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| DESCRIPTION | |
| When it's lacking: - Jobs tend to foster isolation, making it difficult for people to help each other. - A "win-lose" mentality prevails throughout the workplace -- to such a degree that there's an unspoken pressure to look the other way when a colleague needs help. This is especially the case between work units and divisions. - At best, talk of mentoring and coaching activities -- and other efforts to promote people serving people -- remains just talk. |
When it's thriving: + Employees have all sorts of opportunities to help one another. This can be formal (mentoring programs, training, apprenticeships, etc.) and informal (on-the-spot coaching, explaining a process, walking a colleague through a new computer program, pitching in to help with a task, and so on). + There's an organizational obsession with helping others to be successful. "Others" is broadly defined: colleagues, customers, the community. + Each and every employee can quickly name the customers they serve. + "In my work, I'm able to help people grow." + Employees sometimes serve as "matchmakers," bringing together different individuals and groups to promote learning, relationship-building, systemic thinking, and (ultimately) improvement. + People who want to lead and influence in positive ways have an open field for doing so. |
| EXAMPLES |
| Most people would call Lorraine a health-care quality consultant, but she prefers
to think of herself as "the connector." As she describes it, much of her
work involves bringing people together so they can better serve each other and their
customers. One consulting assignment had her working at a nursing home where striking
differences appeared between first and second shifts. On second shift, more than
114 residents in long-term care wore adult diapers, while during first shift, only
30 of those same people were in diapers. "I worked with leadership, unit managers,
and line staff to figure out what they were doing differently from shift to shift,"
Lorraine says. "Then I brought them together so second shift could learn from
first. I guided the conversation." It marked the first time in a long time that
the two shifts sat down to talk and learn from each other. Within a couple of days,
as the second shift adopted some of the first shift's practices, there was a sharp
decrease in the number of residents wearing diapers. Lorraine had once again succeeded
in her "connector" role. "That's what feeds my soul and spirit,"
she says. "Aha!" Those two syllables are music to Mark's ears. As an internal trainer for a government agency, his personal mission is to help people discover new ideas and tools for improving customer service. "It's all about helping people," he says. "When people in my workshops have those 'aha' moments, I know I'm really carrying out my mission." Listening to Jill, a person quickly gets the feeling that she cuts little slack in her work as a police officer. This is one cop who gives out tickets and not warnings. Dig deeper, though, and you'll find a person who sees her real role as being a facilitator of positive change. "I have the power to become involved in others' lives," she says. When responding to domestic disputes, for instance, Jill doesn't simply slap on the handcuffs and write a report. She also talks with the family and does her best to improve the long-term situation, even if it involves non-emergency visits back to the home. "I have the power to assist them in creating change, no matter how difficult their lives are." This, she says, is the real source of meaning in her work. |
| ACTION IDEAS |
| When talking about processes and systems, adopt a service mindset and the language
that goes with it. At first blush, there seems to be only a minimal difference between
"serving customers" and "supplying products/services." But look
more closely: The first suggests a deeper purpose, while the latter has a sterile
tone that harkens back to industrial-age management. Get together with colleagues to talk about this topic of service. Is it a core part of your purpose? Does it drive what you do and how you do it? If not, alarm bells should go off. If there's no clear purpose to begin with, now's the time to craft one through dialogue, making sure that service figures prominently as the conversation unfolds. Look for jobs that are narrowly defined. In many cases, people who fill these positions have the fewest opportunities to serve others. Make a collective effort to widen or reinvent these roles so that service becomes a part of the job mix. In the end, everyone should be able to say: "I serve ___." Develop a formal mentoring program. You may want to pick a better name -- to some, the word "mentoring" has a patronizing, daddy-knows-best tone. But the concept is sound, and best of all, it gives people another chance to serve. Take on a community service project. Perhaps your organization can adopt a school and provide tutoring services. Or maybe the local senior center needs your help leading social activities for residents. Not everyone at your company will want to get involved, and that's fine. Those who do, however, will be throttling up their service ethic each time they do their community work. And they'll be taking this service spirit back to the workplace, where it can positively affect those around them. |
| Copyright 1998-2002 by Tom Terez and Tom Terez Workplace Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 21444, Columbus, Ohio USA 43221-0444. Tel. 614-571-9529..mail@BetterWorkplaceNow.com HOME | 10-Minute Briefing | Free Online Tools | Insight and Inspiration | Laugh and Learn | Buzzword Bingo | Kits, Books, and Tools | Keynotes and Services | Meet Tom Terez | Tell a Friend | Bronze Access |
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