Perspective

Although you might think of someone as having a difficult personality – sometimes the true issue is“differences”.  Meaning one person is formal, task-oriented, reserved, and appreciates the details, while a colleague who is informal, people-oriented, gregarious, and a visionary who dislikes the details may often find communicating difficult.  Neither is wrong – but both may have issues with each other sporadically or often.

Various traits, motivations, priorities, backgrounds, and filters provide diversity (and let’s face it) challenges in the workplace.

If you want your difficult work relationships to improve, rather than spending a lot of your time wishing or hoping or talking about the challenge – try to discover what the differences are between the two of you and how you might work with the individual in new ways.

Conflict

Conflict is a perceived or actual opposition to one’s needs, values, interests, and/or wants.

There are typically four levels of conflict beginning with irritation, then annoyance, anger, (things begin to get personal here) and then fury.

Some conflicts may progress or escalate slowly, or even fizzle out.  Other conflicts take only moments to move from mild irritation to full-blown fury (where all objectivity is gone and retribution often becomes the primary objective).

Resolving Conflict

In order to resolve conflict you typically will need to:

1) Identify the key issues

2) Respond in a respectful manner

3) Explore options

4) Agree on a solution (or at the very least next steps)

Difficult Customers

In addition to the steps mentioned above – it is important to note that being told “It’s not my job” or “I don’t know” are triggers for stressed customers. Feeling disrespected and not being listened to (processed as a transaction as compared to treated as an important individual) are common issues for dissatisfied customers.

Practicing active listening (“Am I listening to learn?”), offering empathy (“I’m sorry you’ve experienced ‘xyz’, I know that is not at all what our company wants to offer to our customers”) and focusing on solutions, (“Would this be an acceptable resolution?” Or, “What do you think is the next best step?”) are generally accepted as productive best practices.

Workplace Bullies

Bullies take a toll on their victims physically, mentally and emotionally and their behavior is repetitive, systematic and directed at specific individuals versus generally bad behavior towards all.

There are several types of bullies including the “Critic”, The “Conniver”, The “Raging Bull” and the “Gatekeeper”.  While the Critic and the Raging Bull are more easily recognized, it is the Conniver (one who manipulates, gossips and undermines another) and/or the Gatekeeper (one who publicly offers support and then secretly withholds support and resources) that are the most difficult work relationships to improve.

Several governments have undertaken studies about the impact and increasing role of workplace bullying. In some studies,  80% of bullying is conducted by supervisors.  A recent Gallup Poll reflects support for these findings, as up to 70% of workers are disengaged from their work and the most common complaints relate to the quality of the employee’s relationship with his/her team leader.

There are several helpful resources including the website KickBully (which provides a variety of insights, and responses – albeit some unrecommended retorts).

Communication

In the previous post on “Difficult People” a quote related to Martin Luther King Jr. points out that “we fear one another because we do not know one another, and we do not know one another because we don’t know how to communicate with one another“.

I think that is true.  One of my favorite authors is Dr. Deborah Tannen. Dr. Tannen is a Linguistics Professor at Georgetown University.  Her book “Talking 9:00 to 5:00 Men & Women at Work” offers practical insights and take-away advice.

Communication problems do not just occur between men and women, but as previously stated they can occur between anyone due to differences in traits, motivations and priorities.

Motivations/Traits

I often recommend the group PI (Predictive Index) who provide an outstanding assessment/learning tool for those organizations who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the motivations and traits of their workforce.

In 1991 I was given a PI by a potential employer.  A brief outline of my chief traits and motivations was provided to me at the interview.  After obtaining the job as “Director of Marketing & Training” – I learned how the assessment provides a great platform for effective leadership and communication with team members.

If you have any additional resources, comments or insights – please feel free to share!

Try this, google “dealing with difficult people at work”.

What number of results did you get?  We got 12,100,000.  This is a BIG problem for a lot of people.  Gossips, Know-it-alls, The Unteachables, The Stealth Saboteur, Wishy-Washy, the Politician and more -

Sometimes difficulty with others boils down to misunderstanding motivations or personalities, other times there are character flaws which no amount of “trying” will fix. Tough decisions follow absorbing that realization.  Nonetheless, we have to figure out how not to just survive in our job, but thrive.

Let’s explore solutions together. Check back next week for ideas and/or feel free to post your thoughts.

RMO generates leads through resident referrals on social networks – so smart. So effective!  If you haven’t had a chance to look at them online – we highly recommend it!

