Go Play Outside. Well, that is generally a good idea; however, this post about how to make good choices, or more importantly, instilling that in others. This can be applied to both customers and employees.

Story. Some say true, others not. This is how I remember it.

My daughter was around 11 or 12 at the time. On a Saturday morning, she comes to me and says, “We want to go to movies.” I said, “Great, have fun.” And off she went.

She comes back a few seconds later and asks, “Could you drive us?”. I asked who, where and when and then quickly agreed to do so later that afternoon.

A full minute later, she comes back again. “You’re going to pay for it, right?”. Well, that was the first she had mentioned that part. I should have known it was coming, but, I stopped and said to myself, she’s young, movies are expensive. Then I offered, “How about if I pay for half?”. She thought about it for a moment and replied, “Humm, I think we are just going to play outside”.

I was more than happy to help her have some fun (get value), but it was also easy for her (employee or customer) to spend someone else’s money (time, effort, energy). I wanted to help, but wanted to make the connection to helping where she would most value the help (priority) verses helping on everything, in unlimited quantities (flexible customer service vs. being abused by your customer).

A little value judgment on her part, with a little skin in the game, changed the dynamic. She made a good choice, for her (it was about her value not mine), and she didn’t get mad or disappointed about it (when she didn’t get what she originally wanted). I still look back at this as a good effort on helping her start figuring out choices, impacts and planning as a life skill.

Homework for you:

How can you input value-based decision making and value judgment into your employee and customer dynamics? How can you make sure those decisions are well in line with your iMPACT statement for clients, employees and other stakeholders?

Please share some practical experiences, tips and stories below.  Thank you.

If would like help bringing delegation and leveraged teamwork and culture into your workplace, contact us at iMPACT Business Coaching.