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On the trail in Northern Canada “Marche” was the word that translated as “Mush” and was used to drive the dog teams that once were the only source of power in the frozen North.

What was not translated was the original meaning of the word “Marche” which was the French imperative, “Walk”.

Not run, not hurry up or go faster, just walk.

There are in fact only three orders that the dog team understand, “Stop”, “Go” and “Take it easy”.

I was lucky enough to take a dog sledging tour in Canada with “Snowy Owl Tours” under the careful guidance of Connie Arsenault.

She began the tour by introducing us to the dogs with an attention to detail born of a genuine respect and care for her teams.

She explained how the team worked.

All the dogs are attached to the sledge by one common line to which each dog is attached by a separate harness, the direction of this line is the direction the sledge will take and each animals effort could be gauged by his alignment to the direction of travel of the sledge.

Connie talked about the importance of selecting the correct dogs for each team.
The positioning of the dogs in the team is determined by their size, level of courage and willingness to perform.

Connie explained,

“When we are laying out our dogs in a team we have front to rear, Lead dogs, point dogs, swing dogs and wheel dogs.

In an eight dog team of four pairs the first pair are the lead dogs.
They are not the strongest but they have the intelligence, focus, character and speed that allow the other dogs to follow.
If the lead dog does not lead, the team will not follow and the sledge will go nowhere.

Next are the point dogs, the apprentice lead dogs who are usually yearlings.

At the back of the team are the wheel dogs, these two are the power house of the team, strong and un-dramatic.
They take their direction, then putting their shoulders to the traces they get the job done.

In the middle is the schoolyard, the swing dogs.
This pair will usually consist of a young dog and an older dog, perhaps an old lead or wheel dog who is getting on in years and has been replaced in his principle position by a younger more capable animal.

His usefulness is not over, strength is not the only commodity in the team.
The old dog in the schoolyard or swing position now has the job of bringing on the younger dog through his example and experience.
He in turn responds to and gains fresh energy from the enthusiasm of the younger dog.

These eight dogs will comfortably haul three people all day, or they will equally happily fight and play in the snow.

These eight individuals make up the team.
The driving is done exclusively by praise and recognition.

Praise for the team effort, and for the individual.

Connie explained the significance of our position relative to the team.
We were part of the team but like the dogs, we still had to earn the right to be there.
Unless we were prepared to jump off the sledge and give them a hand when they needed it, they would lose respect and stop pulling.
That included helping out by pushing when going uphill and holding the sledge back so it didn’t overrun the dogs when going downhill.

Our job was not to tell the team what to do, they already knew what that was better than us.
Our job was to provide the physical and verbal support that they needed to tell them that their efforts were appreciated.

There are no passengers on a sledge.

Connies reason for making this explanation was because she cared for her teams and did not want us to annoy or upset them through accidental mishandling or abuse.

There was a worried question, “What happens if we get it wrong?”
I could see the picture this man had in his mind, him hanging on grimly while his baying team headed for the horizon at top speed out of control.
Connie saw it too and knew the answer perfectly.

She told us, “If you are in charge of a team and you get it wrong, the team will cease to function.

This means they will stop pulling in the same direction and therefore be incapable of tearing off towards any horizon, but they will let you know long before that, that all is not well.
All you have to do is watch for the signs they will give you”

She said “The first thing to understand is that these are working dogs.
Dogs who get so excited at the prospect of pulling that at the beginning of the day when they are fresh they will at times go too fast.”

If you stick to the three instructions they know and understand, “Stop”, “Go”, “Take it easy” and give them the support they need then they will do their best for you.

If you confuse them with unnecessary or contradictory orders, or you shout at them, they will stop working as a team. They will take their weight off the rope while keeping it taut to make it look as if they are working, or they will simply wander off line and start eating snow or fighting.

The first sign of this in the team is when the dogs start to look over their shoulders at the driver.

Normally the lead dog is the first, he turns round while still pulling and in his eyes you can see what is in his mind.
He is saying “Just let me know what you want, I will do it” or “We are doing our best why don’t you get off and help instead of doing all that shouting”

Unless you pay attention to these first signs the breakdown of the team will follow.

Connie told a great story but we were impatient to set off up the trail behind our teams.

