"My employees are tuning me out."
The customer service leader explained his company had a customer service vision that he talked about in every meeting. A customer service vision is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page.
Unfortunately, employees were starting to get bored. They'd heard the manager talk about the vision so many times that it had gotten repetitive.
The manager knew repetition was vital to making something important. Employees were more likely to remember the vision and used in it their daily work because it was discussed so frequently.
He asked me how to reinforce the message while keeping it fresh. The manager was surprised to learn the secret was hidden in the other conversations he was already having with the team.
What helps people learn important concepts?
Two things help people learn and remember something: repetition and novelty. Hearing or experiencing something often helps it move from our conscious to our subconscious brain. Novelty helps maintain our attention.
The manager was already getting repetition right by talking about the customer service vision on a regular basis. This signaled that it was important.
Unfortunately, our brains tend to tune out messages we've already heard. That's where novelty comes in. Our brains are fascinated by novelty.
We're wired to noticed something new, unusual, or unexpected. That's why we could pass a hundred people walking by us on the sidewalk without giving them a second glance, but a person dressed in a gorilla costume whizzing by on an electric scooter would make us stop and stare.
The challenge is novelty isn't always easy to find unless you're looking for it.
Novelty Exercise: Here's an exercise you can try that will help. You can do this while walking in your neighborhood, on your morning commute, or any other time when you're traveling along a familiar route.
Try to notice something you've never seen before.
On the next day, repeat the exercise and try to notice something new again.
I've lived in the same neighborhood for 20 years, yet I can still do this exercise anytime when I walk around the block. There's always something I hadn't seen before if I look carefully enough.
How can you add novelty to team meetings?
You don't need to go far to search for novelty. Remember when I told the manager that the secret was hidden in the conversations he was already having with his team?
Every day, there's a new challenge to solve. It could be an unusual problem, an exciting new discovery, or just a new member on the team who is still learning how to be successful.
These situations provide all the novelty you need.
The manager talked about these customer service challenges in formal team meetings, one-on-ones, and team huddles. Employees loved working together to solve these problems and always paid attention.
I suggested the manager try to solve those challenges using the customer service vision as a guide. This naturally creates novelty because the situation is new while adding repetition because you use the vision to solve the issue.
Want a great example?
Check out Jesse Cole, owner of the Savannah Bananas baseball club. He frequently shares examples on LinkedIn of doing just that: solving problems by using the club’s customer service vision (and other principles) as a guide.
One recent story involved rallying the team to entertain fans even when the game itself was rained out.
Conclusion
The best leaders talk about customer service a lot. The truly great ones find new and novel ways to share the same message while keeping it fresh.
You can learn more about building a customer-focused culture from The Service Culture Handbook, a step-by-step guide to getting employees obsessed with customer service.
LinkedIn Learning subscribers can also access the video-based version.