Customer Service Management Training 101 Chapter 10 Excerpt: Putting Your Best FACE Forward

Putting your best face forward means being the best you can be in any situation. The first nine excerpts of this book have been devoted to helping you do that. You learned how to be the best manager and leader you can be in order to guide your employees to be the best they can be. You should feel confident that you have the necessary skills to be an effective manager who can lead your employees to success.

Now, what about you? What about your personal success? Think about your dreams for your future. Think about where it is you want to go, what it is you want to do. Perhaps your personal dreams involve being promoted within your company. Perhaps they involve going back to school for a higher degree. Whatever dreams you may have, this last chapter is all about you. It is devoted to teaching you how to put your best face forward at all times so that you may fulfill your personal dreams.

Being a great manager helps you achieve team and corporate success, but to achieve the personal success you desire, you have to put your best FACE forward and that is accomplished by: Focusing, Achieving, Caring, and Exemplifying.

When you stay focused you will seek out innovative ways to keep your the momentum going. Keeping the momentum going is important so that you do not become stuck in a routine, mired in the day to day humdrum that comes with any job. Looking for opportunities to learn and improve your skills, questioning the status quo and finding ways to make things better, and planning carefully will help you stay proactive and focused on achieving your personal goals.

Achieving your goals is possible when you understand that you must take control of your destiny. Committing to your personal desires and then turning those desires into goals is an important first step to achieving them. Taking personal responsibility for yourself, committing to doing your best every day, and demonstrating to others that you want to help them succeed helps you succeed, as well.

Caring about yourself and others is crucial to anyone’s success. When you show that you genuinely care you send out positive energy and put your best face forward. Your thoughts control your attitude so be mindful to think positive thoughts and then project that attitude outward as that also helps you send out positive energy. Staying in a positive frame of mind is possible when you develop an attitude of gratitude, and that gives you a higher probability that you will fulfill your goals and dreams.

Exemplifying the best you can be helps you gain confidence. You will feel good about yourself and when you feel good it shows. Exemplifying your best by finding ways to showcase your achievements and volunteering for projects and committees will help you stand out from the crowd. Creating daily affirmations keeps you focused on the person you want to exemplify and helps you envision the person you are becoming.

STEP 1: Focus on Keeping Your Momentum Going

It can be tough to stay focused, especially when you are sailing along, working efficiently and effectively. When you reach the point where your days become routine repetitive, it may be difficult to maintain the same level of focus. You can easily get mired in the day to day routine and the routine can become mundane and lead to boredom. Staying focused can be done by varying the activities in your plan and planning your activities wisely. When you do this, you will find ways to keep yourself, your employees, and your coworkers interested and excited about performing well.

Look for opportunities to grow. When you are performing well, do not become complacent, but rather look for ways to strengthen your skills. Set new goals and find innovative ways to reach them. Self-analysis can help. Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

? What can I do to improve my communication style?

? What skills do I need to develop or strengthen in order to continue growing?

? What classes can I take to continue my self-development?

? What projects or assignments can I volunteer for?

? How do I add value to my team, my company, and my interactions with customers?

? What interpersonal skills do I need to work on?

? What can I do to help others succeed?

? What support do I need from others?

When you answer these questions (and others you come up with), include them in your personal development plan.

When you look for learning opportunities and view every day as a chance to learn something you will be open to new possibilities. Try setting a goal to learn one new thing every day. Look for learning opportunities in every encounter and consider that those opportunities may be disguised. Children and the elderly are often our best teachers. When you are forced into a new situation or a situation about which you are not pleased, find the good in it and view it as a chance to learn new skills. When you look at learning as an important part of your growth plan, you will continue to focus on improving and developing as a person.

When things are going smoothly you may feel entitled to enjoy the ride. There is nothing wrong with that, as everyone needs a free ride now and then. Do not enjoy the easy times so much that you become too comfortable. Always try to find ways to make things better, even if they are already pretty good. Look for things that need to be changed, including those within you. Pay attention to bad habits you may be forming and do something to change them.

Staying proactive is really not that difficult when you develop contingency and emergency plans. Planning enables you to stay focused and handle crises when they arise. Think about typical emergency situations that may occur and plan how you will handle them. Continually thinking about the ‘what ifs’ will help you identify situations where you do not have the luxury of time to think through and that helps you stay focused on your goals.

STEP 2: Achieve Your Goals by Taking Control of Your Destiny

The best way to achieve your goals is to take personal responsibility, and give each day your best, and always make yourself the best product out there. Always do more than you are asked. You are responsible for your achievements. You are responsible for the choices you make. You manage your behavior and attitude. In other words, you are the manager—of you.

What do you want to be when you grow up? It does not matter how old you are when you ask yourself this question. Many of us find ourselves moving through our lives not fully committed to working on the things we want to achieve. Think about your career and personal aspirations. Do you have a personal mission statement and goal sheet to achieve those aspirations? If not, they may well stay on the dream side of your mind rather than on the goal oriented side. Take time to think about and decide what you want to do and what you need to do to get there. Then you can write a personal mission statement and goal sheet to move you towards your destiny.

