More coach and mentor than cop and enforcer, these enlightened leaders drive engagement — and results.

For customer-centric companies like Zappos, Southwest Airlines, and Nordstrom’s creating high employee engagement is a core business strategy. According to recent research by the Ascent Group on customer service success, the most highly rated companies focus on the human aspect of customer care. Ascent says, “People matter. Engaged employees are the key to excellent customer service. Engaged employees are employees who feel as though they are truly valued at work; that their efforts directly contribute towards the mission and success of the company.”

Quality supervision is a key driver of employee engagement. What makes supervisors who have highly-engaged employees different, is how they view their relationship with their direct reports. Rather than seeing themselves as an enforcer of performance; they consider their role as a manager and developer of front-line talent. While conventional supervisors rate the person and develop the performance, this new breed of supervisor does just the opposite – they rate the performance and develop the person. The most effective leaders believe that every person is different and should be treated as such.

Four Essential Ingredients for Supervisor Success

1. Accountability for results (engagement survey scores)
2. Time to spend with their reps.
3. Specialized training in engagement-building skills.
4. Creative communication tools.

Copyright 2012 Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.

There has to be a better way.

Lately I’ve been reading up on what I can do to manage the amount of unnecessary, time-sucking email I get every day.

Most experts on the subject agree that the best way to curb the number of emails we all get is to establish a set of rules for everyone to follow. That’s like trying to get every driver on the freeway to be more courteous and considerate. It’s just not going to happen.

Assuming there is no global panacea for managing irksome email it looks like it’s up to each of us to do our part. Here are a few helpful tips I uncovered in my research.

 

7 Tips for Sending Better Emails

1. Make sure the subject line reflects what’s in the message.

When you and a colleague are exchanging a series of emails, update the subject line to reflect what’s being discussed. Accurate subject lines make it easier to locate information later.

2. Write the entire message in the subject line.
If what you have to say can be summed up in a few words, put it in the subject line. For example, instead of writing an email message to verify the time and location of a meeting, use the subject line. “See you at 1:30 today. Conference room B. (EOM)” Use the acronym EOM to signify “end of message.”

3. Ask the recipient to select from a list of responses.

If you are using an email to float an idea by your boss, instead of concluding with an open-ended question like “Thoughts?,” you could say, “When you have a moment please let me know whether you are A) strongly in favor B) mildly in favor C) against D) no opinion. Thanks!”

4. Avoid “reply all.”

Before hitting the “reply all” icon, consider whether it’s really necessary for everybody listed in the “To:” to get a copy of your response.

5. Cut the thread.

At the bottom of your emails, keep things tidy by eliminating the string of emails you and the recipient have exchanged over the last few weeks or months. Limit a thread to 2 or 3 of the most recent emails.

6. Keep it short.
Don’t make the reader sort through a long-winded missive to determine the gist of what you have to say. Be considerate of the recipient’s time. Get to the point.

7. Use an acronym in the subject line to guide their response.  

Besides using “EOM” to indicate that what you’ve written in the subject line is all you have to say, consider using these acronyms at the beginning or end of the subject line:  AR – Action required. NNTR – No need to respond. FYI – For your information.

May all your emails be short and sweet.

Barbara Burke

Copyright 2012 Barbara Burke. All Rights Reserved.

A Different Kind of Gift

When we conduct our Napkin Melon Monkey Book Clubs, the CSRs have plenty to say about Aha!#3: Problems can be gifts in disguise.”

Usually the reps recognize right away that if customers didn’t call them with problems, they wouldn’t have a job. But, what they don’t often think about is the hidden opportunity within each customer call.

The supervisors, (trained to facilitate the Book Club meetings) invite their reps to look at angry customers in a new way. Instead of viewing frustrated, disgruntled customers as an unpleasant aspect of their job, the reps are asked to consider another possibility — that every call they receive from a customer in distress presents a unique opportunity for them to show their best self. To show compassion for another human being.

Over the last couple of months one of the call centers within Integrys, an energy utility company located in the Midwest, has been conducting their NMM Book Clubs. After each session, the CSRs are invited to write additional thoughts about the Aha!s discussed in the meeting. (We don’t ask for their name.)

(–> This photo from their first Book Club meeting in which each CSR was given a “gift.”)

Examples of some thoughts the CSRs had about Aha! #3.

Barbara Burke

PS Good news for those readers waiting for the DIY (Do It Yourself) version of the Napkin Melon Monkey Book Clubs. Learn more….

Copyright 2011 Barbara Burke. All Rights Reserved.