THE KEY TO INCREASING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY |
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DEALING WITH OTHERS THROUGH UNDERSTANDING SITUATIONAL BEHAVIOUR What do
the Four Seasons Hotel Bali
and the Surabaya International Hospital have
in common? The Four Seasons Bali has been recognised as one of the best
resort hotels in the world, while Surabaya
International Hospital is one if Indonesia’s leading hospitals.
Both companies are striving to lead their respective fields in customer
service, and both have recognised that the way to do this is through
creating high performance work teams, by understanding staff-to-staff and
staff-to-client relationships. But what
is the biggest difference?
Those who enter the lobby
of the Four Seasons are anticipating
spending the best week of their lives, while
those who walk through the front
doors of the Surabaya International Hospital are most likely in
a very different mindset. When we recently ran
training programs for these two very different industries, we found it was
a fascinating exercise to consider the value of recognising the
similarities and differences. Both of the executive teams we worked with
not only realise that everyone is an individual and must be treated with
respect, but also that each of us responds differently to circumstances
depending on our environment. The staff can either create an environment
to encourage the most positive responses, or adapt the way individuals
relate to each other according to the particular environment they are
working in. Failure to respond to
individual people's needs in the given environment can result in lost
sales, dissatisfied customers, low team morale, and misunderstandings,
sometimes resulting in serious and costly industrial action. Knowing
how to react to people in these different situations is an acquired
skill. Many conflicts can be avoided and even apparently
insurmountable problems can have positive
outcomes with an understanding
of the way people behave.
Consider how, for
example, if you place someone who needs challenges in an environment that
is too relaxed they may become restless and invent challenges and cause
problems. On the other hand, if you deal with someone who needs stability,
you will make that individual feel insecure if you introduce rapid change,
and they may react against the situation. Anyone in any leadership role or
with any concern for work team functioning should appreciate the need to
adequately deal with these questions. By discovering
individuals' drives and motivations and then learning about how these
affect our behaviours, behaviour profiling systems such as DiSC can help
individuals understand typical behaviours in specific settings. We used
this profiling system with both the Four Seasons Hotel and the Surabaya
International Hospital to identify staff and client needs, and help bring
an appreciation of how these can best be understood and dealt with. The
outcomes were amazing. Through
understanding what people's
leisure needs and expectations
are, customers
at the Four Seasons can now be treated on
even more of an individual level,
right down to recognising and
appreciating their personal preferences. By understanding
the fears patients may have when
entering a hospital setting,
the Surabaya International Hospital can now help them through
what could be a traumatic time, ensuring a
holistic approach to health care. Most of all,
by understanding how each of the
work teams function, both
these companies are able to demonstrate
to their clients a high morale and a positive
strength. They can ensure that stressful
situations are successfully dealt with by
maximising the resources and strengths of the team and minimising any
weaknesses. Andrew Grant Copyright © 2000 [Tirian]. All rights reserved. Other related articles More about DISC and DiSC workshops Copyright © 2000-1 [Tirian]. All rights reserved. www.tirian.com
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