I was paired initially with a guide, she started the dogs, stopped them and told me when to jump on the brake.

The whole of the rest of the time she spent praising the team and the individuals.

At first I thought that she was making too much of this support and puzzled at the meticulous way she named each of the dogs and encouraged them, returning again to give praise for the whole team.
initially it sounded like overkill and I could not see any effect.

What I really mean is, the team just did what a dog team was supposed to do.
They did not make a fuss, they pulled together in the same direction and kept their eyes to the front, except to occasionally acknowledge with a glance our guides words of acknowledgement, as if they knew that she also needed to know that her efforts were appreciated.

There was a lot of shouting and noise coming from the Sledge behind us.
They did not have a guide and we had to keep stopping to allow them to catch up.

Our guide had her hands full trying to pour an equal amount of attention and care on the team behind us who were clearly not enjoying themselves at all and needed help.

It was then I realised that what she was doing was a physical thing.
She was not just being “Nice” to the dogs, she was providing the fuel that the team needed to work.

Without the support that she was providing for our team, the team behind was falling apart.

The more the team ceased to function the more the drivers shouted and cajoled and instructed.
That was exactly what Connie had told us would stop the team from functioning, and she was exactly right.

At the halfway point some of us changed sledges and I found myself with the team that had been behind us for the journey out. One of the drivers on the outward leg also stayed with that team.

We set off to a chorus of shouts and cries all intended by the driver to motivate and push the team to greater effort.

It was apparent that this confusing set of signals was not doing the job, the dogs were turning around and looking at us, they weren’t pulling and the sledge wasn’t moving.

More shouts were added and the driver launched into a litany of the faults of the team and how it really was spoiling the day that we had such a bad team.

I remembered Connie’s words and suggested we try something different.

“Why don’t we just save our breath and see what the dogs will do on their own”.

The driver stopped shouting.

With a spoken “Hike up” (The modern version of saying “Mush”) the dogs pricked up their ears, faced the front and started pulling.

We didn’t give another order to the dogs.

They knew where they were going.

We helped going up the hills by scooting or running alongside and we braked going down.

The rest of the time we spent providing the team with the fuel they needed to do their job.
“Good puppies, Good puppies, Well done Misty, Good boy Laredo, Well done Midnight, Good girl Mexico.
Good boy Butch, Well done Sundance, Good girl Cinders Good boy Butte. Good boys! Good girls!.

And just once I caught a kind of a backward glance from Laredo, he seemed to say, “See, that’s how you do it”, and then he was back to his job of keeping up with the sledge in front and looking after the youngster at his shoulder.

The reason for telling us how to make the teams work was not because Connie Arsenault had heard a theory about the principles of leadership and wanted to try it out.

The reason was because she races dog teams. She races dog teams the same way they have been raced for hundreds of years, and she knew that this was the way to win.

Peter A Hunter,
Author of “Breaking the Mould”,
http://www.breakingthemould.co.uk

“Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” - Marian Anderson

As a leader you will always be challenged with blending the wants of the organization and the wants of employees. Here is where the conflict lies; every organization has a fundamental desire to succeed and employees want to be successful in their work. Organizations use strategic plans, operational plans and human resources plans, however these planning tools hardly ever take into consideration the staff skill to carry out the organizational plans.

Here is where you come in you must become the bridge that spans the gap between the organization’s goals and visions with your individual role of leading your section and department. You must effectively lead even if you don’t have all the information needed to complete your tasks or if you don’t fully understand the directives of your managers.

So what do you do to ensure your assigned task is completed on time and within acceptable company standards? You start by remembering that people support best what they help to create.

That means having each member of your team understand the requirements of the assigned task, time line of completion, resources available, why this assignment is important to the company, why they have been selected to be part of the team and what their role will be on the team.

Leadership begins with a complete understanding of the task assigned. If you don’t have a complete understanding then your team members will not. It starts with you. Next you must assess the available human resources and select the best suited members to be on your team.

Kenneth E. Strong, Jr., MS, is co-founder 0f http://www.greateststrategies.com a web based community devoted to educating, supporting and developing life-long learners.

