Training the CULTURE in your workplace. Why personal development matters as much as professional development.

                                                                          

Corporations spend billions each year training their people to do the job they were hired to do. This is obviously necessary, but are they missing the biggest point? With such a heavy focus on job training and process training, are we missing culture training? We all know how "one bad apple" can spoil the whole basket, and the same is true in a company. Has professional development taken too high a place at the expense of personal development?

We place so much emphasis on the "almighty process" that we practically give permission for some employees to perform with a bad attitude. In that case, (in my mind) no matter how good at the task the employee is, he is doing his job poorly. It was true in my ten years in mortgage banking. The processors and underwriters, who were tough, sharp, sticklers for regulations, and methodical but who had the great "I want to help you make this work" attitude were always the most productive and closed the highest volume. The L.O. who behaved like a prima donna because he had a good month last month, but turned in incomplete files, was rude to his customers, and bad with his follow-up never seemed to get referral business, and often jumped from one company to the next. He was mercurial in his production. But the guy who did his job thoroughly, and who made good friends from his customers, regardless of their credit score or the size of the home they were buying...that guy went far in the business.

In IT it is similar. It is a tech driven world we live in and more and more the IT providers out there -whether in house or outsourced- know how vital they, and the service they provide, are to the end user. They may never say it, but they communicate "Oh yeah...imagine your life if I don't fix this for you, or develop this webpage, or upload this patch..." every time they are contacted. Everyone from a CSR to an engineer can relay the same message if they aren't trained on culture.  

What is the culture of customer service in your company? Most employees from upper management down to the maintenance staff can recite the corporate mission statement. Most of them know the "roles and goals." But can they define the proper culture of the business? Can you? Have you spent countless hours training and emphasizing and reinforcing the "steps to the process" and the mission statement  but never defined how you want the culture of your company to look? Have you clearly outlined the 1 year, 5 year 10 year goals etc, and ignored the basics of "I want my people known for treating a customer like this..."  Have you considered culture training? Should you?

One example in closing. I have Sprint wireless service. I have had them for 5 years. when I moved to Lynchburg, I switched to Verizon briefly (leaving my Sprint account open because it was only one month from end of contract) because Sprint did not have LTE service here at the time. The Verizon experience was the most horrible example of customer service I have ever seen. They were terrible. They were deceptive and shady and when I called to ask for help they were arrogant and rude. You know what I did? I went back to Sprint! Would you like to know why? Because Sprint's culture of customer service was OUTSTANDING! I have never...not once since starting with them in May 2011, had a bad experience with them, either on the phone or in a store. They are kind, they are patient, they are polite, they LISTEN, they don't tell me I'm not having a problem when I called because I AM! I went back to them -even though I knew I was getting slower service- because I want to be treated decently. Not special treatment, not royal treatment...just decent treatment.  They got LTE service here about two months ago so in the end I won. But even without it, I was happier where I was being respected and treated kindly. 

Verizon's system was better. Their beloved, "almighty process" was faster and bigger. But they were gigantic jerks and I'd rather have slow data speeds with a kind, helpful support staff. That's life. We do business with those we like. I had a boss once who said "You make friends out of your customers, not customers from your friends." and he was right. Management MUST emphasize culture as much or more than they do mission. The number one goal must be delivering GREAT customer service, regardless of the outcome of the process. Some things can't be fixed. Some software just won't work with your network. Some borrowers just weren't going to qualify for that loan. But the biggest question that needs to be answered is "Would you do business with them again and would you want your family doing business with them?" and if it's not answered positively...your process sucks and you are Verizon. 

Get that bat off your shoulder!

You hear it a million times, the admonition not to quit.  

“If you quit, you’ll have gone as far as you can go, but if you don’t quit, you never know what might happen.”

Doc Falwell used to always tell us: “A man is not measured by what it takes to knock him down, but by what it takes to keep him down.”

I’ve never been a quitter, this much is for certain. I refused to quit on my daughter even though it meant living in my car for several years. I refused to quit on finishing my degree even though I completed it during those homeless years and studying was infinitely more difficult because of my situation.

I refused to quit on my dreams of being a writer, and I have written five books now with three more in various stages of completion. My daughter is a college freshman and that is an expensive undertaking, even with her tuition paid as part of my job. There are still books to buy and fees and clothes and shoes and next fall she’ll move on campus and there will be room and board that I have to pay. So I push myself and have a side business doing carpentry in just about every available free moment

I’m not complaining. In fact…I’m enormously thankful for the skill I have that lets me earn a lot more than if I was delivering pizza or stocking shelves. I am thankful for the huge tuition check that I don’t have to write each year.

Quitting has never really been in my DNA.

I only ever really quit on myself once. One summer, when I was 13, I was cut by the baseball team I had tried out for. I grew up a pretty good ball player and that was the only year in my life that I was ever cut.

I sat out that long, miserable summer and missed the game terribly. I missed my team mates. I missed the uniforms and the way the glove felt. I missed crouching behind the plate and calling the game.

For the first time in my entire life, I wasn’t good enough and it broke my heart. It also shattered my confidence.

The following summer I was drafted by a different team and I made the cut. I was the same guy on the outside but inside I was broken and frightened. I lived in the horrible shadow of that one baseball -free summer and the thought of ever being cut again haunted me so badly that I did the unthinkable…I lost confidence and froze.

I had been a feared hitter, capable of hitting for average as well as power. I hit prodigious home runs only two years before, but that one summer off after getting cut, tore my brimming confidence from my soul. I spent two seasons, playing for “Lafayette Radio” and Coach Russ Staats, and never swung my bat even once.

Somewhere in my mind I had reasoned that if I didn’t fail I wouldn’t get cut and if I  never struck out, then I would never fail.

So I never tried.

In the middle of that second season of standing like a statue at home plate, game after game, Coach Staats must have figured out what was going on. Before one particular at-bat, he grabbed me, put a hand on each shoulder, looked me in the eye and said in exasperation: “Swing the damned bat!”

But I couldn’t.

I finished my “Senior League” eligibility without even having garnered a batting average. I went 0-for-two-summers. I was afraid of failing, and I quit.

The next year, I didn’t play any baseball except for pickup games at school. And a funny thing happened. I got my groove back.

Without anyone depending on my talent, or keeping score, I discovered my ability to hit a baseball again. The next year, in twelfth grade, my small private school started a baseball team. We drew from all over the area and so we had a ton of talent. I was the starting catcher and a devastating hitter. I batted .280 with multiple HR’s, lead the team in RBI’s and hits with runners in scoring position. I found my power too, hitting several tape-measure bombs. Once I realized that I still could hit the ball, I lost the fear of failure. Once I lost the fear of failure, I could not possibly quit. I enjoyed the best final season of all the baseball I played in my youth.

I drew a lot of lessons from that part of my life. I’ve seen a lot of good friends walk through life with that bat stuck to their shoulder because they were afraid to strike out. Nobody told them it was okay to fail, but it was never okay to fail to try.  

It is never, ever okay to quit.

I know it was hard studying by flashlight in my car. But I feel an attachment to, and a sense of accomplishment from my education that maybe I would not have otherwise.

I know sleeping in my car and feeling shame and embarrassment was painful. But my daughter saw how much her daddy loved her and how devoted he was to simply being her dad.

I know working 80-90 hours a week sometimes is tough, but it makes every small financial victory that much sweeter. If I had quit on any of these things, who knows if I would ever have recovered my confidence?

I was driving in the middle of a fourteen hour road trip, about five years ago. I had just started listening to Zig Zigler’s wonderful “Qualities of Success” seminar, and Zig made a statement for which he had become quite famous. He said “Failure is an event…not a person.”

I had to steer my truck onto the shoulder of the road, because the tears were making it hard to see.

I was homeless. I was broken. I had lost my home, my career, most of the time I could spend with my precious little girl, even our two dogs were gone. I was doubting God and losing hope. I felt like a failure. I was ready to quit. Zig’s kind, encouraging, fatherly declaration that I was not what I thought I was, literally saved my life. I began the long road back.

I have won many hard-fought victories, these last seven years. Had I quit, I never would have won any of them. I’d be stuck someplace, with that bat still riveted to my shoulder, afraid of the pain of being cut, and fearing failure so bad that I stopped trying.

Wherever you are in life right now, this does not have to be the final stop. If you are doing well…think of how much better tomorrow is going to be! If you have failed, remember…you are not a failure. You merely failed at something.

Your best is just around the bend. You haven’t peaked yet.

The one and only way to become a quitter is to quit. So never quit.

When people speak of you, let it be with a hint of awe for all the things you chose to endure in order to be the winner you were put here to be. Live lessons of endurance, integrity, and determination for your kids and grand kids and coworkers and friends to learn from. Be a walking example of never giving up. Encourage someone else, and in that, you will find the encouragement that you need to complete the day’s tasks.

Get that bat off your shoulder, and swing for those fences.

And never ever quit!

                                                             High Hopes!

                                                                            Craig

                                      

The trees don't have a choice!

The Truth is that regardless of where we come from or what we deal with, personal growth is up to us. Our ATTITUDE is up to us. People from ignoble backgrounds become great...like Dr. Ben Carson. Or people who have everything, yet live with nothing but the desire for something more, like Alexander the Great. What you have now does not have to determine what you can obtain. 
The Bonsai and the Sequoia were both seeds. Something they had no control over determined how high they would grow. We have a choice. We can grow as high as we want. 
It comes down to ATTITUDE!

                                         High Hopes!

                                               Craig