I am always thankful for the opportunity to write for Contact Center Pipeline.  The publication provides consistenly relevant information for contact center leaders.  I am honored to be a part of the writing team several times each year.

The December issue is filled with great information and includes my article “Leading The Culture Shift.” The article offers nine steps for redefining the vision, mission, strategy, goals and tactics of the organization - along with steps to understand and shift the culture based on those goals.  It does not offer a quick-fix but a long-term strategy for success.

“Culture is not what the management team says but what employees say when management is not around.  Culture is the “story” they tell friends and family when they talk about their job.”

You can download a free copy of the entire December magazine here:   Click Here

I heard a speaker today talk about how to lead a productive and happy life. He talked about the need to keep a positive and focused attitude. The angle for his speech was to explore what music is playing in your head. Is it a positive song with expectations for positive outcomes or is it a song of negative thoughts?

I had a friend tell me recently that the “little voice in his head” was nagging him to do something new with his life. Now if you knew my friend you would probably ask the same thing I did – are you sure that it is one voice or many? Because if “you are hearing voices in your head you may have a different problem.” So let me ask you this – what is the little voice in your head telling you? Are you one of those people that starts the day with a positive spin on life or do you tend to look at the negative possibilities.

As I stood in line for my daily shot of caffeine, a guy walked in the door with a coffee in his hand.  He sorta stepped to the front of the line and said, “I just went through the drive-through and this is not what I ordered.”  Being a customer service kind of guy, my expectation was that the lady behind the counter would apologize - nothing big or dramatic but a simple “Oh, I’m sorry - how can I make it right?”  But the answer did not include one of the most simple tenants of customer interaction; instead she asked him what he ordered?  He told her (I cannot remember the details because it was one of those silly multi-word coffee orders that included “extra hot.”)  She then said, “what is wrong with it?”  He said he was not sure but that he ordered it almost every day and that in addition to not being extra hot, it did not taste right.

I know that driving distracted is a serious issue.  Nationwide Insurance recently released a study that that includes data from the University of Utah that says “distraction from cell phone use while driving (hand held or hands free) extends a driver’s reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.”  But, as I was driving through the state of Kentucky this past week, I saw something that hit me as funny.   The signs that span interstate 65 had a flashing message  that read “Driving Distracted is Dangerous Driving!”  Is it just me or is it ironic that the big flashing sign that distracted me was put there to remind me that I should not be distracted?  Sorta crazy, huh?

So what does this have to do with frontline management and customer experience?  Glad you asked!

I went to dinner the other night with friends that have several young kids.  The conversation moved to their new school and how they are adapting to the change.  The 10 year old son said something funny that stuck with me.  He said, “I don’t think my Spanish teacher likes me… because she does not spend as much time with me as with the other kids.”  Interesting that at the young age he has already figured out the code - CARING = TIME.

So here is the question of the day.  Who are you not spending time with on your team or in your organization?  Who is feeling a little under-loved because they notice that they do not get as much time as others.  As a leader we are sometimes guilty of spending a lot of time hanging out with the “successful” people on the team because it is easy.  We then spend a lot of time with the “problem” people because they need the time.  Guess who gets left out?  The middle kid.  The employee who is doing good work but not winning the awards.

Schedule some time today or tomorrow to spend some time with the ones you have neglected.  Don’t them them feel like “I don’t think she/he likes me…..”

So the ACCE 2009 conference is now in the history books.  I enjoyed the conference and reached a new level in Twitter communications this week.  You can follow me @bobfurniss – I will say that it has been a learning experience (lesson learned: check names, spelling and hash-tags BEFORE you hit send!)

I had the opportunity to speak about culture.  My session “Culture Shift – Moving People Forward™” was a lot of fun - full room, great engagement!  I really do love the rush of being on stage!  Thanks to the folks that attended who asked good questions, took notes and laughed at the right times.  We talked about the seven steps to transforming the  culture of a company, a call center or a team.  I am working on a white-paper on the subject and will make it available here soon.

Here are a couple of additional highlights:

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to speak at the local chamber in my city - the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce.  The lunch-time program is always packed but they give me eight minutes each week and asked me to share some networking ideas for the members.  It has been a great place to network for me and sharing the tips each month has opened some new doors for my business.  I decided that it might be helpful to share the ideas here.  Hope you find some value.

How to Work a Room:

Most company leaders will tell you that they seek to build a culture of passionate people. They want their employees to have passion for their job, the company and especially the customer. Yet they often find it hard to define "passion."

To an executive of a national consumer electronics company, passion means that his customer service employees do more than simply satisfy the customers; he wants them to create "groupies" for the company's products.

While sales were up, customer satisfaction was on a slight decline. Quality scores in the call center indicated that agents were not doing a good job of building rapport with customers. They were going through the motions.

So the company embarked on a mission to strengthen the culture of its call center organization by turning up the level of passion. But the company first needed to create passionate leaders capable of passing on their passion to frontline employees.

What kind of leader is needed in this new passionate culture? Companyculture.com defines culture as the company's personality. The culture tells people how to do their work and takes its signals from leaders.

Relationships often define our happiness and our outlook on life. We are taught, from the time we enter kindergarten, that we must relate to others. We must share our toys, respect others' space and defer to authority. College psychology professors teach us that our relationships with our parents will profoundly impact our levels of success in life. Romantic relationships open doors to new happiness or heartbreak. The one relationship that probably affects our daily lives more than any other is the relationship with a boss.

Almost everyone has had a bad relationship with a boss drive us away from what was otherwise a good job or company. But consider how many times you have hung on to a bad job when the relationship with your boss was strong!

In customer service jobs all across America, the relationship between the frontline employee and the direct manager is a key element in the happiness of the employee. In his book, Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford To Live Without (Gallup Press, 2006), Tom Rath evaluated more than 5 million Gallup surveys and found that "when employees have close friendships with their boss, they are more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs." This level of happiness converts into the positive treatment of customers, which drives the bottom line.

Have you ever wondered why Starbucks employees ask for your name when they take your order? I discovered the real reason in Joseph Michelli's book, The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary (McGraw-Hill, 2006). It is so the employees can learn your name and ultimately attach it to your order. As a certified Starbucks caffeine junky, I can attest that it is not unusual for someone to welcome me to "my" store by my first name and for the drink to already be made when I reach the counter.

This shows how Starbucks has worked behind the scenes to establish formal "rules" that create a warm, informal feel and make customers welcome. More than that, their employees clearly like working there. It's the epitome of an employee ambassador.

Many companies, while understanding that their frontline employees are often the first connection to their most important clients, often forget that those employees have to actually like the company—and their job—to serve as employee ambassadors and "spread the right message" of goodwill. These employees must also be given the right tools and information.

So, how do you build ambassadors of goodwill? Try these four suggestions: