I was talking recently to a senior person who had been interviewing a young woman for a new position. Let’s call the candidate Liz.  She said that Liz’s CV looked excellent and she had made the cut from more than 40 applicants to 6 being interviewed.

“I was really looking forward to interviewing her” she said

However the interview did not go as well as hoped.

“What went wrong?” I asked

“Well” she said  “Liz came in and first impressions were good. But she continued to text during the whole interview. I just couldn’t put her forward for the role. Did I do the right thing?”

I asked if the candidate was going to have any customer contact and she replied “Yes, a lot of contact”

My reply was easy  “If Liz didn’t have the wit to pay attention in an interview her EQ skills were poor and she would be a liability not an asset with customers”

It does seem obvious to most of us that being prepared for an interview is important but don’t forget being totally in the zone during the interview is equally important if not more important as well.

And yet we so often read ,or experience, situations when caring seems to have been forgotten.

Caring translates into all our dealings with people not just those closest to us.

• When we deliver a presentation we should ‘care’ about our audience
• When we work with clients and customers we should ‘care’ about them
• As managers and leaders we should care about our staff.

 Yet unfortunatelyoften we get too busy ,or just plain forget to use that core value in almost all of us.

Roger Steare rogersteare.com recently spoke at a meeting  and he talked passionately about the need to get back to using our core values at work. We care about the things that matter close to us -our families (and/or animals!)  and yet so often at work the culture dulls what we know is intrinsically right -the universals that make us civilised.  The too tight job description so we don’t ‘go the extra mile’.  The rules that stifle common sense

Perhaps it’s time to take stock and not wait for a disaster to bring out the best in us .We all do care  it’s now time to show it

Well its Matariki now the Maori New Year and as it is in the middle of our very long wet and cold winter maybe its time to make some resolutions and call them choices.

We all can make choices .Whether it is to take a breath and count to ten before we say things that are best not said. or perhaps its time to make the choice of saying what does need to be said -the courageous conversation. And we can always make the choice to enhance our skills and develop our potential -find out what we ‘can do’ rather than what we can’t.

It is a great time to change just think of it as your new New Year-Matariki.

A simple form of four quadrant behavioural style is a very practical way to look at four key different types of needs in an audience. There is a good summary of a four quadrant framework at: What planet is my audience from? .

1. Work out roughly which of the four types fits you. Whilst you no doubt have a wonderfully subtle personality, this main style is how you instinctively communicate – it is your default option. Unless you stop and think about it, you will use that main style.

So the solution is clear – stop and think about it!
2. Think about the most common type in your audience and prepare your presentation on the basis of their needs, not yours. Sometimes you will know the personalities of the key decision makers and can use the right approach for them. On other occasions, certain types dominate in particular jobs – IT attracts analysis driven people, social work attracts people who are very focused on how people feel and so on.

Some occupational groups attract certain types. If you are presenting to a group of farmers, many in the audience will be very task-focused and interested in the end point, not the journey along the way. Of course, not all of them will be like this, but this type will cover a fair proportion of the group. With such groups, give them the facts, get to the point quickly and give them room to make up their own minds.

Catering for some of the various types may require you to get creative. However, we can all communicate in a way that suits the other types, but for some of the styles we need to really consciously think about it.  The key is to present in the way the audience wants.
Try it out and enjoy the increase in audience engagement.

Al Switzler,  www.alswitzler.com says “When it comes to crucial confrontations, we’ve taught a kind of mantra over the years. We say: ‘If you don’t talk it out, you act it out.’

As a customer, we already know what to expect when we dash in for a quick bite at the Golden Arches.  However, when it comes to eating in a highly priced restaurant, two people can have entirely different service experiences.  Think how often people disagree with the reviewer of a best dining guide!

Unfortunately, when the service we received was poor, we won’t go back and we don’t always communicate our concerns to the business.

The same happens in our workplaces. How our customers see the service depends on their level of expectation.  If they don’t like the service they will act, rather than talk it through – unless ‘talk it through’ involves blowing their tops!

So how do we manage expectation?  Our customers are looking for a tangible result, not just a smile in the voice. We need to talk face-to-face and find out what the customer expects and needs..

We must the customers’ four basic needs:

• The need to feel welcome: ‘It’s ok to call me’
• The need to feel comfortable: ‘They don’t think my request is stupid’
• The need for understanding: ‘Let me get this right…you are wanting…?’
• The need to feel important: ‘Yes Janine, what I will do is… and you will receive it by …’

As the guru, Peter Drucker, www.druckerinstitute.com. said: ‘Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it but what your customer gets out of it.’