As a person starting my career and then as I transitioned into people leadership, I found a lot of success by simply dialing in the details of the work that my team and I did. Employees who were on the lower side of engagement found new joy in the work that were doing. People just got along better. Our customers recognized the change and were cheering on the changes.
Minor things matter is a phrase that my mentor Paul Herman, taught me during one of our first one-on-ones together. it stuck with me so strongly that as I kicked off Passing the Baton nearly 10 years ago as a newsletter, speaking to my team about the power of minor things was one of the first topics I wrote about. As we got the podcast started we pulled from the newsletters to get our topics started. Minor Things Matter is show 8. Years later, minor things still matter, perhaps more than ever as your team and customers desire authenticity and crave a level of service that is hard to find in many places.
Minor things matter in your work
Whether you are a leader of influence or a people leader, the minor things in the work output that you create are important and help you stand out in the workplace. When you focus on the minor things in work, everything else around you is impacted in a positive way. Stress levels go down, and mental capacity is opened to take on more work.
A great example of minor things mattering in work is on the show The Bear. The premise of the show is one of the world’s best chefs coming back home to Chicago as he inherited a rundown family restaurant. As you can imagine the place is a mess and he slowly elevates the restaurant into something totally different by focusing on the minor things. He cuts tape with scissors instead of the tape dispenser because the tape dispenser gives the tape jagged edges. As he remodels the kitchen he times himself and is very critical because he can’t get the time down by one second. The magic really starts to happen as other employees start adopting the habit as well. Both the service and the quality of food are unrecognizable as they get ready to restart the restaurant.
In my own recent work, my team owns a very complex talent review slate where we talk about hundreds of leaders across the United States and align on their development needs and how we can better invest in them. It is a web of sessions that need to sequence correctly in order to flow right. Now I hate spreadsheets, famously if you’ve listened to the podcast since the beginning, but we wanted to create an easy way for leaders to see who was being discussed where and a central place for my facilitators to verify accuracy. I don’t know that I would describe excels as beautiful, but this certainly was – clean, simple, informative. My facilitators used it perfectly, and it worked just as it was designed.
Want to guess how many people said something about the document? 0. Often that’s the way that minor things work. Sometimes they are there to make the work stand out, and sometimes they are there to clear distractions, confusion, and roadblocks. No one is going to walk into the cooler at the Bears restaurant and say “Wow, you cut the tape!” or look at my spreadsheet and say, “This is so clean!” Focus on minor things to help your work stand out above the crowd but also remember to dive into the details even when most people won’t see it.
Minor things matter to your customer
To build a raving fan base, focus on the minor details in your acts, services, and products that you create. The Bear’s Restaurant staff is sent to work in other restaurants as the place is being remodeled. One goes to work at the highest quality restaurant in the city. There he sees attention to detail and customer service taken to the extreme level. The staff there uses the guest list to go on their social media accounts to learn about them before their reservation. They use that knowledge, to dial in a very intimate and personal experience. One person commented that they missed their chance to try Chicago deep-dish pizza before they had to leave town. What did the staff do? They sent someone out to a nearby pizza place, bought a pizza, upped the presentation, and served it to that person in their own restaurant.
If your or your team’s work directly affects your customer, what details can you dial in with them to really up your customer service game? If your role is more of a support or corporate function, then your customer is the business that you serve. What details can you dial in to make things easier for them?
Minor things matter to your team
It’s important that your team experience that same level of care and attention to detail from you in their experience. Whenever I took on a new team at a new location, the first thing that I always invested in was the common area or breakroom. A deep clean, fresh paint, and upgrading the furnishings always showed my team that A) I put them first B) The difference some attention to detail makes, and C) I see a need and work to resolve it.
Part of dialing in the details of the experience of your team is slowing down to get to know them and listening. Make note of the things that you discover like, preferences, tastes, what their favorite things are, and what is important to them. Use that information to insert those small acknowledgments as the relationship goes on.
Back to the show, The owner has two interactions with his employees. One employee is going to cooking school for the first time and she tells the owner that she doesn’t have a set of knives to start the school with. The chef tells her to take his, a very nice and expensive set of Japanese cutlery. She is reminded of his kindness as she uses the knives at school and when it’s time to come back to work she tries to return them. The chef replies, “I don’t remember ever asking for them back.” What was once one of his biggest detractors how now become one of his most loyal team members. The owner shows the same care to his second-in-command after she commented early on how nice his chef coat was. Just before reopening, he gifts her the same custom jacket as a thank you.
Listen, learn, and dial in the details to create loyal and engaged team members.
Minor things matter to you
You’ve taken care of your work, your customers, and your team. It’s time to also dial in the details for yourself. Minor things really do matter in your own self-care and well-being. Some areas to consider when dialing the details in your personal time.
