Things have changed. With your promotion or new hire, you are no longer “doing” the task. Now your focus is on “leading” others to do the task. But you really enjoyed doing it! I know. Now you’ll turn loose of it and inspire your team to take responsibility for it. And with the proper training and encouragement, they will see this as a building block for their own professional development. Then you will be able to assume additional tasks.

Managers focus on things. Leaders focus on people. As a supervisor, your job is now to focus on both.

Set the Tone:  The attitude of the team begins with you! As a supervisor, you don’t have the luxury of bad moods. If you don’t feel that you can deliver 100% to your team, step away:  breathe deeply, take a walk, get a drink of water, shake it off, scream in the closet if you need to. That is exactly what you would expect from your team, as they deliver 100% to your members, customers, patients, guests, and clients.

Make the Tough Calls:  Everyone can’t perform every task at the same level. The tough call may sometimes mean retraining, reassignment or termination. You will hire for diversity in strengths, experiences and interests. You will push them gently into unfamiliar territory and expand their job knowledge. And you will hold them accountable for their successes and their failures. It’s tough, but you can do this.

Communicate:  You probably inherited your staff. Someone else chose them and trained them. You may have even been one of them. But now, they are not your buddies. They are not your confidants. They are your team!  Give continuous, specific and timely feedback. Solicit continuous feedback. Ask how they are doing. Ask how you are doing. Don’t wait for a mid-year review to discover a misunderstanding. And don’t EVER take someone else’s word for what another teammate is thinking. Ask. Ask. Ask.

Be a Great Delegator:  If you attempt to complete every assignment yourself, you will fail. Spreading yourself too thin will make you physically ill and will make your team resentful. Train them. Train them. Train them, again. As their comfort level increases and you become more aware of their abilities, release the reins. Allow them to take responsibility for the task and ownership of the results.

As you move from performing to coaching, you will have a learning curve, too. Seek out someone whose leadership style you respect. Ask her to meet with you for twenty minutes. Have three questions or scenarios concerning team dynamics ready to discuss. Stop talking at twenty minutes, close your notebook and thank her profusely. Ask if she’d be agreeable to meeting with you, again. You will have someone to coach you through the settling in period. She will be honored to have the opportunity to help lead the next generation in your organization.

And don’t forget that I’m here for you. Call me. Email me. Send up flares. Let me know how I can help.

Becky McCrary, CSP is called the Carol Burnett of Conventions. She is fun, funny and relevant. She is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, corporate  trainer, and facilitator who energizes and inspires association and corporate audiences. Her consistent excellence and expertise make her a favorite from Maine to Florida to California and even to the Caribbean.

Using personal experiences, side-splitting humor, and unimaginable insight, she guides audiences to a profound belief in their own passions, power and purpose. Participants consistently rave that her riveting stories are an inspiration to them.

My grandsons love to play “Punch Buggy.” You know this, right? The first one to see a Volkswagon Beetle, punches the other, says Punch Buggy, and names the color of the car. The boys are really good at this.

• “Punch Buggy Red!”
• “Punch Buggy Green!”
• “Punch Buggy Gray!” “That is NOT gray. It’s silver.” And a chorus of “same thing!”

Whether a 15 minute ride to the mall or an hour and a half drive to Columbia, we are focused on being the first to see a Beetle.

We may meet 847 cars, but we only see the Beetles. We’re scanning parking lots, looking only for the Beetles. Fords, Chevys, BMWs, Hondas are only a blur. They don’t matter; they aren’t Beetles.

In our work-a-day world, we can sometimes become focused on one thing. Coaching a challenging employee. Improving the bottom line. Working fewer hours. Moving the line. Enhancing the use of technology. Getting rid of the piles. Saying “thank you.” Any one of them a good thing, but not the only thing.

We all need the ability to see the big picture. Customer service representatives, call center agents, managers, sales associates, nurses, mechanics, accountants, tellers, entrepreneurs, dental hygienists – from the front line to the bottom line – when we focus on the big picture, we see not only our part in it, but how we impact other areas. The big picture helps us make decisions, set goals, and resolve issues. The big picture enables us to see the vision and work the plan.

If you aren’t certain of the big picture, this is a great time to schedule a chat with your manager or your support group. Ask great questions.

• “How will we define success?”
• “What has to happen for us to get there?”
• “Who | What skill sets do we need on our team?”
• “Why is that our goal?”
• “Where do I fit in?”

Then hush. Listen. Watch the big picture come into focus. Claim it. Now it’s your job to share the vision, with coworkers, customers, your community. The entire vision. Not just the reds. Not just the blues. Not just the silvers. All of it.

Holler, if you need me. I’m here for you.

Blessings!

There are four reasons you lose a customer.

• They no longer need products in your category.
• They are unhappy with your price.
• They are unhappy with your product.
• They are unhappy with the way they are treated.

Businesses usually tackle problems by addressing price, believing that it is enough to keep customers happy. But in fact, the major reason most customers are lost, according to the think tank the Database Marketing Institute, is really how they are treated.

What binds buyers to your company, the institute postulates, is the totality of the relationship. Price is a factor, but it is not the only one. Other elements include recognition, service, information, helpfulness, friendly employees, brand identity and product quality.

That makes Anger Management a pretty important tool for businesses. Certainly there are going to be difficult clients and challenging situations, but giving into anger instead of turning it around into a positive, is a surefire way to lose a client.

Certified Speaking Professional Becky McCrary is an internationally recognized expert on customer service and business communication. In this, the final part of the Unimaginable Service series, she addresses a problem each of us has had to deal with: losing our temper with a customer. And, more importantly, how to take volatile situations and turn them around – turning a confrontational customer into a client for life.

The essence of the Unimaginable Service series is understanding that outstanding service may be shared with one or two people, but bad experiences are often told to 20 people or more. Customers will talk about your service. The good news is you get to write the script.

In Part three you will learn:

• 7 ways to defuse anger
• How to turn difficult customers into partners
• What 10 mistakes you make that lead to stress
• 4 easy steps to take control, again

Want to catch up on the rest of the series? Parts 1 and 2 are available on-demand. Get information and sign up for all Becky’s on-demand and upcoming events.

Ready for the next step? Sign up for the webinar or visit Becky’s website for more information. For even more Becky, follow her on Twitter and Facebook!