Mr. Strong has been a Health Care executive for 30 years. Mr. Strong received a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration from Providence College and a Master of Science in Health Care Administration from Salve Regina College He has had articles published by the American Geriatric Society and has spoken on a variety of topics for the American College of Health Care Administrators and the New England Not-for-Profit Providers Conferences. Mr. Strong has also served as Adjunct Professor at Stonehill College. He is also an evaluator for the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission and a certified Retirement Housing Professional. He is certified by Walden University as an online instructor and certified by Langevin Learning Services as an Instructional Designer/Developer and Master trainer. He is the author of http://www.greatnursinghomestrategies.com newsletter.

“The miracle power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance, under the promptings of a brave determined spirit.” - Mark Twain

Many motivational experts like to say that leaders are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been deprogrammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders - curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?

As children, over time, we got used to hearing, No, Don’t, and Can’t. No! Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. No! Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn’t do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one institutionalized formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn’t teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming.

Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. Based on my over ten years research in the area of human development and leadership, here are ten easy steps you can take to awaken the Leader in you and rekindle your passion for greatness.

1. Humility. Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble as a child, always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge - always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing.
When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

2. SWOT Yourself. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Although it’s a strategic management tool taught at Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and used by large multinationals, it can just as effectively be used in your own professional development as a leader. This is a useful key to gain access to self-knowledge, self-remembering, and self-honoring. Start by listing all your Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.

3. Follow Your Bliss. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, ideally two or three hours a day, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you’ll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!

4. Dream Big. If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that’s larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites you the most. Remember, don’t be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Oscar, the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can’t.

5. Vision. Without a vision, we perish. If you can’t see yourself winning that award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it’s unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.

6. Perseverance. Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream.

7. Honor Your Word. Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

8. Get a Mentor. Find yourself a mentor. Preferably someone who has already achieved a high degree of success in your field. Don’t be afraid to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. Mentors.ca is an excellent mentoring website and a great resource for finding local mentoring programs. They even have a free personal profile you can fill out in order to potentially find you a suitable mentor. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviors.

9. Be Yourself. Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being out- spoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher.
I admire Hemingway as a writer. But if I copy Hemingway, I’d be a second or third rate Hemingway, at best, instead of a first rate Sharif. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.

10. Give. Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

Sharif Khan is a professional speaker and author of “Psychology of the Hero Soul,” an inspirational book on awakening the Hero within and developing people’s leadership potential. You can reach him at sharif@herosoul.com or visiting http://www.herosoul.com

As a speaker, Khan provides inspirational keynotes and leadership development workshops that entertain, empower, and educate. To book Khan as a speaker for your next event call 416-417-1259.

“Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.” - Marcus Aurelius

The slightest leadership activity creates occasions for growth, progress and well-being - that’s why effective leaders set ambitious agendas, follow solid strategy and act through honest behaviors.

Three ways your leadership activities shape the paths to your success are through powerful leadership agendas driven by disciplined strategy and acted out in consistent behaviors.

Leading With A Robust Agenda

Your primary leadership activity involves setting a worthwhile agenda. Your agenda should identify the key priorities required to transform your vision into a successful, prosperous and viable reality.

Your leadership agenda focuses the team’s attention on growth and shared beliefs - it enlarges your ability to:

1) Manage visions,

2) Order strategy,

3) Direct work patterns,

4) Select your styles and

5) Perform various roles.

When your agenda acts like the central nervous system of your leadership, it will keep you informed on the health, stability and wellness of your organized activities.

I recommend you use your leadership agenda to oversee, optimize and organize your enterprise. Your agenda should strive to address seven broad, yet crucial areas: Security, [Universe-oriented] Frontiering, Power, Guidance, Wisdom, Syntropy and Conceptualizing.

Leadership Strategy Gives You Discipline and Will-Power

Well constructed strategy defines your approach, direction and intent for every situation you encounter. Your leadership strategies must fulfill all three of those definitions to ensure the success of your vision.

Transform your strategy into your guideposts, navigational charts and maps for your journey towards a tangible realization of your plans.

While your strategy is not the actual terrain, a competent strategy does provide disciplined support for executing on your important objectives.

Strategic intents serve as an inspiration to others and can encourage them to become leaders for your cause.

Generally, the leadership activity of strategic planning must help you:

- Engender trust and positive self-regard

- Define responsibility

- Exercise control

- Judge performance and progress

- Guide the process of change

Adapt Your Leadership Behaviors To Serve The Vision

Leaders serve the needs of multiple constituents. Your leadership services demand that you work with different environments, people, resources, plans and dynamic situations.

