So Rude!

"She was soooooo rude!"

"That guy was rude to me!"

"I don't want to talk to her again, she's rude!"

Familiar?

Probably the only word in our language that is more overused other than the word 'love' is the word 'rude.'  I can't seem to go a day without hearing someone talking about how rude someone else is!

I hear people tell me my team is rude.

I hear my team tell me that people are rude.

I hear my team tell me that someone on our team is rude.

I hear clients tell me my colleagues at other agencies are rude.

I've used the word 9 times in 10 sentences.

All that being said, I hope you can relate to me. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. What's interesting to me is that I can interact with these same 'rude' people and have a perfectly pleasant experience.  Why is that? Do some people treat me differently because I'm a man? Probably a few. Do people treat me better than others because I'm an authority figure? Maybe some do. But for the most part, I think I'm able to have positive experiences with 'rude' people because of a principle I learned years ago from Dr. John C. Maxwell.

In his book, Winning With People, Dr. Maxwell illustrates what he refers to as the "Lens Principle." The Lens Principle states that who we are determines how we view others.

People who are trustworthy tend to view other people as trustworthy.

People who are generous tend to view others as generous as well.

People who are kind tend to view others as kind as well.

Do you want to know why I rarely have rude encounters?  It's because I generally believe the best in people. I get proven wrong from time to time but most of time, but those instances are rare and far between.

I generally view folks as kind and compassionate and assume they have a servant's heart. When I talk to someone, I call them by their first name (if appropriate), I smile while we talk, and I use effective listening skills to communicate with them.

When I do that something amazing happens!  I usually get people to smile back at me. People call me Adam or 'sir'.  People look for ways to go the extra mile to help me.  I make a personal connection and my network grows.

I'm telling you that this principle works for me.

If you're the type that always seems to run into rude people--consider that maybe they're not the problem. 

I'll leave you with this illustration from Winning with People:

A traveler nearing a great city asked an old man seated by the road, "What are the people like in this city?"

"What were they like where you came from?" the man asked.

"Horrible," the traveler reported.  "Mean, untrustworthy, detestable in all respects."

"Ah," said the old man, "you will find them the same in this city ahead."

Scarcely had the traveler gone on his way when another stopped to inquire about the people in the city before him.  Again, the old man asked about the people in the place the traveler has just left.

"They were fine people:  honest, industrious, and generous to a fault," declared the second traveler. "I was sorry to leave."

The old man responded, "That's exactly how you'll find the people here."

Call Me

I remember being 20 years old, in college, sitting in the registrar's office, attempting to get next semester's class schedule lined out. I remember being told, "You'll need to go to your department office for your major so that they can register you." Although irritating, I left the office, walked across campus to my departmental office only to find out that "we can't register you here, you'll have to let the registrar's office know that."

I left. Irritated.

I go back to the registrar's office, wait to see someone, finally get in, relay the message from my department only to hear, "well, all I know is that they have to register you."

My brain wanted to explode.

I sat there in complete discontent. My eyes found themselves wandering the desk of the office worker that decided to stonewall me. Lo and behold, on her desk, I noticed a magical device capable of connecting two people and allowing them to have a conversation in real time. She had a phone on her desk.

"Is there any way that you could just call over to my department's office and tell them what they or I need to do?" I begged.

"No."

Her answer didn't register with me. It baffled me that she couldn't pick up the phone, dial the extension of her co-workers in my department and work out whatever problem existed. Instead, she preferred that an irresponsible 20 year old college student relay messages across campus for her.

I don't know if your industry is like the human service industry but in human services, it seems like we tend to have the same mindset as the belligerent registrar.

All of us have the technology to communicate with each other (telephone, e-mail, etc.)

All of us support mutual partnerships, cooperative relationships and continuum of care between us.

Yet, when we need to relay messages to one another, we tend to rely on clients to carry the messages. We ask people that are struggling and at least in that moment are interested in self preservation to relay accurate and honest interagency communications.

Anyone else see the problem here?

I consistently have clients that sit in my office that tell me that Ms. So and So at the other office told me that you would pay my bills this month.   I turn and look at my phone only to find that I have no missed calls or voicemails. I check my cell phone to find it blank. I refresh my e-mail to find an empty inbox. As it turns out, Ms. So and So told the client that our agency might be able to assist them.

The client changed the message.

Here's my plea--if you are a colleague of mine and you need my agency's services to assist a client, call me. Since I'm not always sitting next to my phone, I happily provide my personal cell phone number. Everyone has my e-mail. Don't allow clients to take your accurate message and change it.

It is frustrating.

It is as frustrating as being 20 years old, in college, sitting in the registrar's office, attempting to get next semester's class schedule lined out.

We as human service workers need to be willing to place personal phone calls to each other if there is legitimate need for interagency cooperation. If you send a client to a colleague with a message to relay, you need to be prepared for your message to be ignored or changed.