To get gain some insight and statistics on traditional advertising (corporate-formulas) and the impact it has on today’s consumer,  read our last blog on “Help not Hype – Customer Service 2011”

Once again, a well-deserved “BRAVO!” to Ed Spiegel and his Rent Mine Online team!

• People are more mistrustful than ever about hype and corporate ads.
• Over seventy percent of people trust referrals from friends, colleagues and family.
• Satisfying your customers expectations is not a competitive advantage whereas engaging customers and maintaining their loyalty is a powerful competitive advantage.

SATISFACTION vs. LOYALTY

In the creation of customer satisfaction surveys, measurement and analysis of feedback and ratings, you have to be careful of assumptions.  It is imperative that you find out what drives the satisfaction ratings.  Retention alone is not a good indicator of customer satisfaction.

For example, I fly a lot.  Generally, I will use a service like Expedia or Kayak to procure the best values on airfare.  Using one carrier for my inbound flight, another carrier for my outbound trip.  I definitely have a few favorite airlines and the rest I tolerate.  Now, the airlines I tolerate may assume I’m a satisfied customer because they have retained a measure of my business over a sustained amount of time, but when and if my preferred airlines are available – I’ll pick them every time.  I refer people to my favorites, talk about their service during various presentations and look for their name/logo first when searching flight options.

So, satisfaction (fulfilling my expectation) is important – but it does not mean that I believe the hype that you use or that I am an engaged customer who refers business to you.

HYPE

If “presenting” your services, community, or organization means that your sales team becomes a “talking brochure” – I tuned out at “Hello Deb, Let me tell you . . .”

Having survived through a rough economy – consumers are determined to get the best value for their hard-earned dollar, take pride in being very well-informed prior to starting a conversation with a salesperson, cynical and are turned-off by “corporate ads or sales talk”.

Being professional, friendly and having a strong measure of product knowledge means that you are on par with what a customer expects.

The good news for people who sell for a living?

Being authentic, exceptionally helpful* (*as defined by customer terms/not yours) and customer-centric in the solutions you offer are competitive advantages.  Being fake, offering mediocre service and/or generic solutions is a determent.

In fact, if you train your salespeople to view interactions with customers as a service experience (“how can I help you?“) instead of a “sales presentation” (“how can I sell you what I have?”) you are moving in the right direction.

ENGAGE ME

Whether marketing or selling your product or services to me for the first time or when trying to retain me as a customer – you must engage me.  To engage me you have to communicate in ways that resonate. For example:

On Your Website Offer:

-Relational Stories (share with me – by telling me more about how your business got started, how you “give-back” to the community, how you recovered from a mistake, or what you’ve learned from customers like me and less about how great you are).

In Person or Online:

-Give Customers A Voice (invite me to speak my mind, partner with me to resolve issues or come up with great solutions and demonstrate active listening skills).

BRAND AMBASSADORS (REFERRALS)

If you satisfy my expectations (at a minimum) and engage me on a relational level – in all likelihood – I will refer others to you in a natural way (natural for me – means online).  Make it easy for me to become an ambassador of your brand by:

-Making Referrals Simple (create e-postcards that I can send to people within my circle of influence, have a blog that I can refer my friends or colleagues to and/or an e-newsletter that I can forward. In short, provide me with online referral tools instead of paper flyers)

I would love to hear your thoughts – please comment below. Next time, we’ll explore  what American consumers want in exchange for their loyalty.

In January of 2010, the principals of Pegasus Residential discovered that they had won a contest, awarding a $100K Extreme Corporate Makeover compliments of Discover True North (DTN), (an agency that provides consulting, training and web design services) and a host of other, well-respected alliance partners.

Old Pegasus Brand Website

The contest was created to recognize and reward a company within the multifamily industry that had created or sustained a positive work culture in tough economic times. An advisory committee

made up of twenty industry experts had the opportunity to cast his or her vote for a trio of semi-finalists, with Pegasus emerging as the winner.

Deb Bronson-McGrath (CEO of DTN) notes, “As we worked with Pegasus on creating a brand that mirrored their strengths internally and externally – we discovered leaders at the helm and associates throughout the Pegasus work culture that truly understood (and consistently delivered) ‘referral-worthy’ service. Naturally, referrals from happy customers have followed – so it doesn’t surprise me that they have become one of the nation’s fastest growing 3rd party management firms in a short period of time.”

Old Pegasus Logo and Interior Home Page (new Logo upper left corner)

In addition to the branding and performance improvement consultation services provided by DTN, Pegasus Residential embraced a variety of dynamic services from DTN’s alliance partners including a revolutionized social media program provided by Brent Williams,(Founder of Multifamily Insiders), strategic planning services (a customer satisfaction benchmarking consultation from industry experts at SatisFacts Research, LLC), and training services (online training courses from the industry’s leading provider of web-based education) from Grace Hill.

Chris Lawrence, Vice-President-South East and Principal of Pegasus Residential shares, “Pegasus was incredibly honored to be selected by DTN, and its alliance partners, as the winner of the $100k Extreme Corporate Makeover in 2010! Our experience has been nothing short of amazing.

New Pegasus Brand (Logo & Website)

Watching our vision for Pegasus be embraced, and in many ways redefined, over the last year by so many talented individuals has been a truly unique and rewarding experience. We want to thank each alliance partner for their contribution and are excited to be continuing our relationship into 2012 with DTN, and many of its partners, as a direct result of this superb experience! “

ABOUT PEGASUS RESIDENTIAL: Despite turbulent economic conditions, Pegasus Residential was launched in January 2009 by its principals Lindy Ware, Chris Lawrence and Debbie Conley with a bold vision of revolutionizing third party management. Integrating their unique strengths and rich experience, Lindy, Chris and Debbie began to create a truly unique work culture that was inviting to high-achievers and structured their responsibilities so that they could lead their team of overachievers in a truly “hands-on” fashion. Specializing in luxury-level management in a variety of markets, Pegasus Residential employs multifamily experts that deliver high-yield results with incomparable results. Success is (literally) determined by referrals.

ABOUT DISCOVER TRUE NORTH: Discover True North, LLC provides branding and performance improvement consultation, training services and web design solutions. Passionate about helping organizations create systematic change that improves customer satisfaction – Discover True North is known for delivering high-caliber results while helping companies move beyond average to extraordinary.

To begin -

What does the country doctor of yesteryear, the street vendor in India and the successful business (despite current economic conditions) around the corner all have in common?  It is their commitment to knowing their customers well, developing a relationship with them and aligning their business practices to satisfy the needs of their customers.

In today’s competitive world, effective customer satisfaction is so much more than simply solving problems; it is also about knowing your customers well and acting on that knowledge.

Customer service can be broken into three separate components:

1. The Process of Customer Service: Various interaction opportunities that you have with your residents.
2. The Attitude of Customer Satisfaction: The resident is satisfied in the moment with the matter at hand.
3. The Commitment of Customer Loyalty: The resident remains even when there are less expensive or more worthy options available and refers future residents to your company or community.

When creating a strategy for your community, practice, or company, all three aspects must be incorporated.  A good place to start refining your customer service strategy is evaluating your current communication methods with residents, whether it be conversations, transactions, correspondence, on-line  surveys, etc.

Take a hard look at current operations and evaluate performance from the customer’s viewpoint. Are you asking about the things that really matter to them?

Are your services and interactions customer-centric?

For multifamily professionals, your team thinks of your product in terms of “units”, your resident thinks of the product as, “home”. You think of moving people in and out of the community as “business as usual”, your resident often perceives moving as one of the top 5 stresses in life.

You think of the community as a place to escape from at the end of a busy day, your residents want to feel like that is the place to escape to after their busy day.

For our friends in the medical industry, most of your patients will try to avoid coming to see you (not typically a personal – but fear or convenience based thing), but your staff sees most of the procedures they will do that day (cleaning teeth, drawing blood, etc.) as routine. The opportunity to bridge the patient from “fear” to at the very least “trust” is lost.

For those in non-profit, many of your donors would truly appreciate knowing how their hard-earned dollars/ donations or volunteered time, specifically “made a difference.” Your staff might (not always) thank the individual or firm for their donation or volunteer work, and when they do – it is often in a “general, perfunctory manner”.  The result? Enthusiam deflates.

Our next post will explore the fact that “retention” of a customer is not necessarily equated with either satisfaction or their loyalty.

1) For new hires, create an “Oprah-style” set with armchairs (maybe a potted plant or two and if possible a tv for any video segments you might run).  Invite veterans or people with proven skill sets on your team to serve as guests.  Prep the guests with questions you will ask.  During the talk show, interview the “guests” and let the audience ask questions.  Creating a talk show environment tends to really engage the learners and allows for a great deal of interaction between experienced team members and relatively new ones.

Note:  There are an extraordinary number of books on games, activities and icebreakers – my key tip – make sure it is relevant, the point of the activity is strong and that the group size is appropriate.

