Give Feedback; Change Your Corner of the World

I’ve got a cool story about the power of sharing feedback—both positive and negative. My hope is that it will inspire you to share some feedback today…and make a difference in your corner of the world.

Here’s what happened….

Months ago, I wrote a letter to the president  (we’ll call her Sarah) of a credit union I do business with, to let her know about one of her tellers who I’ve repeatedly found to be cold and impersonal. Whether she was waiting on me or another member, she would have this sullen, “I hate my job” expression. I never saw her looking friendly or happy.

I gave Sarah, the president, the feedback because I really like her and know she cares about customer service and would want to know.

Sarah was horrified and told me that she would share my letter. She also shared with me a bit of the back story about this young woman and how she had a tough life and how she, Sarah, had taken the young woman under her wing.

Sarah later emailed me to say that she had shared my letter with all the tellers and noted that the teller in question looked very concerned, even mortified.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I’m preparing for two different programs on customer service, so I have “customer service on the mind” even more than usual. I stopped at the credit union and this young woman waited on me, and she was unbelievable. It was like a totally different woman.

She smiled, she spoke with a warm friendly tone of voice. She asked me how I was doing and said something about what a beautiful day it is. Now you might be thinking “That’s just good customer service 101” and you would be right. However, it was 180 degrees from how she had ever been before, it was genuinely warm, down-to-earth-I’m-happy-to-help-you customer service.

When I left, I thought “I want to make sure I recognize the great job she did” and not take it for granted.  So, later that day, I wrote the president an email sharing my experience.

Here’s the email I got back (with changes to the name of the teller):

Wow…I’m blown away with happiness!  Tiffany really has exploded with personality plus ever since I read your letter to our staff. 

I know you said you can’t just learn warmth, caring, et cetera and I agree; however, I always felt she had those qualities but was too shy to shine. By reading your letter and not “pointing the finger” I didn’t know what to expect. 

The very next day, a new Tiffany came to work and has consistently shown up ever since. She is bubbly, warm, caring and just plain lovable. 

When I questioned supervisors as to their perception as to Tiffany in the days that followed they all agreed she had gone from a bud to a full blown rose. Wonderful!!!!

Thank you so very, very much for sharing your experience with me. I can’t wait to share it with Tiffany. She will be very appreciative and excited!!

Key Take Aways

1.  Her behavior and performance probably wouldn’t have changed if  I hadn’t bothered to write the letter and share my experience.—I’m not saying that in a “Oh..how great of me!” way, but from this perspective:  “We’re all really busy and most of us don’t like confrontation, but…if we’re willing to take the time to give the feedback…good things can happen.”
   
2. Take the time to let people know when they rock—Just like you, my plate is uber-full right now and I easily could have said “I don’t have time to write Sarah an email telling her how Tiffany was”. But then, I would not be doing my part in making the world a better place. Also, because “what get’s recognized gets repeated”, when we take the time to acknowledge awesomeness…we get more awesomeness! So, to apply this to your life…who is doing a rockin’ job at your work? How about letting them know?
   
3.  When we spread goodwill we feel better—I can’t tell you how great I felt knowing that my simple email was going to make Sarah happy and Tiffany even more so. As I write this, I’m smiling because I can imagine how good Tiffany will feel knowing that the changes she’s made were noticed and appreciated. When we do “random acts of kindness and generosity” we experience a release of feel good biochemical (like oxytocin and endorphins) that create what’s called the Helper’s High. I believe intentionally doing acts of kindness and generosity is one of THE best ways to keep your spirits up. It’s also a great way to boost employee morale. The more employees are encouraged to look for ways of being helpful to others, give compliments, show appreciation, and do other acts of goodwill…the better everyone in your organization feels. So…how about looking for opportunities today to spread goodwill?

Do you have examples of your sharing feedback making a difference?