Client Service And The Offsite (Part 2)

The more I think about (Part 1) of my review of The Offsite, the more I realize that while I covered one of the major threads found in the book, there are certainly many, many more.

For today, I want to share my favorite story as told by the fictional, but admirable CEO Gordon Murphy in the chapter titled: Embrace the Struggle.

"One day when I was just a kid, I found a cocoon dangling from a small tree limb. I was going to cut it down and put it in a jar so I could watch it hatch, but then I decided to go back and check on it every day instead. I did this for a few days and nothing happened. But one day, I noticed a small hole at the top of the cocoon and I was so excited because I could see the future butterfly wiggling around a bit inside. I tried to be patient to wait for the bug to emerge on its own, but curiosity got the better of me and I thought I would help him get out, so I used my pocketknife to cut a bigger hole. It seemed to be working because the butterfly moved around even more. So I got excited and cut the cocoon all the way open. I couldn't wait to see him spread his wings and fly. But then the saddest thing happened. The butterfly flopped out of the cocoon onto the dirt below, and as it struggled to open its wings, it just gave up and died. Do you know why?...It turns out that the struggle to emerge from the cocoon is actually part of the growth process for butterflies...If they don't push against the boundaries of their casing, their wings don't develop the strength they need to fly."

The message is crystal clear. (And no, it's not "never give a young boy a pocketknife!") It's of course a powerful metaphor for our own struggles and just one of several wonderful stories shared in this book.

Read the book and discover your own favorite story and favorite character. You've read my choice for story, and my favorite character is Sam. You'll learn that of all the jobs he could have had at the hotel, it's no accident that he's the gardener.

Client Service And The Offsite (Part 1)

One can hardly engage in a meaningful conversation about client service without taking a hard look at topics like leadership, listening, relationships, and trust. Angie Chaplin was kind enough to send me a copy of Robert H. Thompson's book, The Offsite, A Leadership Challenge Fable. I'm proud to call Angie a colleague, as she and I serve as members of the Instructional Team for Seton Hall University's MASCL program. Angie is also a certified facilitator for Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner's time honored Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, first introduced in The Leadership Challenge 25 years ago (now in its fourth edition).

Thompson's fictional account of an offsite meeting uses Kouzes & Posner's five practices as its foundation. The book not only offers a terrific illustration of the five practices, but also reminds us of the importance of finding greater meaning in our lives both personally and professionally. It makes me think of the story of the two stonecutters who were asked the question: "What are you doing?" The first answered, "I'm cutting stone." The second stonecutter replied, "I'm building a great cathedral."

Thompson offers us Gordon MacKenzie's line from the book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, "You have a masterpiece inside of you and if you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it...only you."

So it may be fair to ask yourself, "Am I working on that masterpiece or not?"

Clients and customers can always tell the difference between people who are painting their masterpiece and who regard the significance of their work as greater than the task at hand, and those who are just doing what they've resigned themselves to do. They can smell it a mile away.

I encourage you to read Thompson's book. Take a few hours to enjoy the fruits of an offsite meeting in the comfort of your own home. (When was the last time you got to do that?) And reflect on how you can take the lessons from the book and implement them in your own life.

You'll most certainly identify with the characters who participate in this offsite meeting. I'm sure you've met many of them. In (Part 2) of my look at The Offsite, I'll recount one of the many profound stories Thompson's characters share with us.

Modeling The Way For Client Service

Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner identify five principles of leadership in their book, The Leadership Challenge. The first is to "model the way" or as we also say "lead by example."

In a recent BusinessWeek piece titled: CEOs Who Use Twitter, the writers note that in August of 2008 they reported 18 CEOs using Twitter. Less than a year later, they're featuring 50 CEOs who are tweeting to their personal and professional delight. The trend is worthy of discussion for a number of reasons.

First, it speaks to a CEO willing to explore new ways to communicate with stakeholders. You set an example by showing your people that you're a curious person rather than a fundamentalist as defined by Seth Godin. To paraphrase, a fundamentalist considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it. A curious person explores first and then considers whether or not they want to accept the ramifications. Great CEOs challenge their people to be curious.

Second, CEOs who are exploring Twitter's possibilities send a powerful message to customers and other stakeholders alike that they want to engage directly with their audiences. In today's world there are two kinds of companies - the ones that want to promote a dialogue with their clients/customers in an effort to build true relationships, and the ones simply trying to drive transactions. I choose to do business with companies who exemplify the former.

Finally, in the communication business, clients want to believe you understand all the communication tools available to them. For my money, social media can't be taught, it has to be learned. Agency CEOs who aren't participating and leading their own people in this arena will never be able to provide competent counsel to yours.

Achieving an all new level of client service excellence will mean the difference between thriving and surviving in the coming months and years. We'd be wise to pay attention to these CEOs as they model the way.

Convention(al) Wisdom on Leadership

Convention season in the US offers us a wonderful opportunity to watch some eloquent speakers wax poetic on their vision of the world; while admittedly, they also work to demonize the opposition as either un-American or out of touch. But if you love language, it's entertaining to listen to a speaker turn a phrase or paint a picture to make a point regardless of whether you may agree with it.

Of all the great passages I've heard over the past few weeks, (and I'm sure they'll be many more by Thursday night), I was particularly struck by a phrase Bill Clinton used last Wednesday night. It wasn't a partisan potshot, but a profound statement about leadership. And one that's as relevant to business as it is to politics. In speaking to the role of the United States as a world leader, he said (and I'm paraphrasing), the world has always been more impressed with the power of our example than by the example of our power.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, were likely beaming at such a remark. Among their five leadership practices, they advocate the importance of modeling the way. "Leaders set the example by behaving in ways that are consistent with shared values."

Everyone knows that staying true to one's values is easier during good times than during difficult times. For whoever becomes president, I hope he takes the concept of modeling the way to heart. Our standing in the world depends on it, and it will also serve as a model for the leaders with whom we work each and every day.