Forward Momentum: Delivering Results

by Karey Rees

I recently returned from a fun vacation to Disney World with my family.   Every time I go to a Disney park I am in awe at the outward level of friendliness, happiness and willingness to help others from all employees.  Over our week-long stay I witnessed several instances where the employees kept their composure during times of customer dissatisfaction (justified and unjustified) and unusual or outlandish demands.  Through listening to these customer and employee exchanges, it really made me think about what if everyone conveyed this level of customer service – what a better workplace, business, consultant, employee, vendor, etc. they would be.

One particular instance I witnessed was an older woman yelling (voice raised with children and grandchildren in tow) at a hostess restaurant employee about how their table was given up for a dinner reservation that they hadn’t shown up for 40 minutes earlier.  The woman was very angry they didn’t hold the table for them for 40 minutes while they were wandering throughout the park.  I think most of us have experienced being late for a reservation and most establishments will hold a table for 15 minutes, but 40?  I thought it was completely reasonable for the restaurant to give their table to another party.

The customer demanded to speak to a manager after first completely wearing down the hostess.  When the manager came to speak to her she was quickly briefed about the issue and came to this woman with a smile.  The manager explained that when you make your reservations you agree to check in by your reservation time and if you don’t, part of that agreement is you lose your reservation.  Before the customer could even respond to her, the manager immediately followed with promising to get them seated as soon as they could (within 10 minutes) and that the woman’s day going forward should be wonderful as the reservation “fix” would be the start of an amazing remainder of the day.

I think we can all agree that as a matter of principle, the family probably should not have gotten seated without a longer wait after such a long time elapsed from their original reservation.  This however, is how Disney seems to get people coming back — the knowledge that wherever a person goes or whatever they do, Disney’s customer service will be outstanding.

Wouldn’t we all like to have a reputation for amazing customer service and relations?  Consider the above Disney scenario in a business environment.  Everyone has a “customer”. Really, a customer could be seen as a client, co-worker, boss, another branch of business, etc.  Think of who you consider to be your immediate customer.  Now expand that and think of everyone involved in the work or project you have in mind.  Consider everyone who interacts with you or relies on your for something; in other words, your “customer”.  What can you do as an office worker to apply the principle I talked about above to provide better customer service to your audience?

I’ve experienced similar instances where the vendor or a team-member on an important project has made a mistake, but they fix it, and fix it perfectly.  Those who fix their mistakes with understanding, a happy attitude and in a timely manner always keep me coming back to them for future projects or insight.  I think there is a lot to be said about mistakes.  Everyone makes mistakes, but those who fix them, and fix them right, sometimes might just be as good or even better than those who don’t make mistakes at all (but that’s a different subject for a different time.)

Provide to your “customers” a smile, can-do attitude, and always fix the wrongs into rights.  When you provide assistance and deliver with a positive attitude your “customer” can’t help but to turn to you for all future projects, assignments, etc.

I challenge you for just one day to go through the day with a smile, carry a happy and pleasant attitude and see what happens.

What types of extraordinary customer service have you experienced or witnessed in the workplace?

Want to learn more about how who your customers are and how you can develop a strategy for delivering results?  Check out Forward Momentum’s course on High Performance Customer Service.

By Karey Rees

It seems like there has been a lot of discussion lately about how the role of a Business Analyst differs from the role of a Project Manager. The answer can be a tricky one especially depending on the organization you work for.

In a larger or more well-defined organization, the roles of Business Analyst and Project Manager can differ quite a bit and be held by two different individuals, but for a smaller company the roles can overlap or even be held by one person serving both roles.

Larger or Defined Organizations
In a more formal or larger organization, the BA typically manages project requirements throughout the project process including analyzing, validating, and documenting the requirements throughout the project to the desired outcome.  The Business Analyst’s key role is to serve as a liaison between the stakeholders (including business units, IT and others) to gather, plan and document requirements. The Business Analyst is a SME (subject matter expert) and should have deep knowledge of the business to answer questions and pass along all requirements to the PM who formulates them into a project plan and then assigns tasks accordingly. A Business Analyst also assures the end product is in line with the requirements.

The main role of the Project Manager is to serve as the main or “head” coordinator for the planning and execution of the project. They develop the master project plan and coordinate project resources (hours, resources, costs, etc.) A PM tracks all progress of the project and assists in working through issues.  Conducting project status meetings and updates, handling any issues that arise and identifying and helping to mitigate risks are all important roles of a Project Manager. The PM is just that, a manager, coordinating the various aspects of the planning and completion of the project. Here, it is less likely that the Project Manager is a SME, although they still can be depending on the organization.

Smaller Organizations
As I mentioned before, in a smaller company, the two roles may overlap or be managed by one person.  Due to resource constraints, in this environment, the person serving those roles doesn’t have the luxury of either being a SME (subject matter expert) or a manager, but must be both.

In your organization you probably see one to two main individuals who do these jobs.  Some organizations do have a lot of cross-over with each role, but no matter what their title is, their purpose is an important one – to assist the business in completing a project successfully.

How does your organization treat the roles of Business Analyst and Project Manager?

By Karey Rees

I don’t know about you, but one of my biggest frustrations in the workplace is meetings that go on long past their scheduled time allotment or those that finish within their scheduled time, took a crazy turn, went completely off topic and seemed to accomplish nothing related to the original meeting subject.  I’m sure most of you can relate, so I’d like to share my experience about a recent meeting I was in and how it influenced me to improve the ways I’ve conducted all my meetings since.

Not so long ago I was invited to attend a meeting via conference call. The meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes and was to cover quite a bit of material and training. I automatically blocked out 60 minutes on my calendar as past experience has told me, many times over, the meeting would last quite a bit longer than the scheduled 30 minutes. I dialed in, connected to the assigned WebEx screen and introduced myself to the other attendees. The meeting sponsor started the meeting immediately and explained there was only 30 minutes and all topics to be discussed had to be completed in those 30 minutes, no exceptions. Guess what? It got done – really. As I sat in amazement during this meeting about how much was discussed and accomplished in a very short period of time, I made sure to listen as closely as I could to learn this meeting magic.

After several meetings with this meeting sponsor, I’ve learned and now use the following to lead all my group meetings:

• Schedule your meeting for the time you truly think you can accomplish what needs to be done and stick to that time frame.
• Throughout the meeting, remind attendees of the topics at hand and how much time is left to discuss the topics.
• Be sure to speak up and let someone know if they are off topic. Make sure to let them know you will follow up with them to discuss what they would like to talk about and also include any other people who may be needed. Most of the time, the off-topic items can be discussed and resolved very briefly after the meeting.
• If the meeting topics truly do not fit in the allotted time, schedule a follow up meeting instead of going over time and creating conflicts in others’ schedules.
• Be diligent in moving along the topics of the meeting, keeping careful watch of the time.

I hope these points are as helpful to you as they have been to me. What are some of the things you’ve done to successfully keep meetings within their scheduled time allotment?