Take Every Opportunity

You'll be happy to know I finally got a flight after the original one was cancelled due to snow at Heathrow on the 22nd, and flew to Las Vegas on Sunday 26th, and LA yesterday 29th December.

Whilst I'm busy here cramming 2 weeks into one, someone did remind me of some wise words once spoken by the lovely Cameron Diaz - 'Your regrets aren't what you did, but what you didn't do. So, take every opportunity.'

Wise words indeed with which to look back on your achievements of 2010, and what you now aim to complete in 2011.

How will you make 2011the most special, sensational of your life yet?

My New Year newsletter goes out on the 1st January, complete with a FREE New Year, New You exercise. If you're not subscribed yet follow the link here, fill out your email address in the blue box on the right side of my home page, and it'll find it's way to you.

Building A Powerful Team

The significance of powerful teams, communicating freely and at the highest level, is essential in order to succeed in today’s business world. For some, an effective and valuable team structure can be difficult to achieve, especially for businesses still feeling the after effects of the recent world downturn.

Coaching programs can help you focus on important issues such as enhancing creativity, using all of your resources, improving communication skills, surmounting employee resistance, encouraging positive change and exchange, and increasing business productivity.
(Read more)

Making A Drama Out of A Crisis

I was due to fly to the US on Tuesday, though my flight was cancelled as part of the terrible mess that was BAA's handling of just a few inches of snow at London Heathrow Airport last Friday.

Now, I'm a pretty calm, 'let's see what we can do with this', kind of man. However, after spending 6 hours in telephone calls and queuing systems over the past couple of days, I can honestly say I have experienced some of the most extreme highs and lows of customer service skills imaginable.

As a communications coach, I work with people and teams in businesses wanting to improve the way they interact with each other and their customers.

By far, the best service has been whilst communicating with hotels and airlines in the US. They usually answer a call within a couple of minutes, including routing it to the right person. Once connected, they are courteous, attentive, and empathetic, trying to fix the issue or help find another person that can.

This is excellent customer care when it's most needed.

Compare this to the 2 UK travel companies and the insurance company I've also been attempting to speak with. The quickest queuing time was 45 minutes, only to be disconnected by the operator half way through my first sentence to explain the reason for my call. Other waiting times have been 55 minutes and 75 minutes - all at national 10p per minutes rates!

Once connected, I've heard comments such as:

• 'There's nothing I can do'
• 'It's not my department'
• 'I can't help you'
• 'I know, it's terrible - so what do you expect me to do about it?'

Combine this with the worst of all communication; complacency, sarcasm, and just pain being uninterested in their job and in helping the customer.

THIS IS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UK companies - if any of you are reading this please take note, this is bad customer service. It doesn't have to be like this. Some companies invest in the best staff, and in training their staff to provide excellent service, especially when it's needed by the customer.

What have your experiences been of customer service skills during the Christmas travel period?

UK Travel Chaos - Keeping The Customer Informed

Travel chaos has again blighted plans for many thousands of people in the UK and throughout Europe due to heavy snow fall, though it must be said that for the most part disruption overseas has been caused by UK airports not being able to cope with the weather.

At the beginning of this year I was delayed for 6 hours at Oslo airport on a flight from Tokyo to London. Oslo, whilst having far more snow and colder temperatures, was operating normally, whereas London once again had huge problems.

There seem to be two issues BAA and the Government need to address, the first;  how to keep major UK airports running when adverse weather happens – which in comparison with so many other major airports around the world, the UK seems less prepared to deal with.

The second, and as a Communications Coach one close to my heart, is lack of good quality communication. (read more)

Communication For Successful Businesses

Having effective communication in the workplace is necessary for any type of productivity for a business, particularly coming out of a recession.

However, many companies choose to avoid implementing an effective communication strategy, and this can be where some can make their biggest mistake.

Management in a company needs to face communication square in the eye, by implementing ongoing support and training that will encourage employees, and management, to learn how to communicate better. This is one of the times when short term investment creates long term benefits and growth.

As a business coach, I help prepare communication strategies that work best for individual companies. One of the first ways that communication can become successful is when management itself sets good examples of communication for employees to emulate. (read more)

The Importance of Being Congruent

I was devastated by the news from Zurich yesterday, that England had not won the nomination to stage FIFA's 2018 World Cup tournament.

My first reaction was sadness, which then - as I'm sure it did with other England supporters - turned to anger at the voting procedures within FIFA, and now this morning the realisation that the British media, and the bid team also played their part in the failed bid.

Being 'On Brand'
Being 'on brand' at all times is essential in business. The higher the stakes, the clearer the message needs to be at all times. In competitive industries, and football is one of the most competitive industries, if there is deviation from the core message, miss-communication, damage limitation, and sometimes meltdown occurs.

Learning today that the England bid received only 2 of the 22 member votes tells us that even though we implemented brilliant damage limitation after a catalogue of 'own goals' throughout the two year process, ultimately the miss-messaging caused a meltdown in that only our own FIFA representative and one other felt convinced enough to vote for the England bid.

The brilliant Andy Paterson Jones, of New England branding consultancy, whom I'm working with for my own site upgrade to be launched early next year, says being 'on brand' at all times is imperative to succeed in business. (read more)

It's Coming Home

Tomorrow is a big day for many football supporters around the world, as it's the day FIFA, soccer's governing body, reveal the two winning bids of countries chosen to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

We in England are excited, as even though our bid has recently been navigating choppy waters - meaning we made a few mistakes and scored a few 'own goals' along the way - indications are that our bid is back on track to host the event in 2018.

BBC news coverage today made interesting listening for me as a football supporter, and especially as a Business Communication Coach and Trainer.

Great emphasis was placed on the fact Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced he will not attend tomorrow's ceremony, having previously saying he would only attend if certain Russia would be chosen as 2018 hosts. TV analysts are now frantically trying to figure out if this means Russia is no longer a favourite.

Sebastian Coe, himself part of the bidding team in Zurich with Prince William, David Beckham and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, gave an interesting perspective based on his own success leading London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic games.

He emphasised the importance of having a clear, focused, and well understood bid. To test it out constantly that the message is getting through, and that the central theme keep being repeated. Finally, he suggested the pivotal 30 minute presentation given by our representatives to the FIFA committee tomorrow must be an Oscar winning performance by each and every one.

I loved his insight. He speaks with the experience of someone who got it right.

This message also applies throughout politics, business, commerce, and of course with international markets. Sport, on so many levels, mirrors and is an allegory of how life is, and the lessons we can learn from it.. At a time when economies are still verging on panic mode, it's important to be clear in what we want, what is right, what we will do, and the reasons we will do it.

Panic and insecurity set in when that communication is lost or somehow not clear.

I wish England success in Zurich tomorrow.

Football is coming home.