Protect Your Reputation In The Workplace

It is so easy to ruin your reputation in the workplace with one simple mistake or misjudgement. 

It could be something as simple as taking extra time for lunch thinking nobody is looking, or coming in late just a few minutes each day or something that borders on theft such as taking home notepads, pens or pencils.  While the value of these items may be minor, the thought that will cross anyones mind is “if they are taking home a notepad/pen/pencil – what else are they taking?”. 

You want your reputation to be like sterling silver, gold or platinum where you work.  The people you work with are like an extension of your family.  Consider that you’re probably spending in excess of 8-hours per day with them.

Two things that can damage your reputation easily are workplace e-mails and voice mails that are replied to, or forwarded without thought.

E-Mail in the Workplace

You’ve just been lambasted about not doing something, in a fit of anger you decide to reply and in doing so pour your guts into the e-mail message.  Oh you didn’t have any intention of sending the e-mail, but accidentally you hit SEND and the message is gone.

Problem one – you’ve said some rather nasty things in the e-mail.  This person won’t be happy, but you can deal with one person – right?

Problem two – as you take a closer look at the e-mail, it’s sent to the ENTIRE TEAM!  Now, how do you fix that?

Solution for Workplace Email

First thing – NEVER, EVER send an e-mail when you’re angry or in a strong emotional state.  It just isn’t worth it.  You will say things you don’t mean and words written down are very difficult to recant.  Microsoft Outlook has a feature that allows you to recall messages – but normally it will only work if the receiver hasn’t already read the message and if they allow it.  It doesn’t happen magically without anyone knowing.

Next – set a delay on your e-mail to something like 15 minutes, so that it checks the server every 15 minutes and  only then will it send or receive any new mail items.  This gives you some grace time.

Here is how to do this.

From Microsoft Outlook go to TOOLS, then OPTIONS and select MAIL SETUP from the tab.

Next, click on SEND/Receive… BUTTON:

Set the “Schedule an automatic send/receive every” setting to any number that you like.  I’ve set mine to 15 minutes but I can still force send by pressing the Send/Receive button on the Outlook toolbar.

Note that I am using Outlook 2007.

Third – REMOVE the names in the “TO” field.

Remember (and I tell this to my team all the time) – what you say in an e-mail is there forever.  Over the last few years, we’ve seen what happens when companies delete e-mails, so many companies will archive e-mails and keep them for an indefinate period of time.

I keep all my e-mails, with the exception of SPAM or other automated reports.  I can go back to when I first started at my present employer and pull out e-mails.

Voice Mail Problems

I hate to admit to this one, but I made this mistake – ONCE.  It will never happen again.

I get a voice mail from one of my developers, saying that they are having problems getting a hold of the Business Analyst for the project and that they have some questions.  Rather than listen to the entire message, I happily forward it to the analyst.  Bad move.  The first part of the message was nice.  The last half was very critical of the analyst.

Now while there might have been truth to the message, it wasn’t the best move on my part.

The simple solution – listen to the ENTIRE message before you decide to send it to anyone.

What happened in this case?  I met with the analyst, and the developer and we talked it out.  All ended well, but was it ever embaressing for everyone involved!

The developer learned – NEVER, EVER leave nasty voice messages.

The analyst learned – REPLY to your e-mails and voice messages in a timely manner.

I learned – Listen to the ENTIRE message before it’s forwarded to anyone.

In todays business environment, e-mail and voice mail and even instant messaging play an important part in communications and as such we need to be even more diligent in what we are sending out.  A message spoken may have more or less impact that an e-mail – however an e-mail is a permanent record of what was said, and you can’t try and explain the meaning of the message to anyone – the message is black and white (unless of course you try to be coy in your message).

Protect your reputation in the workplace - don’t send an e-mail when you are in a charged emotional state, clear the TO field or better yet – leave the e-mail and respond when you’ve had a chance to cool off.  Voice mails – listen, listen, and listen.

I’ve not even touched on the dozens of ways you can ruin your reputation through the use of social media like Facebook, MySpace or the dozens of other social networks out there — including image hosting services like Flickr. 

