What Direction Are
You Rowing?

I know you have values that center around giving great customer service to your clients and you, like me, have made it part of our everyday ‘walk the talk.’

A passage in “Get Everyone in Your Boat Rowing in the Same Direction“ by Bob Boylan, got me to thinking.  It asked:  What must people understand about:

While I know you get the part about giving extraordinary customer service to your clients, what do your other relationships look like?

The mission of Small Biz BIG Results is to equip women entrepreneurs to grow and manage remarkable organizations, and to inspire them to share their unique gifts with the world.

While our aim is to be a remarkable organization, it hit me one day after reading that passage in Boylan’s book that I was dealing with vendors who were not.  Their customer service was only remarkable in the sense that it was remarkably absent.  I had to ask, given all the possibilities out there, why was I doing business with vendors who did not share the same view of remarkable customer service that I do?

You may find some of your employees are not rowing in the same direction as the rest.  When your values are clear and you’ve communicated those values, you have to insist they row together or find a different boat.  Failing to insist on behavior that supports company values says those values really aren’t that important after all.

This even goes so far as to insist clients share similar values.  Let’s say one of your core values is remarkable customer service yet your clients choose you because you have the cheapest product or service.  Their interactions with your team are testy at best.  Does this client really fit with your core values?

As I described in an earlier article, What Should You Let Go?, until you make room for what you want in your life, like

you have to cut those relationships that don’t contribute to your overall values and goals.  A feeling of relief and a sense of lightness invaded my client’s office once he made the hard decision to terminate an employee who was always rowing in the opposite direction.

Are you beginning to sense that you need to look at some of your relationships and that changes may be necessary?  You can get access to a sounding board, a MasterMind Group, or simply “Ask the Cook” to get help in making these changes.