I always tell members of my career mentoring site that there is corollary to the old saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. That corollary is “performance is in the eye of the customer”. Your internal and external customers are always judging your performance. Your boss is your most important internal customer.
I have developed a model of customer service that I use with my consulting clients. It begins from the premise that after any interaction your customers rate you. Lately I have begun suing it with my career mentoring clients also,
This model is based on the acronym: R.A.T.E.
- R stands for responsiveness;
- A stands for Assurance;
- T stands for Tangibles;
- E stands for Empathy.
There’s a very important, but somewhat subtle, point here.
If you notice only one of the four – tangibles – is what you actually do or deliver. The other three are the emotional measures by which people judge you. These emotional measures are at least as important as the tangibles you deliver – especially when it comes to creating a strong relationship with your boss.
Yes, you have deliver the tangibles – whatever your job. You must produce results. That’s the cost of a ticket to the career success sweepstakes.
However, you have to pay attention to the other three factors: responsiveness, assurance and empathy if you’re going to create the life and career success you want and deserve. Let’s look at each of these in detail.
Responsiveness
You have to ensue that your boss and your internal and external customers see you as someone who is willing to help, someone who understands what needs to be done and is willing to do it. Other people need to think that you will give them:
- What they want
- When they want it
- In a manner that they can use it
Assurance
You have to be able to convey trust and confidence. People need to feel that you are going to deliver. To do this, you must be very knowledgeable about your boss’ needs and wants. You need to be clear on what you can offer them to help him or her meet his or her goals.
Empathy
Your boss has to perceive you as an individual who understands, cares about and pays attention to his or her needs. To do this you need to be willing to walk a mile in his or her shoes. You have to demonstrate that you are aware of and sensitive to his or her unique and individual needs.
Your boss — and your customers are constantly rating you. Put these ideas to work and you’ll get high ratings and be on the fast track to the life and career success you want and deserve.
Your career mentor,
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my career mentor book Success Tweets: 140 Bits of Common Sense Career Success Advice, All in 140 Characters or Less. You will also begin receiving daily success quotes from me. Go to www.SuccessTweets.com/
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