Diamonds to You

Hi Everyone:

It’s a new year, a new volume and hopefully some new and exciting ideas for your business and/or professional development.

I ended last year with a flood in my garage, causing all sorts of problems, including a fight with one of my insurance companies.  The other, my primary homeowner’s insurance was competent and professional.  What a difference it makes to work with someone wanting to do their best and to treat you honorably.  If only everyone acted that way!

Be Honorable

That reminds me of something that happened many years ago.  An old man on a bicycle came out of nowhere and hit my car.  He fell.  I actually thought I’d killed him and immediately stopped my car, screamed for someone to call 911 (this was before I had a cell phone) and rushed to him.  The firemen were there in a flash, helped the old man up, who had merely been slightly bruised and stunned.

I kept yelling, “Take him to a hospital, I’ll pay.”  There were witnesses.  They all came forward and said it was not my fault the old man came from nowhere and banged into my car.  The man recovered and refused to go to a hospital, even though I kept offering.  He too told the firefighters that it had been his fault.

Whew!  If only the whole world behaved honorably.  What a difference it would make.

Customer Service Examples

I recently called Plaxo and had the most remarkably competent, fast, and courteous service.  Kuddos to Plaxo for knowing how to treat their customers.  

On the other hand, I spent forever pushing buttons and spelling my name into the phone over and over again before I actually got a live human being at AOL.  When I did I had to talk the agent out of their standard “troubleshooting protocol” and forced him to actually listen to the problem and go directly to the solution.  Once he did,  he was fine.  But, why should I have had to go through all of that (approximately 20 wasted minutes) in the first place?

Some time ago I wrote about another wonderful customer service interaction.  It was a young woman who, instead of interrogating me, actually allowed me to tell her why I was calling.  She then responded with a few correctly placed questions.

Some Customer Service Tips:

• Reduce the number of questions and buttons a customer has to push before they get to a live call center agent.  Don’t make us so angry and crazy that by the time we get to a real person we are upset.
• Listen before you interrogate.  Yes, we know there is information you need to get, but for g.. ‘s sakes, let us speak.  We are making the call.
• Don’t automatically go through the standard recipe beginning protocol of troubleshooting.  Try to go directly to that which will solve the customer’s concerns.
• Don’t keep saying “sorry for your inconvenience” until you truly mean it.  It’s cloying and condescending unless it is sincere – and said at the appropriate time in the conversation.
• Take responsibility for either fixing the problem of finding the solution.  Don’t just pass the buck and forget to get back to the customer.  Call backs are often appropriate.
• Now, that leads me to suggest that call center management recognize the importance of call backs and allow both time and the proper phone system so these can be made.
• When you hire, hire for personality.  Make sure your agents are pleasant and not overly-sensitive to the words or tone of their irate customers.  Irate customers yell and curse.
• Train, train, and re-train. 
• Make sure your trainer is someone who not only understands your needs, but can work with your group in a highly interactive manner.  No talking heads, or junior associates working from a script provided by others.

I really thrive on your referrals to me.  Keep them coming!

Blogging – Project Management

I will be the guest blogger for the week starting on February 25th on  the www.SVProjectManagement.net  blog.  Look for some more of my ideas on Project Management.

Change Management

I’ve written extensively about managing change.  I think what I’ll do is make this a small series, otherwise, this will be toooooo ,long.  Managing change includes being aware that what might be an easy transition for some managers, might prove difficult or anxiety provoking for staff. 

Change comes about in all ways.  A new computer system, process change, re-arrangement of the cubicles, new managers, a new CEO, mergers and acquisitions, and anything else you can think of that is not “business as usual.”

Here is a great poem written by someone named Donald L. (That’s all I know.)

Resistance to Change

I couldn’t understand why other folks feel that an idea of mine is no good;
I couldn’t understand why they hem and they haw, when I tell them to do what they should.

I couldn’t understand why they seem to feel that their own ideas meet the test.
But when others suggest an improvement to make; they claim that the old way is best.

One day I asked a wise old man why nearly all folks resist change.
He said, “It’s as plain as the nose on your face, there’s nothing about it that’s strange.”

“In the first place, most people will feel very smug in a job they have handled for years;
But change is around so they don’t know the job and their security changes to fears.

“It’s especially true if the person concerned is doing his job with great vim.
And when you suggest a new fangled way, he feels you have criticized him.

“Some suggestions are objectively studied, and the persons affected will curse
That the change that is planned by some ‘expert’ is a change, not for better but for worse.”

So now when I think about changes, I remember what the old wise man said.
That resistance to change is as normal as having a heart and a head.

There are three keys to being successful in making the changes we should
We should learn them and use them sincerely so people accept change as good.

