Leadership: Consider the Ripple Effect

When a stone is thrown into a pond, it causes ripples in all directions. When a leader considers an action, he or she must also consider the ripples, in terms of production, operations, staffing and scheduling, finance, marketing, public relations and more. What are the implications of the idea? What would be the best time-line to put the idea into effect, considering the needs of a team involving all relevant departments?

If a leader is coaching his employees, he should also ask them to consider the effects of their ideas, before telling him about the ideas. Employees would learn to consider all aspects, and less suitable ideas would be eliminated before talking to leadership.

Ripples can also be found in other business decisions. For example, if a mortgage lender decides to request additional information right before a scheduled closing, thus delaying a closing, this can cause significant ripples in the lives of those affected: the buyer and seller, the realtors, the utility companies that provide services, the moving companies that have to reschedule a move, etc.

If a small business owner decides to coach his top 3 employees to achieve more or do their jobs more effectively, and then later asks them to do the same for their direct reports, this can have a ripple effect too. Employees may become more enthusiastic about assuming new duties or doing them to higher standards. Retention may increase, as may employees' positive comments about the organization.

When you make decisions inside your sphere of influence, what ripples can they cause? What other groups' or departments' needs do you need to take into account? What impact could your decision have on others?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal skills, including executive communication, accent modification, diction, and more! Both coaching and e-books are available.

"May I help you?" - do you care?

Today I listened to receptionists answer telephone calls for two businesses. Both had clearly been doing this all day, and may have been tired. Although they used basically the same words, one's tone of voice sounded like she clearly didn't care about the person at the other end. The other, although not enthusiastic, was more welcoming.

Tone of voice can make a difference between welcoming a prospective or current customer, and turning him or her away.
All it takes is a desire to welcome the customer and a little bit of both training and energy.

Sound like you care - every time. If you don't care, the customer may not share his time and business with you. After all, would you want to do business with a company whose first impression is of not caring?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal skills, from diction and sales communication to American English pronunciation and more.

Corporate voice mail message services: causing customer frustration

You call a company, and are asked to say and spell your name, address or customer number so your information can be found before transferring you to a customer service employee. Despite ultra-clear pronunciation, the machine doesn't understand you - repeatedly. Sometimes you then give up, or try to get around the system by dialing another number. Sometimes, if you wait long enough, a customer service rep comes online - and then has to calm a customer who maybe wasn't frustrated before making the call! So why do companies use these systems if they cannot recognize most names and numbers?

How do you handle it when the machine doesn't understand you?
Tell us your strategies; let's start a discussion here!

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in diction, accent modification, presentation skills, sales communication, and much more!