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Unlikely heroes

October 19, 2014 by Brenda Leave a Comment

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  And sometimes our stereotyping prevents us from recognising the value of these people.  In the last month I’ve been privileged to interact with two individuals who most certainly are heroes from my perspective. 

The first is a quietly spoken man, France Mthiyane.  I first met him as a participant in a customer service training workshop, part of an ongoing programme run for over 300 staff at Save Hyper, Pietermaritzburg.  During a session I was telling the story of my childhood and how my mother gave me the responsibility for polishing the apples in her store. Having shiny apples gave her business a competitive advantage. In addition, by assigning me tasks that I was capable of being good at, she was setting the path for my future success. 

I tell this story in workshops and then ask questions that will help participants to gain insight.  After a few questions, I asked: ‘So, once I’m continuously polishing the apples and making them look good, and more and more customers are coming to buy them, what do I need to be careful of?’  The customary answers would likely be:  don’t stop - continue polishing to keep up the standards – reputation management – continue assigning tasks that will help people to become successful etc.   In addition to these responses, France put his hand up and explained how we have to treat each apple with great care so that we don’t drop it.  And then with wisdom, he expanded on the concept.  His message conveyed the importance of respect for all people and all things. 

Brenda Eckstein, France Mthiyane and Rashaad Solomon, Manager Save Hyper.

Brenda Eckstein, France Mthiyane and Rashaad Solomon, Manager Save Hyper.

Throughout our programme I have been impressed by his ongoing contributions.  However, when shopping I have also watched him on the Save Hyper ‘floor’, too.  He is often near the front helping any customer who needs a basket or other assistance.  Or we might find him pushing heavy trolleys or helping other staff members in some way.  People must think he is important, that he has a fancy title.  However when I asked him what he was employed to do, he proudly answered, ‘I look after perishables’.  I wanted to know more!  He explained that his job description is ‘fridge packer’ and that he deals with cold items.  He said this with pride and obvious enjoyment.  Then he added:  ‘You must like what you do, and then you’ll be successful’.  

This great lesson and France’s wonderful example show us that every one of us can go way beyond the boundaries imposed by a job description.  If we love our jobs and are prepared to make the effort, we can excel at any level.  Throughout the course, each week he has consistently been chosen as a ‘Customer Service Hero’ by the staff. I commend the Save Hyper directors and management team for announcing France as the first ‘Staff member of the Month’ (October 2014).  

My second hero is an insurance assessor.  At the thought of claiming from insurance most of us go into ‘flight mode’.  We know it isn’t going to be easy to gain fair compensation. And although we have suffered a loss, however small or big, we get ready for the ‘fight’.  Yet, there are heroes out there and I’d like to tell you more about my dealings with Reyaz Allee,  Claims Assessor, KZN Claims Processing Hub, Mutual & Federal Insurance Company Limited. 

Here is the background:  a few weeks ago disaster struck in the form of a burst sewerage pipe which flooded two rooms at our home.  To get to this guest suite, we have to go out through an external entrance and down some stairs. As my husband is handicapped and now battles to get down the stairs, we don’t often use that area. In addition we have spare bedrooms in our main house so when family or friends come to stay, there is no need to use this exterior guest suite.   However we do use it for storage and go there perhaps twice a month at the most.  

On one of these visits, we were horrified to find that not only had the bathroom been flooded but so had the bedroom, now a storage room.  I was shocked and dismayed that something like this could happen in our home.  Yet this was an emergency and I had to work out how to manage this dreadful situation.  In a state of panic I called the plumber who came with a team of five and ended up working for four days chopping away banks, digging up the garden, tracing the fault and then repairing it.  They also started the initial cleaning.  I also managed to engage industrial cleaners who came on site immediately.  

However it was only after we’d set the process in motion, trying to create order out of chaos, that some-one asked what role our insurance company was playing.  I hadn’t thought about that!  I phoned our insurance broker who immediately swung into action.  Yet I still felt overwhelmed at the thought of filling in all the forms, getting quotes and still trying to manage the clean-up process.  When I was told that the assessor had been appointed, I wasn’t sure whether I was in fight, flight or freeze mode.

Reyaz Alee, Claims Assessor.

Reyaz Alee, Claims Assessor.

However Reyaz Alee instantly became my hero.  He dealt with this dreadful situation with efficiency and compassion.  I was really upset as many sentimental and valuable items had been destroyed or contaminated.  How do you ever replace an antique leather suitcase? You can’t.  And what about my mother-in-laws sleeper couch?  Yet Reyaz became my partner in finding the best possible outcome.  He immediately sent builders to remove the wooden doors and steps.  He also included Lynda from ‘Gran & Gramps’ who became a fairy-godmother – or shall I call her a ‘heroine’?  She advised, looked for solutions and came and collected our valuable wooden furniture to decontaminate and restore it.  The plumbers, builders, cleaners, Lynda, ‘salvage contactor’ and Char, who was dealing with curtains and blinds, had to be managed and Reyaz did that, being accountable and keeping me informed at all times.  We were partners in creating order out of chaos.  And I believe that after hours of careful negotiation, on each item (and there were hundreds) that we were able to achieve an outcome that was fair to all parties.  Reyaz, I commend you as one of my heroes. 

So here we have two case studies.  And my questions for you are:

  1. France, a ‘fridge packer’ and Reyaz, an ‘insurance assessor’ are unlikely heroes. What are the characteristics of these two very different heroes that put them in a category way above others in their fields?
  2. What part does their excellence play in shifting our perceptions of the brands they represent?
  3. Name two unlikely heroes with whom you have interacted in the last month. What characteristics or behavior made them extraordinary?
  4. How might their behavior have impacted on customers’ or clients’ experience of the service the company or firm offers?
  5. What have you done to show appreciation? And how have you escalated your commendation to higher levels within their organisations so that they’ll be recognised by their superiors?

Heroes are everywhere.  Notice them and show appreciation.  An added benefit is that you might become one of their heroes! 

For more information on Customer Service Training, Executive Coaching or Keynote Speaking, please contact brenda@146.66.90.172 or phone +27 82 4993311.

137: Broken biscuits

October 25, 2013 by Brenda Leave a Comment

When my mother was young, her family was very poor.  She tells the story of how on special occasions they could afford to buy biscuits. But they didn’t go to Woolworths and buy a packet or two. They would go to the local factory and buy the broken biscuits.  And they loved them. 

blog137

That made me think of how unappreciative we often are – and how wasteful many of us in Western society have become.  There is nothing wrong with ‘broken biscuits’.  They taste the same.  The only difference is in our attitude.  In life if whatever we approach, we enter with an attitude of appreciation, we will gain great gifts every day of our lives. 

Many of us are surrounded by excess and that has become the ‘norm’. I grew up in a middle class family and we had one bathroom, one car and we were lucky to have one telephone.  There was no TV in South Africa until I was 30 years old.  Nowadays even young children have their own cellphones –  and they feel inferior if not provided with their preferred brand.  When we renovate our homes, I am told that it is expected that each child will have their own ‘en-suite’ bathroom.  Luxury abounds. 

In some ways this easy access to abundance destroys creativity.  Many people in our society no longer consider, ‘what shall we do with the leftovers’?  It is obvious!  They go straight into the garbage bin.  Gone are the days when we lovingly created new combinations from our leftover food or other consumables. The basis of Creole cookery is looking in the cupboard and fridge and saying ‘what scraps are there that we can use in preparing supper tonight?  And how can we most excitingly combine those ingredients?’  I still run my kitchen like that.  It is fun! 

And let’s look at another aspect of ‘brokenness’.  In a jigsaw puzzle, if we discover near the end that a piece is missing, the annoyance often outweighs the satisfaction of the careful precision with which we put the pieces together.  We notice the ‘missing piece’ more than we notice ‘the whole’. 

The same applies to our chipped crockery. If it isn’t perfect it becomes redundant.  Or does it?  I have a remedy for that.  Take up mosaicking.  Putting together the pieces in new creative combinations is good for the soul. 

So, how else can we apply these principles?  The broken biscuits, the scraps, the missing jigsaw piece and chipped crockery can be metaphors for our lives and for society.  How do we mend what is broken?  Or even better, how can we create exciting new combinations?  We need to explore possibilities and then recognise and optimise opportunities.  Creativity and innovation are fun!  And appreciation is the ‘golden thread’ taking us from ‘brokenness’ to ‘wholeness’. 

For further information on Executive Coaching and keynote speaking please contact Brenda on brenda@146.66.90.172 or +27 82 4993311.

Leadership development: Catch some-one doing something right

October 17, 2012 by Brenda Leave a Comment

It is so easy to notice the negative aspects of some-one’s behaviour, especially if that person is a member of the team we are leading or managing.  ‘The task must get done’ is often our emphasis.  So, our theme for this week’s article is ‘let’s shine up the people’.  We’ll most probably find that we’ll build positive relationships and get better results.  This forms part of our ‘leadership development’ programmes.

It’s so easy to ignore or avoid people when they are not enriching our lives.

A story will put the message in context.  When my children were young and I fetched them from school, I’d ask:  ‘Who did you play with today’? Depending on their answers, my question might be, ‘And why didn’t you play with x’?  Often the answer would be ‘Because they are horrible’ – or they’d mention that the other person had behaved in way that impacted negatively on them. 

I would then take out a can of Brasso (shining agent) and my line of questioning would go like this – and it still does, for my adult audiences:

  1. If you had a beautiful shiny brass vase, like this one, and left it in a cupboard, without giving it any attention, what would happen to it in the ‘long term’?
    (It would become tarnished.)
  2. So what might you do in relation to that vase?
    (You may just leave it in the cupboard – it isn’t so attractive any more.) 
    (There is less chance you’ll ‘take it out and play with it’)
    (You may even push it to the back of the cupboard and forget about it.)
  3. What happens the longer you leave it in the cupboard?
    (It becomes even more tarnished and therefore less attractive.  And it requires more work to shine it up.)
  4. So, if we were to take it out the cupboard, apply a bit of Brasso and spend a few      minutes rubbing it, what would happen?
    (It would begin to shine.)
    (It would become more attractive again.)
    (It reflects light and thus appears interesting from different angles.)
    (We see the reflections of our own face when looking at it.) 

The message is that the benefits of sincerely ‘polishing up the people’ are huge.  Sometimes we need to take conscious action to notice our impact on others.  The small things can make a big difference.  By showing genuine appreciation we can raise a person’s energy and make life far more enjoyable for them – and for ourselves. The ripple effect on all aspects on individual lives and on teams is enormous.

So, ‘catch people doing something right’ and praise them immediately.  You’ll enrich their lives and your own life, too.  This is an important lesson in ‘leadership development’.  For more information on this topic please contact me - brenda@146.66.90.172, Phone: +27 33 3425432, Mobile: + 27 82 4993311. 

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