ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602090042
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Working It Out
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
Q: I hear a lot about the "language of customer service." How can I get my employees to use this with one another? I'd like to improve the working atmosphere here.
A: Jacki Lucki, an adult trainer for Roanoke County schools, says the "language of customer service is not about saying "hello, may I help you" or "please and thanks." Courtesy is important in the workplace, but customer service goes far beyond manners.
The language of customer service is directed toward "fulfilling the needs and wants of the customer, not selling them a product." By focusing, Lucki says, on identifying and meeting needs, companies make a profit."
Using a customer-service approach within an organization means, Lucki says, that "employees wouldn't remain focused on getting just their jobs done." Instead, they'd consider others' jobs and ask co-workers what's needed from them to make excellence possible. Asking what you can do to make it possible for another to succeed is key to teamwork. You're also part of that team.
Lucki says "the environment trickles down from management. Employees who provide superior service to customers, both external and internal, generally have managers who have that attitude themselves." Lucki suggests that "management often gets a reflection of its own attitude."
To orient a workforce to service requires leading by example. Ensure that you're providing a pattern of the behavior you want. Then provide frequent rewards to those who follow your example.
Q: A friend has been on the job market over a year, attributing unemployment to age-discrimination. Frankly, he's abrasive. That, plus an increasingly negative attitude, is what has kept him from employment. He had a career counselor, but they didn't talk about how he comes across. How do I tell him?
A: Evelyn F. Bradshaw, director of the career development center at Hollins College, says that "career counseling can only teach and coach in job-search skills." She acknowledges that "it's very difficult to tell people they have problems in the way they come across." However, if your friend remains unaware of his image his job chances will never improve.
Videotape a mock interview with your friend. Ask both typical questions and some likely to evoke abrasive responses.
Replay the tape. Stop tape after each response to an interview question. Ask how he "reads" his responses. If he doesn't see the abrasiveness, suggest that some employers could interpret his response as caustic.
Be specific about exact behaviors and language you're calling abrasive.
After each segment, explore possible alternative responses. Once he's completed analyzing the tape, conduct the interview again. Note each improved response. And identify where sour notes are sounded.
Alternatively, suggest he talk with a counselor about group counseling. Group counseling offers some of the same techniques; however, because the feedback isn't from a friend it's often easier to accept.
Q: I've been asked to be part of another work-related focus group to identify problems in the company. These happen at least once a year - the problems are the same. Nothing changes. I'd like to decline, but my supervisor will say I'm not being a team player. Any way out?
A: That your organization continues to open discussions about problems is encouraging. That they haven't "fixed" everything identified as problematic isn't surprising.
Organizations are generally slow to change. And any one element needing change is usually tied to several conditions that can't easily be changed. Additionally, every employee has a different, often correct, understanding of what should be fixed and how.
Keep an open mind. Participate in discussion as if changes will be made. State your concern that although discussions have been on-going nothing changes. Ask for explanations.
Consider that many voices offering many suggestions results in a din of complaints. Help identify priorities. Ask the group to identify the single most important element needing change. Offer and ask for suggestions for immediate changes.
If the group leader hears concern about continued failure to respond to concerns, as well as a clear message on one much-needed change, the company may initiate change.
The new focus group's conversation may once again lead to nothing. On the other hand, if change will occur you'll regret not having spoken up.
Camille Wright Miller, an organizational behavior sociologist who works in Lexington, answers questions from our readers about workplace issues. Please send them to her in care of The Roanoke Times, Business News Department, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
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