How often have you heard the phrase active listening?  We use it ourselves on many occasions and train people to develop it as a skill because we believe it’s an essential one to have – useful at work, at home, on the sports field and in the pub!

But this blog’s not about that, it’s about active ignorance – a phrase that Sarah heard on a radio programme last week.  It got her thinking (dangerous!) that in a world where we’re constantly  bombarded with information, opinions, data and news, perhaps there are some things that it would be healthy to actively ignore – people who are trying to deflect us from achieving our goals? worrying about things we cannot change? the pile of washing up?  A bit of food for thought… even if you choose to ignore it!

Many moons ago David was promoted by one of the UK’s leading retailers and became the proud manager of his own supermarket. After spending a decade climbing the ladder and learning from all the good, the great (and the decidedly pants) people he worked with and for, this was his big chance to finally put all the learning into practice. David was bursting with ideas about how he was going to manage people and how to make the store a success.
Having heard many people talk about ‘open door’ policies and agreeing with the principle, David wanted to make a statement about this to the staff on the first day.
“I arrived at the store on the first morning and after going round to meet everyone set about my iconic gesture…instead of an ‘open door’ policy I would have a ‘no door’ policy….beat that I thought to myself as I unscrewed the manager’s office door from its hinges and lumbered downstairs to lay it to rest in the skip outside the loading bay.”
“Some of the staff watched curiously and some looked very shocked but none were as shocked as me when, at 3am with me sound asleep at home, there was a knock on the house door. It was the store nightshift manager. He had look on his face that I can only describe as apologetic anger when he told me he was sorry to get me out of bed but had been ringing me for two hours and had finally phoned head office to get my home address. ‘What’s the problem?’ I said (thinking that the store had burned down or something of that nature). ‘Can you tell me what you have done with the door from the manager’s office because we cannot set the store alarm without that door being shut and locked? I was supposed to go home at midnight!’ ”
The ‘no door’ policy had failed but the story was told and retold so many times that it became a store legend (David’s boss never found out thankfully) so even with a door the message that he was open and approachable had hit home.

This taught David a powerful lesson about the myths and legends that surround leaders and just how important they are. It also taught him that PDIFM (please do it for me) was a much better option than trying DIY…a lesson he has consistently used ever since.

Here at treetops, it was getting decidedly cosy working in our 2 rooms. As our team is rapidly expanding we decided to branch out our work space too! Luckily for us our landlord had a spare office going, so we grabbed the opportunity with both hands and moved in!  We may take over the whole building soon so watch this space!

How often do you honestly put yourself in your customer’s/client’s shoes?

Craig recently stayed the night in a well known hotel chain after a very long day in the North East.

Upon arrival, Amanda who worked in reception asked Craig how his day had been and commented on the fact he was checking in late.

Amanda realised that the room prepared for Craig was not a quiet room and then proceeded to send her manager upstairs to prepare a quieter room so “he can get a great night’s sleep” – all of this without thinking about the extra work for her or her manager and with total consideration for her customer’s needs.

Fast forward to the morning…

Upon checkout Craig mentioned to the duty manager, the great service, the faulty air conditioning unit and a broken item in the bathroom – purely out of consideration for the next customer.

The duty manager apologised, called maintenance there and then to sort the room, thanked Craig for telling him and then refunded the room charge as an apology!

Amazing service and everything was done with genuine care for the customer.

What more could you do for your customers and clients to make them feel that good?

For those of you who watch rugby league, in the past you’ll probably remember seeing players being left alone to get over their disappointment if they’d ‘knocked-on’, been taken into touch, missed a tackle, etc.
What a difference in modern rugby. Today we see team mates go up to them with encouragement, telling them they’re better than that and reminding them they’re all in it together.
When was the last time you supported a team mate who’d got something wrong?

When we read an article on the front-page of a newspaper recently, the importance of proof-reading was thrown into the spotlight. Check this out:

Women who take the contraceptive are 12 per cent less likely to die compared with those who have never taken it.