H– Hear and Understand
E– Expect the Best
A-Act with Integrity
R-Respect Diversity
T-Transcend Yourself
We are on the fourth component in our “HEART” core values in customer service series this week where R means Respecting Diversity. Let’s talk about respecting diversity in the context of its importance in Synergy.
Synergy. From the Greek word “synergos,” meaning, “working together;” the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects.
One of the biggest (and perhaps most overused) buzzwords in business in the last decade is “Synergy“. And for good reason. The most successful companies are those that are able to harmonize individual talents, abilities, and differences from within their organizations towards their objectives. But more importantly, successful companies also recognize the importance of involving their customers, and integrating customer inputs in creating and improving their systems and processes.
In the highly-connected business environment that we operate these days, it is the norm rather than the exception for transactions to be conducted from several corners of the world, with customers from the United States, for example, being serviced by off-site contact center agents in the Philippines. There are barriers—mainly language and culture. But it all works, and works well, because we have grown to respect diversity as a way of life.
We speak of diversity not just in the traditional parameters like gender, age, nationality, religion or ethnicity, but entire ways of thinking.
According to a recent study by consulting and professional services company Deloitte, cultivating “diversity of thought” at your business can boost innovation and creative problem solving.
People bring different cultures, backgrounds, personalities and experiences to the table — and those differences shape how they think. No one has a monopoly of all brilliant ideas, and no single idea is superior over the other. When we pick out the best of each, we extract the best approach, and achieve our objectives most effectively.
In customer services, respecting diversity does not stop at accepting that your customer speaks a different language and comes with a perspective that was formed from half a world away. Simply understanding that a person MAY be seeing things differently, with an out-of-the-box idea that you would never have seen, can enrich the way we do our work, making every interaction with a customer a learning experience.
In a world without borders, success comes in respecting diversity to create an atmosphere that allows our differences in worldviews to enrich our work, and to ultimately come up with a synergized whole that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.