Your living space – Whether you have a room, an apartment or a house, attention to detail in upkeep, cleanliness, and maintenance goes a long way in helping you feel stress-free in your own place.
Your hobbies – Are things organized in a way that you can jump right into the fun? How about the hobby itself? What are ways that you can elevate that experience for yourself?
Your personal relationships – Which of those your benefit both you and and the other party by giving it some extra attention?
Your physical being – Are you giving it the attention that it needs in order to have a healthy life? Could an exercise plan help or perhaps a new look at your food intake?
Attention to detail will never go out of favor. It’s a future-proofed behavior and trait that serves yourself, your team, and your customer in a way that shows you truly care.
We should act with humility when things go wrong….and then make them right.
I get things wrong sometimes. Unfortunately, I’m not a perfect leader. There are times when I miss the mark and other times that I’ve outright blown it. None of us are perfect.
There are going to be times when you drop the ball as a leader and your team falls short. There are going to be occasions where you’ll have a big miss as well. It’s just a part of life! When you disappoint a customer or client it’s almost always in one of these three categories: Operational breakdown, service blunders, and widespread tragedies.
Three types of service failures that deserve an apology When you disappoint a customer or client it’s almost always in one of these three categories: Operational breakdown, service blunders widespread tragedies.
Operational breakdowns: These types of service failures occur when there is a breakdown in the process that causes frustration for your customer. Not having the right product for a sale, service, or product not arriving when promised or a policy that gets in the way of service are just a few examples.
Service blunders: We’ve all experienced these. People say one thing and then do another or they don’t answer your communications in a timely manner. Another obvious example is how a person treats the customer or client.
Widespread Tragedy: These are certainly out of your control. Think natural disasters, or a tragic loss on the team. While you can’t control when or how these occur, how you react and accept responsibility does matter immensely to the customer.
These types of service failures don’t just apply to your business life. Operational breakdowns happen as you lose control of your time management, service blunders happen as you drop the ball on a commitment and we all go through tragedies in life.
Tips to apologize in an authentic way
It’s easy to say the words, “I’m sorry.” It’s more difficult to believe it yourself sometimes, much less convincing the other person that your apology is truly heartfelt.
Have a swift response: A disgruntled person only gets angrier if they feel like they are being ignored. Think about a time when you experienced a service issue and no one gave you the attention you needed. You likely felt your patience wear thin pretty quickly
Show humility and empathy: This is one of the key actions to turn around a bad situation. If your apology is authentic, you’ll be on a much quicker road to resolving the situation. if your apology is perceived as fake or just lip service, then the situation may escalate even further.
Accept responsibility: Avoiding responsibility is one of the quickest ways to dig yourself into a deeper hole with the person you let down. Take responsibility to fix the problem even if it wasn’t your fault. Own the issue that is being communicated to you.
Provide an honest explanation: Truthfully share how the failure in service or commitment occurred while avoiding making excuses. Don’t hide behind a policy; it’s an easy out that no one likes to hear.
Extend an olive branch: Right the situation and rebuild the relationship. You should feel empowered to take care of concerns and complaints as they happen. If you don’t feel empowered, let your leader know so the two of you can work on a potential solution together. Do what needs to be done within reason to amend the mistake.
Instead of running away from responsibility and trying to push blame elsewhere, step up and own the mistake. Apologize with sincerity and authenticity and work to make things right with the other person. This is a lost skill in today’s public eye. Stand out above the crowd by turning your apologies into a strong point of your leadership.
Today Zack and Mike share their 2021 book recommendations!
Zack’s Picks
Clarity in Crisis by Marc Polymeropoulos
“I really enjoyed Marc’s book. It’s an engaging read that follows his career in the CIA while pulling out leadership and team-building lessons that can be applied to every team, no matter the size or industry.” – ZH
“This is one of my favorite book recommendations for a new leader and a leader looking to raise their effectiveness. Lee shares a number of great tips and stories in order to care for your team and your customer.” -ZH
“This book does a fantastic job of helping the reader experience what it was like to be close to the events that unfolded on 9/11. The book leans heavily into first-hand accounts from interviews that tell a powerful story of heroism, loss, luck, and trama. A powerful read that took me longer than usual to read. I found myself reading a bit and then reflecting on what the people in the interviews experienced.” – ZH
Mike’s Picks
Pivot by Jenny Blake
“Jenny does a great job a helping the reader put a plan in place to pivot to that next role that they want to be in. It’s not always realistic to say that you want to be the CEO fresh out of college. Instead, she helps the person realize what steps they need to take to get to their ultimate goal.” – MF
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
“I love all of Malcolm’s stuff from his books to his podcast. I like how Malcolm dives into what is behind a person’s success and what makes a person successful that we don’t initially think about.” -MF
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
” I love a good biography and have always been interested in Steve Jobs and what he was able to do as a leader. I really appreciated that the biography shows both the good and the bad behind Steve and lets the reader decide what their takeaway is. ” – MF
We are truly living in a new age of service and expectation. Traffic is generally down at all physical locations and one person has the power to significantly influence your organization while you have no power to stop it from happening. We’ve seen many examples of how one person posts a comment or photo and then it gains traction with over a million likes, comments, or shares online. Businesses quickly try to scramble to save face by changing policies or firing the people involved. At the same time, organizations are spending more and more just to get an opportunity with a new customer. Retail costs for a new customer avg from $10-$40, financial institutes will spend over $175 per person and phone companies will spend over $300 for a new account. With that much investment, it’s more important than ever to keep the ones that you have.
