all about them.

In these days of rapid communication and overload of tasks, it is easy to forget that people like to be smart, and they like to know that others trust them to do their best work.  By being a sounding board, instead of a solution board, you inspire others to feel powerful and claim their greatness.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their other-focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

I want to quickly demonstrate the use of Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® II model to showcase a way to look at your customers with new eyes.  Not only will you save time with this approach, you will also give customers exactly what they need to succeed with your product and thus develop greater respect, memories of care, and referrals.

By teaching customers how to rapidly gain competence with your product they can more quickly feel like champions as they share their brilliance with you and others.

How this works

To begin with, think of something you sell that people are excited to have, but initially don’t know how to use.  This first stage of learning we call an Enthusiastic Beginner.  What do they need at this stage? They need direction—very specific guidelines, examples, and to be taught and shown how to use the product.

Like any learning curve, there is a next stage. Disillusioned Learner is when the task becomes a bit more difficult and frustrating. Discouragement often sets in when customers find doing the task is much more difficult alone than when they were with you.  Now, they need encouragement, a reminder of why what they are doing is important and how to fine tune their abilities so as to mediate their concerns and ratchet up success.

Soon, they will be Capable, but Cautious Performers, who are using their new products, but cautiously and probably with less speed than someone who has been using it for years.  They need to practice, share their thoughts, and hear their ideas, to be able to talk with you about what they are doing well and what they would like to do better. Since they are capable at this time, they really need air time to build their confidence in their competence.

With care, customers progress to a final development level as Self-Reliant Achievers.  At this level they are highly competent and highly committed.  This is your opportunity to really engender customer devotion by weaving their genius into the mix and having them participate on expert teams.  By asking them to teach others and share ideas you are really helping them to feel smart and recognize their brilliance.

Develop your customers

Situationally developing your customers is a great way to expand your use of the Situational Leadership® II model.  In the same way that it works for developing employees it can help you set up customers for rapid success and long term relationships where people feel valued, cared for and positioned to shine.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together  with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their customer service focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

I once took my sons to a large, soon-to-be-out-of-business, toy store where we planned to quickly zoom through and get birthday gifts on our way to a party.  We grabbed tons of things from a “50 percent off” table.  (I thought we could stock the gift cupboard!)  But when we checked out, the total was much higher than I expected.

When I looked a bit shocked, the cashier said, “I’ll bet you thought all those items were 50 percent off.”

“Yes,” I said, “because they were all on the ‘50 percent off’ table.”

Then she said, “I don’t know why they keep doing that, but they keep putting things that are not 50 percent off on that table.”  I then asked if she could please take out the things that were not half price and leave in only the ones that were.  (If she had been able to do that, the situation might have been salvaged.)

But with an eye roll and a sigh, she said, “OK, but I will have to call the manager.  And if you look over there, that is the line for her.” She pointed to a line of customers several feet away.

Needless to say, we were late to the party. The organization’s stupid policy of not letting cashiers take out items on their own authority caused them to lose a customer. (And because that person is a keynote speaker, has now told this story to thousands of people.)

Revisit policies that aren’t serving you, or your customers

Many organizations have policies and procedures in place that should be revisited in case the policies are outdated, frustrating to employees, or are alienating customers.  What if the store I visited had held a team meeting occasionally where people were asked, “What stupid policies keep us from delivering a legendary service experience that creates raving fans?”

One of my favorite clients, Avnet, a Phoenix-based technology solutions company, has exactly these types of meetings and goes a step further by setting up “action learning” teams to fix problems and find the solutions.  All around the Avnet campus of buildings there are pictures of people who have solved real problems by using action learning.  These people have:

1. Focused on the problem and rallied a small team.
2. Asked, and then researched:  What do we need to get smart at to solve this problem? (Rather than just trying to solve the problem immediately.)
3. Shared their research with each other. (With everyone getting smarter.)
4. Used their new knowledge to solve the problem.
5. Documented their solution and shared it with the organization—including information about money saved or generated due to their brilliance.

Do you have stupid policies at work that are holding people back?

Ask people what stupid policies might be keeping them from serving at the highest level.  Remember, it is the last impression, not the first, that remains the strongest in the memory of customers.  Be sure that a stupid policy isn’t keeping one of your people from creating that lasting impression of competence, care, and accuracy.

About the author:

Vicki Halsey is one of the principal authors—together  with Kathy Cuff—of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  Their customer service focused posts appear on the first and third Thursday of each month.