Your duties force you to be consistent, fair and honest in all that you do as the leader. However, there are essential attitudes, behaviors and focus you must incorporate into your activities.

There are occasions when you must act based on different motives.

For instance, you may need to build something new - yet at other times, you may provide charity to others or yield to the pressure of a merciless timeline.

Regardless of your leadership activity - your motives will be fully tested during your lifetime.

You should sincerely question the state of your mental attitude - is your outlook positive or do you have a negative, defeated mind set?

Are you being flexible or dynamic enough in your nature and intensity, are you open to various viewpoints?

The more positive your attitude the greater your capacity for seeing and believing in someone’s potential or for accepting change and being open to new ideas.

————————————————————

The future potentials of your leadership activity are easily gauged through Sir Winston Churchill’s wise observation: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Mustard Seed Investments Inc. Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved.

Bill Thomas presents “The Leadership Toolkit” - serious
leadership training for professionals, managers, executives,
entrepreneurs and specialists. Discover how to energize
your leadership skills, boost your confidence and get new
knowledge through our articles, newsletters & programs at:
http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/Leadership_Toolkit.html

Wouldn’t it be nice for business owners and executives to be finished with their policies and procedures project already? They know they need to get it done, but maybe it’s taking too long. Or perhaps their people are staring at a blank piece of paper, and they don’t know where to begin. Or maybe they’re not sure what to write. Or they’re just too busy.

The Usual Scenario

Companies face these hang-ups everyday, in every industry, in every market. And it can be frustrating when trying to balance the everyday duties with the long-term vision and mission of the company. So which takes priority, and what are the feasible options to help with the process?

Save Research Time

Well-defined Policies & Procedures are based on applicable US regulations, industry standards and Best Practices, all researched by experienced personnel, technical writers, and process experts. This can save companies and executives valuable time researching the same material themselves.

Increase Procedure Writing Confidence

Instructional content, how to books, training, consulting and live support can help to ensure companies they have the information they need to develop usable policies & procedures right the first time.

Simplify the Integration of Processes

A wide range of manuals for the entire company all from a single source save time integrating the procedures needed.

Speed Policy Development

Standard usability formats, process design methodology and numerous examples for every department reduces employee confusion and improves usability speeding up policy development by less experienced personnel.

Ease Document Editing Tasks

Common MS-Word features provide faster editing, easier changes and simpler document updates to such things as the table of contents compared to RTF, PDF or hardcopy formats.

Get Quick Answers to Procedures Questions

Companies can be prepared with answers to policy and procedures questions. They can use the table-of-contents, keyword index feature, or the provided hardcopy manual to get fast searchable answers to their process questions.

Many might not be very excited about spending hundreds of man hours on your procedures project, and they don’t have to. Instead, they can save time for themselves and for their business.

About The Author

Chris Anderson has over 18 years of management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering, consulting with companies large and small. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation of the information to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc.

Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com

It is very easy and a lot of fun to talk about dreams and goals and a great future. Achieving these dreams is not so easy as all wise people know. We need to build our dreams on the solid ground of action rather than the shifting sands of talk. The Red Indians of America know how to summarize great truths in a few choice words.

In the perceptive western, “Broken Arrow”, Cochise, the wise Apache chief, scolds the wise American scout, acted by James Stewart:

“To talk of peace is easy; to live it is not easy. Are you a child that you thought peace would come easy?”

The Italians also have a way with words. Garibaldi, the great Italian soldier and patriot said much the same thing:

“Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue.”

Talk is easy. Planning is easy. Making promises is easy.

Doing what we say is the difficult part. Carrying out our plans is not easy. Keeping our promises is the hard part.

Recently, a top instructor in my martial art, Choikwangdo, which is based in Atlanta Georgia, spoke about how some UK instructors go to Atlanta and are so inspired that they are totally gung-ho and ready to take on the world. By the time they get back to the UK and it is pouring with rain some of the inspiration has departed!

This happens at most seminars where a great dream is promoted. Every one leaves charged up and ready to achieve their dream but unless they take action immediately and regularly the dream will soon die. Talk is cheap!