We’ll leave social media and Web 2.0 for another post but let me leave you with something I found while looking for an appropriate image to add as part of this post:

Everything that you post on any site can effect your online reputation for better or worse. People may become more attracted to you and be willing to listen to anything you have to say or may ignore your from there on out, regardless of the quality of the content you add to the community. It is for that reason, that in this Web 2.0 world where interaction and user input is key, that you never let your reputation come under fire. This can only be accomplished by being critical of any material you choose to add to the web. Otherwise, the reputation of 1000 days could be tarnished by a single post.

image & source of the quote - http://beyondtheonewayweb.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/a-final-note/

Customer Service Definition

What is the definition of Customer Service? Is it simply helping a customer? Is it giving the customer a positive experience? Is it answering their questions?

How is this:

• Customer service is an organization’s ability to supply their customers’ wants and needs

How about this one:

• According to the ACA Group customer service is the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently give the customer what they want and need.

I think that that definition, from the ACA Group is accurate.

You want to be able to give consistent service to your customers.

On my team, I have a few individuals that shine all the time. They consistently deliver high quality service to our merchants. They also consistently recieve letters, and e-mails from those same customers about the quality and level of service that they have been able to deliver.

Maybe they get a commendation one for outstanding customer service – fluke. A second time – they got lucky. But how about the third, fourth, fifth… well, you get the idea. These people are good. They ensure every i is dotted and every t crossed. They don’t leave anything to chance. They check everything.

Why don’t the others?

Tough question to answer. Some perhaps were, and are now tired of the constant level of effort required day-in and day-out over the last few years. Some became agents because of the flexibility it provided, others because they didn’t further their education and possibly others because they no longer enjoy the work. Regardless of the reason you will always have people that shine and others that may glimmer every now and then.

Shine VS Glimmer – this is not just in Customer Service, but in any business area. When I was actively involved in Information Technology (IT) there were colleagues that always went above and beyond what they had to do. Their code was always “perfect” – they ran through their test cases in an efficient manner. They would find shortcuts and tips to help make their jobs easier. They would spend time looking at the best practices. They were excited about their work, and they enjoyed what they did.

Then you had the programmers, systems analysts, and even project managers and business managers that didn’t really care. They did just enough to keep themselves above the bar. You know – they are coasters.

I’ve seen this in Accounting and even in more technical areas of IT. I know someone that spends thousands of dollars (of his own money) to stay on top of the latest hardware and technology so that he can tackle anything anyone throws at him. He’s good. He’s very good. But he lacks people skills, that gets him. When something doesn’t work, and he knows its the clients fault, he lets them know. Not good.

How can you develop Customer Service agents of that calibre? It’s difficult. Lets face it, Customer Service isn’t for everyone. You’re asking someone to spend at least 7 hours per day on the phone (the other time is spent for breaks and personal development or other activities that are required). If you are in a high volume call center, your agent could be taking 10-20 calls per hour. If you’re in a low volume call center, perhaps 20-40 calls per shift. Or you could be providing complex support, which requires you to handle 1-2 callers per day but each call could take days to resolve.

Good customer service needs to happen consistently.

The ability to consistently deliver high quality customer service is what will set your company apart.

In my case we provide support to merchants that operate point of sale activation terminals. The paper has jammed. The terminal will not connect. They don’t have pricing set-up. Their IP connection doesn’t work. While the problems sound easy, it can take up to 30 minutes to resolve some issues. Our call center also provides support for financial products and gift cards – that adds a lot more complexity to what the team does, though I’ve approached support differently for these products.

In order to provide positive consistent customer service you need several things in place:

• Solid training
• Efficient distribution of product knowledge
• Knowledge base to track “random” bits of information
• Methods to keep the team in the loop with product launches
• Sufficient technology in place to ensure that processes are being followed

When you look at the list above – and by no means is this a complete list – you can clearly see that there is a cost associated with running a customer service center. When you look at companies like ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) whose Customer Service group wins awards and scores high on exit polls from their customers you know that the company and its executives have decided to stand behind what they do. ICBC isn’t the only company – there are others out there that score high on the providing good service; I mention ICBC because I had a chance to visit their call center and speak with their employees.

Some companies opt to farm out their customer service — I can think of a Canadian telecommunications provider that did and speaking from personal experience, it was the wrong thing to do. I no longer make use of their services due to the total lack of professionalism that farmed out company had and the manner in which they treated their customers. I wasn’t the only one. When you keyed in the company name you would find many complaints about their service.

Many companies in the telecommunications field are farming out (the right term is outsourcing) their customer service. Provided the put in place proper processes, then service will succeed, and customers will be happy. But as soon as those processes fail, service also fails.

Good service doesn’t just happen, you and your organization need to make it happen by putting the resources in place to ensure that you can provide quality consistent service.

Upcoming posts on Customer Service:

• Good customer service
• Customer service tips
• Customer service skills

Pay Raises Are the Worst in 33 Years

Not a title of my own choosing, but an article I just recently read in Time magazine.

Yes, it’s true, we’re in a recession, and nearly 1 in 10 workers is unemployed. There are plenty of people willing to work for less money. But in other recent recessions salary growth hasn’t slowed this much. Going back to the early 1990s, base salaries never increased by less than 3.4% a year, according to Hewitt, which polled 1,156 large companies to get its latest data. Companies desperate to slash costs are turning to worker salaries more deliberately than they have in the past. Some 48% of companies have frozen salaries this year, compared to just 2% last year.

Here is the link to the article – Pay Raises Are the Worst in 33 Years.

Top 10 Ways To Succeed In Business

Here is an excellent post from Six Figure Starts BLOG entitled Top 10 Ways To Succeed In Business.

I especially liked #7

Lead whatever initiatives you can: United Way Campaigns, Corporate Responsibility Taskforces, Softball team organizers … this allows you to get to know a lot of folks and putting on quality initiatives are always a good way to shine.

In every company I’ve worked I’ve always tried to participate in or lead initiatives – take for example in the last company I was with, I had volunteered to do first-round interviews of university students that would complete their one-year work experience with us.  Most of the people we interviewed and that were selected for a 2nd interview ended up being offered jobs after they graduated.  I cannot remember anyone that was hired that did not work out.

Getting involved shows pride in what you do and what your company does.  It also allows you to network with those within the company that you may not normally work with directly. 

In fact, #3 on the list talks about just that – networking.

Here is the link to the post – http://sixfigurestart.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/top-10-ways-to-succeed-in-business/.

Seven Deadly Sins Of Interviewing

There are a few services that I subscribe to, one is called OPSLadder – aimed at individuals that are looking for executive or $100k + positions.  They provide some valuable information, including this e-mail that was sent out recently. 

Visit their site at http://www.theladders.com/career-advice and read the Career Advice and if you are looking for change, subscribe to their service.  You may balk at paying to see $100k jobs – but you probably will not see these types of jobs posted on your favourite job board.

Now as you go through this it should be common sense not to ask for perks until you the offer letter – but it appears that these mistakes are still being made.  I remember an interview I conducted where I was told by the applicant that they couldn’t work certain days of the week, and that they had to take leave during a certain time period.  It is difficult to hire someone under these conditions even if you would be willing to accomodate – I mean, if they make demands even before the offer is given what demands will be made later on?

 

The following was sent by Marc Cenedella the Founder & CEO of TheLadders.com, Inc.

While back, I shared a list I called the Seven Deadly Sins of Interviewing – seven traits that can kill your chances with a recruiter or hiring manager.

And remember: Confession is good for the soul. If you have interview horror stories to share, we’d like to hear about them. (We promise not to use any of them without your permission, of course.)

Without further ado, here are the Seven Deadly Sins of Interviewing:

Pride: An excessive love of self

You have years of experience, you’ve earned respect and accolades in your field, but don’t get cocky — any arrogance will come back to bite you. Remember that seemingly insignificant person you barked at this morning for snagging that prime parking space? Yep, that’s the boss’ assistant. Getting the brush off after what seemed to be a great interview? Right. It’s that assistant again, this time with payback.

Once you’re within a mile of an interview, treat every person you come in contact with as though someday, they’ll be your boss or you’ll be theirs. Take time to warmly greet the receptionist, thank the assistant for that glass of water, and put your best foot forward to anybody who conceivably could weigh in on your candidacy.

Sloth: Laziness, idleness and wastefulness

Winging it is never good, particularly in an interview. Be able to show knowledge of your potential employer, awareness of the industry, and the company’s business strategy. The level of detail in your questions should match your experience. If you’re an old industry hand, questions about how last year’s reorganization is affecting the European subsidiary will seem smart and informed. If you’re a newcomer, no need to over-prepare, but do have in mind intelligent questions that show you’ve thought about the industry … “Who are your best / worst customers and why” or “How does this trend impact your business.” Do your homework!

Greed: An excessive quest for money and power

You’re interviewing because you want a higher salary, a company car, or three weeks of vacation. But don’t start off by asking about a new set of wheels or taking off next August. Set aside those questions for later … much later.

Remember, first you have to get the offer. Then, you can negotiate the terms. In the first interview rounds, you’re being judged on your experience and abilities. If you make it clear you’re mainly focused on money and perks, the interviewer’s perception of your priorities will suffer.

After you get the offer, you’ll have a better idea of where you stand, and more power to negotiate since you already know the job is yours.

Gluttony: The desire to consume more than you need

Scarfing down that onion bagel before your interview is a bad idea, but gluttony doesn’t always center on food. A good interview depends on the rapport you build with the employer. The interviewer is trying to learn about your skills, talents, experiences, and most of all, your ability to succeed in the job. She’s not trying to learn your whole life story.

Spare her the details of the great Peterson account win of ‘95. Take a reasonable amount of time to answer questions. Be thoughtful and complete, but don’t go on and on; or else your job search may do the same.

Wrath: Feelings of hatred, revenge or denial

Sure, your old boss was a disorganized, credit-hogging, incompetent jerk. That said, the person sitting across from you – who could be your next boss – identifies more with your past bosses than she does with you. She wants to see how you’ll handle yourself in her organization. If you shoot down your old colleagues, won’t she fear being the next person in your crosshairs?

Instead of criticizing people from your past work experiences, find common ground with the interviewer by addressing issues common to all companies, like poor communication or ineffective meetings. Let her know how you’ve attacked these problems in the past, and what you can do to help now.

Lust: The desire to do what you want, not do what you should

We’re talking dress code here. Obviously, provocative clothing is out, and showing too much skin is a terrible idea; but there’s more to it than that. Don’t dress for your comfort, dress for the situation.

Always wear a suit to an interview, even if the dress code is business casual. You might stick out like a sore thumb while you’re in the lobby, but you’ll never lose points for being dressed professionally.

Envy: The desire for what you don’t have now

Maybe you secretly wish to chuck it all and cruise around the Caymans, or take your ZZ Top cover band on the road. Now’s not the time to bring it up. Although discussing your personal interests or passions may humanize you, expressing too much enthusiasm for your outside interests could dash your chances.

When a potential employer asks where you see yourself in five years, mention a loftier position in the industry. If it’s clear you really want to do something else, it’s tough for an interviewer to believe that you’ll bring all your capabilities and focus to the demands of this job.

Link to the story – http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Are-you-a-job-search-sinner–

Time and Process Management

Here is the scenario.  Person 1 doing the same job day-after-day for about one year, never manages to stay on top of things no matter what.  Person 2 comes into the same job after 2-weeks of training and manages to complete what they are to have done AND still have time to take a 30-minute lunch AND help out the rest of the Customer Service team take calls.  How can that be possible?  How can one person stay on top of the job, while the other begs for overtime because they are so far behind?

This has bothered me for years – not only in my current position but in every position I’ve held.  There has always been someone that just can’t stay on top of things.

My goal when I come in in the morning is to ensure that the tasks that I need to have done for the day are complete – regardless of what comes up during the day.  For the most part, I do succeed without putting in any overtime – most managers don’t get overtime – so why would you want to put it in unless you absolutely need to?

What are they doing differently?

First lets look at what actions can waste time.

Time Waster: Distractions

This by far has to be the biggest time waster of all.  Distractions.  Distractions come in many shapes, and sizes:

• Excessive Internet usage – I’ve caught people playing games during business time (they were not on breaks), browsing the web or just checking e-mail.  This can eat up A LOT of time since time seems to slow down when you’re on the internet and only later do you realize that you just wasted 4-hours on FaceBook or MySpace.
• Personal phone calls – another huge time waster.  I’ve caught many people on personal phone calls, and while I can understand them — they should be for emergencies only.  Not to discuss with your spouse/partner/friend about the great time you had on the weekend or where you want to go out for supper, or how you should decorate the house!  Seriously this is another significant time waster.
• Cooler talk – aaaah, my favourite.  I must admit, I partake in cooler talk from time-to-time but normally when I know I’m caught up or to just get relief from sitting behind my desk and in front of the monitor for the last 3-hours straight.  Problem with cooler talk is that it’s usually the same people, all the time EVERY time.  I see some people head into the lunch room every 30-minutes, others every 60-minutes and they are then for 15-30 minutes each time.  How much time is wasted in one day?
• Desk chatter – another significant time waster.  Everyone has someone on their team that likes to talk.  I have a few, and they pop into my office unannounced and start talking.  Hey, don’t get me wrong – I enjoy socializing but when I’m not busy.  Because I try to maintain an open door policy – my door is always open and people figure they can just come in when they are free and talk.  I’ve even tried closing the door at time – but they don’t know when to stop.

These are only a few time wasters.  The other time wasters are more dangerous because the individual doesn’t even realize that what they are doing is wrong.  They think that what they’re doing is the right and will continue to do things this way.

Procedural Wasters

These time wasters are the procedural time wasters, not knowing the right way to perform a task or what to do first.

Procedural time wasters are the worst of the bunch – these are the processes that have been set-up in order to help minimize errors, these are the companies best practices.  Unfortunately they are not always the best practices, and nobody has thought of auditing them because they may have been put in place by a previous supervisor who was well liked or by the boss or worse the bosses son/daughter/nephew/niece that did a summer job or work experience at the office and nobody wants to offend the boss.

Your company isn’t in business to lose money.  If a procedure is not working, discard it or tweak it so that it does work.  You can’t be bashful about making changes, especially if they will improve the efficiency of the team.

Here is an example of a huge time waster.  This example is from someone that I knew that worked in a auto-parts distribution company.  They worked in the warehouse and filled the orders that came in.  Once the order was filled, it went into a box and down to a parts checker to ensure that the right item was picked – if the right items are there, they pack it up and leave it for the delivery driver to take it and deliver it along with the packing slip and invoice.

The box was ready to go, all the driver did was put it into the truck along with a master sheet of the deliveries for the day.  They only needed to ensure that if the delivery sheet showed 20 deliveries that they had 20 boxes (or however many there were to be sent).

They had one problem – sometimes the wrong item would be sent or the item was in the wrong box.

Now someone thought that this process could be improved.  So rather than pack the box and have it ready to go – the box was left open for the delivery driver to first check it, if it was OK then the invoice was generated.  Everyone thought that this would reduce shortages and speed things up.

It did.

But the side effect was that the delivery person now spent 30-60 minutes checking the parts and waiting before the invoice was generated.  This meant that they could not get to between 3 and 5 deliveries per day — which got pushed back.  Once management saw that deliveries were pending, what did they do?  Hire additional drivers.  But because the process was flawed, it didn’t matter how many drivers they would hire they would not be able to stay ahead of the curve because the same flawed process was being followed which resulted in the new drivers going through the same thing.

The drivers were stressed.  They had less work, but also less time to make the deliveries they did have to get done.  They were driving faster, and the number of speeding tickets increased.

The warehouse people were upset, eventhough they realized that mistakes were being made in the past for the most part they were accurate 99.95% of the time.

Management was wasting money on more drivers when none were really needed.

Fixing Procedures To Enhance Productivity

It is important to constantly audit or review processes in place.  As the business environment changes, so should the procedures.  Some should never change, like address verifications (if you send products out via mail or courier) but others can be evaluated to ensure that they are still meeting goals that were put in place.

Going back to the scenario above, it wasn’t until the parts picker told their supervisor, who went to management and told them that the process was flawed that the process was audited, the extra step removed and a new Customer oriented “guarantee” put in place that the operations were back to normal.

The company guaranteed that the delivery would be “worry free” – if any parts were missing, or the wrong part was sent their next delivery would be free.

This encouraged everyone from the delivery driver to the parts picker to make sure each delivery was 100% — they went from 99.95% accuracy to nearly 100%

…and would you look at that, they didnt’ need an MBA to tell them what was wrong.  The nice thing with process changes is if you involve your team, frequently they will be the ones that come up with what works best.  Remember they live and breathe these processes everyday.

As this post is getting pretty lengthy, I’ll go into handling time wasters next day along with determining which tasks should take precedent.

Why You Should Keep Files On Your Team

It may sound like you are duplicating the work of your Human Resources department – if you have one – but in fact, you are not.  Normally you would not want to give HR everything on an employee, some information may be of use only to you.  Of course any major policy or procedural violations would need to be documented especially if you are working in a union environment.

So why keep files on your team?

Several reasons.

Coaching

Perhaps one individual is constantly having trouble with one or a few aspects of the job.  What better way to identify this that by retaining this type of information in their own file and then coaching them.  They may make an error once or twice – but unless you’ve got a superb memory and can remember what your entire team does right (or wrong) you will not remember the small errors. 

By documenting this for yourself you can then review on whatever basis you choose and speak with the individual.

Review Time

Lets face it, as a manager you will remember ALL the negative and probably very little positive that your team or the individual has contributed.  You’re thinking right now “No, I don’t do that”.  Uhhh, yes – you do.

Every manager that I’ve worked under has always remembered what’s happened in the last few months and normally all the negative.  The new entrant into the workforce, who hasn’t been blinded (or perhaps is blinded) by all that goes on around them will happily keep going without realizing what’s happening.  Once they’ve been “burned” once – they will not forget.  Why do you think office politics exists?  To make oneself look good in front of their supervisor.

Honestly – do you really think that your team is being super nice to you because they like you?  You’re enforcing the rules, saying “NO” when perhaps they hoped you would say “YES”.  So anyway… Some of your direct reportees will not toot their own horn – so you need to do it for them.

In addition to being a manager, and supervisor you are also a leader and if your team does well – so do you, the department and the company.

By documenting what they’ve done right and wrong you are also showing your team that you do care about what happens in the department that you have  a vested interest. 

If you look at it from the point of view of your team, they will realize that you are watching — which limits the risk of negative behaviour.  You don’t want to be a cop (or mom/dad at work) but in some cases you will be.

How To Maintain Files

This isn’t rocket science.  It is easy.

Plain folder.  The employees name on it.  Done.

When you witness good/bad behavior – document it.

You sit down with someone for coaching, or one-on-one in your office the next step should be to document the conversation and e-mail the individual and put a copy in YOUR employee file.

Someone comes in late?  Document that.

Too long in the washroom… well, use your judgement.  In some industries, particularly very busy call centers EVERYTHING is documented and yes – they will even document how long you are away from your phone (so not necesarily how long your bio-break has been).

HR Employee Files

The files that HR keep are different from yours, they will be tracking information related to employment and legal issues.  For instance significant performance issues, salary and wage increases (or decreases), medical notes etc.,  The HR employee file may have some of the same information as you maintain but for the most part they will be different.

Now that said just because your file doesn’t contain the same information don’t keep it laying around or consider it not important.  If you’ve documented sufficient information related to performance, for example and use that to terminate someone KEEP THE INFORMATION!  If that employee decides to sue or file a grievance with the union or any other number of reasons that file might be the only information you have to back-up your actions.  IT IS IMPORTANT!

Do you have a different way you’re approaching this?  I would love to get more insight as I’m sure others would as well.  Feel free to comment on this post, or any other.

Supervisor Training – First Steps In People Management

by Kate Tammemagi

An effective Supervisor understands that People Management is the central core of this role.

To get an understanding of this term ‘People Management’, it is useful to separate the two elements – the ‘People’ element and the ‘Management’ element.  On the ‘people’ side, the role requires a keen understanding of different types of people, and effective use of people skills to work productively with each one.  The ‘management’ side involves structuring the activities of the Team and of the Supervisor so that the Team will work effectively together to achieve maximum performance.

Think in terms of People and Management

Effective Supervisors have their focus on both elements of People Management and are actively working on both sides at all times. The ineffective Supervisor is often overly concerned with one element and might be blind – or even dismissive of the other side.  They may emphasis the ‘people’ side, wanting to become a ‘buddy’ to their Team members rather than a Leader, or simply have no structure or systems to manage performance at all. The other extreme is the Supervisor who introduces processes and systems with no appreciation of how these may impact on their Team members – resulting in a low performing, de-motivated Team.

The first step to successful Leadership is to think in terms of both people and management – putting in the right systems and processes so that these people can perform at a high level.

Manage your Understanding of Your People

An effective Supervisor keeps a file on each of their reports, and they use this to plan and manage day to day actions with each person. The first step is to get to know each of your Team members. The best way of doing this initially is to observe them from a distance as they work or interact with others. Develop this understanding by ‘bonding’ with each. Bonding is spending short periods of time talking socially with each – about sport or family or other interests.

