Our use of technology has moved us apart physically and emotionally. At the same time our use has increased the volume of data that can be  and is created/shared while lowering its intended quality.  The phrase “don’t call us , we’ll call you”, once used to manage the volume of phone calls/emails  received has now permeated our daily interactions with customers and suppliers in general.

Permeated to such an extent that:
.we do not actively  call Customers & Suppliers
.we do not follow up or provide feedback
.we do not manage expectations over time

Of course this attitude has similarly affected the relationships between managers/supervisors and their staff.

Lack of civility has created a lack of professionalism. The longer this goes on, the more the new attitude becomes a habit, a bad habit,  the higher potential the skills of connection  will be lost.

Bottom line, this has to stop.

I would like to suggest a policy with training and performance metrics be developed and implemented throughout all organizations who communicate.

Below is the start of  The Civility Manifesto. I will make this first cut succinct instead of waxing eloquently over pages and pages.  Please add change delete . Send me your thoughts.

All customers, suppliers, employees will be treated as Customers.
Customers are to be served.
Customers are human beings, just like you.
Customers  need  to communicate, and be communicated to on a timely basis.
Customers do appreciate a human voice, human face and a handshake.
Customers have expectations, perceptions, assumptions, emotions
Customers are all good people.
Customers need timely feedback, good or not as good, in order to self manage their own expectations, perceptions, assumptions, emotions  and self manage how they will relate, respond to You, Your team, Your organization.
Customers expect to be respected, just like you do.
A telephone call to a Customer, for example,  can take less that 30 seconds to complete, including a clear meaningful voice mail.

If each of us took 30 seconds to make that clarifying, expectation managing, information giving call, what impact would that have on our joint success, whether measured in revenue, time, or quality.

what are your thoughts

Seymour

It has come to my attention that, in our wonderful company,  you want to introduce some new standards.  I hear they may include things like a PMO ( Project Management Office), risk management, a SDLC ( services or systems delivery life cycle process), business analysis processes and quality audits.

How nice.

Over lunch with my friends from networks, business architecture, and project management ( et al) ,  we smiled at the news and of course wish you luck.”

Does this sound familiar?

To really net this out,  the essence of the story is that introducing a new technology / process/ standard… is really about Effecting Change in an organization. This simple truism applies whether you are a Bank, Manufacturer, Consultant, Retailer. The second truism is that this is hard work. The third truism is that effecting positive change is valuable, exciting, gratifying and has the potential to act as “organizational glue”.

Before you write that email or send that missive, stop, step back, get out of your office and involve the organization or empower someone who can.  Maybe next time, you’ll be at that lunch too.

As we take on new roles, we can only do “so much” pre-analysis before jumping in and being. Sure we use our leadership skills , maybe stoically at first, but reality sets in. The numbers are not as high as we “promised”, out of the corner of our eye we may see the corner of the room coming closer, our board looks at us sceptically ( did we make a wrong choice?) and all of a sudden we respond or react.
Sometimes under pressure we may say things, do things in anger ( fire someone?) as if we had to prove our command position or assert so that in some way we will get respect.

But the world has changed. how we respond under pressure, how we emotionally engage, the personality traits we lean on, are all a currency that have not be counted before.

We realize that it is not enough to do the case study on the business problem/challenge. Now, more than ever, we need to understand ourselves, and team with others who will provide the support and the insight to succeed. We need to accept that we are not alone . That no matter how strong we are, we cannot be bulls in a china shop.

So next time an opportunity presents itself consider who you are, and, using the Heisenberg Principle, understand the effect we will have when we put ourselves on the case.