Supervisor Snacks

  An Essay by Steve Michaels My daughter purchased an aquarium of tadpoles for my grandchildren to watch grow into frogs. There was a big rock in the middle of the tadpole’s environment, and I asked why.  It was hard to believe I had never heard this story, because it’s so good. She said the gentleman at the store told her to be sure to put a big rock right in the middle of the aquarium.  The tadpoles must have this obstacle to give them       incentive to climb up and thus split their wiggly little tails so that their legs can begin to develop.  If they have no rock or obstacle to climb up on, they will never turn into frogs.  They cannot learn to hop by just swimming around in the           water.  They must have something causing resistance to give them incentive to leap forward. The man explained that last year a school teacher came back to the store and comp...

No one likes to lose; we play to win; we expect to win. We take jobs, we build businesses, we enter into all kinds of relationships, and we absolutely do not expect to lose. But according to Beyoncé, "The reality is, sometimes you lose. And you're never too good to lose, you're never too big to lose, you're never too smart to lose, it happens. And it happens when it needs to happen. And you have to embrace those things." We often look back on our lives and realize that if this “bad” thing had never happened, this “good” thing could never have happened either.  Bad things sometimes happen for a good reason – we just can’t see it at the time.  We’ve always heard that when one door closes a window opens (or sometimes another door).  Look for those openings, those opportunities.  The year 2020 has brought much loss.  Our lives have changed dramatically.  It’s alright to grieve. Whether it’s the loss of sports in a senior year, the loss of walking a...

For years people who raise and train racehorses have put “blinders” on their best thoroughbreds to help keep them from being distracted by what is going on around them.   You see, they want to WIN the race and blinders help keep the horse focused on the goal – crossing the finish line in perfect form. That is what we want, that is what our clients want.  We all want each message to be completed with perfect form. It is totally understandable that when call volume escalates some of our agents – especially our newer agents – begin to be distracted by the chaos around them.  They feel the pressure of more calls coming in – and lose their focus – and their attention to the task at hand. Put your mental blinders on when things get hectic.  If you are taking a message concentrate on what is being said by the caller.  Complete every prompt, ask the right questions, and make sure you have clearly documented the message for the client and for the dispatcher! If y...

  One day a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor handed out the question paper, with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked his students to turn the page and begin. To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions….just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor seeing the expression on everyone’s face, told them the following: “I want you to write what you see there.” The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor took all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them with no exceptions, described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc. etc. etc. After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor began to explain: “I am not going to grade on you this, I ju...

We’ve all done it!   We’ve dashed off and quickly sent an e-mail or instant message only to think of one more thing we should have said – so we quickly write that second thought and hit “send” again.   But WAIT, I should have told them this…and off goes a third message.   In the meantime, the recipient is writing a long answer to the first message, not knowing there is a correction in the second message, and more information in a third message.  They send their reply, and THEN see the additional messages, and now need to write something new.  What a waste of everyone’s time and energy. Let’s see if we can stop the crazy! Before you hit “send” on an e-mail, or “enter” on an instant message – hit REVIEW in your brain.  Go to the beginning of the message and read it as though you were receiving it. Fix the typos, fill in the words you left out.  Be sure you have complete content. More than 50% of the time you will clarify something, or realize you l...

We are living in a time where communication occurs at the speed of light. Especially now that we are all home-bound, we are letting our fingers do the talking as we text, tweet and email.   The speed of communications is great if you need information quickly, but speed kills when you respond first and ask questions later.   We are doing so much multitasking online as we keep several discussions going at the same time, that we increase our chances of mixing up conversations, being misunderstood, or worse, truly offending someone.  Slow down.  Here are six hints to keep your conversations cool.     When you can’t see facial expressions, or hear a tone of voice, it’s easy to misinterpret a message.  Read through what you have written before you press SEND.  This is especially true for the answering service industry.  Be sure your message says exactly what you want it to say.     Reading a message twice is a good idea when you a...

Mary Kay Ash once said, “There are two things people want more than sex and money - - - recognition and praise!”   And that is why her top employees drove pink Cadillac’s and were given so many accolades as salespeople.   Mary Kay Cosmetics is a legend, and an example for employers everywhere.   “That which is Rewarded is Repeated.” Rewards come in many forms.  We think of them as a trophy for being the best at something, or money, a promotion or public recognition. A parking space for a month, a name on a plaque, all are rewards that encourage good performances.  These are certainly rewards but…. Rewards don’t have to be big things!  As Mary Kay pointed out, praise is a wonderful form of recognition; it’s a small reward that resides in our head, to be cherished.  It makes us feel good!  Praise can be spur of the moment, “Gosh, you handled that beautifully!”; “I can ALWAYS count on you!”  “Your smile just makes me feel good!”  We wan...