Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/202668
served, including you, your colleagues, and most importantly, your customers." What Kaufman is talking about is an uplifting service culture change. He explained that service is taking action to create value for someone else, and that someone else can be outside or inside your chain. "When the entire organization agrees to define the way they work together using this definition of service, everyone will be able to focus on creating value and serving each other better, which leads to better external service," Kaufman said. "Instead of seeing an angry coworker and not wanting to have anything to do with him, you will naturally stop and think, What does this person value? What is he not getting that he needs? What can I do now to serve him better? When this culture of service takes hold in the organization, everyone feels better and works better together." To begin creating uplifting service, Kaufman offered the following five tips: Assess the situation carefully. Is your colleague deeply upset or simply having a bad day? Are they angry about an ongoing internal issue that must be addressed and solved, or a one-off situation that will resolve itself? "Once you have assessed the situation," Kaufman noted, "you can then determine whether the person just requires a little personal attention from you—or whether a larger plan must be created." Shift your perspective. Stop thinking of coworkers as difficult and start thinking about the difficulty they are experiencing, and how you can serve them to resolve the situation. 24 Oil Prophets Once you realize what a difficult situation means to another person, you can approach the issue with more compassion, generosity, empathy and patience. This is far more effective for both parties than concluding that another person is difficult all the time or is always overreacting. "The reality is that you never really know all that is going on with another person, with his family's health or his financial situation," Kaufman said. "You don't know what happened at their home the night before. You don't really know what triggered this emotionally upset moment. You can therefore decide, 'let me choose compassion for this person instead of judgment and start exercising empathy.'" Lean in and work on the problem together. "Difficult" people often behave that way because they are trying to get something they need. Often, people think the only way to get their colleagues' attention is by outwardly showing their anger. But we know from experience that the way to get better service is to be a better customer. And the same goes for getting the help we all want from our colleagues. "Let your colleagues know—as subtly as possible—that being upset or angry is not the best way to get what they need," Kaufman suggested. "You can start by saying, 'Help me understand what you are concerned about.' By saying this and then listening, often their anger will fade away and then you can both get to work solving the problem and improving the situation." Plan how to work together. One way to defuse a difficult situation is to pull out a piece of paper and decide what actions each of you will take next. This helps remove emotional tension and gets everyone down to work. "The sooner you say, 'Let's figure this thing out. What action can I take that will create value for you? Let's agree on next steps. Let's make some promises to each other,' the better," Kaufman said. "Working this way creates a culture of colleagues taking action to create value for each other. It takes emotion out of the equation and creates a platform where people can work more effectively with each other." Display the right behavior. An important and lasting way to make this behavior a part of your company culture is to role model it yourself. And you can do this from any position in the organization: from the top, the middle or the frontline. Eventually, your colleagues will see how you handle these difficult situations and how well your approach leads to positive action. They will follow your actions. "When others see that problems don't need to be painful, that emotions don't need to be escalated, they'll realize that 'difficult situations' don't need to consume all your energy, or your entire day," Kaufman said. "As more and more people inside your organization take this approach, they will recognize this is what the culture is becoming, this is what our company really is. Everyone