As I move things around trying to find more space in the office, I’m finding a lot of notes that I took at conferences, and a lot of “Keepers”. I’m a note taker. A borderline obsessive note taker. (And while I’m confessing, I must admit, I doodle too.) As I sort through old notes, I’m smiling as I’m discovering a wealth of information. Much of which I’m proud to say has become some of the “foundation” work in my teaching.
These “keeper” notes from the now defunct Business and Consciousness Conference sparked my thinking again. This was an international conference of people that were concerned, really concerned, about things like humanity, sustainability, diversity, joy, spirit and even love in the workplace.
It was an enlightening and rejuvenating experience for me to part of the faculty and the audience. So many people coming together to talk about how to make the work place a better place. What a gift.
From my notes I’ve chosen seven of the top “keepers” from that conference that made me think – and I trust will make you think too.
1. VALUES count. Values are “currency” in the workplace. During a short brainstorming session in one of the sessions, values were defined by the attendees as: Codes, Guides, Backbone, Structure, Passion, Fuel, Energy, Ways of Being, Essence, Foundation. Something you are willing to stand for. It begs the question – What do you stand for?
2. The work we do in Customer Care is about Transformation. It’s about transforming unhappy customers into happy customers, problems into solutions, and “surviving” organizations into “thriving” ones. “What can you transform?”
3. You must find ways to measure your progress. Without measurement you can’t see improvement and without improvement you are a cost to the organization. Let’s get better at measuring what matters. What do you need to do to transform customer care from a cost center into a profit center? (Don’t know? Call us!)
4. Not a lot of growth happens in our comfort zones. We have to make ourselves uncomfortable in order to grow. How are you moving outside YOUR comfort zone every week?
5. One of the greatest human fears is that of abandonment. Abandonment is the opposite of Loyalty. Who are we abandoning? Customers? Employees? Community? Environment? Where do our loyalties lie? How can we build more loyalty with our stakeholders?
6. Identify positive deviance and amplify it! Somewhere in your organization there is someone, somewhere doing something different and getting positive results. Find out what it is and do more of it
7. What you make of your life is up to you. Stop arguing for your limitations (that usually sounds like “Yeah…but..” In my first book I call them “Yabuts.” Listen for Yabuts in your language and see what you are arguing for. Is it what you want?
By the way, at that conference, my topic on Customer Loyalty, was called “What’s Love Got To Do With It? Turning Customer CARE into Customer Loyalty — Understanding the (Emotional) Ties That Bind.”
If you’d like me to do that program, or any of my other one hour programs as a teleclass or webinar for your group let me know. It’s an economical way to get some of the excitement of live training in between regular training sessions.
You can’t keep adding more value in the marketplace until you start adding more value in the workplace. A happier culture that has workers’ well being at heart gives people the psychological capital to move on and move up even in tough times. Continuous learning feeds continuous improvement
