For antone that has experienced difficulty because of systems, procedures, policies or excuses.
Posted by Mark on Seachangestrategies
I am just back after a couple of really brutal weeks on the road. You’ve been reading in the papers that travel is hard this summer, but you have to experience it to appreciate the almost universal breakdown in customer service. That’s left me thinking about the few examples of good customer service we’ve seen. And I’ve discovered the four magic words that foreshadow a rare and precious helpful moment:
“Let me try something.”
That is the sound of someone flipping the autopilot switch off and using their human judgment, experience and creativity to actually solve a problem. They were the words we heard in New York when a United gate agent worked the system to get us on a flight after we were stranded by the freak New York rains. Its what the kid at Verizon said when I asked if there was any way to get a cell phone number ending in “00.” It’s practically a mantra when you call JetBlue.
Part of what makes those four words and the actions they foretell so beautiful, sadly, is their rarity. We could fill the blog with moments of indifferent and unhelpful customer “service” from the past two weeks alone. Here’s one tip: if you cannot get what you need from United airlines online, drive over to the airport and deal with a human. Their phone help system is 100% useless.
Showing posts with label help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label help. Show all posts
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Three Questions
With slight modification from Philanthropy 2173
1. What do I care about enough to dedicate my time and money to?
2. Who can help me do it?
3. How do I know if they are doing a good job?
Simple but not easy.
1. What do I care about enough to dedicate my time and money to?
2. Who can help me do it?
3. How do I know if they are doing a good job?
Simple but not easy.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Today
After a great trip to Montreal filled with sightseeing, cycling, shopping and self indulgence it was great to find this post on Cool People Care
5 minutes of caring
How May I Help You?
by Sam Davidson (Thursday, August 9, 2007)
This is the magic phrase of all relationships.
Pay careful attention today to see if there are any opportunities to help someone. Chances are, we hustle through our days and don't notice all the people at the office, at home, or around town that could use a hand. See if you can hold the door open for someone. Find out if anyone needs a ride somewhere. Ask around if anyone would like some coffee or a snack. Often times, we don't like to ask for help. Change the conversation by asking if they need it first. Simple, random favors are a great way to show you care.
5 minutes of caring
How May I Help You?
by Sam Davidson (Thursday, August 9, 2007)
This is the magic phrase of all relationships.
Pay careful attention today to see if there are any opportunities to help someone. Chances are, we hustle through our days and don't notice all the people at the office, at home, or around town that could use a hand. See if you can hold the door open for someone. Find out if anyone needs a ride somewhere. Ask around if anyone would like some coffee or a snack. Often times, we don't like to ask for help. Change the conversation by asking if they need it first. Simple, random favors are a great way to show you care.
Monday, July 9, 2007
The Least That I Can Do
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
I was chatting with a supporter and friend, thanking him for his assistance and he said ” It is the least I can do”. This got me thinking about what is the least I can do every day. What small action can I take that will make a difference in someone elses life? I would encourage you to visit http://www.metowe.org/ and take a look at the desktop tool for Everday actions. Todays action:
Think of two people in your life who are not getting along. Using your ability to see both sides of a situation, help mediate their conflict.
Any small action that can contribute to helping others find peace is worth doing. Imagine what would happen globally if in every dispute there was a third party to listen to both sides and bridge the gap. Maybe world peace would be possible!
They seem to have found a way to help us all turn small actions into big impacts. What is the least you can do today?
I was chatting with a supporter and friend, thanking him for his assistance and he said ” It is the least I can do”. This got me thinking about what is the least I can do every day. What small action can I take that will make a difference in someone elses life? I would encourage you to visit http://www.metowe.org/ and take a look at the desktop tool for Everday actions. Todays action:
Think of two people in your life who are not getting along. Using your ability to see both sides of a situation, help mediate their conflict.
Any small action that can contribute to helping others find peace is worth doing. Imagine what would happen globally if in every dispute there was a third party to listen to both sides and bridge the gap. Maybe world peace would be possible!
They seem to have found a way to help us all turn small actions into big impacts. What is the least you can do today?
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Immediate, Relevant, and Concrete
Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Each opportunity to make a difference that we discover should be given the IRC test. Is the action immediate? You are ready to do something and putting off the action will not benefit you or those people that are impacted by the issue or problem. If an action meets the immediate criteria, it will also immediately cause ripples. Not all actions are going to make the same ripple and while we can never be sure how the ripples will grow, we can anticipate what the results might be.
