Dear Friends,
I just love this picture taken by a friend who posts a picture of our beach every day. It reminds me that no matter how dark things may seem, if we persevere, we can finally find the light. This picture is exactly how I feel now that we are close to beating Covid – at last the sun is bursting out from the dark clouds everywhere. Even though we all experienced dark times in the past year, yet, through this totally unexpected change, I hope we can look back and see that there were also many blessings. My new book, which I share below, came out of that difficult time. As we continue to deal with ever present Change in our lives, I hope it will be a help to many of you as you navigate the uncertain future and, most of all, help you realize that even through the most difficult experiences, change can come bearing gifts!
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ~ Maya Angelou
Like you, I hope, once I got the vaccine, it was as if my life could could go on again, and I could finally safely be with people I care about and experience treats like dining and live music outside. In the first section of my newsletter I write about family and my first travel experience in April to be with my my birth family in Grand Junction, CO. Then finally, after 18 long months apart, in June I am thrilled to be going to Portland, OR, and then to Seattle on July 4 to see my own kids and grandkids. I am hoping that each of you, too, has reached a “new beginning” after all the pain, loss and struggle of the pandemic.
Blessings,
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“Barbara guided us every step of the way making sure that we had a great professional training for our staff. “Exhausted, Confused and Ticked Off — Hope for a New Beginning When Change Has Done You In!” was just what the doctor ordered. We are pulled too many ways each day. She gave us tools to prioritize what is important and how to let go of ones that are not essential. She empowered us to find a better road embracing the change, taking power that in every situation we do have choice!”
Dave Tometich Teacher Quality Committee. Muscatine Schools
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The Blessing of Family
(I am taking parts of this from my little sister’s email newsletter after my two brothers, my sister, and I were together for the first time in 20 years in Grand Junction, Colorado, in April.)
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Like branches on a tree, we all grew in different directions-
yet our roots remain as one. I’d like to introduce you to my siblings.
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Our memories bind us together!
In 45 years my siblings and I have been together exactly twice, this week being the second of those connections. Sister Beth lives in Grand Junction, CO, where she has a gorgeous upscale boutique named the “Main Paige.” Brother Bruce recently retired after 44 years as a biology professor at Colorado Mesa University where his Survival class was one of the most popular on campus. Brother Brian is a psychotherapist and heads the largest coaching team in Asia headquartered at his Executive Retreat Center in Chiangmai, Thailand. And of course, I live on the beach in Florida and write books and get to speak all over the world. I often ponder what our parents did to create such a diverse group of siblings. I am certain that sharing our different takes on the same stories, and the ensuing laughter added years to all our lives that week! I even learned a few things about them that I didn’t know before. 😉
Beth writes, “A little bit of crazy, a little bit of loud, and a whole lot of love–that’s my family! We genuinely trust, care about, and look out for each other. We aren’t just the descendants of a common ancestor. We are much, much more. With the added energies of some from our younger generations, this week included snowshoeing, hiking, a Colorado rodeo, shopping of course, and lots and lots of eating and drinking!” How very blessed I feel to be a part of such a wonderful family made up of giving, caring, creative people who are all making a difference in this world. And to think we all grew up in a town of 4500 in southwestern Iowa…….!
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Our niece Heather baked us a big batch of our favorite childhood cookies. Bruce insisted we dunk them in real milk (“not that almond stuff you keep in your fridge”) to remain true to old times in our home state of Iowa!
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“Hi Barbara, I just wanted to let you know that your newsletter was a pick-me-up today. Thank you for being a ray of light in a sometimes-dark world.
Sincerely,
Jenny Watkins, Terryberry
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We are excited to share with you Barbara’s new book called “Exhausted, Confused and Ticked Off! HOPE for a New Beginning when Change Has Done You In”
Change is hard, whether forced or chosen, in your business or in your personal life. Yet we all have to deal with it for the rest of our lives. This book shares a simple model of Change to help you understand where you are in the process plus many easy coping tools to use as you navigate each transition. When you finally reach a new beginning, you will realize that all change really does come bearing gifts.
Here is what Ken Blanchard had to say about the book:
“I am a raving fan of Barbara Glanz. She is a lifetime learner who is willing to share her learnings and vulnerability with anyone who wants to improve their life. Her latest book, EXHAUSTED, CONFUSED AND TICKED OFF! Hope for a New Beginning When Change Has Done You In, is one of her very best. After this Covid 19 pandemic, if change hasn’t ‘done you in’ in one way or another, you probably fib about other things, too. Read Barbara’s wonderful book about CHANGE and CHOICE to move on and ultimately find the gifts in each change.”
The ebook version is ready for download for $7.99 and the print version will be out in several weeks. You can pre-order the print version for $13.99 plus $4 shipping.