Focus on retention
A recent study showed that 44% of companies put more emphasis on acquisition and only 18% put more on retention. That means 38% aren’t really focused on either! It’s fine to focus on new customers; in fact, you should in order to grow. If you solely focus on acquisition, you may lose 5 for every 1 that you gain. Not only is this a very poor business model, it is also a self-fulfilling prophecy to your own demise. On average it costs 5 times more to get a new person than it is to keep the ones that you have. Don’t focus so much on catching the one fish that you don’t notice all the fish that you caught are leaving through the hole in the boat. Here are some good ways to focus on retention:
Reward them for their loyalty: Everyone does rewards cards these days. Offer them something of value more than just a discount every now and again.
Listen to them: Truly take in their feedback and then act on it.
Show them you are socially responsible in your community.
Show them you stand for something.
Educate, don’t sell: People appreciate when you take the time to teach them something or make an educated recommendation than trying to sell them on an item.
Don’t let them leave unhappy
When you see a customer experience start to turn south, do everything that you can do to immediately resolve the situation. Make it a priority to resolve issues that you hear about after the fact. This can be feedback from the team, customer comments you receive internally or messages you get on social media. As we saw at the top of the newsletter, one incident can turn into a crippling event for you.
Avoid generic email responses and form letters. Nothing shows them that you don’t truly care more than an unsolicited email or message response that’s not heartfelt.
Be empathetic: Most often they just want to be heard and for you to improve. Don’t defend the person or situation.
Offer more than an apology: Give me something to either meet their need or to show your good will.
Commit to improve based on their feedback.
Do your best to gain new customers while focusing on keeping the ones that you currently have. Remember that when you lose one customer, you’ve actually lost many more because you can guarantee that they will tell their families and friends about their experience. Keep your boat sealed and cast your nets wide!
I was flying back home the night before our movers were arriving at my house to move our family halfway across the country. In Nashville, the plane had mechanical issues and was canceled. I had asked to change my flight to the next outgoing plane when I saw the writing on the wall. The flight attendant gave me a cold no with no explanation and no further information. After the second plane left I asked again and was told it wasn’t their fault that I was late. They finally put me on a plane for a transfer to Dallas. The crew and passengers let me off first and called ahead to the other flight to let them know I was coming, so I was that guy you see in the movies…..you know the one running full speed down the terminal. I arrive at my gate just as the lady is closing the gate.
“Can I please get on this plane? It’s still here and I have to meet movers at my house in the morning to move my family.”
“No. Sorry.”
I was floored, and worn out from the stress and fatigue from running across the airport. Needless to say, the company was not on the same page in service levels that day.
No one enjoys hearing the word no.
No is a negative (obviously!) and it also does something else to a large group of the population….it makes them want whatever it is even more. Think of kids when you say no to them. Oftentimes they will dial up the urgency or push even harder to get what they want. If you loved the show LOST as I did, you know the character John Locke was famously hung up about being told no. “You can’t tell me what I can’t do!” was his famous line that he said over and over. Instead of saying no, look for a way to say yes.
Sometimes your yes might not be exactly what they want, but it’s not a no. Here are some tips to help say yes:
Don’t immediately say no. Think through options and other possible solutions before giving your response. Ask for more time if you need it.
Establish boundaries beforehand on what you are empowered to take care of. Companies often give front-line employees the flexibility to take care of requests and service issues.
Put yourself in their shoes and think of what would be a good solution if you were on that side of the conversation.
Celebrate those who turn a no into a yes. It will build their confidence and reassure them that they made the right decision.
Say yes to more than just your guests.
It’s just as important to think about your team in this regard if you are charged with leading people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a pushover; it means you should do everything within reason to meet their needs. Time off requests is a common item that should fall into this category. If you cant meet those needs and requests, give it a good effort first and let the person know that you did. They will appreciate that you didn’t immediately shut them down even if wasn’t the exact outcome they were looking for. Saying yes creates more loyalty, buy-in to your vision, and greater work efficiency.
There are a few times when a No is absolutely appropriate. Those times include safety, moral, and integrity issues.
Give it all you’ve got in finding a way to say yes to your guests and your team.
