To feel valued, to know, even if only once in a while, that you can do a job well is an absolutely marvelous feeling. – Barbara Walters

Marni and Cecile at WestJet

I’ve been on a lot of flights lately and have been lucky to experience exceptional customer service. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s my duty to expose the performance and make the experience real.

Last week I was on a WestJet flight from Montreal to Toronto and was greeted by Marni and Cecile, the WestJet cabin crew. From the first hello, I felt that this flight would be different. They were attentive, friendly, and witty. So much so that it made me stop and take notice. It was obvious. Their focus was on making this flight enjoyable and safe for their passengers. I wanted them to know that I noticed and that I appreciated their focus on me.

When it was my turn, Marni asked me what I would like, I said, “I would like to know who I could talk to about your outstanding customer service.” She was surprised that I would think that her normal, everyday actions could be considered “outstanding”. I explained that my mission was to expose exceptional customer service. During the next 30 minutes Marni, Cecile and I became fast friends and the flight was that much more enjoyable. I am holding the business card of the Sales Super Center at WestJet and will let them know about their Super Cabin Crew.

It’s time to Be Real

Each one of us has the responsibility to expose exceptional performance. Every action, behavior, and attitude done with focus and intention deserves to be exposed. This recognition makes our jobs real and creates connections and conversations built on trust and respect. People need to know that those who work at your company notice the things that get done. People need to know what it means to feel real recognition.

What actions, behaviors, and attitudes are you going to start recognizing at your company today?

Until April 9th, give Kudos and be automatically entered to win awesome prizes!

You Could Win:

• Trip to Miami’s South Beach!
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• Lots More Great Prizes

Your team is full of rock stars. Give them their well deserved kudos and win a whole whack of fabulous prizes. More Details at workplacehero.com

]]> http://rypple.com/blog/2010/03/12/give-kudos-win-prizes/feed/ 0 http://rypple.com/blog/2010/03/11/corporate-culture-and-the-small-ask/ http://rypple.com/blog/2010/03/11/corporate-culture-and-the-small-ask/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:04:54 +0000 David Stein http://rypple.com/blog/?p=5044 Everyone at your organization who interacts with customers or potential customers is responsible for creating a customer first corporate culture. It’s not just the responsibility of your customer service people.

Many sales people believe the key to success is to be very aggressive – to push hard, and have a big “ask”, before they have established a trusted relationship with their potential client.

The principle of the “Small Ask” works in reverse:

1. Care about the problem your prospective client is trying to solve.
2. Think about an approach that is in the best interest of the client. One that mitigates risk, and builds confidence in the shortest period of time.
3. Start with a smaller deal that gives you the opportunity to build a relationship, and see the potential your solution can deliver.

This approach is not commonplace. Many buyers will be shocked by your less aggressive approach and actually embrace it. Many sales managers may also be surprised, and ask, why aren’t you going for the jumbo, enterprise deal?

Our response:
By going against the grain in the short term, you will have to opportunity to quickly build a relationship, establish value, and grow the deal size significantly over time. In today’s challenging and cynical market, an approach and a corporate culture that really puts customers first can be a powerful source of competitive advantage.

The secret of man’s success resides in his insight into the moods of people, and his tact in dealing with them.- J.G. Holland

The traditional method by which they are taught to provide performance feedback to employees, sometimes referred to as “constructive criticism,” is often the very reason they avoid giving feedback in the first place.

That kind of feedback is typically framed as: problem, examples of shortcomings and negative impact. Inherent limitations with this kind of communication frequently manifest themselves as follows:

• From the employee’s perspective this information comes across as finger pointing, fault finding and disciplinary. Typical outcome: Defensive reaction
• Most of us avoid conflict like the plague. Who wants to be on the other side of dealing with the employee’s defensive reaction?

So what can managers do about it? How can they create talking points that are honest, not watered down yet hearable and sayable?

Understanding uncensored perceptions is the key. These are the real feelings about a person or circumstance, which would be inappropriate to share in their raw form. “He’s so high-maintenance”, “She’s a slacker” and “he inundates people with too much information” are examples of feelings managers might have but are appropriately unwilling to share.

Censoring some perceptions is probably a good thing, yet most often the manager simply won’t say anything at all. The person who should be receiving feedback misses out on the opportunity to gain some awareness around a key issue.

If you are a manager experiencing this sort of problem, try taking your negative thought and translating it into language that describes the exact opposite. The result should be talking in terms of what you want to have happen as opposed to talking about the problem behavior or performance.

