Have you just been promoted, just promoted someone or know someone who’s just been promoted? If so, I encourage you to visit
Tom On Leadership and listen to me being interviewed by Tom Cox tomorrow, Friday, at 3 p.m. EDT.

Tom and I will be talking about how to handle the first thirty days after your promotion — current Travelers on The Manager’s Journey will recognize some of the ideas and techniques I’ll be offering.

Those first thirty days can be a challenge, because you’re trying to get used to the idea of being a manager, learn the specifics of this particular management position and at the same time put out fires and deal with the daily functions of your new job. It’s tough, no question about that. But I have some ideas to help you, so do listen tomorrow if you can, and feel free to use the comments section for this post to give me your feedback on the show.

Yesterday I had to go downtown on the subway for a 9 a.m. appointment. Of course, the train was full of people going to work, expecting to arrive at their usual time. Unfortunately, the system was delayed because of not one but three medical emergencies on other trains.

This was frustrating, but not nearly as annoying as it might have been—because they kept us informed. There was the usual system-generated message about delays, but then the operator of our train came on. He introduced himself and apologized personally for the delay. “This is really unusual, folks, as we have three different incidents involving people having medical emergencies on the trains. I guess it could be heat-related, given the temperature this morning, but in any case we’re doing our best to get you moving again as soon as we can. We’ve stopped the train at a station, just in case any of you would like to get off here instead of your usual stop. I’ll keep you posted.”

When the service was finally restored—only about ten minutes later as it happened—he came on again. “Folks, I’ve just been informed that the delays have cleared and we’ll be good to go in a couple of minutes. So if any of you have stepped out onto the platform and would like to get back on the train, this would be a good time. Thanks for your patience—we’re off.”

There was less of the usual moaning and complaining, simply because the driver took it on himself to keep us informed. Do you provide a service that is sometimes unavoidably disrupted? Then you can keep your customers on your side by keeping them up to date on what’s happening. As always, it’s all about communication!

Examples of poor customer service are all around us — just look at the example in last week’s post and the others added in comments. But today I’m thinking about this from the other side.

Once again I was treating myself to a coffee, this time upstairs at my local supermarket. I thought I’d fuel up before facing the onslaught of the Saturday grocery shoppers. I noticed that the young woman behind the counter was going through the motions without much apparent enthusiasm — nothing new there, right?

But then I looked a bit further and noticed the people she was serving. No doubt they were all thinking about their groceries and the tasks at hand, probably without even realizing the result that had on their interaction with the server. One after another, they came to the head of the line and grunted their orders: Coffee…coffee and a muffin…one of those buns…coffee…coffee… Few said any more or even looked at the server. So where was her incentive to be “nice” and deliver fast, friendly service? We could argue, of course, that that is her job — but she’s also a human being!

I decided to be different from the others. She was wearing a name tag, so when my turn came I smiled at her and said, “Morning, Angela. I’ll have a coffee and one of those yummy muffins!” She smiled back, and when she gave me my change, I addressed her by name again and wished her a great day. Her whole face lit up as she wished me a good day as well. I hope I made hers just a bit better at least for a few moments.

Dealing with the grumpy public is a thankless task. Next time we’re tempted to complain about unfriendly service (as I have often done in this blog!), let’s consider whether our own attitude merits or encourages the friendly kind.

Have a great day — and help others have one too!

My early morning walk usually finishes with a coffee at my favourite coffee shop. I’ve been going there so long that it’s now one of those places where, in the words of the old TV program slogan, “everybody knows your name.” This morning, though, I had a rather different experience.

Alongside the always-friendly Lily, a new “barista” was on duty. When I arrived I was the only customer at the counter, so I might have expected decent service and maybe even a smile. But no, this young woman was in the midst of telling Lily a story about her day off yesterday, and she barely looked at me. It was left to Lily to smile and say hello (and address me by name!), but even that didn’t stop the flow … “and I was like…she said to me…I couldn’t believe it…like wow…”

We are always communicating, even unintentionally. The message this young woman sent was that she had no interest in me, the customer. When this happens, we often have a poor impression of the company, and only my experience of the other servers saved the coffee shop’s reputation in my eyes.

Socializing when no customers are around is natural, and adds to job satisfaction and enjoyment — but I think she could have interrupted the story long enough to give me the friendly service that’s the norm for the other employees.

What do you think?

P.S. If your grammar skills could use a brush-up, join me in the next Wilkie Webinar, “Get to Grips with Grammar” next Thursday, July 8. Details here.

I’m in the process of completely revamping the MHW Communications website, and I would appreciate your help. If you are someone who might search the Internet for the services I provide, i.e. professional speaking at conferences or in-house training programs on communication, what would you type into the search box on Google or Yahoo? I mean what are the actual words you would use?

If you can help me in this way, I’d really appreciate it. You can either respond by adding a comment or by emailing me directly at hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Thanks!