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The Culture of Over the Top Customer Service

There are several approaches that companies take with their customer service: Necessary evil. This is when they figure they have to have it (by expectation or regulation). A cost of doing business. Companies take this approach when they still take orders online and...

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Is There a Customer Service Gene?

In working with clients on developing pre-employment testing systems, I’ve heard the expression “The Customer Service Gene,” or some variant of it, dozens of times. I like it because it transmits the idea that some people have it and some do not. It casually...

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Jiffy Lube OD

This week we have a guest blogger, Dennis Adsit (http://ifyouwanttoscream.blogspot.com/).  He is a big thinker on all things organizational and when I read this I asked him if I could post it here as well.  This hasn't been edited and you can go to the original at...

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Yes, We Are All Biased, But We Don’t Have to Be

Nearly all judgments we make about people are subject to some bias. We carry around these mental shortcuts so that every social situation doesn’t have to consist of obtaining all new information. I will leave to the evolutionary biologists to fill in the details as to...

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Keep Your Statistics, Please.

Target has had a rough time with pre-employment tests. The previously lost a case of using a clinical psychology instrument in hiring security guards. Now they have settled again with the EEOC for using tests with adverse impact. I’m very curious as to which tests...

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Amazon and Media Culture

By now you have probably read more than enough about the NY Times article which described Amazon’s hard driving culture. This was followed by the obligatory articles/posts with employees both confirming and disagreeing with the original. Lastly, there was the...

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HR and Unintended Consequences

At an intellectual level we all realize that HR is part of a bigger system and we know (hope) that decisions we make have impact beyond letting people know that some administrative change is taking place. But, how much appreciation do we have for the potential far...

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Do It Yourself Leadership Training

In my experience, top performers get there through understanding their deficiencies and then doing the hard work of correcting them. Aptitude and natural talent gives some people an initial advantage, but it doesn’t last. The question then becomes, “What’s the best...

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Who Really Delivers Your Brand?

A few years ago, I was doing consulting work for a well-known department store chain. They were doing well and were also looking to cut costs. One of the ideas was to contract out their delivery drivers. After some discussion about the numbers, I suggested that doing...

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A Week of Feedback

I had the opportunity to provide individual 360 feedback to a group of middle level managers group last week. As I’ve written before, I find many things intriguing about the process. I also try to learn the lessons of other research when providing the feedback so it...

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