Lessons Learned While at the Post Office

This week I happened to be in the post office on two separate occasions. Both times I used the post office because their price for shipping the packages I needed to mail was most economical. 

When I entered, the post office was clean, well-lit, well-organized, and the location was convenient to my office. However, in spite of the money I saved in shipping costs, the countless minutes I lost waiting in line to be served made the overall experience a total let down. Just another example of the infamous saying “cheap always costs more.”

During my wait in line, what I observed in the actions and behaviors of the postal workers was consistently poor.

• No one ever smiled at a customer
• No one greeted customers with a warm and friendly “good morning or afternoon”
• At the end of each transaction, no customer was ever “thanked” for doing business with them
• As a matter of fact, we were treated like transactions, instead of human beings
• Customers appeared to be an interruption of their work
• And most disheartening is that there was no “sense of urgency” or value of the customer’s time

 It is no wonder fewer and fewer customers each year use the U.S. Postal Service. What the post office has to offer its customers in convenience, cost-savings, and diversity of products and services, is often lost in the lackluster customer experience. I am not saying that every time I visit the post office it should be a celebration, but it should be a memorable and engaging experience that keeps me coming back because of the delightful people that work there.

So what are the lessons learned? Well for one, if you don’t treat your customers as if they were your most valuable assets – they will stop patronizing your facility and services. A second lesson learned is that the post office is a great place to benchmark if you specialize in getting rid of customers.

Bottom-line, the most important lesson learned is that if you want to ensure customers patronize your products and services for a lifetime then make sure your employees: (1) are warm and friendly; (2) value their customers; (3) have a sense of urgency in serving customers and; (4) are competent and passionate about their work.

Based on my own personal calculations, I suspect that the lifetime value of a post office customer has to be around $10,000 (at a minimum). Seriously, what type of service do you suspect we would receive if every time a customer walked into the post office they were perceived and treated as a valuable, lifetime customer?

The Mindset to Create a Culture of Excellence

Does your leadership team embody the mindset needed to create and sustain a culture of excellence?

In order to drive and sustain service, performance, and operational excellence a leader must embrace nine key paradigms. While a good majority of leaders believe in the concept of service excellence, only a small minority totally embrace it, act on it, and over time see significant results.

This is an excerpt of Chapter 5 from our popular book, The Leadership Book of Numbers Volume 1. As you read through these key paradigms, I encourage you to assess your behavior and consider which ones you need to improve on. At the end of this article is a link to assess the book and full article.

Highly Effective Leaders…

1. Are avid students of service excellence, and always striving for perfection in the manner in which service is delivered to the customer. They are never satisfied with mediocre or even good service, and persevere until they are able to consistently deliver the ultimate customer experience.
2. Find meaning and purpose in their work, and because of their strong commitment to the organization’s vision and mission, they easily inspire others to enthusiastically follow them.
3. Receive an intrinsic satisfaction from watching employees grow. Highly effective leaders thrive in a work environment that fosters employee empowerment and uncompromising levels of service for both internal and external customers.
4. Stay focused on the big picture, which is ultimately customer loyalty. The energy of their team should be channeled toward successful achievement of this business objective, which ultimately impacts bottom-line results.
5. Have high expectations and standards for themselves and their team. Unwilling to compromise company standards of service, they take ownership of their work (good or bad) and desire to work alongside other dedicated employees.
6. Are highly competitive, they do not enjoy losing or even coming in second place. Being number two is not an option in the minds of leaders consumed with excellence; it is achieved through their desire to be number one.
7. Know their attitude (good or bad) sets the tone for the team. These leaders are addicted to positive thinking and have no problem confronting negativity head on. Their positive, upbeat demeanor enables them to create great relationships with employees and customers alike.
8. Are empathetic in their helpful approach with people. Because of their genuine concern for others, highly effective leaders become fully engaged by listening with their ears and heart to find the essence of any customer or employee dissatisfaction. They are supportive of the uniqueness of others and emotionally sensitive.
9. Have an intense desire to share knowledge with their team. These leaders regularly collect information that is beneficial to the team, thus increasing its performance. They enjoy opportunities to learn more about the business.

Remember -- to drive excellence, productivity, and success within your team or organization, you must select a team of leaders who possess the mindset needed to embrace a culture of excellence. It does not happen by chance.

