How You Can Provide Service Excellence From The Heart

Whenever we are interacting with others, we are often providing a certain service of some kind. Be it some information, a help with opening the door or even a smile when acknowledging others. The basis of these comes from the heart. To truly give a delight experience to the people we come into contact with, we must first begin from our heart.

Take the following steps:

1. Commit to service excellence.

2. Discover what the other party needs from you.

3. Attend to it with a sincere smile.

4. Focus on the other party’s well-being first.

5. Delight in yourself having made a better day for others.

6. Acknowledge that quality service is worth inculcating.

7. Repeat this cycle regularly until it becomes a second nature.

It’s truly a joy to have made that simple difference in other’s life, at least for that moment. You can truly take pride and be assured that you are that positive element of influence.

By doing this, you would have taken another step towards Excelling Beyond Excellence!

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It’s Your Call! 5 Key Question Types That Will Make Or Break Your Interview

Today’s intensive training was on “Impactful Interviewing Skills”. In this workshop, the participants learn the techniques and skills to emerge more competent in handing interviews and improve their chances of getting the jobs.

At the same time, there were also explorations into certain specific situations where crucial handling of questions was needed. These include:

1. The “Why did you leave your last job” type

2. The “What you dislike most about your last company” type

3. The “Tell me about your weaknesses” type

4. The “Odd question” type

5. The “How much you want to be paid” Salary type

Essential Factors For The Befrienders

Befriending as a helping concept is getting more widely used. Through the various social assistance organizations, people are recognizing it as a up-coming strategy for positive intervention. I was conducting the first part of a Befrienders’ Course today and highlighting some of the key concepts of befriending others.

In addition, here are the essential factors that befrienders must work on:

The Trust Factor

The Confidentiality Factor

The Intergrity Factor

The Communication Factor

The Care Factor

10 Ways To Build Rapport And Foster Cooperation

Just a few days ago was a rather insightful report on the Today paper regarding how leaders can work better with others. Curt Grayson and Jean Leslie presented easy-to-digest points on this topic. With due credits to them, I must say these points will definitely help make your work-life easier.

These are what they said about the ways to build rapport with others and improve the cooperative spirit:

1 CHOOSE THE POSITIVE

Good relationships are based on handling problems in a positive way. Avoid creating adversarial relationships or alienating others.

2 BE A DIPLOMAT

Negotiating, giving feedback, sharing news and making decisions require good timing and common sense. Be mindful of the whole picture and make your points at the most appropriate time.

3 FIND COMMON GROUND

Shared goals, similar challenges or areas of agreement are great starting points to accomplish work and build relationships. Work to find common ground in when dealing with conflict or complexity.

4 KEEP COOL

Can you handle unfair attacks with poise? Are you steady when tension is high? Keep cool; avoid defensiveness or counterattacks.

5 AVOID ISOLATION

Don’t limit your associations and relationships. Learn to relate to all kinds of individuals tactfully, from shop floor to top executives. Find ways to talk with staff members who are older or more experienced than you, as well as those who are younger.

6 EXPAND YOUR VIEW

Strive to understand others’ perspectives and needs.

7 LISTEN

Active listening is essential. Listen carefully to people’s needs at all levels in the organization — when things are going well and even when they are not.

8 SHARE INFORMATION

Communicate well and communicate often. Keep people informed of any future changes that might impact on them.

9 INVOLVE OTHERS

Encourage direct reports to share ideas and information. Involve others in the beginning stages of an initiative or decision. Work to gain the commitment of others before implementing changes. Your relationships will improve when people are motivated to work together.

10 BE REALISTIC

Recognise that every decision has conflicting interests and constituencies, but with strong relationships, you can work through challenges from a platform of cooperation, trust and respect.

Good relationships are the key to leadership networking — another indispensable leadership skill. A robust leadership network helps leaders solve problems and create opportunities in organisations where working across boundaries or through informal channels is a large part of the job.

How To Have A Renewed Focus In Your Life?

After a couple of week in reservist, today marks the end of another in=camp training cycle for the workyear. Being so immersed into the Army for the past days would imply that some adjustments are needed to get back into civilian life.

 

The mind and focus are no longer the same as serving in national service. It’s a continuation of our normal life, picking up wherever we left off.

 

When a change happens for a period of time in my life, I will always seek back the focus. In a sense it is much renewed because we will have to revisit our priorities and objectives with want we want in do in life.

 

This is what you can also do to get back that renewed focus:

 

1. Relook through your previous works.

 

2. Recuperate your mind, body and soul.

 

3. Reaffirm your life’s direction.

 

4. Re-install all the powerful resources and positive energy in you.

 

5. Reach out to the right connections of people.

 

6. Release past frustrations, disappointment and whatever is hold you back.

 

7. Repeat whatever has been performing well in your life.

 

As life proceeds on, we must consistently keep our own focus in mind, Distractions and commitment will always be abound, but it’s still within us to choose our focus.

 

I wish you a renewed focus towards Excelling Beyond Excellence!

 

 

 

Going Back For The Final Phase

Within the next hour, I’ll be back to my reservist camp. It is the final phase of the over two weeks in-camp training.

It also means to me, a time where I should be ready to get back to the various upcoming trainings and talks that follow. Hence, a balance in need during this period of time for the mental adjustment from green uniform to formal speaking attire.

 

How To Make Sensible And Sound Decisions During The Shortage Of Time?

I’m back home for a day of rest during my reservist. The last few days were a field exercise. In the midst of these such as schedule changes and fire fight, quick decisions have to be made.

Here are some of the tips that will help you make sound decisions even though time seems insufficient:

1. Limit decisions to focus only one ultimate objective.

2. Write or jot something down to give you a different paradigm. 

 

Facing Your Major Event

In less than an hour, I will be returning back to the reservist camp. Moving on for the coming week, it’s an entire 7 days of preparation and field exercise. This implies that, once we return to camp, we will not be out of camp and “jungle” for another week or so.

Why? Because a major exercise is in place and lots of coordination is required for it.

Hence I work on the following paradigms when facing my various major events.

1. Find reasons to make it more positive and more exciting.

2. Have a sense of mission and adventure.

3. Take it as a personal challenge to excel in it.

4. Derive the fun within it.

5. Recall similar past circumstances where I’ve emerged ‘triumphed”

How To Maximize Your Limited Time: 5 Ways To Make That Little Free Time Work For You

I’ve just got back from camp for a day of rest. Because the rest day is so little and so rare, it has become precious. Nonetheless, I’m sure many of my other army reservist mates will just as treasure their off day. To some it’s a period of family reunion while some will prefer to snooze their way through.

Over the years of fine-tuning and testing, here are some of my methods on how I’ve been utilizing my limited ‘out-of-camp’ time:

1. Insist on wanting to make full use of the oncoming rare personal time.

2. Plan even before that time arrives. You can always work it out in your head while you’re walking, traveling, having meals and toilet breaks.

3. Prioritize your lists and rearrange the things to do based on what you find as most urgent and important.

4. Do the most difficult thing first. Do exercise realism here. If the most difficult thing takes up all the time, leaving you out of time for others; then perhaps you may want to reduce all their individual timing.

5. Choose your general version of personal time and plan them accordingly: Rest or Work; Personal or Official; Free and Easy or Controlled; Out of Willingness or Out of Responsibility

May you enjoy your free time well and keep it meaningful. Excel Beyond Excellence always!

A Change Of Pace And Place

In a few hour’s time, I will be at my Army reservist in-camp training. It’s indeed a period of time where things now become different. Aside from training and speaking, now it’s the military gearing up for the next couple of weeks.

I’ve learnt to understand a few things about changes in life situations:

1. Change is constant.

2. It’s better to embrace change positively than negatively.

3. The more unexpected the changes are, the more you have to compose yourself.

That’s it for now as I prepare to don my greens for the new change. See you in a couple of days’ time (…when I book out.)

Always Excel Beyond Excellence!