Laura Wolfe Coaching LLC

Supporting the Evolution of Careers, Leaders,

& Climate Consciousness

Understanding

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old phoneGee whiz, communicating with people is so complex nowadays. I can think of more than half-a-dozen channels right off the bat: phone, e-mail, direct message, fb, twitter, linkedin, text and the US Mail.

I am no communication expert but want to share my thoughts anyway.

You have to understand all these channels if you want to effectively communicate across the spectrum. Communication preference may be the newest facet of diversity.

Businesses should communicate with customers in the customer’s preferred mode, especially if it’s about a problem they are having with your service or product. If your customer fb messages you, reply via fb message. If they e-mail you, reply by e-mail. If they call you, call them back. I spend a lot of time on the phone while working so my preference is to deal with other matters by e-mail.

I’ve never seen this one written up but often hear people voice frustration because of it. Contact someone once and then wait for their response. Unless it is a real emergency, multiple messages can be very annoying.

The complexity is driven by technology and technology is constantly changing. You know the drill – be nimble, adaptable, flexible, and open to change.

 

As always, I’d love to hear what your thinking on this is.

Tom Peters

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In the early 90s, my major professor Karl Kuhnert introduced me to the work of Tom Peters via Peters’ Leadership Alliance video featuring Harley-Davidson, GM, and Johnsonville Sausage. In turn, I showed this video to my Org Behavior students at LSU for years.

Because it included such simple and classic lessons of leadership, I continued to use it even after the video seemed dated. One I’ve always remembered is Pat Carrigan, the first female General Motors assembly plant manager, walking around and introducing herself to all the employees on the factory floor and shaking their hands. What a powerful gesture.

I listened to a podcast of an excellent interview with Peters on Dan Pink’s Office Hours where he talked about experiences that influenced his management thinking. I also found out about his free resource – dozens of management lessons comprised of thousands of slides for studying and teaching management.

Who says a great education has to be expensive?

What I love

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mac and cheese at cochonYou know what I love? I love interacting with employees who really know their stuff – like the other night at the bar of Cochon, a fab restaurant with a sophisticated menu of complex items. We could not decide what food to order and it was wonderful that the bartender could describe specifically what the different dishes were and how they were prepared.

Contrast this with another recent dining-out experience when we were served by a waiter who couldn’t tell us what beers were available. Or my credit union where I am learning a lot of employees don’t know the correct answer to customer questions.

How do those places with the great employees do it? I believe that kind of service comes from smart, conscientious, trained and motivated employees whose skilled supervisors pay attention in an engaging and alive organization culture.

So many variable and challenging pieces to get right. It is tough because each part must be managed both separately and in combination. Some of these moving parts need to be tightly controlled and others should be handled like you would hold a baby bird.

When you leave a place talking about the cool and helpful service, you’re usually not thinking about the great managers and supervisors. But they were there.

And, an operation that makes it look easy? Wow.

 

As always, I’d love to hear what you think.

Time for Greatness

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Get around some greatness. You can find it all over the place – in architecture, museums, books, nature, community, movies, art, people, music, history, science. Get near it and absorb that energy. Do this while you are setting your goals for the new year. Breathe greatness in and infuse it into your new year plans.

My husband and I are fortunate to spend a lot of time in New Orleans where we stay a block away from the National WWII Museum. I simply can not get enough of that place. It is full of artifacts from a time when mere mortals became great and beat back heinous evil forces.

Besides the stuff and stories on display, we regularly see current and veteran members of our armed services visiting – people who sacrificed much for the greater good. To be around them and this history fills me with awe and admiration. I wonder will my life and work ever make that kind of difference in the world.

Recently, the B-17 bomber named My Gal Sal with an interesting history was moved to the museum campus. It was in pieces in the parking lot by us for a couple of weeks and we we were able to get pretty close. Standing so near something from that era can really choke me up.

Now is the time for setting goals and making plans. Do this in a mindset of greatness and then go forth to achieve it.

If your plans call for change, think about what you are listening to. I’m a big believer in the inspirational power of music to support and fuel transition. I’ve added a couple of new ones to the playlist.

Happy New Year everyone!!

As always, I’d love to hear what you think.