---Issue Highlight
---Peter Block on Meetings & Evaluations
-- "Evaluation is not about ratings, it is about
learning. It should be a conversation among
participants."

In This Issue...
Ken Blanchard
----Interview
Year 2000 Recruitment
----Tactics
Teamwork at NASA
Team Effectiveness
----In Health Care
The Downside of
----Upsizing

Features...
Peter Block Column
Views for a Change
Pageturners
Briefcases

Views for a Change
Consultant Q&A

Dave Farrell responds:

--Those who have ever had the responsibility for fielding customer complaints on a regular basis know only too well the demoralizing impact of a steady diet of customer dissatisfaction.

-- Often they go home after a day of hearing complaints, anger and frustration feeling totally drained, their spirit sapped. They can go only so long without becoming irritable and defensive, and they begin to question their organization and its products and services. Unhappy customers tend to degrade employees, holding them personally responsible for whatever the fault may be. Feelings of self-worth decline. Frowning customers make unhappy employees.

--Now, consider the reverse. Smiling customers make happy employees. Happy customers have positive, outgoing and friendly interactions with employees. Happy customers increase the likelihood that employees will receive the recognition they deserve.

-- Happy customers return to do business again, and this impacts employees in many positive ways:
-- · Those customers build longer and deeper relationships with employees,
-- · The customer becomes a friend, who returns to visit, again and again, customer satisfaction builds customer loyalty,
-- · Increased business enhances job security
-- · Employees develop a deep sense of self-worth and pride, both in themselves and their company.

--I can still recall a meeting with an employee who removed a well-worn congratulatory letter from his wallet and showed it to me proudly; it was dated almost two years earlier!

--Given its powerful impact, how can we provide increased opportunity for employees to receive direct feedback from satisfied customers and capitalize on its motivating potential?
-- · Make it a habit to post letters on bulletin boards and distribute them through internal communications channels such as e-mail or web sites.
-- · Be sure to copy individual employees who have been named in those letters.
-- · Give lots of internal publicity to "preferred supplier awards," J.D. Power awards, and the like, with specific examples of the contributions employees have made to achieving them.
-- · Take employees for client site visits and customer service calls so they can experience first hand what most delights customers.

--Make it easy for customers to recognize your employees. American Airlines, for example, provides "You're Someone Special" cards to frequent travelers to be given to employees who have provided exceptional service.

-- The program is elegant in its simplicity. Employees receive instant recognition, and they receive gifts based on the number of cards they are given. I have never failed to see a face light up with a big smile when I give one.

-- Last week, I shared this month's question with an entrepreneur sitting next to me on a flight. His response was simple and direct. "That's easy," he said, "being on a winning team feels good; being on a loosing team feels lousy."

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