3D Juggling 507: Looking carefully

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Christmas from all the 3D Team: Claire, Lynn, Jane and Sue; Liz, Clare, Peronel, Su, Richard, Nadia, and Kate.

Jane writes: "Last year I was visiting family and friends in Australia at Christmas and for the first time I didn’t put up any decorations in my house.  My friend, who considers the festive season to have truly arrived once she can see my tree lights sparkling from her window, expressed her disappointment.  This year I determined to make a show, and was looking forward to decorating my tree.  I carefully (so I thought) tested the tree lights before draping them over the branches and adding an uncoordinated array of baubles and silver foil bells made by the little people in my life.  Then I turned them on again and – you guessed – they didn’t work!   

Actually that’s not strictly true.  The blue and green bulbs worked, but not the yellow and red ones.  I realised that when I’d checked them I’d just looked to see if they lit up - I took a quick glance, saw twinkling, and was satisfied. 

This is a time of year for looking carefully – to see who might need our help to be able to enjoy the festivities without feeling lonely or overwhelmed, or maybe needs support and encouragement as they face uncertainty about their job.  Where could you be looking?  How could you help? 

We should also look for opportunities to enjoy ourselves. I managed to disentangle the lights from my tree and they have been replaced by some new ones –along with some caramel filled chocolate bells. Mmmm!"

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/


© 2010 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely.  Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

3D Juggling 499: Who comes first?

Jane writes:  "It's been another week of cuts and we still haven't reached the Spending Review in the UK.  There is an increasingly limited amount of funding available to support any kind of coaching and training in organisations.  How can limited resources be used to have maximum impact on organisational effectiveness?

Customers and volunteers respond to many things, including products, prices, location, and advertising. They also respond to their experience of people.  Maya Angelou, an American poet, said “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

One way of increasing effectiveness is to reduce the amount of time spent in responding to complaints and concerns raised by customers, volunteers and other stakeholders. Feedback from customers, whether they are collecting mail from a Royal Mail delivery office, receiving treatment at a hospital, or trying to return a faulty item to a store, is often related to the attitude and behaviour of staff. And the attitude and behaviour staff is likely to be influenced by the way that they are treated by their managers and colleagues.

From my experience of working in organisations I formed the view that the people who really need to be put first are employees and volunteers. If you get it right for them they will get it right for your customers.

It can take a long time to develop loyalty in a customer or volunteer - and just seconds to lose it. How do your employees, colleagues, or volunteers make customers/clients/visitors feel? Do they know? Are they interested? They should be."

Talk to us about how we can help you to develop a culture where staff feel valued, engaged and empowered, and where customers experience positive attitudes and behaviours.

See People Management from 12 August 2010 to read how an IT company with 60,000 staff implemented a management approach that put employees first and customers second.  It achieved dramatic improvements in performance underpinned by a 70% increase in employee satisfaction. During a recession.

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/


© 2010 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely.  Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

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