Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

5 Customer Service Skills You Can Improve

In a world that's increasing its degree of automation every day, the value of human interaction is greater than ever. That's why having strong customer service skills is important—and why improving those skills can be a valuable goal for the new year.

Those who excel at customer service may differ in their level, role and industry, but they typically have these competencies in common.

1. Business Knowledge

If you aren't well-informed about your customer's business issues, consider making that a priority for 2018. You can read industry-related publications and relevant social media accounts and/or company materials. You could also interview colleagues about what they've learned.

 

If you're in doubt about challenges a customer is facing, ask. Showing extra interest and investment in their business can enhance your customer service skills, as can taking the additional step of questioning an existing process or situation in favor of continuous improvement.

2. Empathy

There is no substitute for being able to effectively communicate that you understand where your customer is coming from and that you will do everything in your power to help.

Your level of sincerity can make or break your efforts. Listening carefully to the customer's scenario and imagining how you'd feel in her shoes can help you boost your empathy.

It also helps to pay attention to tone and to read between the lines. Consider gently asking questions and paraphrasing back what you hear. And if the customer just needs to get something off her chest, try letting her.

3. Self-Control

Customers can be infuriating sometimes, but those with stellar customer service skills rarely, if ever, lose their cool. "It's important for service representatives to practice emotional control because they are essentially representing the entire organization," says Emily Bennington, author of Miracles at Work: Turning Inner Guidance into Outer Influence. "It helps to recognize that what we tend to view as a personal attack from a customer isn't really personal at all—they're frustrated with the business. Maintaining that perspective can help you hold your composure no matter what."

For more where this came from, visit the American Express OPENForum.

 

Healthcare: Can You Prevent Quick Quits?

Hiring and retaining new employees are daunting tasks for most healthcare organizations for a variety of reasons. To start, many are struggling with major skills shortages and even sourcing the proper talent to fill open positions can be an uphill battle. And then, the hiring process in healthcare organizations often takes so long that new employees either take another job instead or leave within the first few months.

Resignations that take place within the first three to six months of employment are known as “quick quits,” and given their challenges, it’s critical that healthcare organizations do everything in their power to prevent these rapid-fire resignations. The key is, of course, strategic onboarding in the form of KSR – knowledge, support, and relationships. Let’s look at each of these three components.

Knowledge

Most healthcare workers join an organization enthusiastic to contribute to the best of their ability. However, if they don’t receive proper training and direction, as well as clarity around their roles and responsibilities, they may find themselves at loose ends and wishing they’d taken a different position. In addition to general information about the organization and its policies, your onboarding initiative should include a review of expectations for what new hires are expected to accomplish in a given job. Managers should ensure that these expectations and goals align with what was discussed during the interview process. And because uninformed employees are more likely to be disengaged, there should be an ongoing and seamless flow of role-related information from organization to manager to employee.

Support

Through its work with healthcare organizations, Gallup observed that the rapid changes in the healthcare industry have adversely affected two critical items of employee engagement: knowing work expectations and connecting with the company’s mission.

Providing this type of information is an important way to offer appropriate support, but managers should also ask each new hire, regularly, what they can do to make his or her job easier. Proactively, new employees should be pointed in the direction of key resources that will help them get around common problems or roadblocks, and managers should be on the lookout for the stress reactions that often occur during times of transition – especially in high-pressure healthcare environments.

For the rest of this post, check out the SilkRoad blog.

Is Buying Followers a Good Idea?

Regardless of your industry or size, building a strong social media presence for your business is essential. Social media activity can generate the perception that your brand is worthy of attention. It can also help improve customer loyalty and patronage. But are social media marketing costs worth it?

To examine this question, let's consider the strategy of buying followers. The more haphazard your approach here, the less likely it is to pay off. Social media marketing costs are often best spent by implementing a highly targeted follower strategy.

Know What You're Really Buying...

The simplest and least expensive method to buying followers is to use a basic service that automatically adds a certain number of followers or likes to your social media account. While you may only pay a few dollars for 100 additions, you might be disappointed to learn that these new friends are bots and inactive accounts.

Many business owners try this approach hoping that an initial surge and/or having a high volume of followers will encourage interest from customers and other stakeholders. The hope is that those large likes or followers will lead to business expansion and growth.

 

Unfortunately, when it comes to social media marketing costs, you often get what you pay for. The added bot accounts often won't like or comment on your posts the way humans would. So while you are increasing your follower count, your engagement will likely stagnate. And, if your stakeholders decide to take a closer look at your account, a high number of followers combined with low engagement may negatively impact your reputation more than a low number of followers.

A better technique involves purchasing high-quality, targeted followers or likes, which typically cost from $.50 to $5 per follower, according to Chad Keller, a partner at Pittsburgh-based agency Eyeflow Internet Marketing.

“The followers that result are great for social proof and credibility," Keller says, "and also offer the potential of each person turning into a client or customer in the future."

 

To read more, check out the American Express OPENForum.

Critical Questions in New Hire Onboarding

 IDC Research Manager Kyle Lagunas has discussed new hire onboarding as a pivotal step between talent acquisition and talent management. And while onboarding is increasingly making its way onto the radar (according to Lagunas, 35 percent of organizations say it’s critically important while 32 percent said it’s very important), fundamental problems are resulting in missed opportunities.

For instance, per the North America Candidate Experience report, only 63 percent of new hires completed forms online, 37 percent received calls from a hiring manager, 25 percent of new hires received a detailed schedule for the first week, 17 percent of employers provided multiple communication channels to new hires, and 15 percent of employers asked for candidate feedback prior to start.

Lagunas offered several questions HR professionals and HR managers should address in order to improve the new hire experience.

What are we trying to accomplish in new hire onboarding?

Impactful people processes affect more than HR metrics: they are tied to business goals.

Ping senior leaders to identify near and long-term, tactical, and strategic goals that will allow you to build a meaningful connection to the organization’s business and culture. Dream big when coming up with these, new employees want to know that the work they do matters – and how. The work doesn’t have to change the world, but it does have to be important to the business and the person.

Who owns what in impactful new hire onboarding?

 Leaving onboarding to the new hire is dooming them to fail. But you can’t keep everything within HR either. Consider what role hiring managers, business unit leaders, IT/operations, and executives have to play. Lagunas provided the following potential breakdown as an example:

• Talent Acquisition: Transition to new hire, momentum
• HR: Preboarding, orientation, enablement and empowerment
• IT, Operations: Systems, workstation
• Hiring Manager: Assimilation, acclimatization
• Business Leaders: Mission, vison, values, connection, contextualization

For the rest of Lagunas' questions, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

What Diversity Really Means

Lighthouse Research Principal Analyst Ben Eubanks hammered home the importance of culturally embedded diversity and inclusion practices. According to Deloitte, employees that rated their employers highly for both diversity and inclusionwere 80 percent more likely to say their organization was high performing. Corporate boards with three or more women have 50 percent higher return on equity, and 40 percent higher return on sales.

McKinsey research found that inclusive workforces have 57 percent greater collaboration, 42 percent greater team commitment, 19 percent greater intent to stay, and 12 percent greater discretionary effort. Furthermore, companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to perform about average.

When it comes to specific talent practices that generate results, Eubanks said we must first stop thinking of diversity as a program. Diversity training alone doesn’t work, according to the EEOC, because there’s nothing tangible that impacts people emotionally. Rather, diversity and inclusion must be part of the culture and all phases of the employment lifecycle. Here are some examples cited by Eubanks:

Recruitment

Diverse candidates come into organizations because someone has purposefully gone out and found them. Pinterest, for instance, increased engineering hires from underrepresented groups from one to nine percent. Referrals must be targeted and intentional, and we must ensure that when we are hiring for “cultural fit” we are screening for traits like honesty, work ethic, and commitment (which have nothing to do with race, religion, gender, etc.).

