Be your own receptionist

Try taking a front-line view of your organization

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of work where location and ours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to be
your own receptionist or do other front line work from

(00:27):
time to time. If you're in a leadership roule at
your organization, you probably take a broad view of your
organization's work. You focus on the mission you ask about
the bottom line, is your market share growing, what our
employee retention rates? What new competitors have entered your space?

(00:48):
Questions like these are essential, but sometimes it can also
be helpful to get down into the weeds so you
can understand the everyday experiences of your clients and customers.
One great way to do this is to fill in
as the receptionist every now and then pick up the

(01:08):
phone for the mainline at your organization and pay attention
to what colors have to say. You could do the
digital equivalent by fielding the queries that come into your
organization's main inbox. Do you get questions from customers about
whether your current hours and services are the same as usual,
or whether there have been COVID related adjustments. If so,

(01:30):
maybe you can make this information easier to find on
your website or social media. Are concerned clients calling or
emailing because they haven't yet received a mailing they usually
get in early December, Maybe that means you need to
communicate more clearly that you've gone all digital this year.
Are you getting compliments about a recent webinar and inquiries

(01:54):
about whether the recording is available for people who couldn't attend.
That is a great occase to share the positive feedback
with the person who put together the webinar and talk
with the communications team about promoting the recording to new audiences.
It's easy to assume that as a senior leader, your
time is best spent far away from day to day operations,

(02:18):
and that's generally true. But by taking a different perspective
from time to time, you can enjoy a front row
seat to see the experiences of your customers or clients.
By filling in as a frontline worker every now and then,
or by shadowing a frontline worker, you can learn a
lot about how your organization is serving your customers, and

(02:41):
you will definitely get ideas for how your organization can
do its job even better. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in the New
Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, visit the I Heart

(03:04):
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.
H