Here are some examples of negative thoughts translated into “develop the ability to” statements:

The lesson here is to frame performance issues as future-focused thought that describes what the performance could and should be. The statements above are just the beginning of the conversation, you’ll need to explain in detail what you mean by “Use your experience and knowledge to mentor those with less experience.” You’ll need to reach agreement with the employee on what the associated actions will be in order to meet the performance objective.

Part of the Management Tips to Successfully Motivate Gen Y series:

1. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y
2. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y (part 2)

As promised, here’s part two of Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y

1. Don’t Expect Them to Read Your Mind.

Skills and habits that may seem obvious to X, Boomer and traditionalists managers are sometimes not obvious to Y’s simply because they were born and raised in a completely different era! Tell them what you need, how you need it, when you need it and why you need it. Spelling it out will take time but will save you time in the end.

2. Set Boundaries from the Top and With Respect.

Its not the job of employees to figure out what is expected of them or what the boundaries are in their new job – boundaries need to be set and communicated from the top-down! Be clear about your boundaries, what you need from your team, what rewards they will receive for work well done and also any consequences if job expectations are not met. As long as you’re clear, and your expectations are reasonable and spoken in a tone of respect, Gen Y’s will step up!

3. Listen, Challenge and Give Feedback.

Gen Y’s often tell me that they are unchallenged and bored. They often say they ask for more work from their boss but their requests are either ignored or downplayed. Providing challenging work will not only help get more work done – but will motivate them to stay engaged and plugged into your company! Give them regular and immediate feedback. Let them know what they are doing that is good as well as areas that need work. They want to excel and the more they know how they are measuring up to your standards the better!

4. Ask Their Expectations.

Take time to find out what your Gen Y employees’ ambitions are. If they seem unrealistic to you, use a tone of respect and be honest with what you think more realistic expectations would be. Share your wisdom about what they can do practically to achieve these goals.

Part of the Management Tips to Successfully Motivate Gen Y series:

1. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y
2. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y (part 2)

As more Gen Y’s enter the workforce, many older generations seem puzzled and often confused about this “new generation”. They’ve heard stories, they’ve read articles and they wonder if managing this new generation is really going to be different.

As a consultant who works with all generations, I’m excited for this challenge in our workplace cultures! Why? Because I think Gen Y will force the rest of us to get our act together. They will encourage us to step up to the plate, communicate with respect, be clear about our expectations, and partner and work as a team.

I’ve worked with managers of all generations, so here are three tips for how managers can successfully manage Gen Y, especially during these tough economic times:

1. Focus on the Power of Influence, Not the Power of Authority
   Many managers believe that because of their position younger generations “should” respect them. However, many Gen Y’s believe respect is to be “earned” not “given”. Simply listening, praising work well done and being genuinely interested in your employees (which are basic skills great managers do anyways) will not only help retain and motivate them, but also inspire them to work hard for you!
2. Point the Finger Inward, not Outward
   It’s easy to blame, point fingers and throw our hands up wondering why this next generation is “this way”. They are often described as being entitled, spoiled and the “Me” generation. Yet we forget that as a culture we’ve taught them this! Instead of blaming them, we should ask ourselves the question – what can I learn from Gen Y? What can they learn from me? Simply changing our perception towards them radically changes how we communicate to them and how they communicate back to us.
3. Don’t be Fooled by Arrogance
   Often I read that Gen Y’s are ‘so confident’, yet Gen Y’s have often admitted to me that they battle with insecurity, anxiety and worry. Their insecurity is often covered by a mask of arrogance. As we go through this economic crisis, expect anxiety and insecurity to rise.  Simply investing into your employees, asking how they are feeling about the crisis (again a basic skill great managers do) will go a long way toward engaging and motivating them!

For further insight into Gen Y in the workplace, check out my post What Gen Y Really Wants At Work. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow to learn the remaining tips.

While some industries are better suited to foreign expansion than others, successful internationalization ultimately comes down to managerial will and skill.

Check out why Daniel and David believe international markets are a key component to the success of Rypple.

It was not until much later in my career where I witnessed how destructive a leader who’s IQ far exceeded his EQ could be to an organization.

This person had an impeccable resume; great experience and multiple degrees from Ivy League Schools. During the interview process, many of the leaders in the organization had concerns about hiring this person. Instead of listening to their own intuition and honoring the feedback of the team, the leader of the organization (with the enthusiastic support of the CEO and the Head of HR) decided to hire the person into a very important and senior role.

