The adage “the client is always right” does not carry the heft that it used to…but it still bears the same kind of angst when deciding how to handle delicate or difficult situations involving our employees.
I’ve had clients who are militantly defensive of their clients, even if it’s to the detriment of a solid performing employee. And there are others who passionately support their people to the irritation of a disgruntled client.
Thank you for your feedback from last week’s column about bad customer service. As people shared their woes about their own negative experiences, one common theme emerged.
Most employees need to be managed.
I don’t know what it is about the last few weeks, but I’ve experienced an onslaught of bad customer service. Here is a sampling of these unexpectedly unfortunate instances.
+ A flowering plant arrived dead from a reputable florist: “We’re sorry you were disappointed”.
+ Bathtub drain backed up in a hotel: “Oh, that happens sometimes”.
A recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast focused on how a boss has a direct impact on health, happiness, and productivity. Now that’s quite a bit of influence when you think about it!
Tera Allas, McKinsey’s director of research and economics for its UK and Ireland office summarized the research. Happiness on the job is the second most important factor (after health and mental health) for overall life satisfaction. And an employee’s relationship with the boss is pivotal to job happiness.
Have you ever noticed when someone seems clueless about how he is perceived by others? This inevitably results in breakdowns in communication, especially from a person who isn’t aware of the problem.
Keep in mind that people want to communicate effectively. After all, they’re not sitting at their desks thinking about how they can be a bad listener in the morning meeting!
People seem to be chomping at the bit to “return to normal”, even though things are still far from normal. Economic good news, wider spread access to vaccines, and more variety in activities than we’ve had in a year have all contributed to this yearning.
Zeroing in on some of the economic news: last week the Labor Department reported that job openings surged to a two-year high and the March jobs report indicated that 916,000 new jobs were added in March.
One of the consequences of working remotely during the pandemic is that some of your management skills may have eroded. Although you may have picked up some new ones, some of your old standbys may have atrophied.
Spring is the time for renewal, so why not use this time to take inventory of your skills? Everyone is different, so here are some questions to start your thought process. Chances are that these ideas will generate others that are unique to you.
Gallup recently published an article, “The Wellbeing Engagement Paradox of 2020.” They report that in contrast to more normal times, the somewhat inverse relationship between wellbeing and engagement diverged in 2020, creating new challenges for leaders.
Not surprisingly, many Americans view their wellbeing as more distressful. The myriad pandemic related personal issues from isolation to stress to worry, as well as external factors, such as social justice issues all contributed.
Good leaders know the importance of being present and listening well. Over the past year, these attributes have been further challenged since we haven’t been face-to-face. And the big change came when most conversations and meetings morphed into video.
We talk of “Zoom fatigue” as a general term applying to all video encounters. This is a real syndrome and it has multiple facets. For one thing, we’re staring at others on screen, which is looking at pixels which becoming tiring. It’s also not “normal” to be looking at everyone – and yourself – all the time, which would not be happening if we were in person or on a teleconference.
Do you ever feel like you just can’t take one more meeting? People are becoming increasingly numb to them, especially those who are working remotely. The remote workplace has spawned more meetings, many of which are valuable check-ins for teams, while others are unnecessary wastes.
A lot of meetings were created in the early days of the pandemic for specific reasons tied to connecting with co-workers. Thoughtfully consider the relevance of these gatherings. The original purpose may have run its course and it’s time to “retire” it. Or, it may be time to repurpose, shorten, or reduce the frequency.