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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BARBARA?
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April
5 – 9 Grand Junction, CO
May
19 – 20 Disneyworld, Orlando, FL
25 – 27 Resort Collection, Panama City, FL
June
4 – 14 Portland, OR
16 – Veteran’s Administration Conference, Zoom
July
1 – 6 Camano Island, WA
7 Seattle, WA
8 – 13 National Speakers Association Conference, Las Vegas, NV
29 – 31 Harlan, IA
August
25- 30 Veteran Speaker’s Retreat, Front Royal, VA
September
9 – 12 Society for Human Resource Management National Convention, Las Vegas, NV
17 – 20 Lexington, KY
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“Rhymes4Life started back quite a few years ago while attending a conference with NSA Hall of Fame speaker, Barbara Glanz. In all my training and courses and classes through the years, that two-hour session with Barbara was hands down, the very best. She challenged each one of us to go back and make a difference in the workplace. So, when I returned to work the next week, I decided to do just that. I started writing workplace poetry for my team leaders and coworkers on their birthdays. It started with one and here I am years later and have truly lost count of just how many. Last I checked, which was a while ago, it was over 500.” ~ Jim Munroe, Poet and Author
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COLLECTIVE-HEART, My Daughter’s New Mission-Driven Business
My daughter, Erin, who lives in Portland, OR, has been in the fashion industry for over a decade. Having lost her job during Covid, she recently found a new career by starting a wholesale company which she named “Collective-Heart” www.collective-heart.com.
Collective–Heart is a fair trade collaboration between Erin Glanz, Owner & Creative Director, and producing partners, Work+Shelter, www.work+shelter.co. This ethical sourcing and cut+sew business in Delhi, India, was founded in 2011 by social entrepreneur, Theresa VenderMeer, who believes that business can be a vehicle for positive and environmental change.
Work+Shelter employs and empowers over 50 women in need, providing them with fair wages, health care, a safe working environment, education, dental screenings, career growth, financial freedom and the opportunity to end generational poverty. Because of this, they’re able to support themselves, their dreams and those of generations to come.
Collective-Heart is a collection of organic cotton accessories and newly added organic cotton tees and sweatshirts that is meant to spark joy with its cheeky, whimsical prints. They are proud to feature the print designs of independent female artists from all over the world.
Her first collection arrived to stores this month! She does not yet have items for sale on the site (collective-heart.com), but check back soon since she is working on it this week, with the help of my daughter, Gretchen, and son-in-law, Randy. It has definitely been a family affair and a true labor of love to get this business off the ground!
You can see lots of Delivery 1 product photos on her Instagram page @collective.heart. And if you would like to see what is currently available for purchase, you can contact orders@collective-heart.com. They have a sell sheet that can be emailed to you with photos and pricing. I especially love the wine bags for special gifts!
My sister writes, “At Main Paige we support sustainability, female empowerment, inclusivity and LOVE which is what this company is all about.” The owner of Work+Shelter started a fundraiser to help the women and their communities during the Covid crisis in India. She will be paying them their full wages until the lockdown is over.
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Collective-Heart is owned by women, made by women & loved by women.
While production has been paused, they have pivoted to a full humanitarian effort and the women have been able to distribute food, masks, medical supplies and more directly to their communities. It is truly heartening to be able to see the direct impact of these donations on the lives of those in need right now. To learn more about their efforts, you can go to https://workshelter.org/support/.
I love how Work+Shelter and Collective-Heart are focused on supporting women in need to offer them work that provides them with dignity and peace.
To support the women in India, go to www.collective-heart.com to view all the products and then email your orders at orders@collective-heart.com.
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**For free articles you can use in your company newsletters and an archive of dozens of immediately applicable Ideas of the Month,” go to www.barbaraglanz.com/articles.
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““Barbara, you are GREAT! Our leadership conference was a huge success largely because of your participation. Your message challenged and taught us. You had a large IMPACT and I will always use your time with RISE as a tool to engage others. We are better people for having met you!” ~ Greg Blais, CEO, RISE
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QUOTES OF THE MONTH – Change
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“Change is hard at first, Messy in the middle and Gorgeous at the end.”
“Your deepest struggle can, if you’re willing and open, produce your greatest strength.” ~Oprah Winfrey
“Suffering and change are a part of life. We spend well over 50% of our lives today in change. ‘Transition’ has become the norm and ‘stability’ the exception.” ~James R. Zullo
“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~ Charles Darwin
“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says “I’m possible!”~Audrey Hepburn
“Something terrible can happen to you, and yet, the day after this something terrible, the sun still rises, and life goes on. And therefore, so must you.” ~Martin Short, comedian
“You will not make a change of any kind until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change.”