When the person started, they certainly had good ideas about how to positively impact the business. However, instead of building relationships with the current team, gaining support and alignment on their ideas, they did just the opposite. They tried to forge forward on their own, having no regard for the people and the culture of the organization. This person had little interest or skill in people leadership and led in a “command and control” style that was rejected by the rest of the organization.

While initially this person made some traction with their ideas, ultimately they were unable to execute on any of their plans and asked to leave the company. They did not have the trust, support or cooperation of anyone in the organization. The damage this person caused, both from a revenue perspective and people perspective, was fairly substantial.

This was the clearest example I’ve witnessed of how important emotional intelligence is to success. It was also a great example of what can happen when you don’t listen to your team and honor intuition. This hiring error caused a lot of problems for the organization and the company.

Daniel Goleman writes about the Five Components of Emotional Intelligence at work in his 1998 Harvard Business Review Article, “What Makes a Leader”.  Whether you believe in EQ or not, thinking about incorporating these qualities in your leadership style can help you be a better and more fulfilled leader.

Daniel Goleman’s key components of EQ:

• Self-Awareness: the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives as well as their effect on others.
• Self-Regulation: the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods.  The propensity to suspend judgment – to think before acting.
• Motivation: a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status. A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.
• Empathy: the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions

.
• Social Skill: proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. An ability to find common ground and build rapport.

The scarcest and most precious variable in a matrix is time! Time management is about taking control of your time. When you control time you enhance relationships, improve quality and reliability of your deliverables, and reduce stress.

Here are six steps to control your matrix:

1. Develop time boundaries that fit your plan. You do have a plan and plan your time?
2. Sit down and block time for critical parts of your life. This should include work, fun, family, exercise, etc. As you do this, align work blocks to your high productivity daily cycle, and exercise and repetitive tasks to your low productivity periods. For example, if you are a morning person, high intensity and priority work and thought gets scheduled then. No meetings or interruptions during these times.
3. Agree on time commitments. Develop an understanding and agree on expectations for time commitments with key personnel and work relationships. Seek feedback from partners on how well you are using your time together.
4. Declare to all what time is their time and what time is not! Let the company understand they can’t have you Sunday, you are not checking email Saturday night! You are not taking assignments Friday at 4pm for Monday 8am, and conference calls are not happening Sunday morning. If it was that important they can plan it better! Use your judgment to deal with exceptions. Let your family know that 3 hours minimum every weekend are for work completion, planning and refinement. And set that time aside.
5. Stick to your commitments That is, be engaged 100% in the moment. Do not multitask at dinner with your family. Give yourself the joy of commitment in the matrix. Let your company see that work time is work time and you are really on the job 100%.
6. Know everyday what is the one thing that must get done above all others, and do it!

Visualize your matrix and review daily and weekly. How did you invest your time? Get feedback on how effectively you used other peoples time. Adjust and control.

• Identify time wasting activities, eliminate and learn to say no.
• Identify areas where you can combine commitments. For example, Fitness or skill building combined with more time with friends. How about a series of golf lessons at the driving range or a 30 minute run and then one beer with your buddy, instead of NFL on TV and three beers.
• Highlight priority conflicts at work and clarify immediately. You cannot serve all the masters in your work matrix all the time. Get feedback to ensure clarity and effectiveness of time invested.

Adjust. Control. Declare. Your matrix is your time. Become the master of your matrix, work at it everyday.

The new Rypple is three tools to turn managers into leaders and employees into high performers.

Rypple Kudos:

You work hard and so does your team. Recognizing and praising your team’s work and dedication is essential for creating and maintaining a motivated and hard working team. Enter Rypple Kudos. Rypple Kudos is a a social way to publicly praise teammates and recognize them for a job well done. They’re fun too. You can award badges and personalize the design of your kudos. Check out Rypple Kudos for more info.

Rypple Insight:

Rypple Insight is the new way to get feedback. We’ve made getting feedback social to help increase collaboration within your team and make team members more effective. Get immediate, anonymous feedback on quick questions. Gather ongoing insights from trusted advisors. Improve! Check out Rypple Insight from more info.

Rypple Coach:

Great leaders coach their people to help them learn, develop, and improve. That’s why we created Rypple Coach. Coach helps managers become leaders and makes it easy to have ongoing and productive 1:1 conversations with your team. Check out Rypple Coach for more info.

Rypple’s New look

We’re very excited to announce these new tools and the new design of Rypple! We think the new design is much cleaner and does a great job of explaining what the new Rypple is all about. Of course we want your feedback, so let us know what you think of Rypple 2.0