in this issue
Out
and About
We ran our second, "Why Training Doesn't Work...What Went Wrong...and
What to do About It" forum at the Grand Hyatt and it was a
great afternoon! We all got to network and to come up with lots
of sharing on what some of the most common challenges there are
in training.
By the end of the afternoon, the group was able to narrow
down to some of the more important issues to ensure that training
does work. Thanks to Partners Conference & Event Management for organising it,
and to my good friend and professional colleague Shirley Taylor for helping to co- facilitate
it!
In the coming month, I'm looking forward to working with M1
on "Think On Your Feet" and with CAAS on "Target Setting
and Performance Management".
Also coming up soon will be some public workshops called
"Speak to Win",
organised by
Partners Conference
and Event Management.
These will be held in:
Bangkok - 10 October
Kuala Lumpur - 14 October
Singapore - date to be decided
For more details please e-mail Delphine at Partners.
Quick
Links...
|
|
Dear reader,
I'm home in Sydney for some R & R as well as formulating
marketing plans for getting more of my programs through
in the region. Spring is in the air in September, and as
I take my daily walks for exercise, I am just thrilled at
looking at the clear deep blue sky above, feeling the nip
in the air and the clean environment that is so much a part
of this big land called Australia. We live on such a wonderful
planet, don't we?
I've just finished reading a book by Colin Pearce, a fellow
Australian speaking professional, and it's titled, "5 Star
Service on a 1 Star Budget". It's all about customer service
and what will provide your customer the most value and to
the establishment, the healthiest revenues.
Having come from a service quality background in the early
'90s and gotten involved in the ISO9000 quality movement,
I was impressed by Colin's humorous approach to service
quality, and if you want to know more about sales communications
and a whole lot of useful articles, check out his website
at Colin Pearce
I hope you enjoy this second issue. Please send me an
e-mail at ricky@mindsetmedia.com.sg
with your feedback and any thoughts on what you would like
to see in future issues. It would be great to hear from
you.
Have a great September, and I'll see you next month.
Ricky
|
Listen to me!...why we don't listen enough
In communication, if we only listened with an intent to
understand rather than to quick-fix the problem, we
would have less stress and better relationships.
Listening is a skill, and unfortunately, this skill is not
often taught at home, school, or even at work. It's
easier said than done, yet with some thinking and
practice, we could have a much better working
relationship with each other.
To read my article on how to improve your relationships
in your communications with others, please click on the
link "Active Listening"
When you can truly perform and integrate the skills of
active listening, your relationships, both at work and at
home will be far improved.
I am mindful of watching my ego rear into its
usual defence mode whenever I am in conflict with
others. Yet it is so easy to manage the conflict when
we put our ego aside, take several deep breaths to
calm down, and take the emotion out. Then take
the time to listen to the other. You will be amazed at
how rapidly you can manage any situation when you
active listen.
Read more about Active Listening »
|
|
Customer Service
Another of my training specialisms is customer service
so here's some interesting facts about this.
The Australian Customer Service Association reported
that ..."nearly 70% of customers switch business
because of poor customer service (Ansett 1991).
Richard Whitely in The Forum Corp, Customer Focus
Research Study (1988) discovered that almost 70 % of
the identifiable reasons why customers left typical
companies had nothing to do with the product.
3,300 employees from 14 major companies were
surveyed in both manufacturing and service industries
to find:
Only 15% of customers switched their business
to
a
competitor because they found a better product
Only 15% of the customers switched because they
found a cheaper product
20% switched because they had experienced too
little
contact and individual attention
49% said they switched because the attention
they
received was poor in quality
Companies that provide high quality products with high
quality service hold the competitive edge in the market
place.
|
|
Empowerment - Championing Our Inner Child
Most of us grow up in dysfunctional families.
Virginia
Satir, the American therapist said that 97% of American
families were dysfunctional. Dr John Bradshaw says
that ALL families are dysfunctional!
The hypothesis is that we are often children in adult
bodies and this is one of the main reasons why we feel
disempowered at work.
Happiness and work. These often don't mix
because we are still carrying the 'child' within us and
faced with authority figures, difficult customers,
pressing deadlines, uncooperative team members, we
are often cowed into submission by giving up our
own 'power' and trying to please everybody but
ourselves.
No wonder we seem to have so little happiness,
personal satisfaction and empowerment at work!
I'm running some programmes this month with an in-
house client to talk about how this occurs and what to
do about regaining our own power.
I'm really looking forward to it.
|
|
In closing ...
I hope you've enjoyed this second issue of Ricky's Review.
I would love some feedback from readers, so please
e-mail me with your comments and ideas for future
issues.
Until next month ...
Ricky
|
|