I am old enough to remember the Charles Atlas’ promise. Buy his course and the next time the bully kicks sand in your face you will be ready! Many bought his course but how many practiced what he taught? The bully was still kicking sand in many faces!

We can excuse children for giving up when they discover that something is not easy and might even involve some hard and boring work.

An adult should know better and should think carefully before making any promises that involve hard graft.

On the other hand, promises can be useful as motivation to get on with doing what we promise. It is also fun to do things which we have not promised to do.

Businessmen and women who give their customers more than they have promised usually retain those customers for life. Many internet gurus sell their products together with a huge pile of bonuses.

Then they deliver more. Even after you have bought their product and downloaded the bonuses, they will send an email with more bonuses just to thank you for buying their product. These gurus know how to create lifetime good will.

“For each day of peace we will pile one stone upon another,” said Cochise.

The great chief knew the value of living day by day and the value keeping score and the value of celebrating each daily victory.

Proponents of the power of affirmation and visualisation suggest celebrating in advance of the victory.

This could encourage the universe to create events which are in tune with the celebration and create a confidence in ourselves that will allow us to make full use of all our powers to help us achieve our goals.

In the end Cochise achieved peace. He knew what it would take.

It was Geronimo who continued the war.

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is “36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! - Acronyms, Stories, And Pictures…Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles”

The book can be found at this URL

http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

Ezine editors / Site owners.

Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include my resource box as listed above.

BMW, The Ritz-Carlton, Kodak, Dell, Microsoft, Volvo, Smuckers,
Kleenex, Crayola. Do these places all have customer service Call
Centers? Are they relevant to our audience? Does that matter? I
think you only need to name five.

What do these companies have in common? They are all known for
their quality. Merriam-Webster defines quality as a degree or
grade of excellence and an inherent or distinguishing
characteristic or trait. For Call Centers, providing a “Quality
Experience” to your customers competes for priority with other
metrics such as call handle time, call volume and full time
equivalent. However, it can become a distinguishing trait. So
how can Call Center managers improve the quality of their
customers’ experiences?

Focus Points to Higher Quality

Creating a quality call experience requires three primary focus
points. First, you need to define what quality looks and sounds
like in your Call Center. This may be defined by your customers’
needs, the financial? Needs of the Call Center, or by scores or
other deliverables for which you are responsible. However you
define quality in your working environment, it is essential to
communicate that effectively to front-line employees who
interact with your customers the most.

The second focus point involves monitoring. In order to know
what kind of experience your customers are having, you have to
listen to how your customer service representatives handle
calls. When you monitor a representative’s quality, you must
consider tangible behaviors like using the correct greeting,
description of product and documentation methods as well as
intangible behaviors including manner of speaking, tone of voice
and attitude toward customers. You should be able to document
and discuss these behaviors in order to correct what is not
working and to expand upon what is working well. Once you
identify these behaviors, apply the last focus point, which
includes feedback and coaching.

The third focus point for creating a quality call experience is
coaching. Representatives not only need to know that they are
being monitored, but also that somebody cares about the type of
job they are doing. Quality Assurance (QA) scores alone, while
helpful, rarely have enough impact on a representative to change
or improve their behaviors. Effective communication is the first
step towards enhancing performance and as a follow-up to that,
Connective Coaching can make all the difference between success
and frustration.

Connective Coaching Model

The Connective Coaching Model allows managers to build on
employees’ existing skills, to offer relevant suggestions for
improvement and to provide employees with a platform to monitor
their own successes and coach others. Managers can easily apply
this five-step model.

Step One:

Invite: Let your customer service representative know that you
will be coaching them and will provide any help or support they
need.

By informing them of your intentions before hand, the
representative becomes engaged in the coaching process.

Also in doing so, the manager not only shows concerns for the
representative’s performance, but also established an atmosphere
in which feedback and development are accepted and viewed as
positive

Step Two:

Observe and Ask: After observing representatives, ask them to
assess what they did well and which skills they can improve.

To open a feedback session, use questions, which show interest
in the representative’s self assessments and help them think
about their performance.

Socrates felt that by involving his students with
thought-provoking questions, he could enhance comprehension and
learning.

Here are some questions you might use to begin a feedback
session.

 What do you think you did well?