High-Level Mentorship

In order to ensure pipeline diversity, mentorship has to be strategic and supported at the highest levels of the organization. For example, at Proctor & Gamble, 10 percent of executive compensation is tied to diversity goals, and every executive must sponsor an employee resource group, serve as a cross-cultural mentor, and raise the number of diverse hires and promotions in their department.

For more of Eubanks' thoughts on diversity, check out the full post on the SilkRoad blog.

Why Onboarding is More Important Than We Thought

Chief Research Officer and Co-Founder of Aptitude Research Partners Madeline Laurano recently shared data from 1,000 organizations to qualify the link between human capital practices and business results.

Laurano and her colleagues found that onboarding is the linchpin to everything related to talent management, and both employers and candidates are asking for a new hire experience that is continuous, dialogue-driven, and meaningful. Seventy-three percent of Aptitude’s respondents said that their top talent acquisition priority was a consistent experience for both candidates and employees, while 83 percent said their top engagement priority was a consistent experience.

Consistency

Consistency, however, is exactly what is lacking.  Sixty-seven percent said they currently have a consistent experience for candidates and employees, but less than 40 percent said they have improved their employee experience, while greater than 60 percent said they have improved their candidate experience. Those numbers speak for themselves.

Simplicity

Not only are our onboarding experiences relatively inconsistent, they are also far too complex. In the last four years, companies doubled their spending on HR technology from $400 million to approximately $2 billion. Fifty percent of respondent companies are using 3+ onboarding solutions, and 1 in 5 plans to increase their onboarding technology investment in 2017. Unfortunately, though, all of these systems have made the onboarding experience quite complicated, and respondents agreed that streamlining and simplifying it is essential. Fortunately, technology providers are now offering experience systems, which differ from traditional HR systems in that they span the entire employee experience, integrate various technologies, are optimized for mobile, and are analytics-based.

For the rest of the findings, please visit the SilkRoad blog.

When Designing an Employee Experience, Are You Factoring in Culture?

I recently presented a webinar, Employee as Consumer: Building a Differentiated Experience Through the Lifecycle, with SilkRoad and HR Daily Advisor.  We talked about the consumerization of HR, the creation of a meaningful employee experience throughout the lifecycle, and how design thinking, talent activation, and employer branding play into it.

At the end of the session, Jennifer asked: How do you create an experience that’s meaningful and impactful for different cultures? This is an excellent question, and both global and non-global organizations are becoming more interconnected with every passing year. But according to recent McKinsey research, only half of executives in global companies think they are effective at tailoring candidate and employee communications for different geographies.

The first step, of course, is to recognize that you can’t offer a one-size-fits-all experience to candidates and employees across the globe, even ones who are in the same demographic or perform the same role. You should seek to understand even the most subtle factors that drive engagement and motivation in other cultures. For instance, consulting firm Seven Step used Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory to tease out country-specific essentials. These include:

• China: This culture views titles within the workplace as extremely important. Given this focus on status, companies should integrate distinctions such as awards and competitive rankings in their experiences. In China, individualism is low and language is viewed as a unifying agent. Flexibility with language translation enhances the experience while positioning the organization as a true member of the community.

• Central Europe: This culture is more risk-averse and ambiguity is viewed negatively. Job seekers and employees prefer to weigh the facts of an opportunity rather than taking a chance. Experiences in Central Europe should be content heavy, focusing on the explicit details of roles and responsibilities.

For more on Jennifer's question, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

Is Rejection a Badge of Honor?

But although unpleasant, rejection can be seen as a critical warning and/or badge of honor. This post, featuring an exclusive interview with Halley Bock, author of Life, Incorporated, will explore the types of professional rejection, how you should take it in different situations, and what it means when you’re not experiencing any.

What are the different types of professional rejection?

Rejection can come in many forms – personal and professional, subjective and objective – and there isn’t much delineation except the setting in which it occurs. In the workplace, it could show up as a project abandoned, a team member suddenly disengaged or hostile, a plan hopelessly complex, a budget undermined by economic fallout, or an idea with no buy-in to support it. And while rejection can feel demeaning and frustrating, each rejection gives us the opportunity to categorize it as either a critical warning — a beacon illuminating an alternative path — or a badge of honor — a rumble meant to test internal drive.

