Damage control

There’s a lot of damage control going on lately. Cambridge Analytica blames the media as they move towards bankruptcy.

Closer to home, AMP Limited is likely wishing they’d never heard of the Banking Royal Commission, whilst Executives ‘remove themselves’ from the scene.

Whether proven ‘guilty’ or not, the damage is done.

Damage to those businesses, but also to something I consider much greater.

Damage to trust.

It’s a long road back once trust is lost.

So, how can we ensure that we don’t end up losing trust?

Empathy.

Seeing the other side

If we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we view things from their position, it’s different. It’s perspective. It’s enlightening.

When we lose sight of how the people around us view things, that’s when things can get really tricky. We risk becoming insular. We take the risk that we only have input from our own (often limited) worldview. We can learn plenty from those around us.

Imagine being a customer of one of those big entities now – perhaps you are one – how does it feel?

I imagine I’d be angry (class action kind of angry, perhaps)…

And on the other side of the coin, imagine participating in a meeting, office cram packed with staff, and being the one brave enough to put your hand up in front of all these people and say:

“Actually, no… We can’t do this to our customers – we can’t charge for stuff we don’t do, we have to find a better way to deal with it. Let’s stop charging them fees and let’s help them deal with this change in circumstances. Our integrity is on the line here…”

That sounds simple enough, but tough to do. It’s tough to have the courage to stand up to your peers and supervisors (over and over again).

That’s the person I want working for me though.

That’s probably the person that your customers want working for them too. The person who can see things from their point of view, who has empathy for their situation.

Taking the time to do this, working ethically, considering others, communicating even when it’s uncomfortable, building relationships that are valued, is hard work.

Building trust is hard work.

Losing it takes a lot less effort, so much so that it can happen without us even noticing.

The building of trust

To future proof our business, to protect our customers (who are, let’s face it, the reason we can be in business) we have to be deliberate about acting with integrity. Our marketing is an essential part of this. If we offer a service, that’s what we have to do. If things go wrong with those plans, we must be accountable for them and communicate openly and honestly. How would OUR customers feel if they were paying for a service they didn’t get…

We may be on a smaller scale than those in the news, but we are not so different as we might think. We face similar challenges, risks and everyday things that can go wrong, and it’s our choice to behave in a way that is deserving of our customer’s trust.

If we want to build a resilient business that serves our clients/customers and has them as its focus, it’s time to start damage control now.

Damage control starts at Day 1 by showing up and being worthy of trust, and it goes on every day until it’s natural.

Go, be inspired. And inspiring…

Heather x

The right approach to LinkedIn

There is a lot to be said for making the right approach

Overnight, I’ve accumulated 10 (count them) LinkedIn requests.

Clearly, I’m very desirable. 😉

But let’s get serious. Out of the ten people requesting to be linked, I have never met and don’t know 8 of them, I know OF one of them through sport (only by name, never met him) and one was a real estate agent who didn’t get the job of selling our house in Sydney nearly three years ago.

And, out of those ten people I don’t know, I got this message from 9 of them.

right approach to LinkedIN request message

Now, I don’t know about you, but my personal view on people I don’t know on LinkedIn is that if you can’t take the time to introduce yourself a little more than the cursory LinkedIN provided message, then I’m going to assume you’re trying to sell me something.

And I’m just not keen on that.

If LinkedIN is the “World’s largest professional network” it seems such a shame that the most professional approach a person might make towards a new contact is a form letter that is only one sentence long.

Now, I’m not against “linking up” with people I don’t know yet. What’s that old saying “strangers are only friends we haven’t met yet” (don’t totally agree, but that’s another topic altogether) but the gist is OK. There may well be people who are interesting enough and have some mutually beneficial reason to be “linked” – and in fact, may even be a sales person for a product or service I don’t know I need yet – but there’s a pretty good chance if that is going to happen, I’m going to want a little more of an introduction than “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”.

Imagine being in a business networking meeting and you get to the part where you have tea or coffee at the end and do the “networking” part. Now imagine walking up to someone and saying “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” … and the response is???

My response would be to stare and wonder whether I’d missed something. You know – the niceties, the courtesies, the introduction . Who are you? (Really.) What do you represent? Are you interested in me, or just in what you can sell me?

Meeting in an online ‘networking’ environment shouldn’t really be any different. If you’re linking up with someone you’ve met before, remind them of where you’ve met and exchange some pleasantries. If you’re linking up with someone you haven’t met, let them know something about yourself and show that you are interested in them as well (though not in a creepy stalker like way, that probably won’t go over too well either).

If you want to be part of my “most professional network” this is pretty important, but I also think that regardless of who you want to “friend” and on what network, a personal approach will go a long way. Although we are in a world of online networks which may seem disconnected, more and more it seems that in work and business who we want to work with is based on having a strong connection to people. It’s important to start out on the right foot.

And now I’m off to reply to the ONE person who took the right approach and wrote a personal introduction. My apologies to you David, for taking so long to get around to it. Busy, busy…

Onwards and upwards,

Heather x