The Leadership Book of Numbers, Volume 1 
http://psbydesign.com/content/view/130/125/

Stop Negativity in the Workplace NOW

In these days and times there is absolutely no room for negativity in the workplace. However, time and again I encounter leaders who allow one or two employees to totally contaminate the morale of the entire team with on-going negative comments and slurs. Evidently, what the leader doesn’t realize is that this shows a sign of weakness in their ability to effectively lead their team, and achieve expected business results.

When a leader allows negativity to fester within the work environment there are two key areas of leadership effectiveness that they are lacking in: (1) Employee Accountability; and (2) Confronting Unacceptable Behavior. So here are a few key tips to improve in these two major areas.

When it comes to accountability and confronting unacceptable behavior:
• Address the issue immediately.
• Discuss the matter in private.
• Be very polite.
• Allow the employee to respond.
• Don’t take their negativity personally.
• Explore solutions together.
• Reinforce the behavior your want corrected.

As leaders, sometimes we need to be reminded that we are in charge, we control the work environment, and we are accountable for ensuring it is a harmonious environment where people and productivity can thrive.

So, for more details on confronting unacceptable behavior and holding employees accountable in the workplace, below are links to two brief, popular and engaging e-Learning presentations that we have created for your review.

The Five Steps to Employee Accountability (10 minutes)
http://my.brainshark.com/The-Five-Steps-to-Accountability-195335032

Confronting Unacceptable Behavior (11 minutes)
http://my.brainshark.com/Confronting-Unacceptable-Behavior-723727345

We hope you find time this week to review them. And, remember you create the work environment (good or bad). Don’t allow the negativity of a few bad apples to fester and destroy it.

We’d love to hear your perspective on allowing negativity to fester in the workplace. Please share your comments!

View Theo's Explanation of The Six Principles...
Ladies and Gentleman, I am experimenting with video as a means to regularly communicate with my faithful BLOG supporters. I am still an amateur so don't be too critical.  But, please do check out this brief video I recently did explaining The Six Principles of Service Excellence.  I would love your input!

The Purpose Driven Leader

Leaders of organizations are multi-dimensional.  Some are great at launching and building the business, others are great at sustaining a successful and financially viable business, and some are even adept when it comes to gracefully shutting down a business following a bankruptcy, merger or acquisition.

Regardless of where you fit in the leadership spectrum, the most memorable, endearing leaders are principle-centered, value-centered, others-focused, and driven by a strong sense of purpose. Recently we spent time with a CEO of a prominent health care organization, his actions and behaviors inspired me to define what it means to be a purpose driven leader.

Characteristics of a Purpose Driven Leader

Taking into consideration that at a minimum, all purpose driven leaders are highly competent in their field of work, there are ten key characteristics that set them apart from other leaders.

1. They are customer and employee focused. Purpose driven leaders understand that it takes engaged employees to create loyal customers.  Therefore, they put tremendous focus on creating an environment that helps all key stakeholders thrive.
2. They are people and process driven. Purpose driven leaders understand that you lead people, and manage processes; they know that both are vital in creating a culture of service, performance, and operational excellence.
3. They are principle and value centered. Purpose driven leaders are guided by honesty, integrity, respect for all, passion for what they do, and excellence in everything they do.
4. They have a strong sense of humility. It’s not about them; it’s about positively moving the organization forward. Purpose driven leaders have no problem putting their egos aside, in spite of their level of power.
5. They are open-minded, lifelong learners. Purpose driven leaders don’t pretend to know it all; they revel in the fact that there is always more to learn to enhance their effectiveness.
6. They are revered by their staff. People follow purpose driven leaders not just because of who they are in the chain of command, but also because of what they represent.
7. They are not afraid to admit failure. If it’s for the greater good, purpose driven leaders are not intimidated by failure, it only motivates them to more readily regroup and continue the good fight in achieving and sustaining organizational success.
8. They have a compelling vision. Purpose driven leaders regularly explain their vision for the organization with great clarity, inspiring the team to readily contribute to organizational success.
9. They are happy people. Purpose driven leaders have a positive outlook, and are approachable by all. Even if they’ve had a bad day, just got out of an upsetting board meeting, or just got off of the telephone with a livid customer, they don’t carry bad attitudes on their sleeves.
10. They never give up. Purpose driven leaders are tenacious, and continually in the pursuit of what is good and right for the organization, its customers, and employees.

