Category: Blog
Holidays can be stressful; avoid the anguish: decide!
Dear JFC work family,
Do you find that, rather than feeling jolly and care-free, the holiday season leaves you feeling stressed and overwhelmed? If you’re feeling irritable, rushed, or overwhelmed, keep your Customer Commitment in mind to help boost your happiness.
We all cope with stress in different ways, but it all starts first and foremost with a decision. And while we cannot control much of what happens in work and in life; we can determine the impact events have on us by choosing how we respond. Similar to our Customer Commitment!
Imagine for a moment that it is Thanksgiving Day. Amidst the flurry of preparation going on in the kitchen you place your hand on the hot stove. OUCH! Immediately you remove your hand to avoid any further discomfort. After all, keeping your hand on a hot stove can only make the situation worse.
Oddly enough, when we find ourselves in emotional distress (versus physical distress), we often stay “stuck” in anguish mode. This has a profound affect. If we fail to shift our mindset it is like keeping our hand on a hot stove – it can only worsen the situation.
The next time you find yourself in distress, be careful choosing how to respond. You can choose to initiate the snowballing, self-reinforcing perspective of anguish; or the snowballing, self-reinforcing perspective of happiness. Which would you rather guide you through life?
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for you!
James M. Carchidi, CSP
Executive Vice President
This October say cheese; not boo!
Both a smile and a frown are contagious. A smile will attract people whereas a frown will push people off. Which would you rather catch – despair or a feeling of happiness? And which do you think your customers would rather catch?
Consider the neuroscience behind the smile. Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that “Life is great!”
The tiny act of smiling can deter major symptoms like depression, stress and worry. It is scientifically proven that smiling makes you more relaxed, causing a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. And as already noted, smiling releases endorphins, your brain’s natural pain relievers and serotonin. When these two brain chemicals work together, they increase your feelings of well-being.
I am not saying that you should ever cover up your feelings of frustration or unhappiness by pretending to smile things away. In fact, I encourage you to always leave the doors of communication open. Just know that a smile can ease your way into a difficult but necessary conversation (with an internal or an external customer).
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The JFC work family believes in great work.
Do you believe in what you do?
“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
– Steve Jobs,
Organizations all over America are failing not because of the economy but because of themselves. Their downfall is due to their tolerance of leaders and teams who lack passion for doing great work. At JFC we know that the success of any organization is largely dependent on the satisfaction level of its customers which is largely dependent on the satisfaction levels of its employees. Thus, your satisfaction and belief in what you do here is the basis for our success – past, present, and future.
What we are creating here is special and our team is equal part of it. We are unique by today’s standards by caring about doing great work for others: our customers. For us it’s about passion, energy, ingenuity, and the excitement of creating a new reality for ourselves and for others that is far better than the old reality.
Whether it’s engineering iPhones or delivering JFC Customer Commitment*, those who love what they do will always win over those who simply exist. You owe it to yourself and to others to love what you do. Search your own heart for your motives, your uncertainties, and your biases. To my incredible JFC work family, check that you are committed to and aligned with “where we are going,” “why we are going there,” and “who is coming.”
James M. Carchidi, CSP
Executive Vice President
The JFC work family knows who we are and where we are going but “Who is coming?”
Let me begin with a summary of behavioral economic data on workplaces (you know how I love metrics). It comes from a Gallup study on workplace productivity, and it consists of 12 critical elements of work life. Gallup has asked millions of workers worldwide to respond to these items for more than a decade and always discovers the same thing: miserable employees create miserable customers.
So let’s answer the question, “Who is coming?” — Engaged employees, that’s who!
Gallup shows that out of approximately 100 million full-time workers, there are 19 million actively disengaged employees in the United States. They determined that 28% of the American workforce is engaged, another 53% is not engaged, and a staggering 19% is disengaged. Whatever the engaged do the actively disengaged seek to undo: this includes maintaining and creating new customers.
A whopping 72% of employees in the United States are not engaged or disengaged. This is very encouraging to me! We have a highly engaged work family comprised of creative and innovative people all working to preserve and create new customers. The goal is to have all of the JFC team fall into the 28% of engaged employees in the country. One thing is for sure – I need your help!
Remember, you have 100% control over our Customer Commitment. Consistent execution of it should provide you with a sense of fulfillment and significance; igniting high levels of engagement in the work that you do. If you have any ideas for us to increase employee engagement then please let me know. I welcome any and all feedback.
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