20070915

Skip the Personality and Give Me Service

Employers sometimes use the expression to trainees, "People don't care what you know until they know that you care" to give themselves a pass on their failure to train. But actually, when customers want competent service and answers to their questions, they don't really care how much you show you care. Skip the personality and give me good information and service.

Or, maybe you just need to think positive and talk loud. I recall an operations manager asking me on quick notice to give a presentation on a subject that I had just been introduced to. I resisted. He argued that I just needed confidence. (We melancholies don't really have low confidence, just a high commitment to excellence.) We were interrupted by a phone call from an out of town associate asking for directions to the meeting. The manager labored to explain the complicated directions to his caller. He was also unhappy that the associate would be late for the meeting. I smiled and said the caller really didn't need all that information, he just needed confidence. He got the point and laughed, but still wanted me to wing a presentation to the group.