Compassion - Sometimes It's Just Good Business....

At one point in my career, I was forced by political circumstance to deal with a very difficult personality. "Anne" had cut a swath through the company long before my arrival. Terrorizing employees and customers with her judgments, demanding blind allegiance to meaningless, costly procedures that solved one problem, but left others bleeding and unidentified. Most of the company lived in fear of this woman, whether they reported to her or not.

I was in a real leadership bind. In most organizations, an employee like Anne would be coached out of the door. This was not an option, due to her familial relationships with the ownership of this very small company. After realizing Anne offered few resources to my team, and presented many continuing challenges, I set about trying to contain the damage she could inflict.

Anne was reassigned, new positions were created, and over time, she was finally placed where she could do minimal harm to morale, and still provide information to the company owner, which was her primary function. Over time, I cultivated a relationship of sorts with Anne, primarily based on our common interests in gardening, our children, and an deliberate effort on my part not to be offended by the drama she created.

Many important successes occurred, but ultimately, the little company couldn't sustain the combined weight of executive conflict and attrition of top clients. It was purchased by a competitor and dismantled quickly.

After I left the company, I found out Anne had told several of our former colleagues that it was my salary, (and that of others who'd also left following a series of downsizings) that had caused financial hardship for the company, leading to it's sale. She had been given very sensitive information by the former owner, and was presenting his opinions as fact.

At first I was furious. Furious that my private information had been leaked. That years of significant accomplishments by a highly-competent leadership team were invisible to ownership. That people so undeserving were being allowed, it seemed, the "last word" on my performance.

Next, I was hurt. While I thought Anne and I had connected on a personal level, it seemed she had only pretended to respect me and appreciate my team's accomplishments, when clearly, she didn't value them at all.

Finally, and only after some expert advice from the kind of friend who will speak truth, no matter what (and even though his was also one of the salaries leaked), I came to what I think is the right conclusion. Although out of necessity I cultivated a personal connection with her, my relationship with Anne was always "just business" at it's heart; I was paid to deal with her, and she with me. Anne was unsuited to the environment, but forced to participate due to circumstances beyond her control. Her spite and venom were distributed to a wide range of subjects; not specifically at me.

To take a business transaction personally is usually a mistake. In the case of what happened with Anne, it would be corrosive, and keep me tied emotionally to a situation I needed to leave behind. It became easy to forgive this woman, once I reminded myself she lacked the business and social skills to change her situation and that anyone who feels trapped is capable of acting badly.

The first precept of Buddhism is to practice compassion as a means to reduce suffering in the world. From Christ, to King, to Gandhi, we are called to be compassionate. Business leaders typically have a passion for what they do. The risk of that strength is that they take all aspects of the work personally, including what co-workers do in difficult situations.

By seeing someone you are in conflict with as someone who is suffering, and trying to see a reason in what they are doing, even when you are negatively affected by it, you access the strength of compassion. Compassion liberates you from feeling injured, and may give you the emotional leverage to resolve the conflict and forge an effective alliance with your adversary.

Lost in Translation

A few weeks ago, a colleague, a truly seasoned Customer Service professional, was frustrated after another round of failing to get Management to support frontline staff at work.  She asked, "Why don’t leaders do more to reduce stress in call centers?'

"There’s a lot being written these days about how contact centers can be stressful environments that can cause illness, absenteeism and high attrition. This seems like a no-brainer to me – just ask a CSR in a busy, poorly managed call center and they will gladly tell you of the maladies they and their coworkers endure on a daily basis. '

"The question I have to ask leaders: Why don’t we do more to improve the environments for our companies’ 'voices' to our customers? We all know that replacing good agents is draining on the bottom line. By helping to improve the health of our agents and the culture in which these valued employees work, we will see less absenteeism, longer-term employees and improved bottom lines."

As the current economy continues to flounder, the impact of job satisfaction on costs like frontline employee turnover will most likely decrease.  Obviously, a bad job where you don't feel valued beats competing with a few million job seekers for a dwindling pool of positions, so the bottom line argument will be less compelling until the economy begins to revive.

However, I think it worth considering the many different types of personalities and skills it takes to operate a successful company. Whether an enterprise values employee satisfaction or not, the fact is that good leaders (at all levels of any company) must both understand and adapt to the variety of people we will encounter. Whether that pays back in the short term in reduced turnover, or over the long term with stronger teams, it's worth the investment.

Part of the answer to my friend's question is that Leadership is well-paid to deal with enormous stress; the people who do this well tend to rise within companies and industries. They are effective in face-to-face interactions and "closing deals". They have successfully face enormous challenges and often expect others to have this skill. Talent like this is critical to every organization, but: it may not be very good at relating to what tends to be a different personality in the Customer Service Representative (CSR) workforce.

The CSR personality is (depending on the industry, of course) more motivated by intangibles like "helping people" and "recognition" than the big scores that drive execs. And, because they are on the phones all day, CSRs may not benefit from the "face time" that some execs are so expert at. Making your phone staff available to management will most likely affect statistical productivity, so each contact must be orchestrated, and engineered for high-value.

The problem reminds me of groups of tourists from different nations at the Statue of Liberty. They are all there for the same reason, and have many things in common, but their differences keep them from understanding each other.

The challenge for those of us closer to those CSRs is to translate. Pushing the tourist analogy a bit further, we are the Tour Guides. We translate, we explain, we guide, but we don't have full control over the environment, nor the expectations of our guests. It's our experience with the immense array of personalities and situations we encounter that make us a critical part of the team. We help make the place special by explaining it to every internal and external guest.

My advice to my friend and anyone in her position (as most customer service professionals will be, eventually) : keep working on your translation skills. While empathizing with their stress, get the CSRs to understand the bottom line and WHY things are a certain way. And be sure leadership understands the high cost of attrition (usually, at least 1/3rd of annual salary) and the low cost of gold stars for valued reps and the occasional team meeting or catered lunch with management.

Why an Arch, Exactly?

Arches allow the movement of light, air, people, or other vital elements through a building.  Often graceful in spite of their strength; they are under pressure from all sides.  Arches may be hidden, but they are still vital to the structure.

In fact the more obvious and grand an arch is (think the Arc de Triomphe), the less likely it is to have much use, beyond it's initial ceremonial function, and can become an impediment to traffic and other progress.  That's not the sort of arch I seek to be.

The ancient Romans required the engineer stand in an arch when the capstone was set. What better way to be accountable for your work, than to position yourself to be the first casualty should your design fail?

As a leader in business, as a Mom, as a citizen of the communities I love, I would like to be graceful, strong and useful, but in a way only obvious as part of some functional whole.   Not celebrated - just nicely placed; supporting the needs of those around me.

What about you?  Are you an arch in search of a good design?   A cornerstone for something important, but unfinished?  A window into a hidden world?  If you aren't sure, perhaps you need to consult the architect (which would be you) and find out where you fit into your own design....