In better serving colleagues, we better serve our customers.
I am not talking about serving the needs of soul-sucking managers who load us up with disconnected tasks which only serve their egos. Or, KPIs and bonuses. (Because that is what you were thinking,)
Instead, I am talking about serving each other alongside colleagues (including managers) who understand how to create differentiated value. Across the organization, not just within their specific departments.
Because that thinking is rare. And those managers are servant leaders. With those values and core competencies, these insightful and courageous managers will get promoted to a leadership role.
So who will manage next? You? Then, how about starting right now, right here.
Small acts catalyze our better serving colleagues.
I am not talking about bringing in home-baked, gluten-free pastries for breakfast. Unless, that is, you can do so, effortlessly. I have a colleague who does exactly this. Can you imagine how everyone in her department’s day goes, after a start like this? Oh, in addition, she is an amazing medical physicist working with equally amazing colleagues to develop cancer treatments. She serves her colleagues first (literally, yum!). So, together, they better serve their customers: their patients. (Even on the days she does not bring in home-baked goods.)
And, believe me, she does not have an existential crisis about whether her baking skills are impeding her career trajectory as a STEM professional. Her baking creations are extension of who she is: a Person of Worth and a Professional of Worth. As all of us are.
Then, again, how can we encourage – through small actions – the development of our colleagues? Sometimes, (after those baked goods) all it takes is making it OK to “not know” or “ask for help” without fear of punishment. Or, receiving a bad mark on our performance reviews. Because when the workplace is focused on better serving colleagues first, we create a resource network of other colleagues. Across the organization. Who have those missing puzzle pieces of insights, knowledge and information. Which enhance the quality and profitability of client-focused outcomes.
Do each of us “know“ who our resource network is, when we run out of answers, options and insights when serving our customers? Time to start developing this type of resource network?
In better serving colleagues, we drive revenue: through our own organization and our customers’. That strategy is a compelling human capital strategy.
Driving revenue is part of everyone’s job description, stated or not. In today’s high velocity, technologically-connected workplaces, software interfaces and equipment often communicate far more productively and profitably than their human counterparts.
When I speak to, and work with, organizations and associations, it is because they wrestle with the gaps and disconnects between technology and people capabilities. And I know no better way to bridge those gaps than by discovering, creating and telling stories, together. Because, those stories reflect the client-focused value employees create when their small actions reach beyond job titles, pay grades, levels of education and generations.
Focused employee and customer outcomes create extraordinary and enduring employee and client experiences.
Wondering about your next steps? Keep reading.
- Need a catalyst to collaborate with you and coach you one-on-one or as a small group? Planning your next corporate or association meeting? Engage me to present one of my speaking programs, workshops or moderated facilitation services. Contact me here.
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Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset® Storytelling Speaking Programs, Workshops and Facilitation Services leverage storytelling for STEM professionals and left brain thinkers to catalyze employee and customer success and retention. She motivates individuals and teams to combine courage, curiosity and critical thinking skills to co-create compelling stories which inspire trust in one another. Especially in industries with STEM and left-brain stakeholders. Babette is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of communication hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact Babette here. Image source: Adobe Stock
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