“Business is simple. Management’s job is to take care of employees. The employees’ job is to take care of the customers. Happy customers take care of the shareholders. It’s a virtuous cycle.”
John Mackey, Founder and CEO, Whole Foods Market
Love this quote, which I spotted in Chip Conley’s book Peak. Somehow companies keep forgetting that their customers pay the bills. Why would you accept (even build, in some cases) anything that makes them unhappy?
I just finished reading Oliver Reichenstein’s fantastic piece, “Putting Thought Into Things”. It’s extremely, well, thought-provoking.
“Thinking is stressful. While stereotypes click together sweetly, thinking comes in bitter flavors. We recur to clichés rather than reflection, because they make us wise without listening, bright without reasoning, and smart without taking the risk of being imprecise, boring, annoying, wrong.”
Ouch. I have definitely done this, casually leveraging my experience and cliched tips in order to provide value without actually thinking through how valuable it is. Terrible habit.
“Listening is a masochist endeavor. To do it right you have to put everything down. Not just your phone, even pen and paper.”
I realize he’s being intentionally dramatic (sometimes you need a pen to note details), but I get the point. It’s too easily to, mentally or physically, prepare for your response or your solution or your protestation. Truly listening, internalizing what’s being said, empathizing – that’s a lot harder.
“The fog of boredom and emptiness when listening to people you don’t sympathize with can be a sign that they are boring, empty, or not making sense. It can also be a sign that you do not understand.”
Another one that hits too close to home. I can distinctly remember being bored with a conversation because I didn’t understand the point….then how quickly that boredom disappeared once I did.
“The ease of following protocol comes with the disappointment of running in circles. The bittersweet pain of progress comes hand in hand with the heartache of making mistakes.”
When was the last time you felt deeply satisfied from throwing something together, rather than thinking it through?
Thanks to Andrew Spittle for sharing this post originally!
1) Build a habit
2) Ambush your customers and fine them for following that habit
If you’ve ever taken a MUNI bus or light rail here in San Francisco, you’ve probably paid and then got on your vehicle, like a normal person. Your bus driver has perhaps nodded or smiled at you, or more likely stared off into space while contemplating their next aggressive driving move.
Turns out, you’re supposed to get a receipt – though this receipt is confusingly called a “transfer”, even if you’re not transferring. You wouldn’t know this to ride the actual buses though, since I have never, ever seen a bus driver offer a transfer. (I’ve heard people request them on occasion, but I assumed that was because they needed to transfer, hence the name.)
Today I entered my bus and paid with cash instead of my normal Clipper card (which I had accidentally left at home). I entered through the front door and clearly put my money in the machine. When I exited the bus where I normally do, I was cornered by a MUNI cop of some sort who asked for verification that I had paid. Sure, they could have just asked the bus driver, but since I didn’t get this mysterious receipt that apparently everyone is supposed to get, I got fined $108.
Yes, this effort is intended to stop people sneaking on without paying. What has it done instead? It’s created an enemy. All I did was act like a perfectly upstanding citizen and take my public transit to work, and I got fined $108. That’s a slap in the face. I’ll be avoiding MUNI as much as possible going forward. I like supporting public transit but you can buy a lot of taxi rides with $108.
Good job MUNI. Zero fare-evaders stopped, one customer alienated.
August’s Community Manager Breakfast focused on Internal Communication, a challenge that many departments face but particularly vexes community departments. We had a fantastic group with a lot of similar challenges and some great suggestions (I’m implementing at least two of them). A selection of them are below, but for the full shebang you’ll want to attend our next breakfast.
Thanks to Krista Gambrel for taking notes! You can finger her on Twitter @kristagambrel and her company @mindieapp.
Biggest Challenges
Getting Info
Why is there a disconnect? Perhaps because people don’t understand the role of Community Management.
Show metrics if you can:
Not all products have metrics to report – some people don’t have sales goals. In that case, ask questions: What are the top 3 things your boss needs to have done? Come in with ideas and recommendations. Be diligent about following up.
Participation
Pro Tip: “What’s Up Wednesday?”
Four questions:
What are you excited about this week?
What are the challenges you face?
What is something you have read?
Then follow up with public thank-you’s (people notice if their name isn’t in there, and feel bad). Helps set a habit for participation.
Is it spammy? Sure, but if it’s a small enough team and you have buy-in from management, it works.
Brand
Asking what did the person liked is more useful than what they didn’t like.
General Tips
The Washington Post wrote an interesting piece on the state of comments on the web in response to the current Kinja/Jezebel offensive comment issues. Their take: maybe it’s just not worth it to have comments. It’s a great discussion to have, and largely I think the article is thought-provoking.
However, I think they missed two points (though I don’t blame them).
io9, which is also on the Gawker network with Jezebel, is probably the site I visit the most outside of Gmail. I’m a huge geek, and I love their articles…but I also like connecting with fellow geeks, learning random facts that even the editors don’t know, and sharing in the joy of fandom – all in the comments.
Without comments, io9 would survive. But because of the comments, they thrive. (They even have a regular open animated gif comment threads).
Similar to my last point, but worth calling out separately.
Jezebel is a women’s site, but more relevantly a feminist site. They spend their days calling out and debating women’s issues. Can you imagine a site like that without comments? These sort of issues are an ongoing discussion, not a piece of news.
That said, I totally understand why the Washington Post missed these points. They largely publish news. People come to news sites for news, not comments. Often, comments can actually misinform the reader about news (which is why I understand science sites like Pacific Standard turning comments off). And there’s plenty of news that doesn’t really warrant comments – and often providing them can open a can of worms (I think it’s quite interesting how the New York Times only turns comments on for certain posts).
This is a very tough, very important debate to have. Turning comments off for some sites might make sense (though I would consider that a last resort). But let’s keep in mind that this is just not an option for some sites – and when comments are great, they’re incredibly valuable and even powerful.