 What was easy for you?

 What was harder than you though it was going to be?

 What would you like to improve upon?

Step 3:

Specific Observations: Offer your observations, providing
specific examples of two things they did well and an example of
one skill they can improve. The key to making this effective is
being precise.

Use connective words that do not diminish the positive feedback.

Words or phrases that connect:

 What would support that…

 What will enhance that…

 Along with that…

Example of a connective feedback statement:

“Susan, I agree that you asked really good discovery questions.
I also think that you maintained control of the call. What will
enhance your close rate is developing some statements that will
allow you to overcome common objections…”

Step 4:

Express Confidence: An important element in a feedback session
is to express your confidence in the representative’s ability to
make improvements and to offer your support in helping them do
so. This is an effective use of positive reinforcement.

Share some confidence statements:

 I have faith

 I have confidence

 I believe

 I know

Example: “Susan, I believe that you can develop some powerful
statements to help you overcome those objections that you find
so difficult to address.”

Step 5:

Establish Follow-up: Finally establish a time to follow up and
check progress. An effective manager must demonstrate commitment
to their representatives’ growth. This confirms your sincerity
to assisting with their development and success. Indicate a
specific time for the follow-up meeting.

Example: “Susan, why don’t you work on it for a couple of days
and I will follow up with you Wednesday afternoon.”

“Let’s review this again at the end of the month.”

Connective Coaching for improved performance and higher quality
service can be one of the most rewarding and challenging
interactions you have with your employees. As an effective coach
it is your responsibility to guide, discuss, educate and
encourage employees to achieve outstanding results. In the
absence of good feedback, employees will provide their own. If a
manager never gives effective feedback, inexperienced employees
may think that they are doing a great job and more surprisingly,
capable employees may have a negative impression of their
performance.

Creating high quality requires an investment in the processes
through constantly reviewing and refining goals and skills. By
defining the standard, monitoring and coaching you can improve
your representatives’ performances, enhance your customers’
experiences and add your name to the list of high-quality, icon
companies.

Having an agenda template that works well for you, week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people bought into the process. Delivering an efficiency and effectiveness which makes the most of the valuable time you have together. Key points to note are:-

1. Circulate
   Share your agenda in good time, well before your meeting (with reading material for preview). This gives time for review, preparation and challenge.
2. Roles
   In a meeting there are various roles to be taken on from the start. Chair, notetaker, facilitator, reviewer and other, more specific roles. These should be clearly stated on the agenda in advance of the meeting.
3. Items for Discussion
   Items on your agenda need to be selected carefully and only be relevant for the grouping of people who get together. Time is precious, so make sure that when together, only things which need everyone’s input are given time.
4. Set Timings
   Get clear on your agenda just how long the meeting will last and how long will be devoted to individual items on it. This gives clear indications of what will happen in meeting.
5. Ground Rules
   Within your agenda will be some rules of how the meeting process will work. It is important to set standards of behaviour which everyone signs up to.
6. AOB
   Often included in agendas, this item is one that really should not be there. Good preplanning before the agenda goes out should mean that all items are included at that point and, where dispute occurs, the
   meeting lead takes a decision. AOB can easily take a meeting off the rails and lead to missing time agreements.
7. Action Points
   As the meeting progresses there will be action points that individual meeting members will be accountable for. By having a spot on the agenda for a quick review, prior to circulating these in writing, everyone will be clear on what is expected of them.
8. Parked Items
   Sometimes during a meeting, items arise which whilst important, are outside the scope of that particular meeting. So by both ‘parking’ them during the meeting, thus validating their importance, and having a specific point to check the next steps for them is clear, they do receive attention. This then allows the meeting purpose to be maintained.
9. Next Meeting
   By ensuring the date of the next meeting is an agenda item, this serves three purposes
   1. It indicates to the meeting attendees follow up meetings
   2. It gives an indication of when agreed action points from the meeting are likely to be required
   3. Finally, it reminds the person responsible for the agenda to agree a clear date during the meeting - if not, it is likely to slip.
10. Meeting Review
    Your agenda should also be an ongoing learning tool. As such, and to ensure your meetings truly make a difference, there is a real benefit in reviewing how things have worked in the meeting - for all participants. Agenda
    it.

Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com/managing_meetings.html
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