While my list of key characteristics of a purpose driven leaders are not all inclusive, my hope is that it has inspired you to re-evaluate your leadership style, determine areas where you currently fall short, and commit to an action plan that will move you in the right direction. Why? Because as a purpose driven leader, I am sure you wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Ten Commandments of Leadership

Creating a work environment that fosters employee loyalty, trust and integrity doesn’t happen by chance. It starts with assessing your ability to govern yourself according to The Ten Commandments of Leadership. As you read them, I encourage you to assess your level of effectiveness in driving service, performance, and operational excellence in 2010.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS...

1. PURPOSE - I will have purpose and passion in what I do, or I will not do it at all.

2. RESPECT - I will treat every employee, top-down, with dignity and respect.

3. EXCELLENCE - I will set the example of excellence through my actions and behaviors to ensure I have painted a clear picture for my team of what excellence looks and feels like.

4. TEAMWORK – I will cultivate a work environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas, participate in process and system improvements, and work synergistically to provide a better product or service for our customers.

5. ACCOUNTABILITY - I will hold my team accountable for driving and sustaining excellence.

6. CHARACTER - I will exemplify integrity, courage, competence and compassion when dealing with difficult workplace issues.

7. CHANGE - I will seek new ways to improve the work environment for my staff, the quality of products we provide, and the service experience of our customers.

8. COMMUNICATION - I will foster a work environment of open communication, and practice empathic listening to ensure clarity of issues before making decisions.

9. SELF-DEVELOPMENT – I will commit to lifelong learning, to continually increase my competence, business acumen and effectiveness in guiding my team.

10. VISION – I will set the vision for my team, continue to reinforce it and help each team member understand their role in achieving it.

In closing, while these ten personal commitments to higher leadership effectiveness are not all inclusive, I challenge you to consider what are your ten commandments for leadership success? And most of all I encourage you to commit to the leadership values and qualities established within your organization that are vital to creating a culture of service, performance, and operational excellence.

Making a Difference in Learning & Development

Learning and development activities were at an all time low in 2009 due to The Great Recession. However, as the recession is easing and the economy is making a slow, but steady rebound it is our time as learning and development professionals to make a difference.

One thing we know for sure, consistent learning and development opportunities are among of the most effective ways to build sustainable employee loyalty, create organizational alignment, and increase employee pride and joy in their work. So in the long-term, learning and development will play a significant role as organizations begin to recover from the recession.

So how can you make a difference in 2010?

1. Link all learning and development activities like key business priorities; core competencies; identified employee performance gaps; process improvement; and organizational culture. This level of business acumen and progressive thinking could gradually elevate your role from one of a rudimentary trainer eventually to that of Chief Learning Officer.

2. Set up learning and development tracks at every level to include your high potential employees who are on track to become mid-managers; your current mid-managers; and of course, your managers who are on the fast track to becoming emerging executives. If you have an opportunity to benchmark how a true learning organization operates, you’ll find that providing learning at every level is a vital part of their sustainability and success.

3. Next, create a learning strategy and work the plan. If you are not forwarding thinking enough to start working on your strategic plan now, I guarantee you an outside learning and development organization will approach your organization and jeopardize the sustainability of your role within the company. To be considered viable and credible, your plan must incorporate the activities shared in #1 and #2.

4. Make sure you have a cadre of core learning and development programs that are customized to meet business demands, up-to-date, and that create an engaging learning experience for participants. Core learning and development programs that at a minimum should be part of every organization’s library of workshops include: New Employee On-Boarding; Job Specific Training; Workplace Harassment Prevention; Diversity & Inclusion Awareness; and Workplace Safety & Security. Before you add any other programs, make sure these primary learning and development programs are solid.

Bottom-line, while I like the Kirk-Patrick model for evaluating learning and development, if you are measuring the wrong suite of learning and development programs or ineffective programs and add no value to your organization, its simply a waste of time. So commit to making a difference in 2010, and you’ll not only secure the sustainability of your profession but also enhance the level of learning and development activities you bring to the table next year. Believe me, you won’t regret it!