Loud Thinking

Archive for February, 2014

“Sometimes walking away has nothing do with weakness, and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own.”

— Robert Tew

Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficult situations.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

Robert Frost (1874-1963);
poet

@nayyarahmad: Mr. Zaka Ashraf must thank his stars that our PM, Mr. Nawaz Sharif didn’t sack him, while he was on board the … http://t.co/pzHWknc2AH

Three Tips for Motivating Your Customer Service Team

Scripting exactly what customer service employees should do in every situation drains the initiative out of even the most highly motivated workers. But when you set up a system that enables you to trust your employees to exercise their own judgment and learn from their experience, they may well deliver a far better customer experience.

Establish guardrails. People handling calls should understand where they have latitude and where they don’t. Within those guardrails, your team should be free to exercise judgment.

Seek feedback. Ask customers for feedback after each transaction. Circulate the comments to team leaders so they can see where they’re succeeding, where they still have work to do, and what, specifically, your customers point out.

Coaching and support. Free your supervisors and experienced customer care professionals from some tasks so they can devote time to coaching and getting new hires get up to speed.

Adapted by HBR from “Leading by Letting Go” by Rob Markey.

Mr. Zaka Ashraf must thank his stars that our PM, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, didn’t sack him, while he was on board the return flight to Pakistan.

At least, Zaka Ashraf was allowed to land.

This is called learning by experience..!

“There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.”

— Han Suyin

Mr. Zaka Ashraf must thank his stars that our PM, Mr. Nawaz Sharif didn’t sack him, while he was on board the flight to Pakistan. At least Zaka Ashraf was allowed to land.

“It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.”

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965);
British statesman, prime minister, author, Nobel Prize winner

How to Build a Feedback-Rich Culture

Direct feedback is the most efficient way for people to understand their impact on others in working relationships — but few of us realize that interpersonal feedback is as much a product of the surrounding culture as of the relationship itself. To cultivate a culture conducive to feedback:
Start small. We miss opportunities to provide positive feedback every day because we think only big wins merit discussion. When you see any behavior you want to encourage, acknowledge it and express appreciation.
Make it OK to say no. A risk in feedback-rich cultures is that people feel obligated to say “Of course” when asked, “Can I give you some feedback?” If people feel free to postpone such conversations when they’re not ready to have them, they’ll feel respected and be more willing to listen when the conversations do take place.

Adapted by HBR from “Building a Feedback-Rich Culture” by Ed Batista.