Asynchronous Written Communication Provides an Opportunity for Deeper Thought
/My bi-weekly link collection, including: balancing charisma, delegating, and matching your customer service to your business
Asynchronous Written Communication Provides an Opportunity for Deeper Thought
Marrion Barraud presents a few insights he found when he began coaching using written language instead of voice after a diagnosis of ALS. Initially, he was concerned that IM and email would be too slow to keep the conversation flowing. Fortunately, he found that "clients say they like having more time to listen, absorb, think, and respond during a conversation." Personally, I prefer asynchronous communication for this reason in particular. I find that the natural delays in asynchronous communication provide me with time to process what was said and consider a response in a way that can be difficult to achieve in in-person conversations. Ultimately, I think it results in higher quality communication as both parties have a chance to think more carefully about their response during the conversation.
Scaling up? 5 stages of customer service development to consider
In this article, Michael Redbord of Hubspot uses his experience to provide insights for developing your customer service model as your company grows in size. Using five stages of company growth, he provides a detailed guide of what you should consider as you develop and grow your customer service function. To guide you in moving from stage to stage, he also provides tips for the process of scaling from one stage to another. From the excitement of your first sales to managing a high customer volume, this article will help you make key decisions as your customer service evolves to meet your company's changing needs.
Can you be too charismatic?
Apparently so. Up to a point, charisma correlates with effectiveness in leaders. However, high levels of charisma result in lower ratings of effectiveness for leaders. Why? Highly charismatic leaders tend to focus more on strategic leadership to the detriment of day-to-day operations. As a result, these leaders may fail "in managing the day-to-day operations needed to implement their big strategic vision and in taking a methodical approach to getting things done in the near term." It seems, as with many things, moderation is the key to success. Jasmine Vergauwe finds that leaders with moderate levels of charisma and a balanced focus on strategic and operational priorities tend to be more effective.
Find your "inner lookout" to better manage your stress
Growing a business is hard work and with hard work often comes stress. Recognizing and effectively managing your stress levels and reactions to situations around you is vital to success as a leader. Erica Ariel Fox provides a few quick tips to help you use your "inner lookout" to see how you are reacting to a given situation so that you can make a conscious decision about your actions. By using your inner lookout, you can identify your emotions and choose how to effectively respond, rather than react to stressful situations. That's a path toward good leadership.
Balancing Doing with Leading
As a leader or a manager, delegation is a key skill that will keep you sane. As your company grows, you can't do it all and it's not in your best interest to try. Skillful delegation allows you to distribute responsibility across employees, creating stability- the work will get done even when you're not there - and enhancing employee engagement. To delegate well, 1) provide your employee(s) with context for the assignment; 2) fully define the scope of your expectations and discuss how they align with the employee's strengths and priorities; 3) discuss how you can best support their success. When new work needs to be assigned, consider your role using the same criteria, taking on the highest-valued contributions that you’re most skilled at making and then delegate the rest as appropriate.