Is this a frustration in your industry?

Podcasts

Nearly two years ago, I was up on top of my house on a chilly Sunday afternoon putting up Christmas lights. Around the house, I typically don't work without my phone and headphones on. I remember sitting on the edge of my roof clipping strands of lights to my shingles while Dave Ramsey was speaking to me about ways to better run my company.

Wait....

What?

It was right at two years ago when I discovered podcasts. For those unfamiliar with podcasts, this is sort of an audio blog. I use iTunes for downloading my podcasts, though I'm sure there are other programs.

Since then I have come to value podcasts as a way of my ongoing professional development. The two professional podcasts that I subscribe to are free and thus, offer me tremendous value. For this blog entry, I simply want to share with you the two professional podcasts (though there are others I enjoy) that help me the most with leading our agency.

Dave Ramsey's 'Entreleadership'

I have been a fan of Dave Ramsey's work for a long time. My family and I use his principles from Financial Peace University and I use what he teaches in his book 'Entreleadership.' 

Currently, his podcast is hosted by Chris Hogan, part of Dave's speakers group. This podcasts focuses on various parts of Entreleadership and most of the podcasts feature a portion of Dave speaking at Entreleadership events. After that, Chris will typically interview an author, speaker or business leader to gain insight into how that person runs their company or performs his/her job.

Entreleadership is typically podcast a couple of times each month and is a free download on iTunes. It's actually from this podcast that I was introduced to.....

Michael Hyatt's 'This is Your Life'

Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, was being interviewed on the Entreleadership podcast when his book 'Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World' came out. In that interview, I was motivated to purchase his book and have since recommended it everywhere that I've been able to speak since.

Michael's podcast is called, "This is Your Life" and he focuses on intentional leadership. Typically produced once each week, Michael focuses on a different aspect of leadership. My favorite thing about his podcast is that, I believe without exception, he gives the listener specific action items to take to become more intentional in his/her leadership. Michael also answers listener questions on the podcast.

Michael's podcast also feels very relatable. He is very honest with his listeners when he modifies the format of the podcast, is going out of town, struggling with a specific issue, etc. In addition to his podcast, he also interacts regularly on Twitter (@michaelhyatt). 

I mentioned earlier that I do like listening to podcasts other than these two, but as far as my growth as a leader goes, these are my 'go-to' listens. Where else in the world could you get two authors who are as successful as these two are and the wealth of experience and knowledge they bring to the table for free?  I appreciate their work and that they offer this gift to folks like me that could use every ounce of help that we can get!

Keep First Things First

This may blow your mind:

Some people in this world make decisions based upon what makes them happy.

At first glance, you may look at that statement and think, "Well, that seems okay.  Why not do things that make you happy?  Why not avoid decisions that make you unhappy?"

The truth is that happiness is based on circumstances.  Happiness is fluid.  Happiness isn't an anchor.

The truth is that ten years ago, I was happy.  I was in college and I loved to party.  I didn't care about class.  As long as I could hang out with the guys, I was happy.  I worked just enough to pay rent and buy food and buy booze.

If I wanted to make decisions based on what made me happy, I would still be that guy. 

Fortunately for me, I got over that phase in my life and re-examined my priorities and started to build a life based on my priorities and not what made me happy.

As I've grown and matured, my list of priorities hasn't changed much.  I use my priorities as an anchor in my life and I make my decisions based on them.  What I've found is that I have found a more fulfilling happiness when I make decisions that are consistent with my priorities.

Here's mine:

1.  God.  If I lose everything else in my life, I'll be okay as long as I'm a child of God.  I'm committed to Him.  Not only am I committed to living a lifestyle that's pleasing to Him, but I am also committed to being a worker in His church.  Hopefully, one day I'll have the opportunity to serve as an elder for the congregation that I attend and will bear the obligation of overseeing His flock and accounting for those souls.  God reigns supreme in my life. 

2.  My wife.  Initially, my instincts are to lump my kids in here as well but until I'm faced with the unlikely movie scenario of having to chose to save the life of my wife OR the life of my children, I can afford to segregate the two.  Here's my point--my wife is my sister in Christ, my best friend, my lover, and favorite person on earth.  One of the best things I can do for my kids is to love their mom like crazy--and I do!

3.  My kids.  I have two living outside the womb and one living inside the womb.  I realize that right now, my time with my babies is finite.  I will only have a limited number of baseball and softball games to attend.  I will only have so many birthdays and Christmas mornings.  I only have a few days that I get to take them to school in the mornings.  I'll never get this time back and I know that I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

4.  My family.  I'm a son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin.  I only have the one family and as hard as it is sometimes, I have to make sure that I can contribute to the well being of my family and make them proud of me.

5.  My job.  It's my means of providing a living for my family.  It's my way of giving back to the community.  It's my way of growing as a professional.  It makes me proud. 

Whenever I want to make changes in my life, I must base that decision on the above mentioned priorities.  For example, I was offered a job opportunity that was going to be a good deal for me professionally (Priority 5).  It would have made me happy.  Awesome!  The problem was that I'd have to work from 1-9 p.m. and on weekends.  I would lose my ability to go to church (Priority 1) and I'd lose the time I get to spend with my wife and kids (Priorities 2 &3). 

The deal had to be a no-go. 

No drama, no indecision, no difficulty.  Easy decision. 

When you establish and live by your priorities, decisions become clearer and easier.

What are your priorities?

3 Tips to a Better Speech

I love public speaking.

Seriously....I really love public speaking.  I've been in speech contests since I was in seventh grade.  I've been preaching at church since I was 14.  I prefer to work at places that let me be a public speaker. 

I don't have many talents but public speaking is one of them.

Because public speaking comes naturally to me, it used to be difficult for me to understand why people are apprehensive about it.  Of course, as I've matured, I have come to understand that a lot of people are afraid to speak in front of a group.  Some people's personalities don't lend themselves to being a speaker just as my personality doesn't lend itself to me being a doctor or lawyer.  There's nothing wrong with that at all.

However, regardless of how you feel about public speaking, you are likely to face instances in which you are called upon to speak as a subject matter expert.  Whether in front of an audience of 1,000 or a board room of 5 people, you need to develop good public speaking habits.

There are volumes of books that you can read, classes you can take and videos you can study that will help you become a better speaker.  But on my platform, I'd like to simply give you three pieces of advice that will help you become a better speaker. 

1.  Have confidence-No matter what the situation is, you have been asked to speak because you are the expert.  Are there people in the world or in your industry that are smarter than you?  Sure.  Are there people that would have been a better choice to speak?  Maybe.  The thing to remember is that you're the one they asked for.  The folks that asked you to talk are interested in your point of view.  They want to hear your experience.  They want your perspective.  They want you. 

Take some pride in that thought. 

Have you ever had to sit through a speech or presentation by someone that lacked confidence?  I have.  You have to listen to them apologize constantly during the speech.  They don't talk loud enough to be easily heard.  Usually it is a pretty poor experience. 

2.  Know your audience-I realize that this isn't always possible but most of the time it is.  I have a different presentation method depending on whether I'm talking to teenagers at a local high school, colleagues, employees, bosses, donors, etc.  You can use the general outline that you've prepared but you can add things to make your speech more effective.

Example:  I have a 'canned' speech that I use when I talk about my agency.  However, depending on the audience, I add in different elements to the canned speech.  If I'm talking to a group of high school kids, I'm going to add in stories about people that we've helped.  If I'm talking to a group of donors, I'm going to emphasize how donations are used.  If I'm talking to an older audience that is really conservative, I'll focus on how our work saves money for taxpayers.  My main body of the speech is the same from group to group but depending on the audience, I add in elements that will be appropriate to the audience.

3.  Take a FEW notes-Contrast this idea with writing your speech out word for word.  The more notes you take, the more time you're typically going to spend reading from them.  No one in the audience enjoys being read to.  Use only a basic outline format when you're speaking.  This will encourage you to speak from the heart rather than a prepared statement.  (Obviously there are situations where legalities are incredibly important and using a prepared statement is a MUST but overall, this won't be necessary). 

Take this blog for instance.  I have written all my 'notes' out for you to read word for word.  If I was using this as a speech, my notes would look like this:

Intro-Love public speaking, different personalities

I.  Have confidence
    A.  You're the expert
II.  Know your audience
   A.  Examples of tailoring a speech
III. Take a few notes
   A.  Awesome visual aid

Conclusion-Watch other speakers

That's it.  That's all I would take up there.  When you spend more time reading your notes word for word than making eye contact with the audience and speaking from the heart, you come off as insincere and it looks like you didn't work very hard preparing. 

Finally, (as per my conclusion) one of the best things you can do is to watch other speakers that you enjoy listening to (authors, preachers, colleagues) and take notes about what you liked about their speaking and what you didn't like.  Be specific with your notes.  Don't just write "he was awesome." Write about what makes him so awesome.  Did he use a visual aid? Was he a story teller? 

Try to replicate the things you like and avoid the things you didn't like. 

How about you?  What are some things that you enjoy about listening to a great public speaker?

Thank You Cards

I remember the first time I had to write a massive quantity of thank you cards to people.  It was 2001 and I was getting ready to graduate from high school.  Gifts ranging from clothes to dorm room supplies to (my personal favorite) money began to pour in from even the furthest branches of the family tree. 

It was great.

It was so great that I wanted to do it again.

I'm not saying that I got married for the gifts but that was a really sweet perk of my nuptials.

Then we had a baby and I didn't get a lot of gifts but whatever.

Then I graduated from college and had more parties with more Adam-centered gifts.

Throughout these processes of receiving gifts, the voice of my mother continued to resonate in my head.  (Hearing mom's voice isn't an uncommon event.  It is more of a daily occurrence and some of the time it is a good thing.)

Mom always taught me to write hand written thank you notes to people.  Because at 18, I was way smarter than my mom, I asked why I couldn't just make a form letter of thanks and mail it out to everyone.  Efficient right?  She didn't go for it.  She said that hand written notes were the way to go so I hand wrote thank you notes to everyone.  Every high school graduation gift, every wedding gift, every baby shower gift and every college graduation gift was followed up by a hand written thank you note.

My strategy today as a working professional is no different.  People need hand written thank you notes.  It doesn't matter what industry you're in.  Non-profits should thank their donors for giving money.  Salesmen should thank customers for spending money with them.  Employees should thank their bosses for the opportunity to work and serve people.  Bosses should thank their employees for faithfully serving the company or organization.

Everyone needs a thank you note. 

I write two different kinds of thank you notes to our donors, supporters and team members.  The majority of notes I write are simple, hand written thank you notes.  Some people (like the 18 year old version of me) thinks that this is an inefficient way of spending time, other people hate the way their hand writing looks, and still others simply think that the person on the receiving end doesn't really care whether the note is hand written or not.

In my experience:

• Hand written notes are warm and personal not cold and corporate.  Who would you rather do business with?  Would you prefer a salesmen that talks to you by name and seeks out ways to take care of your needs or a vague, one-size fits all on-line order form?
• Hand written notes don't take a lot of time.  My notes are typically three to four sentences conveying my appreciation for the gift, how I intend to use the gift, and an offer to be of service to the donor in the future.  I don't write a novel, I keep it short and sweet.  I typically do not include the size or value of the gift (i.e. thanks for your $50 donation).  These cards do not suffice for purposes of tax write offs.  They are specifically to convey appreciation.
• Hand written notes are not expensive.  I usually buy about 250, custom printed cards each year.  It runs me about $100.  My cards are simple.  They are on white card-stock paper with our logo on the front.  Inside they are blank and thus a canvas for me to express my appreciation.  They measure about 5.5" wide and 4.25" tall when folded. 
• Your handwriting makes it unique.  Obviously you'll need to write legibly.  Outside of that, by your handwriting you have communicated to the donor that you personally sat down and took the time to hand write a card of thanks.  That shows appreciation.    

So does that mean that I never use canned form letter thank you notes?  No.  I do use them.  Occasionally I receive a gift from a company or an estate.  Those types of donors need something from our agency that they can use for a tax write off.  They would rather have that than the warm and fuzzy feelings that accompany my hand written cards.  I get that and I'm okay with it. 

Here's a copy of the form letter that I use (click the image to enlarge it):

 

 

I included the line numbers for this blog post so that you can see how I space everything.  I don't print a document with line numbers.

 

You'll notice that it is on company letter head with contact information.

 

I have the date of the letter.

 

 

I include the mailing address of the donor.

 

I use a simple "To whom it may concern" salutation.

 

I keep it short.  I thank the company for their donation and I'm specific to list the monetary value of the gift. 

 

I offer to be of further assistance to the agency and then I close by listing my name and position with the agency.  I print this and sign it in blue ink and mail it to the donor. 

 

Is it cold and impersonal, yes.  Does the IRS care?  No. 

 

I fit the thank you note to the need of the donor.  90% of my notes are hand written.  10% of our gifts are corporate or from an estate that require a letter like this. 

 

 

So there you go! A quick guide to professional thank you notes!

Dinosaurs

We don't always have awesome discussions at our team meetings, but when we do, it is because we talked about dinosaurs.

Today we had quite a few things to discuss.  After we finished all of our procedural and training items, we had a discussion about having a dinosaur mentality. 

Having a dinosaur mentality leads us to the same fate as the dinosaurs--extinction.

We posed the question this morning, "What can we start doing today to make our organization viable 5 years from now?"

We could, in all reality, sit back and rest and keep doing what we've been doing and be in good shape for the short term.  However, we realize that for every second we're sitting idle, we're getting lapped by technology and culture.  What we're doing today can't be good enough 5 years from now. 

Here's some qualities of dinosaur thinking that could potentially kill your organization:

1.  Dinosaurs say, "This is how we've always done it."  That's just foolish.  I certainly don't advocate changing just for change sake but thinking that there is safety in history is flawed logic. 

2.  Dinosaurs shake their fists and tell the kids to "Get off my lawn!"  Dinosaurs don't embrace advances in technology and communication and marketing strategies.  They ignore the value of Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn because they don't understand it. Instead, you have to communicate in ways and in places that your audience can hear you.  My name is Adam and I get all my news from my Twitter feed and Facebook.  I follow news channels, government officials and news personalities and organizations via my preferred social media outlets.  If you want to convey a message to me or market a product or service to me, your high priced newspaper ad or your expensive radio spot isn't going to catch me.  I will see you in my Twitter feed though.  That doesn't cost a dime.  We HAVE to embrace advances in technology and communication and marketing strategies.

3.  Dinosaurs don't like it when you say that they have ugly kids.  Okay, no one likes that.  What I mean is that leaders put years of expertise and experience into building an organization, product line, etc.  What they don't like is when someone comes in, looks at what they've built and says, "I think we can do this better."  The dinosaur takes that statement way too personally.  The dinosaur hears the person say, "you've got an ugly kid."  Instead, we've got to acknowledge that as a leader, sometimes we can't see the forest for all the trees because we're too close and too emotionally invested in the project or organization.  It is helpful to have someone come in and help you get refocused and suggest ways to improve what you've built.  I know it's difficult, but don't take it personally.  See it for what it is--an opinion. 

Dinosaurs go extinct.  As leaders we can't become dinosaurs and we can't be okay with thinking like dinosaurs. 

How have you caught yourself having a dinosaur mentality?

You Forgot the "Customer" Part of Customer Service

I run a call center.  Teaching and reinforcing outstanding customer service skills to my team is one of the most important things that I do.  If I ever forget to teach and reinforce customer service skills to my team, all I need to remind me is having to be a victim of poor customer service.

The phrase "poor customer service" is an oxymoron in its own right.  When someone "serves their customer," the fact that the service is high-quality is implied.  Without outstanding service, you're not being "served," you're being "interacted with." 

When I spend my money (valuable) or my time (extremely valuable) with you and your company, I expect that I will be served and not merely interacted with. 

You want two examples of this from last week?  You got it!

At the office, I have a Chase Visa Credit Card.  I don't use it often but I do have it and use it when necessary.  Every single time I have to call Chase's customer service department to make a payment, dispute a charge, ask a question, etc. I always am greeting with outstanding customer service. 

It is worth noting that I don't even like having to use a credit card.  I don't like credit cards and don't have one personally.  It is simply an agency policy that I use one.  That being said, I adore Chase's customer service department.  Simply outstanding.  Every single time.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have had poor dealings with Verizon.  Our office used Verizon as our telephone and internet company for years.  However, after a string of poor interactions that I had with their technical support office over the summer, they eventually lost my business and now we spend our money with Suddenlink.  Suddenlink has proven to be the anti-Verizon and we love doing business with (i.e. giving our money to) them. 

When we closed our accounts with Verizon, I continued to be billed.  For months.  The first month I called their billing department and was placed on 30+ minutes of hold on different occasions and was often disconnected.  The next month I wrote a note on my bill explaining the situation and mailed it back.  No response.  The next month I went online to their e-mail contact form.  It wasn't working that day, I was told by an automated message.  I tried the online, live chat.  The virtual, automated agent was no help.

I was sick of it. 

I took to Twitter.

 

As you can tell, I received a human response to my tweet within a few minutes.  Within an hour, I had the entire situation resolved.  And, to give credit where it is due, I had a great experience with the three people that, because of a tweet, got my problem rectified. 

 

 

All that being said, I want to tell you what makes for an outstanding customer service experience like I have with companies like Chase and Suddenlink and this one interaction with Verizon.

 

1.  Treat me like I'm the only person in the room.  I know your day is full.  I know that you have a lot more people to see besides me.  I know the line is getting long behind me--but you don't have to let me know that.  I love it when the person I am talking to gives me all the time necessary to resolve whatever my issue is.  When the customer service associate gives time and attention to solve my issue, I can leave that conversation confident that I've been taken care of and I really appreciate that.

 

2.  Use my name.  I love it when people call me by my name.  The second that you use my name, I feel the conversation become a little more personal.  When you use my name (and I will typically use yours as well) you separate yourself from your competitors.  When I say that you separate yourself, I mean that when given the choice of where I will spend my money, I will choose you instead of your competitor that treated my like a number rather than a person.  I will choose you even though your prices may be slightly higher.  I will choose you even though it takes a little longer to receive the service.  I will choose you because you use my name when we talk.

 

3.  Over deliver.  This is easy to do because your competitors have really lowered the bar for you.  Let me give you and example of over delivering:

 

A couple of weeks ago, I had to take a day off to stay home with my son.  Of course, that's the day that our internet service at the office went down.  Since our work is web-based, the office came to a stand still.  I talked my staff through some typical troubleshooting and when that didn't work I had to call Suddenlink (our internet provider).  I told the gentleman that we had an internet outage and that I was at home, not at the office.  Because of my previous internet provider, my expectation was that the technician would field my call and then after about 30 minutes of my begging would schedule another technician to come to my office sometime in the next week. 

 

Not this time.

 

Upon hearing that I was at home, he laughed and said, "that's about right, the problem waited for you to leave, huh?" Jokingly I agreed.  After about 5 seconds he said, "I think I know what's wrong.  May I have the phone number of one of your folks at the office?  I'll call them and I know that they can fix this on site."  Stunned, I agreed.  He was proactive.  He was sympathetic to my situation.  He took care of it for me.

 

He over delivered.  He blew away his competitors.  He gets my money.

 

I know that those are just three ways to deliver awesome customer service and obviously there are so many more.  But in just one week's time, those are the three that have come up big for me!

 

In what ways have you received outstanding customer service?

  

The Complaint Department

I recently heard of a colleague of mine that has one job at her agency--running the complaint department.  Oh sure, some clever administrator somewhere realized that he'd never be able to hire someone to run an actual "complaint department" so he dressed up the title a little bit and called this department the "Quality Assurance" department.  Wow! What a different feel to that department! Now instead of listening to complainers all day, you're goal is to assure that your agency is awesome!

Slow your roll. 

It's the same thing. 

Fielding complaints is a very necessary and valuable part of assuring that your agency is providing high quality service.  Naturally though, dealing with complaints is a tough aspect of an administrator's job.  I've been fielding complaints and dealing with the complaints for several years now and I've discovered some practices and strategies that have worked for me.

First and foremost, you have to realize what a complaint really is.  A complaint (albeit negative) is third-party feedback on your agency's performance.  Feedback is important for any business and it is so important so some that they pay people for their feedback through the use of surveys, focus groups, etc.  Feedback provides you with opportunities to train your staff, assure that your staff is performing up to your expectations and in rare cases, allows you to discover poor performing staff members so that you can coach, retrain, re-assign or fire. 

Secondly, you've got to know how to handle a complaint once it arrives.  For me, I typically ignore the occasional complaints here and there.  I look at it this way:  My favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers, play 162 regular season games. If they have a stellar season, they'll win 90-100 of those games.  That means that they will lose 62-70 games.  By that thinking, no one overreacts when the team loses a game here and there.  No one freaks out when the ace pitcher has a bad outing or two each season.  It's a long season and you have to evaluate the entire body of work. 

I treat my staff the same way.  On an average month, my call specialists will talk to 1,500-2,000 individuals.  If they get one complaint out of 2,000 interactions, I'd say that they are doing a great job.  Wouldn't you?  When you receive a complaint, consider the whole body of work.  (Obviously, this does not include the staff member making an egregious error like the use of foul language, physical or sexual inappropriateness, etc.  I'm referring to simple complaints like "the girl had an attitude" or "I got hung up on.")

Each time I get a complaint, I do let the 'offending' staff member know.  Because of my previously stated stance on complaints, I don't levy any type of administrative repercussions on the staff member but it would be unfair of me not to let them know that a complaint was logged against them.  If you don't at least notify the staff member, you run the risk of alienating them if there turns out to be a trend of complaints against them.  You end up having this conversation:

"Hey Bill, we need to talk."

"Sure boss (no one actually calls me 'boss' but that would be pretty awesome) what's up?"

"Well, over the past few weeks, I've had several clients complain that you are not very engaged when you are trying to help them."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I was being perceived like that.  How long has this been going on?"

"Two months."

"Two months?? Why didn't you tell me about this two months ago?  If I knew there was a problem, I could have rectified it by now!"

That's an unfair position to put a staff member in.  Always be upfront and honest with the 'offending' staff member even if you're not taking any administrative action on the complaint. 

Third, I look for trends in the complaints.  After I get the initial complaint and tell the 'offending' staff member about it, I will have to be cautious to note whether or not I get additional complaints similar to the first.  If I do, then we have a problem.  If you get multiple complaints from multiple sources over a relatively short time period, you have a trend on your hands.  At that point, you've got to be willing to take some sort of action. 

The action that you take varies based on the complaints.  Some complaints may simply require some additional coaching on your part.  Maybe the staff member just needs some encouragement and support to improve their job performance. 

You may find that you need to do some additional training or re-train the staff member. 

Sadly, if after you've tried to address the problem, and you still receive complaints, you may be forced to re-assign the staff member or relieve them of their duties. 

Long story short, don't be quick to overreact to a complaint BUT be willing to take action if you notice trends in complaints. 

What are some of the "best practices" that you've found in dealing with complaints?

The Math-hate of a CFO

I'll just come right out and say it:  I have a pretty limited skill set.

From the time I was in the seventh grade, my only tangible skills seemed to by my ability not only to be willing to be a public speaker but also to enjoy being a public speaker.  I'm not super awesome at anything else outside of that.

I majored in and attained a bachelor's degree in human communication and I thoroughly enjoy reading or hearing about any topic that has to do with communication.  Trust me, that's not nerdy at all.

I hate math.

Even though I'm confident that the Bible tells us not to 'hate' things, I'm even more sure that hating math is the exception to the rule.  Math is on the axis of evil.  The only thing that weirds me out more than math are people that love math. 

It is safe to say accounting skills are not my strong suit. 

Unfortunately, within my duties as Executive Director, I'm also our agency's Chief Financial Officer. 

Now, before you withdraw your financial support and encourage others to do so as well, let me explain how I overcome a critical deficiency.

I'm not alone in this.  In my experience in dealing with many different administrators from non-profit and social services agencies, I've noticed that there are a lot of administrators that don't like dealing with the finances of the agency.  These administrators work in the human services industry because they love to help people.  These folks move from front line, direct client interaction to administration because their agencies recognize how much they love to help people and how good they are at their job because of their passion. 

Sadly, because the administrator is focused on the hands-on aspect of helping people, they neglect the finances of their agency.  This leads to mismanagement and fraud. 

That being said, the first way that I overcome my lack of financial management skills is to recognize that I have a lack of skills in an area where those skills are critical.  The first step is to admit it. 

Secondly, I'm open with my Board about every single penny that comes into our agency and leaves our agency.  Every donation is reported and every check that is written is scrutinized by our Board.  As a matter of fact, as an increased transparency measure, all of our checks must be signed by not only me but also an Executive Officer on our Board.  Our Board and I examine the following documents every single month, line item by line item:

• Previous month's Profit & Loss statement
• Fiscal Year to Date Profit & Loss statement
• Current Balance Sheet
• Bank-issued statements for each of our checking account WITH copies of every deposit and check written
• Credit card statement
• ANY other financial item requested by the Board

By faithfully examining these reports as a Board, we ensure that (in our case) eight different people authorize every transaction and the overall financial health of the agency.  In being open with your Board, you get support in your financial management of the agency. 

Thirdly, make friends with your CPA.  Ideally, your CPA should NOT be on your Board.  If your CPA is on your Board, there's a chance that the other Board members will not be as diligent in scrutinizing the financial statements because they'll defer to the CPA's knowledge and expertise.  While that sounds fine on the surface, your agency will lose all the benefits as previously outlined in having multiple people address the finances of your agency. 

Our CPA is awesome.  She is not only really knowledgeable but she's a fantastic and willing teacher.  Though her time is extremely valuable, I try to make opportunities to visit with her in person as often as she can.  When we meet, I am always prepared with a list of questions or concerns that I have.  Then, she talks and I listen.  I absorb her expertise and in doing so, I become a little better CFO after every meeting. 

Finally, I read.  I read blogs about financial management.  I listen to podcasts about financial management.  I look forward to any quality learning opportunity that I can use to improve my performance as CFO. 

I can happily report that although I still hate math, I spend a great deal of my time monitoring our ever-changing financial situation.  I give our finances the attention that they deserve knowing that if I mismanage them or make any fatal errors, all the people that I employ and all the people that we serve will reap the fruits of my errors.  I'm a far better CFO now than I was when I arrived here nearly three years ago and I no longer feel nearly as anxious or worried about my financial management skills.  (I still feel a healthy amount of anxious and worried, just not as bad as when I first arrived.)

What about you?  How do you overcome critical deficiencies in your professional life?

The Most Freeing Word

I'm a dad.

I'm a dad of two awesome kiddos, Hannah and Elijah and a third on the way. (Could be an Abigail or a Caleb.  We'll find out in a couple of weeks.)

I'm a dad of two awesome kiddos that are, for the first time, playing softball and blast-ball, respectively.

I'm a dad that makes time to study the Bible with people at church and has to study for himself too.

I'm a husband.

I'm a husband of a nurse that works 10 hours each day.

I'm a husband of a nurse that doesn't get home in time to get supper started and the laundry rotated.

I'm busy.

I'm a busy dad and a busy husband. 

Now, I don't want to come off as dramatic.  I'm a busy guy.  You're busy too.  For a long time, my goal was to make everyone happy and one way to do that was to commit to everything.  If someone needed me, I was there and I'd "work out the details later."

However, as I've gotten older and as I've matured a little (insert my wife's sarcastic laughter here) I have learned that there is such a thing as over committing myself.  I have learned that my time during the week is finite.  If I overload on commitments, I've learned that by definition, my relationships suffer. 

I've learned that there is a cure for over committing.

I've learned how to be free.

I've learned to say 'no.'

One thing that has been tough for me to get over is the false feeling that by saying 'no' to engagements or opportunities meant that I was being selfish.

In all reality, I have to say 'no' to some opportunities in order to give my top relationships a priority and strengthen them.  In addition, if I don't take some time for myself for relaxing, hobbies and personal growth, I will run out of emotional and spiritual fuel. 

So, how do I determine which engagements that I will say 'yes' to and which engagements I will say 'no' to?  Well, that's a difficult formula and it varies from person to person.

For me, I first look at my calendar.  I have my absolutes written in.  I know that Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings are off limits because that's time for worship.  I have my kid's practices, games, school events and family outings penciled in.  I don't let events interfere with those things because my time with my kids is finite and I refuse to spend my later years with a "Cats in the Cradle" type of regret.  I have other work-related events penciled in.  Those are required and I don't move them unless an emergency arises. 

After I look at the unmovable dates and events in my schedule, and before I add anything else to my calendar, I have to ask myself, "if I add this event, when will I be able to have a Bible Study?  When will I be able to spend time with my wife?  When will I be able to relax and unwind?" 

If I can reasonably answer those questions and I have time for the commitment, then I can put it in.  If I can't reasonably answer those questions, then I have to say 'no.' 

I'll admit, at first, it is difficult to turn people down.  However, when you have the realization that in saying 'no' to someone is the equivalent of telling my kids 'yes' or telling my wife 'yes' or telling God 'yes,' then the decision gets easier. 

Everyone is busy and believe it or not, most folks will understand when you have to turn them down. 

Do you have a hard time saying 'no' to people or opportunities?  Are you a people-pleaser?

The ATM

I am still young enough to remember the days before ATMs were prevalent in rural northeast Texas. I was sixteen and had my own checking account to deposit the massive amounts of cash (by a sixteen year old's standards) that I made at McDonalds.  Before the magical money boxes dispensed cash, you had to go into the bank and write a check for "CASH" to get dollar bills out of your checking account.  Standing there at the teller's window, you had to be sure that you had enough cash in your account to back up the check that you were essentially writing to the bank.  If not, you were faced with the crippling embarrassment of a human being (usually a pretty girl) telling you that you don't have enough cash in your account to cover the check. 

At the ATM it is a different story--slightly.  If you want cash, you still have to have enough deposited in your account in order to receive cash.  However, if you ask for more than you've got, you simply get an error message saying that you have "insufficient funds".  I'll take an automated error message rather than a person telling me that I have asked for more than I have given.  At the ATM, you can only receive up to the amount of cash that's available in your account.

Lately, I have started to feel like a human ATM. 

Every day, people walk into my office for help in filling basic needs such as help with utility bills, rent, diapers, food, clothing, etc.  Some days, it is easy to gauge which people are legitimately trying to improve their life and making positive decisions but have come up a little short this month in making ends meet versus the people that are simply using our services so that they won't be forced to work hard and make positive decisions. 

Other days, it's difficult to tell those people apart.

Generally, I'm a trusting person.  That type of trusting attitude can be dangerous in this business.  So, when someone comes in and breaches my trust, I tend to spiral out of control and become temporarily untrusting of everyone that walks in.  I begin to feel as though every person that sits across from me is using me as an ATM that simply dispenses goods and money.  I feel like the clients' expectations of me are to dispense the goods and services that they need and that they only "deposit" they have to cover their needs is "entitlement." 

As you can probably guess, that attitude on my part quickly leads to resentment.  It leads me to resent my work.  It leads me to resent my calling.  It leads me to resent the people that need help.  It leads me to resent my employees.  It leads me to resent my board.  It leads me to resent my supporters. 

It leads me to resent God.

After a time of having those feelings, I tend to go on the hunt for a different job.  (When I say 'hunt' I mean that I look on LinkedIn or in the newspaper classifieds for jobs that fit my skill set.  It is the job hunting equivalent of looking for a new car by simply driving down the street in front of the dealership without ever getting out of the car.)  In my 'hunt' for a different job I list all the qualities that I want to have in my new job.  Pretty quickly I realize that all the qualities that I want in a job exist at the very place that I'm ready to leave in my rear view mirror. 

Once I have that realization that I am at my dream job, the only thing that needs to change is my attitude.  I'm often taken back to the parable that Jesus gave of the sower in Matthew 13.  One of the interesting things about that story is that the sower spread the seeds out regardless of the type of soil they landed on.  The sower had very little control over how receptive the soil would be so he just spread the seeds out regardless of where they would land. 

Therein lies a powerful lesson for non-profits.  I would certainly hope that all non-profits seek to serve the people that have legitimate needs.  However, we can't read into the hearts of the folks that walk though the door.  We have no control of the soil that we spread the seeds of our good work into.  So, we need only to concern ourselves with spreading the seed and doing our good work.  We can have certain qualifications of people that are eligible for our services (ex. residency restrictions, limits on assistance, etc.) so that we are better stewards of what we have.  But, we cannot get into the business of trying to judge the hearts and intentions of the people that are eligible for our services. 

If we do try to make judgments on hearts and intentions, we're playing a losing game and not only does it add unnecessary stress to our already stressed lives but we're alienating the people we serve and potentially the donors that support us.