Customer Service & Teamwork
The golden rule, treat others as you’d want to be treated is the same way you handle customer service. Be honest, integrous, but don’t be a doormat and let people run over you. Have a clear understanding of what you can and are willing to offer people and what you aren’t. It’s the triad of good service, good quality, or fast service, pick two. Quick service and good quality means the service many not be good, just the same that good service and good quality might me slower service. Be truthful and authentic with your customers; when they ask for things that aren’t possible, tell the truth in that it can’t be done. Your customer, in the end will respect and appreciate that and you will be able to provide or deliver high quality work.
When it comes to team management, be friendly, but not a friend. When you’re clear as the leader, it helps your team. They can help you when you are clear, but you are still the person who has the single greatest influence. When you work with a team, active leadership is an important part of moving the team forward as a comprehensive and cohesive unit.
Your business needs revenue, and opportunities to grow and as the leader, those are your responsibility. When working with a team or subcontractors, you are the liaison, so you know what kind of money, time, or space your business can handle. You understand the dynamics of the business, the people on your team, your editor, social media marketer, etc, they understand their area of expertise.
Being friendly differs from being friends because the currency of friendship isn’t used. Your employees work for pay, not in exchange for helping you move, listening to your problems, or taking off because a family member is sick. Employees are allowed a certain amount of days off, and they must follow protocol to request them off; with friends, no-shows don’t affect your business. This doesn’t mean you ignore the human aspect of the employee/employer relationship; in fact I encourage you to be helpful, and to encourage them to be accountable to the business.
An honest assessment of yourself and your employees helps the team run better. Who’s best at time management, and who’s better at customer service? Do you need to hire an accountant or is that a gift you have? Being honest with abilities helps you to give to the team what they will flourish in doing.
Servant leadership by Hans Finzel says that inherently, as a servant leader your job is to serve your employees as they serve the business. What do they need to be supported? You don’t have to do it all in order to be a good leader