In which situations might rejection be a warning? How can you accurately identify it as such?

Rejection may serve as a critical warning when we either repeatedly experience it in a particular situation. This perhaps indicates a need for us to alter our behavior and/or approach. Or, when despite all of our best laid plans, roadblocks and issues persist. In my experience as a CEO, nine out of 10 times, rejections were due to extenuating forces that had nothing to do with the validity, cleverness, or implementation of the effort itself. Instead, ideas didn’t work when they were ill-timed. Strategies didn’t pan out when there was a shift coming around the corner that would change everything. Relationships stalled when we were coming together for the wrong reasons.

Turns out, rejection was the universe’s way of saying: “Not now. Something else needs to happen first.” When I learned to listen to the resistance and let go of a preconceived outcome, the organization hardly missed a beat and simply kept growing. I stopped thinking of rejections in terms of failed strategies. Instead, they were simply ideas ahead of their time.

On the other hand, if I received the same negative feedback or rejection after repeated attempts at a particular idea, project, or relationship, then it was time to take inventory of the situation. I could either decide that, despite the rejection by others, my passion for a particular idea still resonated deeply. In this case, I continued to pursue it provided that no one would pay an emotional or financial price for my efforts. Or, I would step back, evaluate my approach, and make adjustments in order to get better results.

How should you address rejection in different situations?

Should you perceive a rejection as a critical warning where adjustments in behavior, direction, and strategy are required, an attitude and mindset of curiosity is the most essential tool.

If you are in a situation in which your idea is meeting heavy resistance, lean into the resistance and genuinely ask for feedback. Maybe the way in which you are pitching your idea is unclear or contains too much bravado. Or, your quiet nature has wrongly been perceived as aloof and arrogant. The only way to find out is to ask.

Use questions like: “Dan, I admire your opinion and have noticed your success in getting teams behind your ideas. Would you be willing to give me feedback on my idea and the way in which I am putting it forward?” Or: “Sarah, in our conversation last week, you seemed frustrated and impatient with me. It’s important to me that our working relationship is solid. Would you mind telling me if my perception was accurate and, if so, what you might suggest for a more positive interaction next time?” Regardless of the answers you receive, you can decide how much feedback to take or leave.

For the rest of the interview, head over to the QuickBase Fast Track blog.

Disruption 101: How to Ignite Change in Your Company

As a general rule, human beings fear change and will often fight to maintain the status quo. If there are individuals within your organization who are either not interested or downright hostile toward a focus on disruptive scenarios, there are several steps you can take to bring them into the fold.

Open a dialogue

Before you attempt to persuade colleagues to jump right into a specific initiative, provide a safe space to discuss disruption in general. Organizational change consultant David Hofstetter suggested posing questions such as: Where and how could disruption impact your business? How will your skills and those of your employees be impacted? Are you embracing change, shying away from it, or ignoring it? What are your competitors doing that you are not? What the newest trends in your industry?

Attend forward-thinking industry events

The sessions and conversations you and your colleagues will have at conferences centered on innovation will take your thinking to another level. Encourage your colleagues and employees to see for themselves what disruption means and what it can do for growth and profit. Appropriate events may vary by industry, but some good ones are Tech Crunch Disrupt, World Business Forum, and Fortune Growth Summit.

Hire an outsider

Sometimes, an internal person can repeat the same message dozens of times, but no one really hears it until it comes from the mouth of an external consultant who is perceived as an expert. When it comes to embracing disruption, you might make greater headway by bringing on a single or team of advisers who can offer an objective picture of your organization’s status compared to the larger market, and can provide direction and next steps.

Conduct periodic market disruptor analyses

Often, disruptive innovations (<<interview with Guy Kawasaki) are considered far away, irrelevant, and optional. There is no better way to make a case to in-denial executives than to regularly monitor and explain how disruptive competitors are threatening your business TODAY. “As the barriers to entry in businesses get lower and easier, competitors and new ways of doing things will appear fast and more often,” said Hofstetter.

Change your tone to one of urgency

As I mentioned before, human beings prefer to support existing ways of doing things. For this reason, companies tend to be conservative, reactive, and focused on immediate business fires rather than the ones that threaten to burn from miles away. Use the data from your market disruptor analyses to connect the dots for your leaders – why is disruptive change something that requires attention this instant? Speaking in terms of lost profit or customers is more likely to resonate with some leaders than “we should really try this new thing.”

Fight the temptation to be insular

While being laser focused on your own daily operations is more comfortable, putting on blinders is dangerous in a business world that changes rapidly. Therefore, you should make sure that your company has a pipeline to receive guidance from a variety of sources. For instance, an advisory council that taps people in different roles in different fields will provide a fresh perspective that is impossible to get otherwise. When it comes to understanding where your market is going, often you can take cues from other industries that are a year or two ahead of yours.

For more where this came from, check out the QuickBase Fast Track blog.

Is Your Personality Derailing Your Leadership?

Are you equipped to be a leader today? These insights could help you up your game.

According to DDI’s new global study of 15,000 executives in 18 countries, there are certain personality traits and attributes that make it more and less likely that a person will succeed in a 21^st century business world leadership role.

The warp speed of business has hastened the pace of leaders being thrust into roles of increasing scope and responsibility whether they are ready or not. As the cost of failure increases, predicting who can navigate these transitions demands an evalua­tion of personality factors that influence how leaders will respond to vastly greater challenge, pressure, and visibility.

One interesting section of the DDI report looks at hard-to-develop, positive traits (enablers) that grease leader success, and dysfunctional traits (derailers) that tend to trip them up. DDI examined these across three leader levels – strategic executive, operational, and mid-level. At each successive level, enablers were: exhibit stronger ambition and resilience and interpersonal sensitivity. Although the highest ranking executives are generally less vulnerable to them, the list of derailers was a bit longer:

• Volatility: displayed as inconsistency, distractibility and moodi­ness. This trait threatens credibility for building trust through predictable actions and consistent follow-through.

• Avoidant: often seen as passive-aggressive conflict resolution, which poisons opportunities to influence and interact.

• Perfectionism: the need to micromanage work or delay decisions in pursuit of a 100 percent outcome.

• Approval Dependent: senior leaders are sometimes ruled by the need for personal reinforcement and pleasing others.

• Arrogance: expressed as self-importance or insensitivity, or the need to oversell their own importance, or influence others through intimidation.

• Risk Aversion: an unwillingness to make bold moves to drive the business forward.

• Attention Seeking: the desire to take center stage risks overshadowing those whose hearts they need the most. This lack of humility compromises trust.

Leaders who are successful enough to be considered for a CEO position are unlike other high-performers. In order to learn how CEO candidates are unique in their response to leadership challenges and if their per­sonal attributes set them apart, DDI also profiled 243 CEO finalists, in 48 organizations, and benchmarked them against its larger database.

What CEO Candidates Do to Excel

• Obsess over execution and results: They stay laser focused on outcomes and demand specifics on how results will be achieved.

• Instantly and accurately size up complex business situations: Relying on seasoned business instincts, they quickly sort the good business ideas from the bad so they can steer toward best bets.

• Fixate on customer needs: They embody the customer persona so that they can diagnose how business plans will meet customer needs now and in the future.

How CEO Candidates Are Wired

• Intensely competitive, confident, and emotionally resilient: While most executives share these traits, they are even more pronounced among those preparing for a CEO position.

• Craving of attention: Most personality derailers, such as arrogance or volatility, decline in prevalence for CEO candidates. Not so for attention-seeking. The top job attracts those who enjoy being noticed for their talents and charm.

• Creative OR pragmatic: Twenty-one percent of CEO candidates are creative, conceptual strategists, and 29 percent are practical, no-nonsense operators. Only 8 percent effectively balance both.

For more where this came from, visit the QuickBase Fast Track blog.