Authentic mission requires potential loss

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to truly fulfill your authentic mission?

Hopefully, compassion isn't on that list, but before you simply read on, really take a second to consider this.

Suppose you are on your way to an important interview, or meeting, or some other potentially life altering event, and you see someone stranded alongside the road. Would you stop? Would it make a difference if you were ahead of schedule or on schedule? What if you were running late? What if helping might cause your freshly pressed, tidy clothes to become soiled? Would that change your course of action?

Of course, most people would probably say that they would make the decision to help those in need, even when it could possibly come at a loss to themselves. In reality and application however, the story comes together somewhat differently. How many times have you been faced with this opportunity and simply kept on driving? Maybe, a brief pause is taken to say a prayer for those that are in need. Maybe.

What keeps you from answering the call to service when it is placed in your path? Fear of losing your job, or missing out on the once in a lifetime opportunity to better your career situation? What are you truly and authentically willing to sacrifice for others? Perhaps potentially missing your child's ball game or that dinner out with your spouse? You can be certain that you will be called to serve in the area where you are most likely to resist, and where there appears to be the greatest personal loss.

It is a challenge to not become so involved in the mission that you fail to serve those that you are here to serve. You must not forget, even for a moment, that the mission is not about yourself. It is about the people that you encounter daily. Living for others is going to cost you something, perhaps even everything.

If you can get to that place where you are living for others, more concerned about their well being than your own, you will be better equipped to understand the fullness of life that you have been designed for.

Invaluable Resource

I have heard it said that if you want to be successful, you need to become invaluable to your organization. You need to know how things work in the organization, the culture that exists, and the processes that are in place. While it is true that knowledge is important, acquired knowledge should not be something that is locked away hidden only for selfish gain.

As you acquire knowledge, you must be willing to open up and share what you have learned with your team. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell makes the point that our families and organizations are naturally made up of pockets of knowledge. Each individual remembers certain things that are of value. As a result, the community becomes an intertwined repository of knowledge that is built on the framework of interdependence and interaction. Organizationally, we know more as a team and community than we do independently.

The goal then, should not be to become the single person who knows everything in the organization. Your goal, if you truly want to be invaluable, should include making full use of your strengths every day, directing your focus on building relationships, and working towards being the person who knows the individuals who possess the knowledge. Once you know who has the knowledge, encourage them to share that knowledge with everyone that they possibly can. Ultimately, your organization will be far more productive, efficient, and innovative.

As the saying goes, it isn't what you know that makes you successful, it's who you know.

What Are You Cutting?

In case you were not aware, the global economy is in a tight place right now. The Italian economy is affected just as much by the global economy as the rest of us are. It seems that the Italian economy is largely based on the influx of American tourism dollars. As a result of the down economy, fewer Americans are traveling abroad to Italy right now. Of course fewer tourism dollars means more problems for the Italian economy.

Right now, in an effort to return the flow of tourism dollars into the economy, several of the luxury hotels and other areas of interest to travelers are reducing rates for the good and services that they provide. From a pure profit and loss perspective, this seems to make sense. Reduce rates, make things more affordable, and then people should be more willing to travel.

However, rates are not the only thing that these businesses are cutting right now. They are also cutting back on what they deliver. Again, from a pure profit and loss perspective this seems to make some sense. If I reduce the amount that I charge, then I need to reduce what I provide in order to yield the same profits that I expect.

The trouble behind this is that they are sacrificing the brand that they have built in order to accommodate the market. Unfortunately, this is how many organizations are reacting to the current economic conditions. Eventually, the economy will make a turn around. And when it does, customers will once again be willing to pay substantially for luxury hotels and spectacular getaways. Sadly though, many of these businesses may no longer be around to enjoy the fruits of restored economic prosperity.

This economy provides the perfect opportunity for your organization to create powerful word of mouth epidemics like never before. Discover how you can provide service that is superior to what you currently provide, especially when times are tough. Your customers will know that you are committed to providing out of this world service, even when it may come at a loss of profits for you, and as a result, they will be more willing to continue to use the products and services that you provide in years to come.

Selling out your vision and mission temporarily will only get you by temporarily. Optimistically making an investment in the future will help to ensure that you are still around to serve in the future.

It is your problem

When your customers are calling you on the phone to ask for assistance, they may appear to be somewhat frustrated. Whatever the issue or problem that they are experiencing may happen to be, you can be certain that it is important. Regardless of how trivial you may think that the issue is, it is truly something critical to your customer.

As a responsible, professional, reliable, service provider, it is your self accepted responsibility to treat the needs and concerns of your customer as though they are of true concern to you. Even if the problem is not directly related to the product or service that you have provided, your customer sees you. Or hears your voice. Or they have received an email from you. What I am getting at is this; Although the problem may not be one that you initiated or even in your officially sanctioned area of responsibility, it is in fact your problem now. You have established that you are the point of contact for the customer and the issue that they are experiencing, and you must follow through on ensuring that appropriate steps toward resolution are taken.

It is not good enough to make the statement that it is not my code, or my server, or my database. It is not enough to say that it is not my department, or it it's not in my job description. Regardless of whether you are closing million dollar deals or creating an aesthetically pleasing experience by ensuring that the floors are clean, you have a responsibility to serve others before yourself.

This is not simply some rule that is necessary for creating out of this world customer experiences. It isn't about your image or the image of the organization that you work for. This concept is simply a requisite for being a part of the human race.

Believe it or not, you have been designed and created with a servant heart for others. Focus more on authentically serving others, less on the job description or corporate borders of your function or the function of your department, and start serving the other people that you are in contact with each and everyday.

Rewards of satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment are found when you move past living for yourself, and start living for others.

Mutating the Virus of Urgency

The other day, I wrote a post introducing the concept of the virus of urgency. In summary the virus of urgency is a phenomenon that occurs in organizations when people need to get something done, but the supporting cast has not historically met the need. Individuals that need to get something done that is of value to the organization will find a way to get what they need, even if that means cultivating a false sense of urgency.

Destroying a mindset that has been ingrained into the fabric of the organization is challenging, and often, not of tremendous value. Instead, it is more valuable to identify how you can mutate the virus in the organization. Change it just enough to really get things done, and it becomes less of a push for people to adopt the idea.

You can actually use the original strain of the virus of urgency, and re-engineer it to better meet the needs of the organization. This is cost effective, and will enable you to provide a better service to your customers and partners. The truth is, there is still a desire for a sense of urgency to exist in our organizations. The challenge is found in ensuring that the sense of urgency that is being cultivated is focused on responding to issues related to the mission and vision that your organization exists for.

A couple of strategies for mutating the virus include the following:

1. Ask the question, 'When is this needed?' Typically, in an organization that has historically neglected the requests and needs of the customer, the response will be tomorrow. When this response is given, simply be honest and transparent to your customer, and explain that you cannot address the issue by tomorrow, but do provide a time that you will be able to provide what they are seeking. As a courtesy, make certain that your customer agrees to the time line given, and then, be sure that you provide what you promise by the agreed upon date, if not sooner. Set the expectation and then deliver. If you truly find that you will not meet the deadline, keep your customer informed early and often so that they are not surprised when the date of delivery arrives and the hopes that they had are dashed to the ground!
   
2. If it's broken, fix it! If there is a problem that is preventing something from working correctly, get on it and get the problem resolved. If you cannot address a true emergency, your customers will not trust that you will follow through on the long term promises that you are making.
   
3. Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more. Keep your customers informed of the status of things as you are working on them. Try to avoid becoming the black hole for projects, where something is requested, and then something is delivered. Challenge your customers, invite them to be a part of the solution, and encourage innovation. Allow them to own the solution. Your role should be primarily focused on enabling your customer to get the job done that they have been designed for.

This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but it is a common sense place to start. Sadly, too many organizations lack following through on these simple, yet powerful concepts. By beginning to apply these three concepts, you will gain respect from your customers again, and the organization will be better able to fulfill the obligations, commitments, and mission that it has been commissioned for.

Transparency, communication, accountability, and a servant heart go a long way to earning back the trust of your customers.

Simple, yet often overlooked.