Copyright 2002 by Dave Kahle

Are things changing rapidly in your business?

Silly question, isn't it? Of course they are changing. Rapid change is distinguishing characteristic of new millennium.

Take that rapid change and add to it growing competition, increasing complexity, consolidations at every level, and increasing demands from customers and you have recipe for a business climate that will turn anyone’s hair gray.

This rapid change whirling around every company puts great pressure on organizations to change themselves. Not only must organization as a whole change, but individuals within each organization must themselves change, learn and grow more rapidly than at any time in past.

This ability for an organization and its people to change in response to changing world around them may be ultimate success skill for Information Age.

A few years ago, it was good enough to allow learning and change to happen in a hit or miss fashion. Not so today. If your organization and your employees are going to change as rapidly as environment, they are going to have to get serious, dedicated and systematic about those changes.

That means you must organize and manage an effort to stimulate and support positive personal change. In other words, organizations, including yours, need to develop a new capability - capability to change rapidly.

Every organization has a unique set of capabilities. While some of these capabilities are necessary for any successful business, others are unique to that individual concern. For example, every business must be capable of accounting for its money; every business must be capable of generating sales; and every business must be capable of providing goods or services its customers want. Those are universal and basic capabilities. If your organization cannot do these, you won't be in business very long.

However, real strength of business comes from those capabilities that are unique to it, that differentiate that business from its competitors.

Some businesses have created great research and development capabilities, others are outstanding at customer service, while others emphasize quality throughout. Some are outstanding in sales, other marketing, still others in management.

One way to prepare your organization for rapidly changing 21st Century is to develop a unique and new capability. That capability is what I call "active learning."

So what is active learning? And why is it important? Let's start with a definition: Active learning is process of acquiring new information and/or gaining new insights, and then changing behavior as a result. You've experienced it. It's what happens when you go to a seminar or a conference, gain several new ideas, and then come back and implement them in your organization.

Active learning takes place at a number of different levels within an organization. But they are all dependent on an individual employee changing how he/she behaves. The employee who is adept at active learning regularly absorbs new information and acts in different ways as result. It's same process you engage in when you attend a seminar, except that it's required of every one of your employees, not just you.

Here’s an every day example. Let's say you upgraded your software to next round of upgrades. Now, every employee who works with that software must take in new information, (the changes in software) and then change his/her behavior to correspond with new information (they must use software). This learning process requires that they do something differently then they did before.

There is a fundamental and powerful concept underneath surface of this simple example: Learning to use this software upgrade is not a one-time event. There will be other upgrades soon. And your employees will have to learn (take in new information and change their behavior) again and again and again.

While computer upgrade is an easily-identified culprit, reality is that kind of regular change epitomized by software will likely occur in every aspect of employee's job. Software will change, customers will change, products will change, bosses will change, co-workers will change, strategy will change, policies will change, procedures will change. If it doesn't, your organization is in danger of becoming a dinosaur, wonderfully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

One of my clients summarizes it accurately when he tells every new hire: "The only thing I can guarantee you is that you won't be doing job you're hired to do a year from now. Either job will have changed in such a way as to be significantly different, or you will have grown to take on new responsibilities."

In this kind of environment, it's easy to see that companies who will be most successful are those who have filled their offices and cubicles with individuals who are willing, able, and skilled in learning.

Now that's a good thing to keep in mind whenever your are hiring. Hire well, and eventually you'll evolve into a learning organization. In mean time, you must work with employees you have.

Unfortunately, not all of them are "change-friendly." Many were educated in slower times, and view change as a threat to their positions and status. Many resent every attempt to get them to do something differently.

Clearly, some organizations, some groups, and some individuals are better at active learning than are others. While it's true that everyone can learn, it is just as true that not everyone can learn equally quickly and effectively. This ability to learn quickly, effectively, and continuously will be one of most powerful capabilities of organizations that hope to succeed in information age.

Copyright 2002 by Dave Kahle

It is easy to work with people you like, and it is even easier to work with people who like you. But that's not always case. Sooner or later, you'll have to deal with a difficult customer.

Difficult customers come in a wide variety. There are those whose personality rubs you wrong way. They may not be difficult for someone else, but they are for you. And then there are those who are difficult for everyone: Picky people, know-it-alls, egocentrics, fault-finders, constant complainers, etc. Every salesperson can list a number of types.

But perhaps most difficult for everyone is angry customer. This is someone who feels that he or she has been wronged, and is upset and emotional about it. These customers complain, and they are angry about something you or your company did.

There are some sound business reasons to become adept in handling an angry customer. Research indicates that customers who complain are likely to continue doing business with your company if they feel that they were treated properly. It's estimated that as many as 90% of customers who perceive themselves as having been wronged never complain, they just take their business elsewhere. So, angry, complaining customers care enough to talk to you, and have not yet decided to take their business to competition. They are customers worth saving.

Not only are there benefits to your company, but you personally gain as well. Become adept at handling angry customers, and you’ll feel much more confident in your own abilities. If you can handle this, you can handle anything. While any one can work with easy people, it takes a real professional to be successful with difficult customers. Your confidence will grow, your poise will increase, and your self-esteem will intensify.

On other hand, if you mishandle it, and you'll watch situation dissolve into lost business and upset people. You may find yourself upset for days.

So, how do you handle an angry, complaining customer? Let's begin with a couple tools you can use in these situations.

1. RESPECT. It can be difficult to respect a person who may be yelling, swearing or behaving like a two-year-old. I'm not suggesting you respect behavior, only that you respect person. Keep in mind that 99 times out of 100 you are not object of customer's anger. You are like a small tree in path of a swirling tornado. But unlike small tree, you have power to withstand wind.

What is source of your power? Unlike customer, you are not angry, you are in control, and your only problem at moment is helping him with his problem. If you step out of this positioning, and start reacting to customer in an emotional way, you'll lose control, you’ll lose your power, and situation will be likely to escalate into a lose-lose for everyone. So, begin with a mindset that says, "No matter what, I will respect customer."

2. EMPATHY. Put yourself in customer's shoes, and try to see situation from his/her perspective. Don't try and cut him off, don't urge him to calm down. Instead, listen carefully. If someone is angry or upset, it is because that person feels injured in some way. Your job is to let customer vent and to listen attentively in order to understand source of that frustration. When you do that, you send a powerful unspoken message that you care about him and his situation.

Often, as customer comes to realize that you really do care and that you are going to attempt to help him resolve problem, customer will calm down on his own, and begin to interact with you in a positive way.

Here's how you can use these two tools in an easily-remembered process for dealing with angry customers.

CRACK THE EGG

Image that you have a hard-boiled egg. The rich yellow yolk at center of egg represents solution to customer's problem, hardened white which surrounds yolk represents details of customer's situation, and hard shell represents his/her anger.

In order to get to yolk, and resolve situation, you must first crack shell. In other words, you have got to penetrate customer’s anger. Then you've got to cut through congealed egg white. That means that you understand details of customer’s situation. Finally, you're at heart of situation, where you can offer a solution to customer's problem.

So, handling an angry customer is like cutting through a hard-boiled egg. Here's a four-step process to help you do so.

1. LISTEN. Let's say you stop to see one of your regular customers. He doesn't even give you time to finish your greeting before he launches into a tirade.

At this point, about all you can do is LISTEN. And that's what you do. You don't try and cut him off, you don't urge him to calm down. Not just yet. Instead, you listen carefully. And as you listen, you begin to piece together his story. He ordered a piece of equipment three weeks ago. You quoted him X price and delivery by last Friday for a project that's starting this week. Not only is equipment not there, but he received an invoice for it at a different price than was quoted.

"What kind of shoddy operation is this?" he wants to know. Do you understand how important his project is? Do you know how much time and money is at stake? If he doesn't get his equipment and something happens to this project, you're going to pay for it. He knew, he just knew he should have ordered equipment from your competitor. What are you going do about it?