assessment Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

01
Aug 18
4

Managing Disappointment Starts With Managing Expectations

Tags : assessment disappointment expectations goals

Are you working hard for an outcome only to later become disappointed? Have you given your best effort but someone only expresses their perceived shortcomings in your work? Are you effectively managing disappointment?

It may happen today, perhaps it happened yesterday, or maybe it even feels like a chronic pattern. What is the root cause of disappointment?

Great Expectations

It seems that the root cause is linked to expectations. We have a goal, or someone sets a goal for us. It could be related to vision. A great cake to me is chocolate, but a great cake to someone else may be vanilla.

Misunderstanding expectations are sometimes to blame. Differences in opinions, values, and beliefs may also be a cause. “When I discovered her political views, I was disappointed.”

So, the root cause probably exists in expectations. What is expected compared with what is received.

I worked so hard on that assignment, but I only received an 80% for my grade.

I’m disappointed in my meal. It looked nothing like it did in the picture.

My hair looks terrible. It came out completely different than I expected.

Society is constantly shaping many of our expectations. Social media, traditional or digital media, and other informational sources are constantly changing our expectations.

Today many of us have a camera in hand. The photographs are processed immediately, and are also easily filtered, adjusted, and cropped. What does this lead to? It could be higher expectations.

Managing Disappointment

Perhaps the best thing to always ask yourself about disappointment is, “Compared to what?” When there are feelings or expressions of disappointment you may have to consider the expectations.

If you work with your supervisor on goals, be sure of the expectations. When you get a new project, understand the expectations.

We tend to place too much emphasis on what didn’t work as compared to what did work.

Instead of assessing the output and being critical, consider how you will build on what worked.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

10
May 18
-

They Need Training, As The Leader I Don’t

Tags : assessment change fear leadership training

More common than you may think, the finger is pointing the wrong way. It seems pretty silly, but authority often gives the power of the point. Pointing to this, or pointing to that, and proclaiming a lack of change is the problem. Does your organization need training?

Adapt or Change

One often forgotten part of training is that training means change. Sometimes the boss will point out who needs training, but in his or her mind that means everyone else needs to adapt to their style and way of doing things.

This could be a great idea. It could also be a voice that screams divide and conquer. Conformity under duress is not consensus.

Scorned Employees

Many organizations have scorned employee teams. Employees who have been punished for trying a new way, expressing a different thought, or not abiding by the directions of the boss. Certainly, this may be a balancing act for any employee, and for their boss.

The best path, the one that feels safe, is the path of not too much or too little, just the right amount.

Why are employees sometimes punished for trying to make things better? Is it fear that causes the punishment?

Fear of Inferior

I will never forget the boss who wouldn’t participate in the playful online IQ test. The boss who shared with me how he will have to, “knock her down a few pegs,” because she spoke out of turn in a meeting. And a boss who advised your only role in the meeting is to listen, not contribute.

Another all-time favorite for the list are the bosses who want assessments for the team but are absolutely not interested the same assessment for themselves.

There are countless times that a business owner has recommended training when the front-line team is not the only place that training is needed.

Need Training

There are so many ways to engage, to inspire, and to lead. The small business owner, the boss, or the otherwise noted workplace leader should recommend training and be open to employee development. Not doing so would be such a waste.

One question the leader should always ask, “Are WE getting better?”

Training applies to everyone.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

22
Sep 17
-

customer service pain points Appreciative Strategies

What Are Your Customer Service Pain Points?

Tags : assessment customer experience pain service

Everybody quickly recognizes that customer service should be a happy experience, or at a stretch minimizing a not so great experience to be better. When was the last time you really considered customer service pain points?

There is often chatter about touch points, but pain points perhaps not so much. One of my favorite provocative questions is, “What are you doing that punishes your customers?” Sometimes people feel shocked about that question, but it is an important one.

Customer Service Pain Points

Like touch points, pain points might be assessed everywhere. Here are a few examples:

What or how convenient is parking
Where are the restrooms
What should people do while they wait
How long do they wait
Are there stairs, or an elevator
How many clicks to make a purchase
How available is a human
How responsive to email
How is the experience too fast, or too slow
Is the product intuitive? For whom?

Certainly, this list could get long quickly. Most businesses follow an established pattern. Waiting rooms get chairs, sometimes a television or closed circuit advertising, perhaps fresh water or a coffee pot. The bus should arrive on time. Pizza delivery should be hot, and shipping for my on-line purchase fast.

Assessment and Brainstorming

What does your business do? How do you assess pain points? Have you done it lately or are you merely copying what the shop across the street is doing?

Have you considered internal customer service? How responsive are you to email? Are you available or often too busy? Are projects completed on time? Does everyone do their part? Are people waiting for other people? What do they do while they wait?

How should internal service be measured or evaluated? Compared with what?

Just Enough or More?

Many businesses and organizations are on cruise control. They are doing what they need to do to get by. Spending just enough on advertising may not help growth. Shipping just fast enough to avoid complaints won’t set you apart. Providing services or comfort comparable to the competition won’t make you memorable.

When you do everything just as good as the next person, internal or external, the best you can hope for is to be number two. Cruise control may be similar to coasting. We all know you only coast one way—downhill.

Reducing or eliminating customer service pain points will make your touch points more memorable. What is the customer’s pain?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

27
Jun 17
-

confused about the customer Dennis Gilbert

Confused About The Customer And Surviving The Storm

Tags : assessment C-Suite customer service sales

Know your customers. That is just one phrase of many that might relate to the worth of understanding more about your customers. Have you ever been confused about the customer?

Blockbuster might have been confused because if they really knew and wanted to be a top player they might have looked closer at streaming video before they lost so much of their market share. I’m not sure they will survive the storm.

Educational systems, whether it is public schools or colleges and universities, they might want to work hard on understanding the customer and their products. Otherwise, their customers might continue to move away from what has been a long-standing tradition. Storms sometimes change traditions.

Brick and mortar retailers, luxury goods, and traditional advertising agencies are also among those who have a lot to consider. The storm is hitting them too. It’s likely that only a few are exempt and that exemption is temporary.

Reality Is Tough

One thing is certain. Most things aren’t staying the same. For good or for bad, things are constantly changing. Name an industry, name the traditional giants of that industry and if they haven’t substantially changed they are probably diminishing in size.

Many industry leaders claim allegiance to doing everything possible to better serve their customers, few of them get it right. Sometimes they get it right in the C-Suite but they fail to create the right culture. The opposite is true too, sometimes businesses get it right in the trenches only to hit roadblocks in the C-Suite.

Confused About The Customer

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to avoid being confused about the customer:

What are we doing that punishes the customer?
Who is defining our product and what is it?
What makes our product valuable?
Are we listening to the customer and how?
How are we measuring customer satisfaction?

Perhaps there isn’t a perfect answer to any of those, but honest assessment of these and many more are critical for success. I promise you that most who read those five questions believe they are already beyond them. I wonder what their customers would say.

Surviving The Storm

Customer service isn’t just a department, and neither is sales. Businesses that lack an understanding of a customer service and sales culture are businesses who won’t survive the storm.

Those who understand, well, they are the storm.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: assessment

Aug 18

4

Managing Disappointment Starts With Managing Expectations

Great Expectations

Managing Disappointment

May 18

-

They Need Training, As The Leader I Don’t

Adapt or Change

Scorned Employees

Fear of Inferior

Need Training

Sep 17

-

What Are Your Customer Service Pain Points?

Customer Service Pain Points

Assessment and Brainstorming

Just Enough or More?

Jun 17

-

Confused About The Customer And Surviving The Storm

Reality Is Tough

Confused About The Customer

Surviving The Storm

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