The second criteria is relevance. We can get caught up doing things that are not relevant to the issue or a solution. In order to be relevant, the action needs to have significant bearing on or connection to the act. Don’t be fooled into doing ‘busy work’ just for the sake of doing something. Ask questions about the effect of your actions. “What difference does this acton make?”
The third and possibly most important criteria for choosing everyday action that the action needs to be concrete. While it is important to raise your awareness of an issue, attending an information session does not constitute concrete action. After your awareness has been raised the next step becomes action.
For example, everyday in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom children attend school without adequate nutrition. In these three countries, with so much wealth and government commitments to eliminate child hunger, this is unimaginable. It is also a huge issue that no one individual, organization, or government can tackle alone. So what can you do? It seems apparent that the solution to child hunger is to feed the children nutritious meals. Still a huge problem and a huge task. Let’s take a smaller bite. Are there children attending schools in your community that are not receiving a nutritious breakfast or lunch? Ask the school principal, teachers, or other parents. Are there existing programs working towards providing nutrition to these children? Are they effectively meeting the current need? If not, what can you do?
Some suggestions are to rally other parents and interested people to start a in-school nutrition program for children in need, drop off a case of tetra pack juice or a bag of apples at the school for distribution, or send an extra lunch to school with your child a couple of times each week. These actions are only suggestions and I encourage you to imagine local community-based solutions that are appropriate for your situation. Obviously each of these actions are going to require a different level of commitment. Let’s put them to the IRC test.
Start nutrition program
Will take time to plan and implement but once running the impact will be fast. Immediate 2/3 ( 1 low, 2 medium, 3 high).
Once the program is running it will have a significant bearing on the issue of child hinger in this school. Relevant 3/3
Kids are hungry and the program feeds kids. Concrete 3/3
Total 8/9
Deliver supplies or send extra lunch ( will likely have same score)
Either can happen today and have an impact today Immediate 3/3.
Both will mitigate hunger temporarily so action is relevant 3/3.
Supply of needed food mitigates child hunger 3/3.
Total 9/9
These are only suggested actions. Check your neighbourhood and talk to others about the issue. Persistent unimaginable issues require as yet unimagined solutions. Are you ready to imagine?
Each opportunity to make a difference that we discover should be given the IRC test. Is the action immediate? You are ready to do something and putting off the action will not benefit you or those people that are impacted by the issue or problem. If an action meets the immediate criteria, it will also immediately cause ripples. Not all actions are going to make the same ripple and while we can never be sure how the ripples will grow, we can anticipate what the results might be.
The second criteria is relevance. We can get caught up doing things that are not relevant to the issue or a solution. In order to be relevant, the action needs to have significant bearing on or connection to the act. Don’t be fooled into doing ‘busy work’ just for the sake of doing something. Ask questions about the effect of your actions. “What difference does this acton make?”
The third and possibly most important criteria for choosing everyday action that the action needs to be concrete. While it is important to raise your awareness of an issue, attending an information session does not constitute concrete action. After your awareness has been raised the next step becomes action.
For example, everyday in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom children attend school without adequate nutrition. In these three countries, with so much wealth and government commitments to eliminate child hunger, this is unimaginable. It is also a huge issue that no one individual, organization, or government can tackle alone. So what can you do? It seems apparent that the solution to child hunger is to feed the children nutritious meals. Still a huge problem and a huge task. Let’s take a smaller bite. Are there children attending schools in your community that are not receiving a nutritious breakfast or lunch? Ask the school principal, teachers, or other parents. Are there existing programs working towards providing nutrition to these children? Are they effectively meeting the current need? If not, what can you do?
Some suggestions are to rally other parents and interested people to start a in-school nutrition program for children in need, drop off a case of tetra pack juice or a bag of apples at the school for distribution, or send an extra lunch to school with your child a couple of times each week. These actions are only suggestions and I encourage you to imagine local community-based solutions that are appropriate for your situation. Obviously each of these actions are going to require a different level of commitment. Let’s put them to the IRC test.
Start nutrition program
Will take time to plan and implement but once running the impact will be fast. Immediate 2/3 ( 1 low, 2 medium, 3 high).
Once the program is running it will have a significant bearing on the issue of child hinger in this school. Relevant 3/3
Kids are hungry and the program feeds kids. Concrete 3/3
Total 8/9
Deliver supplies or send extra lunch ( will likely have same score)
Either can happen today and have an impact today Immediate 3/3.
Both will mitigate hunger temporarily so action is relevant 3/3.
Supply of needed food mitigates child hunger 3/3.
Total 9/9
These are only suggested actions. Check your neighbourhood and talk to others about the issue. Persistent unimaginable issues require as yet unimagined solutions. Are you ready to imagine?
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