A good People Manager uses this time to build mutual respect and trust, but also to gain an insight in to the personality of this person. Structure and record your thoughts. What will motivate this person, what are their strengths, what are the sensitive areas?

Ensure you have these bonding sessions with each one of your reports regularly – and spend equal time with each. Promoting fair play and avoiding any form of favouritism is vital to this role.

The next step is to get an appreciation of this person in their Task role, their performance, their strengths and their areas for development. Write down a profile of the Team Member, the more information you have the better. Each person has many qualities, if you stop at the surface level, you will fail to get an understanding real potential of this person.

Benchmark the ‘Ideal Team Member’

The next area to focus on is – what are you building?

You know what your Team Members are like now, but if they were much, much better, what would they look like then?

The first rule in Management is to – ‘Focus on the Goal’.  Effective Management figures out the objectives and targets, and then they put in plans and Management systems to achieve these goals. This is also true of People Management. The effective Supervisor works out what this Team Member will be like in 6 months time or a year, and then puts in goals, plans and actions to get there.

To help you do this, visualise the ‘ideal’ Team Member – one who has all the best qualities of the best Team Members. Make a long list of the qualities of this ‘ideal’ Team Member, and keep working at this list to clarify your thinking.

It may be helpful to use the following categories to help you do this: Knowledge, Skills, Attitude, and Team Contribution.

Create a matrix with this list, to help you identify the Strengths of your Team and each Team Member, and to plan your next areas to work on.

Indentify Clear Goals for each Team Member

Use your ‘Ideal’ Benchmark Matrix to assess each of one of your Team Members in turn. First identify the top 3 or 4 strengths of each, their best qualities or performance factors. Then identify their areas for development, what to work on next.

Write down clear goals for each Team Member for the next 2 – 3 months.  In one of your early performance discussions with each Team Member, discuss these goals. Gain their input, and agree definite goals for the immediate future.

Hold Regular Performance Management Meetings

The effective People Manager begins as they mean to go on. At an early stage with each new report, begin regular, planned performance discussions. These may take only 15 to 20 minutes every week or two weeks. The goal is to help the Team Member to review their performance over the last week, identify strengths and learning points for the future. It is the time to give positive or corrective feedback and to set short term goals for the immediate future.

Build the habit of these discussions, encouraging and developing the Team Member to become engaged in their own self development.

Kate Tammemagi specializes in designing and running fully customized Leadership Training Courses. She has extensive experience in Supervisor Training and People and Performance Management.

Customer Service Week 2009

Did you know that October 5 to October 9, 2009 is Customer Service Week?

What is Customer Service Week all about?  Why not visit the website to learn more?  Visit http://www.csweek.com

What Do I Do?

What do I do?  Well I am a Director of Customer Support and Field Operations for a medium-sized company.  You’re thinking… customer support, ewwww!  Actually the salaries for Customer Support Managers can get into 6-figures.  No, I’m not making that much.  I won’t tell.

You are also thinking a hundred people in a crowded room.  I don’t manage that type of Customer Support Center.

So I manage a team of 26 people, in Customer Support, Field Service Technicians, Production & Assembly, and Shipping & Receiving.

The team I work with is great!  They know their stuff, which makes my job that much easier.  I’m responsible for virtually everything as we don’t have an HR department.  So I’m taking care of all the human resource issues.  I also prepare monthly schedules for the customer service agents on my team, plus work on developing training initiatives.  I do a lot of mentoring with the team and do my best to show them that I am one of them, while letting them know that I am also responsible for ensuring our team is producing.

But in the end I’m still considered “the boss” and the team will try and get away with everything and anything that they can.

We also generate some revenue for the company, not a lot but processes that I’ve put in place have ensured that we’re not loosing money on things like parts replacement or shipping.  I wouldn’t say it was a free-for-all previously, but somethings were getting overlooked.

I enjoy what I do – when I signed-up for this, I was expecting the worst – but you know, it isn’t all that bad.

Am I looking for work?  No, not really.  I live only minutes away from home and the flexability that is given here is great.  However if someone has an offer I could not refuse… well, send me a note!  I live in beautiful BC so it would have to be GREAT enough that I’d want to move… otherwise I’m quite happy where I am working and living!

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