Help Your Employees Provide Better INTERNAL Service!

First, ask yourself...
Would you like employees within your company to make the effort to go above and beyond, for each other?



Focusing on providing an outstanding level of service to internal customers can do wonders for teamwork, conflict resolution and communication - but unless everyone is on the exact same page with what "outstanding service" truly is, we are setting people up to fail in terms of meeting our expectations as well as those of the organization.

The first thing that must be done to develop an effective and consistent internal customer focus is to clearly define exactly what you expect. All companies have visions, but very few have what is called a service vision. A service vision is not much different than an overall company vision - it is realistic, easy to interpret, commonly understood by all, inspiring, and meaningful. Its purpose is to describe the type of service the organization expects, and provide a road map for individuals as to how to act with, and treat others.

Remember, it is one thing to expect individual employees to provide above and beyond service for each other, and it's another thing for them to FIRST clearly understand what "above and beyond service" really is. When this is true and the vision is effectively communicated through the organization, employees will be
motivated to live it, they will be confident that that same level of service will be reciprocated for them, relationships with strengthen, attitudes will become much better, and even the service provided to the external customer will be enhanced as well!

**This week's tip was taken from "Internal & External Customer Focus" which is the August session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.

Encourage Your Employees to Embrace Accountability!

First, ask yourself...
Would you like for more of your employees to take ownership in achieving their goals?


Everyone has goals they are working towards. Obviously, your employees are no different. But spending time trying to "hold them accountable" to achieving those goals can be time-consuming, frustrating, and give you the feeling that all you do is go around putting out fires. What we, as leaders, need to do is to help others make the choice to take ownership in achieving their goals...so you don't have to!

For this to happen, there are many critical steps that leaders should follow. One of the easiest is to involve your employees in the goal-setting process. If they are involved in determining the goals, and are given the chance to provide their input, they will be much more likely to do whatever is necessary to ensure success. Plus, involving them in the goal-setting process helps to ensure that the goal is emotionally meaningful to them (which will have an impact on their motivation to achieve it) and in the situations where the goal might NOT be meaningful, or possibly too unrealistic (which will deter them from putting in max effort) they will have the chance to tell you so it can be adjusted!

When you are successful in this practice, you will spend less time trying to hold others accountable because you have successfully created a culture of accountability!

Motivate Your Employees Through The Change Process!

First, ask yourself...
Do your employees ever "lose steam" at some point of the process during a big change?


Going through change is difficult for many reasons. Change requires people to take a chance, step out of their comfort zone, and possibly do things they have never been asked to do before. We as leaders must do all that we can to ensure we get the best possible result from the changes we decide to implement.

To achieve the best possible outcomes from change, we will need the commitment, motivation, and effort from each and every one of our employees throughout the entire change process. To help make sure this happens, we should try to "create victories" for them as much as possible. They desire to know that their efforts are working, and that they are making progress or accomplishing something with all of their hard work. Creating victories can come in many different forms- anything from sharing a weekly progress report, to e-mailing an update, to giving periodic awards to people for accomplishing specific goals related to the change.

Showing our employees that they are doing a great job, the changes they are trying to make are working, and that they are on the right path, will help to keep them properly motivated and their minds focused on the end goal.

Do a Better Job Resolving Conflicts!

First, ask yourself...
Would you like to have better success resolving conflicts with your colleagues?

Contrary to what most people think, successful conflict resolution does NOT begin with the actual realization that there is a conflict at hand. So, where does it start? It starts with the relationship you have with the other party! This means that your ability to resolve a conflict in October might have begun in January when you first started working with that person.

Having a track record of working with the other party to resolve conflicts, having an open line of communication already established, and trusting that the other party has integrity and a mutual best interest at heart are all things that will come into play when trying to resolve the conflict at hand.

Without a solid relationship already in place, when a conflict does arise, both parties will be much more likely to only care about their own interests and not be willing to have an open dialogue - which will significantly hinder your ability to find a quick and positive resolution to the issue. The stronger and more trusting your relationship is with the other party, the greater the chances are that you will be able to find common ground on your issue, ensuring BOTH parties leave feeling satisfied.

**This week's tip was taken from "Resolving Conflict Successfully" which is the September session of The Compass Program. Click Here to view the schedule of all 12 sessions for The Compass Program.

Motivate Your Employees to Commit to a Common Vision

Is each member of your team moving in the exact same direction, pursuing the same objectives?


As leaders, it is critical that we create a culture where everyone is working to achieve one common goal, pursuing one common vision. If there is NOT a common vision for the team to work towards, there is no way we can expect the individuals to put the team first, to go above and beyond for the good of the team, and to ultimately put in maximum effort to help ensure that the team goals and objectives are accomplished.

If you don't currently have a vision (one that is communicated throughout your entire team or company), create one! When getting started on your vision, keep in mind that effective visions have 5 main characteristics: Realistic, Easy to Understand, Commonly Understood, Inspiring, and Meaningful.

Creating a vision, and helping others to become motivated to work towards it is the only way to create an environment where employees are willing to put in the absolute highest level of commitment. An organizational vision is something larger than each person's job title or duties. It is something each employee can rally around, something they can be proud of, something that motivates them to be the best they can be day in and day out, even when nobody is looking!

Tip for Coaching Employees

First, ask yourself...
Would you like to be a more effective coach for EACH and EVERY employee of yours?


Today, more and more companies are trying to build an "environment of learning" by attempting to coach employees, rather than simply manage them. For this to be effective, leaders must first understand that coaching everyone in the exact same way, with a broad brush, is not effective or acceptable. A successful coach/coachee relationship is completely reliant on the coach first knowing as much about the individual coachee as possible.

To successfully coach an employee (which will ultimately help them to learn and produce better results) there are many questions about the coachee you should be able to answer. A few of them are: What are THEIR strengths and weaknesses? How do THEY prefer feedback, and how often do they prefer it? What motivates THEM? What are THEIR personal and professional goals? Do THEY desire to be promoted? What skills would THEY like to learn and develop for themselves?

Knowing the answers to these questions will not only strengthen your relationship, but will set the foundation for you to lead/coach them as an individual. Doing so will also help you to align their goals to your goals and the goals of the organization- creating a strong level of synergy and commitment between all parties.

Providing Better Service

First, ask yourself...Would you like to provide better service to each and every unique customer that you have?


Regardless if we are referring to external customers or internal customers (internal customers being our employees, co-workers, superiors, business partners, etc.), the only way to build strong, loyal relationships in today's extremely competitive environment is to provide the absolute best, most above-and-beyond service possible. But here is the problem: each and every customer is different, which means that what one customer might consider to be excellent service might simply be average to the next.

The only way to provide the absolute best service to ALL of our customers is to service them through what's called The Customer Paradigm. This means that instead of worrying about what you feel to be good service, you are only concerned with their opinion. We can begin to operate under The Customer Paradigm by asking ourselves specific questions, such as: How do THEY feel about my service? What do THEY really want? What do THEY consider to be excellent service? What do I know about THEIR preferences? How can I improve on our past interaction to make it better, according to THEM?

The key is remembering that just because YOU feel you did a great job doesn't mean they feel the same way, and their opinion is the only one that really counts. In order to make sure your customers have an A+ experience every time, you should evaluate every aspect of your service (through their eyes) which will also help you to decide if there are any parts that could be fixed, changed, eliminated or improved to enhance their experience.