2) For intermediate level training – use “recall” games – ala Jeopardy – for a fun, challenging part of your agenda.  A PowerPoint template is provided here.

A great source for creating your own games is “Thiagi’s 100 Favorite Games.”

Authenticity
Compass Reading: You may believe that if you blow it, it is better to play it cool. Perhaps, the people following you won’t notice or if you talk in circles about a delayed decision or a dropped ball, they will eventually shrug their shoulders and say, “Whatever.” You believe it is the supervisor’s responsibility and burden to “protect people” from bad news and to “play down” your mistakes, after all, you’re the mentor.
True-North Reading: The truth is – you will blow it. Daily. Most of the people who report to you are not fooled and they do care. It generally seems safer politically for the employee to pretend not to notice or care. Instead, take advantage of those “dropped balls” and use them as yet another opportunity to “be real”.

Earn respect and be credible when you make a mistake. Own it. Work out a solution. And then, get over it. Your team will. Quickly. Why?

Because they have learned from watching your actions that they can count on you to be authentic. You have become a role model demonstrating how they should act when they blow it (in case you haven’t noticed they will make mistakes, daily).

Rather than “protecting people” from news that is less than favorable, in most cases it is wise to let them be a part of the remedy.

Application: Being authentic and dropping the mask is a pretty rare quality. It has everything to do with character and nothing to do politics. I’ve spent over 18 years providing performance consulting and I can tell you that one of the greatest challenges executives’ face is being willing to show enough vulnerability to earn the respect and loyalty of their customers (both internal and external).

I’m not advocating, for a daily unloading of faults and foibles. I am challenging you however to be the kind of leader that you wish that you would have had throughout your career. The individual who not just teaches you the ropes, but also shows you the scars from rope-burns and is wise enough to learn from you as well.

Quote: “Real generosity to the future lies in giving all to the present.”—Albert Camus

Conclusion:  Since you most likely will be spending almost ¾’s of your adult life working, I encourage you to not simply survive your career. Rather than spending your time in a blur of activity . . . Pause. Reflect.

Forge ahead; true north to living a life of significance and making a positive impact on those around you.  Find your Polaris and engage, no, invest yourself in choosing to be a leader who is on-purpose.

According to Bronson-McGrath, training that does not include these two critical steps—at the beginning and at the end of the training process—“perpetuates poor ROI and makes little or no impact on improved performance.” When faced with a perceived need for educating their staff, apartment companies need to first analyze the cause of the unsatisfactory performance— and it is not always a lack of training. “If the performance shortfall was caused by a deficiency in skill, knowledge or experience, then training is the solution,” says Bronson-McGrath. But rather than just lack of training, the issue could have been motivational, organizational, procedural or one related to workplace capacity. “By first conducting an analysis, you may discover that, in fact, training is not the most effective solution to any given challenge,” says Bronson-McGrath.

You can read the entire article in the PDF viewer below. Click here to check out the rest of the digital issue of MHN.

Alliances or Partnerships

Compass Reading: As a supervisor, you need to have a lot of the answers (not all mind you, but a good number of them), be able to unclog the work flow pipelines whenever they break down and put out fires when they occur. You are a problem-solver and have the experience to make results happen under your watchful eye.
True-North Reading: If your job as a leader is mainly comprised of fixing situations, people or projects, something is seriously off base. In times of true emergency, autocratic leadership is generally best until the situation has stabilized, but what about all the times urgent issues arise that masquerade as a “crisis”?

It takes strength to say, “Take the next day or two and put together a solution or a plan of action to handle this. We’ll sit down and review it and I’ll mentor you and support you through all the way. I believe in you.”

Sure.

You could handle the “urgent problem” with your eyes closed. You could rattle off marching orders that (lickety-split) solve the issue and everyone draws a sigh of relief because there is no discomfort or stress involved. No thinking, growing or stretching required. Plus, if the solution fails, the blame lies with “you”, not “them”.

Application: True-North Leadership requires that you build alliances or partnerships with your team.  Give them opportunity to risk, demand on-purpose action and most certainly, growth will occur.

Work towards developing a “swat team” (team of experts). Work toward creating an alliance of team members where each individual knows their attributes, is confident in your commitment of mentoring them and disarms their self due to your dedication to supporting them on their individual (and team) areas that need improvement.

The team will learn to trust you, and walk on their own two feet heading true-north, not because you’ll “catch them if they don’t”, but because you have taught them to believe anything less than their best effort is beneath their value and potential.

Quote: “He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.”

—Abraham Lincoln