Grumpy or Friendly ? Decide at the door.

Forty percent of the nation's workers respond that they are not happy at their present jobs. Twenty percent want to change jobs as soon as possible. Sounds like there is a high level of discontent among the work force as the second decade of the millenium dawns.

Whether you are content or not your customers want you to be friendly, not grumpy.

It is important to realize that you own your attitude. Sure you have lots of problems, but if you are a professional you learn to check your problems at the work place door and dedicate yourself to your duties while you are at work. This is especially true if you are a leader. Employees want to have a level of trust that they can count on you to be the same every day. If they must guess if you are running hot or cold you will not have the level of trust you need to keep open the doors of communication.

If you are an employee it is often tempting to "dump" or tell your problems to your customer.
Remember, they are not your arm chair psychiatrist. They want friendly service, not your litany of grief.

Choose to be friendly and focused on service. See those pillars in the picture? Stand tall and resolute on being a solid professional who puts the customer first.

If you stand on your customer service principles you will be admired.

Professional Understanding, A Layman's definition

Today's employee who is looking for a job knows what a good job means; a flow of income, benefits, a regular schedule, and an organized approach to providing a service. The reason for a layoff is typically that an organization is not reaping more revenues than expenses for its efforts.

So if you are working during these tough times you want to increase the value you provide to your company. If you are not working you want to be ready to present yourself during the interview as a person who communicates that you are ready to achieve the goals and objectives of the company.

This starts with a "Professional Understanding" of how important you are to the company. You would not be hired if there were not a role to be fulfilled on behalf of the company. If you want to be a success you will want to identify with the achievement of the objectives of your company. This means that you understand that you contribute more when you represent the needs of the company to yourself and to your work companions. The reason you are there is to meet the needs of the organization. Too often employees merely enter a company and look for what the company can do for me. Indeed the company does do a lot for you, but the "professional understanding" is that your relationship to the company is an exchange. You have a contribution to make. Your presence at work is to be the addition of value to the company.

You accept dollars in exchange for contributing to the organized company effort to increase revenues and decrease costs by performing your job with "professional understanding". Your role is not to merely perform an activity. Your role is to understand how your work group fits into the 'big picture' that delivers or meets the needs of your clients. Your clients are attracted to inter-act with the company and you are part of that relationship. It is important to consider that for many employees the clients are actually their fellow departments.

Avoid the big mistake. The mistake is to place the needs of your person or your department before the needs of your clients. You want to deliver service. What you do shapes the culture of your company.