Archive for the 'expectations' Category
Posted on September 8, 2010
It was a painful conversation to witness. I was meeting with Jennifer and Patrick. They are partners in a small professional service firm. We were discussing things that the business needed and trying to prioritize those needs.
Patrick was quite adamant that the accounting system needed to be overhauled. Now.
Jennifer was concerned that the firm needed to be developing its junior staff. Then she started thinking about more concerns.
“In addition to accounting and training, I’ve been concerned that we may be behind on our policies and procedures manuals,” Jennifer said.
Then she added: “What about that new product line we’ve planned? And then there’s . . .”
Patrick blew up. “You’re doing it again. You’re throwing more issues on the table than we can possibly deal with. We agreed to focus on one. And it’s the accounting system. And it needs to be done NOW.”
That’s when I had to step in.
Patrick is one of those folks who can focus intensely on one topic and deal with it right away. He wants closure. Jennifer is one of those folks who needs to explore lots of options before she decides anything.
What do you do when you find yourself in their situation?
You first, before you even start the conversation, state what outcome you want from the discussion.
Then you set a timeframe for the discussion. Patrick could do it in 2 minutes. Jennifer might want to take 2 hours. You agree on a compromise that gives Jennifer her “and another thing” time. And you agree that you will make a decision at the end of that compromise time.
It’s not perfect but Jennifer gets to do her thing and Patrick knows he will get a decision when they’re done.
Posted on August 16, 2010
Talk about changing customers’ expectations. . .
I recently spent some time at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. Piedmont is a great facility and is always ranked among the top hospitals in the country.
The staff is exceptional. They always have a good attitude and are focused on helping their patients get well. I’ve been at Piedmont before, so I expected such high caliber service.
And, since I’ve been there before, I also expected the usual crappy, flavorless hospital food that I’ve experienced in the past.
But not this time.
Piedmont offers room service for all meals, where you get to pick what you want and when you want it. The menu has great variety, from peanut butter sandwiches to chicken kiev. If you want three desserts, you can have those, too.
You call your order in and, within a reasonable time, a room service waiter, in full room service dress, delivers your food to your bedside table.
And it actually has some flavor.
Talk about creating new expectations for your customers. What new expectations are you creating for your customers?
Posted on August 2, 2010
Last week I had lunch with a former client/still a friend who complained that I wasn’t delivering on what I had promised for my blog. That’s a nice way to start a conversation.
I had promised readers that I would post weekly mini case studies on how to manage people and on communications. I was very good at sticking to that schedule for more than a year.
Then the economy tanked, and my engineering buddies were hurting. And I became less rigorous about delivering those case studies.
But I’m back. After that friendly kick in the pants, I recommitted to posting something weekly. As we all know, one should “underpromise and overdeliver.”
I will close with this quick communication tip: Put yourself in the mind of your reader/listener. The other day, my husband was going to take a pill in our bathroom. I was in my office and asked him to bring me the yellow tablet next to my computer in the bedroom.
Sure enough, he did. Only he brought the yellow vitamin tablet I had left there. I was asking for the yellow writing tablet. He was thinking pills, I was thinking pens. So much for clear communication.
Posted on December 21, 2009
It is true that what once was old is now new again. The business buzz these days is about setting office hours.
You remember when you were in college. The professors had certain hours that they committed to being in their office and available for you to stop by. If you needed to talk to a professor, your best chance came during his office hours.
Now company execs are setting office hours for when they will be available for employees and office hours for when they are available for their customers.
The topic is hot enough that Harvard Business Review featured it in a guest blog by Bill Taylor, cofounder of Fast Company magazine.
Jason Fried, founder of Chicago productivity software firm 37 signals, is available for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. He sits in his office and takes calls from customers.
One person asked him how he handled the crush of calls. Fried replied that he took the calls as they came in and didn’t rely on call waiting.
Seems simple enough.
How old is this “new” idea?
George Goethals was one of the chief engineers on the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914. Supposedly, each Sunday Goethals would meet with anyone involved with the construction of the canal. He would sometimes see upwards of 100 people in a day.
As a footnote, the Canal was finished more than a year ahead of its target date. Let’s hear it for open communication.
Posted on December 7, 2009
Time management is one of the top problems people tell me they struggle with. And I get it–I struggle with it, too.
But let’s look at the truth of the situation.
It’s not how you manage time. It’s about how you manage YOU.
We all have the same 24 hours a day. To my knowledge, nobody has found a way to squeeze another hour or two into a 24-hour day.
Here are some quotes from management guru Peter Drucker. I hope they get you thinking.
“Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.”
“One cannot buy, rent or hire more time. The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it. Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday’s time is gone forever, and will never come back. Time is always in short supply. There is no substitute for time. Everything requires time. All work takes place in, and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable and necessary resource.”
“Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else.”
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