First, we must study the people, in a word we call it Empathy,
We must put ourselves in their places to know what their feelings will be.

Then we must communicate clearly and tell them the ‘why’ and the ‘when’,
We must give them the facts and the figures and answer all questions for them.

The third key we call participation we simply ask them to assist
To decide the best time or method, and we find they no longer resist.

If overcoming resistance is your problem, the keys that will solve it are these:
Empathy – Communication – and Participation – and changes will take place with ease.

Advice From a Search Firm

EJ Dieterle is the CEO of YES Partners and he recently gave a presentation called “Tips for Candidates.”   He has given me permission to quote and paraphrase  portions of his notes.

Retained search firms are hired by a company for a period of time … they conduct in-depth searches for individuals who meet a client’s specific requirements, eventually forwarding a single candidate, or a handful of highly qualified professionals matching the specific requirement.

In the context of recruiting, a retained search is comparable to hiring a highly skilled professional like an accountant, lawyer, or business specialist to resolve a performance issue or deliver a particular solution.

(technical)  Resume tips. 

• Latest experience first
• Have an objective in the beginning
• Have a Summary of your work experience
• Avoid time-gaps
• Keywords are important
• Keep your contact details up to date
• Make communication easy
• Do not use spaced words (e.g. V I C E)
• E-mail your resume as a word.doc rather than a pdf, since a database needs to convert the pdf file into a test-searchable format.

For those interested, YES Partners is an International Executive Search Firm based in Silicon Valley.  EJ can be reached at :  ejdieterle@yespartners.com.

My Blog

www.DiamondAssociates.net/blog - Visit ME!

Prior Newsletters

Other articles in prior newsletters can be found here:
 http://diamondassociates.net/articles/Newsletters.shtml

Recent Publications

Several more of my articles have been published in dozens of e-magazines and newsletters.  These articles are being published so frequently that I can’t list all of the references.  Instead, I suggest you Google:  ArLyne Diamond.

Here are some though:

• Setting Your Performance Management Agenda, in CareerSmart Advisor, January 2008, by Marji McClure – I’m quoted extensively.

• Workforce Strategies:  Sarbanes-Oxley and Whistleblowers:  Tips for Staying Compliant And Avoiding Retaliation Claims, in BNA, (The Bureau of National Affairs), December, 2007, by Cathleen O’Connor Schoultz – I’m quoted here as well.

• Workplace Discord:  What’s creating conflict and ways to resolve it.  In Outsourcing, December 2007-January 2008.  I’m the author, although they forgot to put my name on it.

• Cultural Differences in Group Decisions, in Outsourcing, October-November, 2007

• Change Management Strategies, in Outsourcing, August-September, 2007.

• Board Service is an Honor, Echo Journal, August 2007

• Real World Solutions: Hiding Disability Facts Leads To Misunderstandings, in Thompson’s ADA Compliance Guide, August 2007, Col. 18, #8.
• Team Buidling Strategies, in Outsourcing, WORDlabs MEDIA, Kuala Lumpur., June-July 2007.
  
  
• Building Trust in Distant Teams, in Management Issues Feb. 20, 2007.

• Workplace Conflict Resolution:  What’s Creating Workplace Conflict and 9 Easy Ways to Resolve it appeared in Impact Articles:  The Business and Coaching Network on January 26, 2007   With my permission, this article will also appear in a series of newsletters created and marketed by Haley Marketing Group to their staffing industry clients.

My two published books are available at www.ProductivePublications.com.

• Training Your Board of Directors:
  A Manual for the CEOs, Board Members, Administrators and Executives of Corporations, Associations, Non-Profit and Religious Organizations
• The “Please” and “Thank You” of Fundraising for Non-Profits:
  Fifteen Essential Ingredients for Success

So, how can I help you?

Your columns were quite interesting and I agree with just
about every thing you say….Some of your underlying philosophy
of management reminds me of Robert Townsend’s Up The Organization
… probably the best book on business and management I’ve read.
David J. Estrin, Senior Editor, Garland Publishing, Inc.

“You are a bold and skilled pro.  I have enjoyed ‘Diamonds  to You’.  It is refreshing that you speak crisply on topics of political sensitivity without giving up your integrity.  Thanks.  Tom Incorvia.”

Successful process and organizational improvements require strong facilitation
and interpersonal skills.  ArLyne has the ability to listen, manage conflict
and get to the bottom line.  …resulted in positive and tangible changes to
existing processes and organization [as well as] community participation.
Connie Martinez, Vice-President Joint Venture Silicon Valley

 

Let me be your Aufin—your advisor to Kings.

 

ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D
ArLyne@DiamondAssociates.net