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You are here: Home / Customer Experience, Success, Loyalty, Retention / Times that try your patience…

Times that try your patience…

May 18, 2011 by Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

How patient an individual are you?

Let’s face it, some of our days are better than others.  We are bothered by quotas we have failed to meet (e.g.,  other people’s expectations which are ruling our life), deadlines we have to make, a change in the supply chain or just plain that we were late to work because of traffic.

While we are settling into perhaps what we feel will be an idyllic workday, we get “that” phone call from one of our clients or have to actually meet with them face-to-face.

How do you temper, well, your temper? Harnessing all the factors which are flying around in our daily lives can be like trying to tame the cosmos. Or sail on rough waters. Yet we have to do that in our professional – and personal – capacities. And sometimes, this isn’t very easy.

Your customers really do not care whether your sitter was late, your child was ill, you are over-stretched at the bank, your boss just quit or you didn’t get that promotion you wanted. Even if you feel you have “connected” with your customers and have a “relationship.” When it comes down to it, their expectations from your relationship focus on your ability to deliver the goods and services they have contracted to receive from your company. Period. They are not interested in hearing excuses or even anecdotal personal chit-chat at the front end of your conversation with them.  It devalues their perception of why they work with you.

While I’m not suggesting that you compartmentalize, you actually do have to put all the disruptive “stuff” on your mental back burner and focus on your professional priorities for the day. (A note: I certainly am not talking about suppressing health-related or other serious issues, which may cause you to cancel appointments, etc.)

Sometimes, on a daily basis, you have to take a deep breath, try to find your personal view of that day’s horizon, and focus on where you are trying to sail to and what you want to accomplish.  Getting caught up in the daily stuff – including company gossip and melodrama – can be disruptive and counterproductive even if everyone else is talking about it. Reading one more email or toggling back and forth on Facebook or a chat room can wait.

Finding your focus for the day before you get to the workplace, even the night before, can be an important means of centering yourself for the day. How many of you plan your day, at least conceptually, the evening before you go to work? Or do you let the day “happen” to you? Having a plan for the day allows you to accommodate the curves that life – and your customers – will throw at you. And while everything may not necessarily happen the way you envisioned it, having some idea of the course you need to take, as well as want to take, for each day allows you to manage your time more wisely and productively.

It’s a matter of disciplining yourself and keeping yourself “in shape” to work, which may include getting up from your chair once each hour to stretch your back and legs. Or getting a drink of water to make sure you are keeping hydrated. Or reading the RSS feeds about your industry and the world in general to determine the trends  impacting your profession and your company.  Take some time to get a plan and a focus for each day.

You may find out you are more productive, patient and enthusiastic throughout the course of the day. Think about it.

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Filed Under: Customer Experience, Success, Loyalty, Retention, Professional Development Tagged With: patience in the workplace, personal core values, professional development

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