There are five principles of customer service success, and when we follow those five principles we bring humanity into the world of technology. These five principles start with competence. Competence consist of sufficient technical competence in order to meet the requirements of the job description.
Principle number two, is where we get in to the human skills of compassion which we define as having an awareness of another's suffering, combined with a desire to alleviate it. Next is empathy. Empathy is the ability to imagine what the other person is going through to try to put yourself in their position. The forth pillar is listening, and listening to understand and remember what is being said and in so doing, we dignify the other person, and give them a sense of respect. The last pillar is the principle of respect. In regards to respect there are two aspects. One aspect is how you feel about a person, the other aspect is the behavior choices we make toward another person. Those are the five principles competence, compassion, empathy, being a good listener, and treating people with dignity and respect. And when you do that, then you bring humanity into the world of technology. Join Harry and Don as they discuss the five pillars of customer success.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford 0:04
Nation Nation, Harry here back with Don Crawley in Seattle. So we were having a little chat offline about moving. And you said, You found a lot of stuff and you found some old timey microphones behind you when you moved about three months ago. It's always a fun adventure moving.
Don Crawley 0:23
Okay, adventure is one word that you might use to describe it. I might find a few others as well, as I'm sure you probably would, too.
Harry Brelsford 0:31
There we go, Hey, I want to talk about a keynote you often you've given how to bring humanity into the world of technology. So what's going on there? You said, there's some pillars.
Don Crawley 0:42
Yeah. So there's five principles of it, customer service success. And that's when we follow those five principles. That's how we bring humanity into the world of technology. And I observed as a technical trainer, teaching people how to work with Cisco Systems and Linux servers, and so on, that there were two separate and distinct groups of IT people. On one hand, you have people who are leading, satisfying, rewarding, fulfilling lives and careers. And on the other hand, you have people who were struggling. And so I began to wonder if there were quantifiable, observable differences that differentiated the two groups. And it turns out that there are indeed five, you call them pillars, which I love that term, I call them the five principles of it customer service. And they start with competence, which we talked about in our last interview, you know, we talked in the hiring process, how it has to start with competence that you have to have sufficient technical competence in order to meet the requirements of the job description. So that's pretty, I think it's pretty obvious, but there's a debate about it in it about whether you hire for customer service skills or tech skills, but I think it starts with having sufficient technical competence to perform the tasks of your job, right. So the principle number one is deep technical competence. Principle number two, is where we get in to the human skills. And it's if compassion and compassion will define as having an awareness of another's suffering, combined with a desire to alleviate it, you notice people who are hurting, and you want to help you care about your fellow humans. So that's the compassion component. And then next is empathy. And empathy is the ability to imagine what the other person is going through to try to put yourself in their position. You know, it's it's not uncommon for people to say I know what you're going through. But the reality is that most of the time they don't. So what we try to do is we try to imagine how we would feel if we were in the other person's position, let's say that you're an IT support engineer. And and you got a call from an administrative assistant who's freaking out because the printers printing something wrong. Yeah. The typical stuff that you see as an MSP and and so you might roll your eyes and like, oh, gosh, There she goes again, or There he goes again. Or you might instead and this is what, what is typically the first group of people that you would think, Wow, okay, I remember how freaked out I was when I got a blue screen while I was working on an access control list. And, and so I get it, and I'll be there to take care of that for you right away. And you don't say those words to him, but in your mind, you think about it. Yeah, there's an interesting thing. There's a guy named Simon Baron Cohen, who is related to Sasha Baron Cohen, who wrote a book called The science of evil and it's a creepy title. It's a fascinating book. and in it he talked about how how Nazi ism for example happened. And he said that in the presence of empathy, there can be no evil. And and so empathy, even though it's Principle number three, it may be the most important you know, and does that really matter but it is incredibly important to have empathy. Next is to be a good listener to listen, as Steven Covey says, with the intent to understand not just to respond and his great book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Oh, yeah,
Harry Brelsford 3:56
yep, still have it?
Don Crawley 3:57
Yeah. Right. I mean, it's, it's one of those timeless classics up on
Harry Brelsford 4:01
the shelf is
Don Crawley and Harry Brelsford 4:03
behind me on the shelf. Exactly. Yeah. And I actually pulled it out for a training that I was doing last week because I needed to read something from it for the group that I was teaching. But But covey says, Listen with the intent to understand that most of us whenever the other person is speaking, we're thinking about what we want to say we're thinking about our response as guilty as charged. And and what covey says is instead of doing that, listen to understand and Harvard Business Review added, listen, to understand and remember what is being said and in so doing, we dignify the other person, we give them a sense of respect. And so listening is critically important. And just a side comment on that. One of the most common reasons that organizations call me and asked me to come in and talk to their people or to work with them through our online training or my books or whatever it is, to give a talk is because there's an issue with listening and and they want me to help their team become a better listener. We In fact, even put together a mini course on how to be a better listener on our online customer training portal. So, I mean, it's critically important. So listening is Principle number four. And Principle number five is the principle of respect. And there are two aspects to respect. One aspect is how you feel about a person, for example, Harry, I've known of your work for years and years and years, and I respected you because of that even before we met. Thank you. And you know, well, you're welcome. But I'm not saying that to you. I mean, it's really true, you know, you've built a great reputation for yourself. And there are other people whom I respect as well, because I feel respect. But the other aspect of respect is the behavior choices we make toward another person. We don't have to feel respect for another person in order to treat that person with dignity and respect. And and I have a video on my YouTube channel about that. And somebody commented, and said, Oh, great, now finally, the flat earth racists are going to get the respect that they deserve. That's not the point. And I mean, I get what he's saying, Yeah, certainly, you don't respect those goofy ideas. But or in this case, not even goofy but hurtful ideas. But but you can still treat the person with dignity and respect by using your manners and not allowing yourself to be lowered to their level. So those are the five principles competence, compassion, empathy, being a good listener, and treating people with dignity and respect. And when you do that, then you bring humanity into the world of technology.
Harry Brelsford 6:27
Now I I appreciate it. You know, I think the the pandemic and the remote work I I think we're becoming a more empathetic, compassionate audience than we were, you know, people are realizing what's important, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, I can go on, you know, really early Microsoft in the long day is now that Hey, thanks for joining us. We'll see you next month. Thanks. Oh, he's done. Where can people learn more about you?
Don Crawley 6:57
Where's Oh, I'mso glad you ask Don crawley.com and let's see our AW le y or compassionate geek.com compassionate geek, sir.
Harry Brelsford 7:06
All right. We'll see you next month. Thank
Don Crawley 7:08
you. Thanks. Sorry. All right. Take care.