When you take personal responsibility for everything you do, you will achieve your goals. You will not make excuses or blame others when things go wrong. You will understand that most of the turns your life takes are well within your control. Of course unforeseen events will occur, but most of the time you control your destiny. Take responsibility for your thoughts, words, actions, and personal growth. Commit to being the best you can be at all times.

You are the cheerleader for your team and helping your employees succeed will come back to you tenfold. Helping others succeed is going to help you succeed as well. Your employees get the results to achieve team goals, You already know that your employees get you your results, but when you sincerely have the desire to help your employees (and coworkers) succeed in their own right you send a powerful message that you truly care about their well-being. When you help them achieve their personal goals, they will be more inclined to help you succeed in yours. You also send a powerful message that you are a self-confident, self-assured person who does not feel threatened when others do well and that sets you up for personal achievement.

STEP 3: Care for Yourself and Others

When you truly care for yourself and others, it shows. People will know that you genuinely appreciate them and are concerned about their well-being. When you show that you care by sending positive messages you do as much for yourself, if not more, than you do for others.

Have you considered that the way in which you view the world is the way the world views you? Think about that. How you see yourself has a direct effect on how you see the world and how you present yourself. How you present yourself to others directly correlates to how others are going to respond. If you expect negativity you will receive negativity. Likewise, when you expect positive experiences that is what you are going to get. What you send out is what you will get back. When you train your mind to think thankful thoughts you exclude negativity from creeping in. Be thankful for everyone and everything in your life. When you are thankful and grateful, you will stay focused on your goals and you will appreciate each achievement along the way.

Your thoughts control your attitude and your attitude controls how others perceive you, as well as how you perceive yourself. Your self perception can even affect your destiny. You may have preset goals, but unless you believe you can achieve them you won’t. Choose thoughts that are positive and focused on where you want to go. Think thoughts that move you towards your goals and create a mindset of contentment and inner peace as you envision yourself already achieving your goals.

Energy is contagious and people are drawn to those who send out positive energy. When you maintain a high energy level and communicate in a positive way, you send positive energy out to others. Think before you speak and make sure the words you choose are positive ones. Always take the high road and communicate in a way that makes others feel good. When you make others feel good you will feel good. When you make others feel good they are more inclined to send positive energy your way as well.

When you look at life as an adventure life becomes more exciting and fun and you will reflect outward your attitude of adventure. Consider that you work more effectively and efficiently when you enjoy what you are doing. Whether you are with your employees, coworkers, customers, family, or friends, look for opportunities to have fun. When you are focused on having fun, working towards your goals becomes more enjoyable. Try to schedule fun time every day, whether it is to have lunch with your coworkers, ice cream with your kids, or a quick phone call to a friend or mentor.

STEP 4: Exemplify the Best You Can Be

When you make the effort to be the best you can be, good things happen. Your confidence grows, you present a great attitude, and you display strong leadership qualities. When you put your best face forward, you will feel good about yourself, about others, and about the work you do. When you feel good it shows. People will notice your confidence and commitment to excellence, they will appreciate your upbeat attitude, and they will respect your leadership. When you form the habit of exemplifying your best, you will find yourself wanting to be your best all of the time, and your chances for achieving your personal goals greatly increases.

First and most importantly, no one likes a braggart, but it is possible to showcase your achievements without sounding boastful or arrogant. And unless you tell others about your achievements, it is possible that your efforts will go unnoticed. A humble way to showcase your achievements is to talk about your accomplishments in a manner that will be helpful to other people’s success. For example, you could say something like this to a coworker: "When I changed my method of observing my employees, my sales results jumped ten percent. I’ll be happy to tell you about the changes I made because I think they can help you too." When discussing a problem, always offer a solution that worked for you. During a staff meeting you could say: "I know we’ve discussed the problem with employees coming back from break late. Here’s what I tried with my team and it’s working." When you take a supportive approach and show others that you are interested in helping them improve, you will stand out in other people’s minds in a positive way and show that you care.

Another way to showcase your achievements is to stay in the spotlight. Volunteer for projects and committees where you will involve yourself with upper management or employees from other departments. When you attend meetings always speak positively and stay solution oriented. Come to meetings prepared to speak about your role on the project or committee. Become a positive spokesperson for your team, department, company, and yourself. Whether or not your personal goal is to be promoted within your company, keeping the spotlight on you by involving yourself in interesting activities will increase your commitment to your company and your team, and you will find greater enjoyment in what you do.

Affirmations are statements of belief, declarations of truth. To help yourself put your best face forward at all times, write down your personal affirmations. Begin with the words Today I am… to create the picture in your mind that you are already putting your best face forward at all times. For example: Today I am thinking before I speak so that I will be positive to everyone. Envision yourself displaying these characteristics and qualities. Envision yourself sending out positive energy to your employees and coworkers when you speak to them. Include affirmations to help you stay focused, to help you achieve your goals, to show that you care, and to exemplify the person you want to be. Then you will exemplify your best face forward by giving your all in everything you do.

excerpt from Customer Service Management Training 101, available on amazon.com