“Each dawn holds a new hope for a new plan, making the start of each day the start of a new life.” ~ Gina Blair
“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another,” ~ Anatole France
“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly; you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” ~ Anthony Bourdain
“Life is a balance of holding on and letting. go.” ~ Rumi
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“You continue to inspire! I appreciate your energy and how you share that in such positive ways. That is very rare these days, and badly needed right now.” ~Brad Kowerchuk
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My friend, Arlin Sorenson, sent this story out in his daily email newsletter last week. There are so many lessons to learn from his customer service experiences in just ONE day!
Good morning from Tampa. Yesterday was a long day. Some good, some not as much. It was customer service observation day as I tried to wrestle some challenges to the ground. First it was attempting to change a flight that was cancelled and auto-rebooked going from a four hour one stop trip to an eight plus hour two stop trip. When I got through to an agent (that took over an hour on hold) her comment was ‘why did we do this to you’ as there was another flight that left within minutes of my original flight and was only a few minutes longer with a single stop again.
I asked her that same question – Why? Of course, it was a system rescheduling process following some kind of rules and policies that obviously need some tweaking. The agent (at my favorite airline) made it right and gave me the right replacement flight at the same cost as the original. That was customer service done right with the exception of the hold time. I worked as the phone played the music so that wasn’t really a big deal. But what did matter was that the agent was empowered to make things right for me without having to go ask anyone for approval which would have dragged things out longer. So kudos to SWA but they do need more agents and a little tweaking of the rebook policies. This kind of issue was what she had been dealing with for weeks.
Another issue was almost the opposite. It was difficult to figure out who to call or where to go for help. No clarity around getting help – in fact you might think they didn’t want a customer to be able to get ahold of them at all. The initial attempt after finding a somewhat hidden number landed across the pond with someone who didn’t speak very good English and there was a struggle to communicate. After finally getting them to understand the problem, they said there was nothing they could do about it and we would have to talk with someone in the US. They weren’t sure who or how, but knew it wasn’t them.
A little more digging found another place to try and get help and this provided someone who spoke the language and found the problem, but said they were not empowered to do anything to fix it. What happened was policy and they couldn’t override it. And what really was frustrating was they didn’t care about the problem or solution. It wasn’t theirs and they couldn’t do anything about it. By now there was more than a little aggravation and it was time to go to a supervisor. Finally a person who cared, had the ability to take action, and followed up to be sure it got done.
What would have happened from a customer experience perspective if the first person would have been the ‘fixer’. If there was a clearly defined way to get help, and a person that responded that actually could provide help. The experience would have gone from a 0 to a 10. It isn’t rocket science, and the damage from poor customer experience has a very long tail and an even longer memory with a bad taste. The most frustrating part was talking to someone who could identify the problem but was not empowered to fix it.
I run into this with a lot of businesses. They talk about empowering their team to provide great customer experience but don’t give them the authority to actually deliver it. When someone has to go to a supervisor for permission to do the right thing – that is not empowerment at all. It just dilutes the effort to deliver great customer experience and puts doubt in the customers mind about doing business again.
What really put a cherry on top of the bad experience was a call hours later to see how things were going. There were some lingering issues, and when they were shared, the caller said they couldn’t do anything to help but were only calling to check in. There was no attempt to close the loop and pass the information on – the only option was to call in to a different department and try again. What a wasted follow up – could have been a good thing done right.
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It was a good half day wasted on a couple things that honestly should have been 15 minutes or less. Companies appear to have downsized staff and aren’t able to deliver a good experience. Hopefully as the world awakes again, the focus on serving the customer will return. Another call began with ‘how can I make this the best call of your day’ said with a smile. I could feel that in the energy of the person on the other end of the line. My response was ‘you already made my day just answering the phone with an attitude of serving me’. That call took less than 5 minutes and was a highlight of the day. How we treat others makes a difference. And how we structure our teams to serve customers matters far more than we might imagine!
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“Barbara was very engaging. She knows how to tell a story with a sense of humor to keep the audience’s attention while passing along her point. Her speech was well balanced and she exhibited a great aura of poise when speaking. The use of visual aids added to the effectiveness of her presentation. Overall, I felt the time spent attending her presentation was enjoyable and useful.”
-Michael Carballo, Customer Service Manager, Gerdau North America, Tampa, Florida
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Thank you so much for being a part of our team and spreading YOUR contagious enthusiasm wherever you find yourself in life. Please let us know any ways we can be of help to you as you plan your association, company, or manager’s meetings. We would love to help you discover new ideas you can apply immediately in the areas of Employee Engagement, Customer Service, Appreciation & Recognition, Creating a Culture of Kindness, and Understanding the Human Level of Change.
“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” ~ Mother Teresa
Blessings,
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© