A Value Added Employee

A Value Added Employee

You add value to this institution. Period. A good value comes when something is gained at a rate greater than the numerical or technical cost. Being minimally effective is not even an option in this highly competitive and consistently fast-paced environment we work in. I value what you do and who you are. According to a blogpost on this topic by Jay Forte at Mindflash.com, an employee adds value when she knows the organization, knows her strengths, takes initiative to find opportunities and solve problems and focuses on the bottom line and the core mission of the institution.  Oscar Wilde said, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” My, my. How times haven’t changed. Except that I know how much it costs this institution to employ you, and I DO know that your unique perspectives and background in addition to your hard work and intelligence add great value. This institution matters in the lives of our students and community because what you do and who you are matters to this institution. Thank you!  

Happy New Year!

1/3/12 Happy New Year               

What an amazing opportunity a new year brings! Do you have anything in your typical work day habits that could be changed or improved? Who doesn’t, right? I know I could definitely be more intentional about being more organized. We have the chance to start fresh. Hopefully you will take some time in this New Year to reflect on our great chance to start anew. Consider these quotes… “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce. “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person.” Benjamin Franklin. Happy New Year! I’m glad to spend it with you- growing together to provide even better service for our customers.

When Bad Things Happen to Good…CoWorkers

8/12/13 Why do bad things happen? My short answer is, “Uh, I dunno.” That may not be the most important question anyway. What is important is that bad and good things will happen to these people with whom we spend a significant portion of our life, and we all benefit when they have the support they need. The places I am most fond of having worked at are- probably not coincidentally- also the ones where people are the most supportive of their colleagues. Everyday life includes little things like the occasional kid with a bad cold or dropping 20 pounds, but sometimes also includes life altering events like a significant illness or getting married. The people we work with are part of our social support network. Stepping in to celebrate or to cover for someone builds a culture of trust and goodwill among employees. Sometimes the coverage isn’t fair, but life isn’t always fair, yet we still need to “do the right thing”. I have seen the benefit of such social support in the work context. And, I have seen that work productivity is increased by a strong positive culture. How can you help someone feel good today about the work he or she is doing? How can you thank someone today for support that person has provided you recently or in the past? Things, good or bad, happen to us. Are we creating a safe enough environment that people feel comfortable sharing needs and losses, victories and joys with each other?

Strengths

12/19/11 Strengths!       

In an office team and helping environment like the one we work in, it is really important that we best utilize those unique and shared strengths that we each bring to the table. Clearly, we are not all the same. Good thing, too, because if we were, some of us would be unnecessary.  We do projects like the Meyers-Briggs (MBTI) personality typologies, Strengths Finder, group survival scenarios and more (like potlucks) to better understand the strengths that each of us brings. But, as an office we have to be the "total package" no matter what. Our customers need to see that we are organized, outgoing, thoughtful, relate well to others, are understanding, etc. If they perceive that we are weak in any area that is meaningful to their experiences, they may not return and could possibly bad mouth us on Facebook (read: a  marketing fate worse than death). So, we need your strengths to help us be successful. And, now that you have a chance to see your strengths, we need everyone on the team to fill in the gaps so we can demonstrate ALL of the strengths and so we can provide the great, quality service our constituents and customers have come to expect. Thanks for giving us your strengths and strengthening your weaknesses!

How Do We Steer This Thing?

 7/29/13 How Do We Steer This Thing?

As a supervisor, I often view my job as steering a ship comprised of the physical components of the office, the financial resources and the human resources. As the helms”man”, I must take responsibility for the direction in which we move. Thinking about how a sailing ship moves, we always visualize it moving forward. Steering has exactly no effect if the ship is stationary; one could move the rudder to his heart's content, but nothing will happen if the ship isn’t moving forward. Forward movement is the job of each and every staff member. We must move if the institution is to move. We look to our leaders to steer us in the right direction, but we won’t go anywhere if we don’t do our daily work and look to capitalize on novel and cutting edge opportunities to fulfill our mission. These activities will put wind in the sails and allow our leaders to steer us in the right direction. As we have middle and upper leadership changes, we frequently will make slight adjustments to our course, but the regular crew are the ones who propel us in those directions. You play a key role in keeping this ship moving in the right direction.

Working toward Balance

So much of our daily existence surrounds the concept of finding balance; or equilibrium, or harmony, or homeostasis, or any of the myriad other considerations that have similar meaning. As employees, we must balance the interests, strategic plan, mission, vision and values of our company, division, office, supervisor, and coworkers with our endeavor to meet the needs of our customers. In our private lives, we must balance the needs and interests of varied people and stakeholders with our own needs and desires. So, we could choose to see ourselves in constant struggle between these varied factions of our being. But, really, there must be no struggle. In the Bible, Jesus said that we must love our neighbor as our self. This means that we must first love our self and care for the self, so we CAN most effectively love and care for our neighbor and customer.  As a supervisor, I ask that my colleagues be conscious of the needs of others in the office and of our ability to meet the needs of the customers due to any reduced staffing. But, I know also that each of us must meet our personal, familial and professional development needs adequately in order to be able to provide great service to our customers. Stephen Covey said, “The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.” Expect that we will have continual conversations about finding this balance. And, know that I appreciate your efforts.

We’ve got a Mission and Value for That

Like every other company, we have an app for our organization. Our customers can log-in quickly from a smart phone or tablet to access our app. Got a problem? Yeah, we’ve got an app for that. But what about when the problem is ethical or outside the normal scope of our everyday considerations? We may not have an app for that, but we do have an institutional mission, values, guiding principles, code of professional ethics, laws and regulations, etc. Our organization has decided corporately to adopt a core focus and the philosophy under which literally all of our activities should fall. When any one member of the community strays from the company mission or values, the whole organization could suffer greatly. 

Jim Collins in Good to Great talked about having the “right people on the bus”. To extend the analogy further, I would also make the case that everyone in the organization should know where the bus is going, their role on the bus and what the edges of the road look like that it is supposed to be driving on. So, if the bus begins to veer off the road or turn off on the wrong road, any number of people in the organization can raise an alarm and hold others accountable before the bus goes careening over a cliff. Our mission, values and guiding principles delineate the parameters for solving problems, innovating and planning for the future. 

Got a problem? Yeah, we’ve got a mission and value for that.

Managing the Wait

5/6/13 Managing the Wait

In our world, we wait. We wait for lots of reasons and as individuals we must learn to manage ourselves while we wait. In our place of business, our customers will certainly wait at times. During peak busyness periods they will wait more than during others. As purveyors of great customer service, we must be conscious of how the wait will be received by our customers and how we manage it as professionals and as managers. Patricia Lotich wrote a great article on this topic for EzineArticles.com. In it, she wrote, “It is unfortunate that organizations often get so wrapped up in the performance of delivering a service that they lose sight of the service experience. When was the last time that you assessed your service through the eyes of the customer?”

When we was the last time we sat in our own lobby? How do our customers receive their welcome measured on their wait? What sorts of conditions help you to feel positive about a waiting experience you’ve had? In my opinion, the two biggest tools for providing a positive wait are friendliness and ongoing communication- the communication of the concern for your wait and of the realistic time to expect to wait especially. I have waited for doctors who were known for their great interpersonal skills and desire to answer patients’ questions. The staff of those doctors would call ahead and indicated if the doctors were running behind. What are some ways we can be innovative in managing the wait? How do smart phones play a role in the wait? Could we have some funny or relevant texting-based surveys running at any given time on a computer monitor?  Could we have a list of recommended apps for our clients to view? Are their apps directly relevant to our work that we could recommend- or should we develop one?

Administrative Office Professionals Day Poem 2013

You’ve found amazing successes

despite your supervisors’ best efforts and guesses.

You offer our customers consistent smiles

though you’re buried in work measured in miles.

You are the yin of organizational order

to our yang full of disorganizational disorder.

You are constantly, amazingly, expertly juggling multiple hats,

so allow me a moment to recognize you truly as “all that”.

You are composed and compassionate

even in the face of customer frustration or discontent.

You are time management and reality’s anchor

when my feet and mind are wont to wander.

You have a selfless service gift given

when my contribution is generally but to enliven.

You’ll, at the counter, save the day

while I’m in meetings wasting away.

You’re the front-line Lieutenant

while I’m stuck debating “ands” in the Senate.

You’re the information and knowledge keeper,

but your work sits there while all glean as hungry info reapers.

Your customer help leaves folks better and different.

The reach of your impact is literally infinite.

Despite dealing with poop that lands down on you from uphill rolled,

it’s unfortunate we allow all our appreciation to sit so vastly untold.

In expertly handing all things most vital, left undone and tough,

we can never say thank you enough.

Your professionalism is truly inspirational.

Without you this place would scarcely be operational.

Daniel Segura, 4/24/13

Social Media- Another Way to Connect

4/22/13 Social Media- Another Way to Connect

I think it would be safe to say that, generally, we are people who desire to connect with other people. We’ve chosen a helping field like education because we like people and we want to make a difference. In the last 6 or 7 years, various social media outlets have increasingly become a more and more ubiquitous part of our lives. Even someone who doesn’t use Facebook, probably hears information in-person about something shared through it. Information moves very rapidly from person to person. This phenomenon is not isolated to certain age groups or socio-economic classes, but happens across the board. Like any medium, this can and is abused, so we must be cautious and diligent with confidential information. But, one thing is true throughout these mediums- we can now create a sense of community and interconnectedness with a very wide range of people across any distance. In our work, we are now almost expected that we will be available 24/7/365 on the web and almost as much through social media. We must meet the imperative to connect with our customers for real-time service across multiple communication mediums in order to continue to exceed  customer service expectations.

Morale?

11/18/11 Morale?

A number of years ago, our college president said in response to a question about morale following a cut of 20 employees that morale is the responsibility of the individual. Hmm… My immediate thought in that emotional moment was that he was crazy and wrong. But, after some reflection, I think that what he was getting at is that we must all choose how we react to emotional and distressing situations; that we are responsible for our own emotions and reactions. Clearly we are. We will have change. We will have very stressful days. But, we don’t have the luxury of sulking in a corner with our pouty lip sticking out. We have customers and students to serve. We must put on a positive face so we can give them a positive experience. The good news is that, even with the occasional difficult and stressful days and a few tough customers or interpersonal relationships, this is a wonderful place to work. We believe in supporting each other and many of us have connected as friends as well as coworkers. I think this comes through with our customers and students as well. Or, maybe it doesn't need to. What they see is that it is a nice place to do business and meet their educational needs. I hope your morale gets a bit of a boost just knowing that our many stakeholders think this is a really great institution/company to be connected to and served by. They've chosen us and YOU are one of the reasons they have! I am thankful for you!

Tax Time

4/8/13 Tax Time!

As citizens and public servants of this nation, April 15 is a vital day for us. It’s a day about responsibility; our individual responsibility to pay our taxes as we are liable to do so, our corporate responsibility as public educators to manage the tax moneys we receive, and one in which our lawmakers must always be aware of their own responsibilities as stewards of the public trust and funds. We are all important cogs in many wheels. As educators and career advisors, we are bolstering each of these aspects of American society. We can be fiscally responsible with the funds we have received to operate our office. We promote an educated citizenry in which people with higher levels of education are much more likely to be an active influence on policymaking locally and nationally. And, we are helping our students and alumni acquire the tools they need to maximize their skills to become gainfully employed; thus taxpaying citizens. We make a difference for our individual students and alumni as well as for the very operation of our nation. Uncle Sam says, “Thank You!”

Our Brand of Customer Service

10/24/11 Our Brand of Customer Service

Many highly successful companies have been recognized for their amazing customer service and satisfaction. But, we are NOT, nor will we ever be, Disney, Pikes Place Fish Market or Southwest Airlines. We aren’t a hotel or a government agency. We aren’t the same as a local university down the road or the next town’s community college. We will only ever be Delta College. We have a flavor and a mission and a customer base all our own. The customer service we provide is best when we realize that we are serving OUR unique customers in OUR unique environment and working to meet THEIR unique needs and uniquely exceed THEIR expectations. Jerry Fritz said, “You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.” I agree. Our product isn’t that different from what is offered by other colleges and universities. If it were, our classes wouldn’t transfer. We can look to the kinds of service philosophies those above companies have and choose portions to emulate, but we can never graft them into our culture. The good news is that our institutional culture is one that drives good customer service. We will mold that culture incrementally as a group by our collective actions. So, let’s push daily with an unlimited drive to empower students and community members to develop and meet their educational and career goals. And, let’s provide services that meet only the highest bar for planning and quality. Already, other groups are attempting to copy our models. We know, though, that they will never achieve what we do in the ways we do- because they aren’t Delta College.

Serving Satisfaction

10/10/11 Serving Satisfaction     

We have chosen a career where we serve others. We work in a serving capacity. Our activities and programming at Delta College provide a unique opportunity to so greatly affect people on a daily basis. We are passing to others the benefits we have received that have propelled us to this point. We are paying it forward, and we believe that society benefits as a whole because those we are helping will pay it forward too. Consider this quote from Clarence E. Hodges, “I have been the recipient of love and service, therefore I can love and serve. There is great satisfaction in service to others, in seeing people and their conditions change.” We are changing lives and changing the world!

Not Feeling Well but Assured

3/25/13 Not Feeling Well but Assured

In the same breath that I might encourage a staff member that I value their work and appreciate their dedication, I might also remind them that anyone of us could be hit by a truck on any given day. Ouch! Why would I go there? Well, it is an important consideration with the undertaking of any process, task, program and new policy. Someone else should know how to access the information for any project we work on. We should always write directions for those who will come after us… because they WILL come after us. Everyone is replaceable, but we should work to ensure smooth transitions and operations in the times when we have to replace the work done by someone due to a happy event like retirement or a FMLA for birth or, in the tough situation of, an illness or injury. As always, we have a number of major events coming up. Let’s make sure that we have our “bases covered” with a tidy file that anyone could grab to pick up where someone else left off. We might need to stammer a little and muddle through, but we must provide great service and quality programming. So, if you aren’t feeling well, you can rest assured that we will muster on! 

The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

3/11/13 The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

St. Patrick’s Day is coming. It’s a time when we might think about the concept of Luck… and maybe whether it might “come our way.” Over the last few years, our office has been remarkably successful in providing outstanding service to our students and community partners, and we have maximized our resources in the face of diminishing budgets and the number of staff. Have we just been lucky? Maybe, right? But what is luck anyway? In past quips, I have repeated a great definition of success as the confluence of preparation and opportunity. Is luck (fate/kismet/destiny/providence/instant karma) in the opportunity? Maybe. But, don’t we make our own opportunities, too, when we keep our heads up and make our brains aware of them. And, when has anyone ever been successful when they couldn't capitalize on an opportunity because they weren't prepared? We can NEVER get so lost in the crises of the moment that we cease to plan and prepare and be ready for an opportunity. We must intentionally set aside a portion of our time and attention to the consideration of new opportunities and to the creation of an environment that allows them to incubate. As Ernest Hemingway said, we must never stop doing what we do and being the best we can be because sometimes we will have “good luck” and become “better than we can” be. Let’s be intentionally lucky. 

Service from a Distance

2/25/13 Service from a Distance

Increasingly, we conduct business with and provide services to our students in online  environments. We utilize the obvious email and web-site help forums but also social media and now Skype. For those of us who have been working in face-to-face student service and customer service jobs for a long time may find these virtual communications mediums a little uncomfortable. But this is the reality of the expectations of our digital native customers. We are used to “connecting” with our students in-person. We know and see the benefits of that personal connection. Yet, students don’t always feel the need to connect interpersonally with a human. Frequently they just want their needs met and have a built-in expectation that we would provide just as excellent and comprehensive service online as we do in-person. This, then, leaves us with (at least) two challenges… Provide outstanding service online and be cognizant of the consideration that many of our F2F customers might not be comfortable interacting in online environments. Are we meeting that challenge and exceeding those expectations?

Gratitude

9/26/11 Gratitude           

Delta College is a community supported endeavor. And, we are here only for one reason, to facilitate student success. We have the opportunity to be thankful for the interactions we get to have with our VERY diverse student, alumni and coworker community of customers. But being thankful is not enough. William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” Gratitude is an investment that costs naught but a second, yet pays in virtually immeasurable dividends of good will, increased productivity and positive feelings.  You were given 86,400 seconds today. Could you spend just one of them saying, “Thank you”? And, please accept my thanks to you for your gift to us of your time, talents and positive attitude. YOU make this office and college a great place to work, learn and grow.

No Excuses for Not Planning

9/12/11 No Excuses for Not Planning

It's been said that "Failing to plan is planning to fail." The mission of our institution does not change. We are usually glad to be beholden to it. But, there are times when we allow excuses to creep in about why we can't fulfill our mission... "We are too busy to..." Busyness is our number one excuse, but it is always really about priorities. We hide behind busyness but we must instead think about what must be done, what should be done, what is getting done, when things are getting done, and- the hardest- what must be discarded. In an age of increasingly limited staff time and financial resources, something has to give- without sacrificing the mission. So, yes, we DO have time to meet and strategize and prioritize because we are more likely to fail to meet the mission otherwise.

“Hustle” in the workplace

8/29/11 “Hustle” in the workplace

You may have heard me use the word "hustle" in the context of career advising with someone. While it could have negative connotations, I only use it in respect for someone who is always ready to step up and seize- or create- an opportunity. Success is frequently defined as the convergence of preparation and opportunity. If the opportunity comes and one is not prepared, nothing happens. If one spends all of his or her time getting prepared but fails to seize an opportunity (usually from fear of failure), again nothing happens. A "hustler" is one who is simultaneously very aware of his/her skills and ALWAYS looking for the opportunity to exploit them for the greatest gain. We can NEVER be so immersed in the immediate that we never come up for breath long enough to see the opportunity. Conversely, we have to attend to daily and ongoing projects appropriately and not only continually look to the horizon for the 'next big thing'. The best "hustler" in the workplace finds the balance for both. 

You make a difference!

8/27/11 You make a difference!

You impact students every day! One of the greatest impacts you can make in customer service is to genuinely communicate that we are glad each of our students are here. It is not overstating to say that any one (or every) interaction might make the difference in whether they finish school, or not. Also, I am glad YOU are here. I see the difference you make!

The importance of work

8/1/11 The importance of work

Over the last couple weeks, you've spent dozens of hours working at Delta College. The main reason you were here, of course, is to be able to get a paycheck to put food on the table and pay your bills. But, work does have it's advantages. A positive work environment is a great social connection. People who have good relationships with their coworkers are healthier on almost every measure. We spend a lot of time with our coworkers- sometimes significantly more than our significant others. This should also remind us that the people we work with are also our "customers". We can approach our coworkers with the same commitment to great service as we do every day with our external customers.  I appreciate the relationships I have established with you. You make my day every day!

When we look back on today…

7/19/11 When we look back on today…

It will be great because we are all working together for students and YOU are affecting students every day in the work you do!

Freedom through Learning

6/30/11 Freedom through Learning

As we reflect on a our Independence Day, we should think about how higher education relates to the life of a free person. Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." We have fought wars to gain freedom, but we stay free only to the extent to which we continue to learn and grow as citizens. At Delta College, we provide access to higher learning. We are helping people be more free and changing the world every day! 

One of the Great Values of Higher Education

6/20/11 One of the Great Values of Higher Education

A college education is less about the acquisition of facts and more about building the ability to synthesize the information into a known set of truths. And also, it is about continuing that search for information to better bolster our understanding of truths or to find new ones. We play a number of roles in that process by providing facts and assisting in the search for better self-knowledge and an increased understanding of the work world in which our customers will move.

Let’s be GREAT!

6/6/11   Let’s be GREAT!

We are a really good Career Services office! We help our students find what they are looking for and discover more about themselves. But, what would it look like if we were GREAT? Jim Collins, in Good to Great, stated that "Good is the enemy of Great". If we settle for good enough, that is all we will be. How would our services look different if we provided GREAT service?

The Circle of Teamwork

3/14/11 The Circle of Teamwork

Today is Pi Day… 3/14 (as in 3.14…) While the date is a completely arbitrary connection mathematically, it can give us pause to think about the circle. Circles are highly symbolic in ancient cultures and our own… We are all a part of the circle of life. We wear an unbroken circle as a wedding ring among many other symbolic examples.

As a team, we are a circle of needed participants. Our team is most successful when we all work together. Our team can fail when any one of us fails. It is in all of our best interest to help each other succeed. Thanks for being a part of the circle of our team. We need YOU and we support YOU! 3.14

Are we Teachable?

2/14/11 Are we Teachable?

As we have a new employee beginning right now, we are all thinking about the things we desire to teach him to help him, thus our team, be successful. But, how many times do we interact with someone and learn something from them?... A lot if we are open to it- I would say. As we deal with customers and other staff members, are we approaching those interactions with an open mind? Are we really listening and ready to gain something from each person? Our interactions can be best maximized if we are teachable.

Let’s be Great!

1/31/11 Let’s be Great!

Jim Collins said, Good is the enemy of Great!” We can provide good service all of the time. It would be easy to rest on “good enough”. But our students and customers need GREAT service to really see a difference. Thanks for striving for that with us!

Inspiration and Encouragement

1/17/11 Fairness in the workplace

The compulsion of fairness in interpersonal and work relationships and customer service holds us back from being generous. Generosity is the greatest gift we can give our customers.

12/5/10 We help unlock students’ potential

Despite “white out” conditions, we best serve our students when we believe that we can add color and flavor to their lives by facilitating a series of self-discoveries; career and personality assessment, unlocked academic  potential, and introduction to various new lifeskills; leading to real self actualization.

11/22/10 Together or not at all

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford

10/25/10 The Gift of Customer Service

We give the greatest gift to our customers. We give them our time, attention and support. To paraphrase a great quote by Forest E. Witcraft, “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of another person.”

10/11/10 Mastering yourself

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu