Do Onto Others . . .
Today I was brushing up on Mahatma Gandhi, his philosophy and methods. If you are not familiar with his works and philosophy beyond what media or folklore provide, I highly recommend a closer look.
While reading, it occurred to me that part of the reason customer service has a large impact on our lives is not because it is special in and of itself, but because it is an extension of the golden rule and therefore, of good social order -
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
The curious thing is that in order to follow the golden rule, we must be willing to temporarily disengage from our own condition. That is to say, we must focus on the customer’s point of view, putting ourselves in their position.
We cannot offer good service only when we feel the world has been fair to us, when things are going well, when all is just as we want it. Good customer service requires that we consider the needs of another, even as we struggle with our own. OK, this is sounding a little dogmatic, but isn’t it the essence of good customer service.
I often notice three types of customer service people.
- Those of us whose willingness to provide XCS is dependent on whether or not we are receiving it.
- Those of us who are simply trying our best to do a difficult job
and - Those of us who have realized, strangely enough, that our own quality of life is usually positively affected by our honest effort to consider the needs of others.
Those of us in the first group, need to move to either of the others, or should consider a diferent line of work. Most of us, however, find ourselves in the second group as we move forward day to day to do our best at a job that is, at times, difficult. This is not a bad place to be.
But, the blessing of customer service work can more readily be felt in the third group, where our lives tend to improve because of our work. Where we become more tolerant and our problems seem to become less debilitating as we disengage from the idea that we are the center of the universe, while we concentrate on helping someone else.
Service does not need to be monumental or earth shattering. It just needs to consider the customer’s point of view separately from our own.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi
Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS !
2 comments
Rudy,
The point that resonated with me most was “Those of us whose willingness to provide XCS is dependent on whether or not we are receiving it.”
Recently, I told my students how I’ve been reinvigorated with an undying willingness to provide XCS. This had escaped me for a long time because it “was dependent on whether or not we are receiving it.” Often, the principles I were brought up on early in my career (Make eye contact and smile, greet everyone within 10 feet) weren’t reciprocated, and it resulted in me shutting down in many situations.
I realized the error of my ways before it came back to haunt me, and now I feel much more confident in my abilities and my service record continues to show it.
Robert,
thank you for your comment. We are human after all and we need nurturing when we forget the power and conviction of our beliefs. You, I and so many others share a conviction that customer service service is a good thing not necessarily because it is good for business, but because it is good for human beings. As long as we remember that, we feel strong to continue on our journey even if our customers do not seem to respond right away or at the time we expect.
Let us remember, business is not about money, is is mostly about people, our employees, our neighbors near and distant.
Robert, your students are fortunate to have you as their teacher. I should have been so lucky.
Thanks again for your on-going support of this discussion.
RudyV