As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.
Quote of the Week: 70 percent of employees in the typical company are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.” Gallup Poll
Humor Break: How to properly engage with employees reminds us of this old “how not to engage†story:
For 30 years Al had arrived at work at 9 AM on the dot. He had never missed a day and was never late.
Consequently, when on one particular day 9 AM passed without Al’s arrival, it caused a sensation. All work ceased, and the boss himself, looking at his watch and muttering, came out into the corridor.
Finally, precisely at 10:00 AM, Al showed up, clothes dusty and torn, his face scratched and bruised, his glasses bent. He limped painfully to the time clock, punched in, and said, aware that all eyes were upon him, “I tripped and rolled down two flights of stairs in the subway. Nearly killed myself.”
And the boss said, “And to roll down two flights of stairs took you a whole hour?”
Stat of the Week: The same techniques for earning customer loyalty also work when engaging employees. After all, both efforts depend on treating people with respect. Here are two ways to use customer service tactics to improve relationships with employees.
1. Get real-time feedback.
2. Make engagement a priority for frontline managers.
Action Tip: Be your own Mystery Shopper. Want to really know about your company’s customer service practices. If you have outlets for your goods or services, conduct a visit. Check out the Methodology Section of Mystery Shopping for some basic ideas of what to look for. If you want to test your organization’s telephone customer service, here are two ideas: (1) count the number of times you are asked to push a number before you can order something that is not on the telephone menu; (2) try to order something pretending that you do not have your own telephone (and telephone number) … see if you system can handle a customer who chooses not to have a telephone (50% chance this technique won’t work with a telephone provider)!
Volunteering: Today is National Wear Red Day in the United States. It is the combined efforts of many organizations to raise awareness about Heart Disease, especially in women. It may be too late to change your wardrobe today, but it is not too late to check out the NWRD website.
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