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PS: What stupid policies drive you nuts as a customer?  Share some you’ve seen in the comments section below.

Wow—now is your chance to be the one who CAREs about service!  Here are three places to start being the one who leads the charge so everyone in the organization has a customer service mindset:

1. Declare “legendary customer service” as an imperative. Put it out there. Say, “We want to be #1 in our space for delivering Legendary Customer Service.” Show any metrics you currently have and set new targets /metrics for success by showing what a good job would look like.  Explain the business imperative for service and have a kick-off meeting where senior leaders model the service they want others to emulate—greeting people at the door, shaking hands, valuing them for all they do, etc.  In this meeting, actively involve people in activities, get them fired up about the initiative, and have them challenge each other to rally to serve customers and contribute to the vitality of the organization.
2. Establish a service champion team who will go out and walk in the customer’s shoes.  Do some action learning.   Map the flow of customers and research positives and negatives by asking customers, employees, suppliers, and anyone who is in the service chain for their thoughts on what is working and what could be improved. Put them on the agenda at all company meetings to share their findings and use time to brainstorm options, set goals, create first steps, and assign roles.
3. Immediately showcase individual employee customer success stories and create images for everyone of the optimal service you are looking for. Remember that the brain stores in images and not words, so to create momentum, be sure to highlight ideal service successes and let people see their outstanding peers in action.  Show examples of customers singing praises to demonstrate the impact of great service. Share any improvements such as fewer complaints, improved referrals, or more repeat business.

As a leader, it’s important that you demonstrate a service mindset and show others how to accomplish it.  By following these three steps, you can get your organization off to a good start on a path that will lead to better performance.

“Creating an environment where goals are clear, where success can be seen, and where learning is encouraged will help employees engage customers with a true sense of meaning.”               

– Garry Ridge, President and CEO, WD-40 Company

I was at a huge warehouse store last week. It was a bit wild. There were rabid sample-seekers, last minute bargain hunters, multitudes of screaming children, and people with lists and carts and flatbeds a mile long, trying to find everything they needed. Emotions were running high and products were running out. Some examples from my personal experience included:

• Early in my shopping, I found a great sweatshirt for my son and put it in my cart. Moments later, as I was looking through the mass of books on the book table, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a lady actually removing the sweatshirt from my cart! That’s one way of shopping, I guess. I sure hope it was the size she needed. 
• Another person grabbed a lasagna sample when I was clearly reaching for it—my hand was literally an inch away from the little cup. Hey! That was my bite!  Of course it was the last sample and the next batch of lasagna had ten minutes left on the timer.
• Someone else bashed me in the ankle with their humongous solid iron flatbed cart. Fa la la la la, la la la la!

What kind of lasting memories do you think these experiences might have left with me? Aggravation? Anger? Frustration? Actually, as it turned out, none of these. For me, the most vivid memories of the day were the gifts provided by four different people—who all happened to be employees of the store.

• The first angel was working in the clothing department. She came sprinting over when she saw the woman take the sweatshirt out of my cart, and said, “We have more of those—what size was that? I see your confusion. I’ll go get one for you right away.” Really?  
• Then, during the speedy checkout process, the cashier asked me, “How was your week?” and “How do you like this product?” She seemed to be so interested in me at that moment. Even though she was routinely scanning products through the register, her total focus seemed to be on me and making me feel cared for and important.
• On my way out, I stopped at the member service area to get my picture taken for my membership card. After the gentleman took my picture, I asked him how it looked and he replied, “In my 15 years here, I have never seen such a beauty!” Oh yeah, make my day!
• And then the person at the door, who I’m sure marks off hundreds of customer receipts each day, took the time to say, “I love how healthy everything is that you bought. You must love your family very much.”

So what do you notice about each one of these people? They personalized their interaction with me, showed they cared, and noticed something unique about me from my world and my life. They did their job with great skill, but then went the extra mile to leave a lasting memory and connection, to build a relationship with me.

Create a memory

Take a moment to consider your interactions with your customers and think, “How could I notice the person behind the customer?”  Emotions are high during the holiday season and this could be your best chance to leave a lasting memory. Leverage the time; share the love!

Happy holidays!

Editor’s Note: This guest post by Vicki Halsey is the second in a series looking at exceeding customer satisfaction and loyalty.  Vicki, together with Kathy Cuff, are the principal authors of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Legendary Service training program.  It will appear on the second Thursday of each month.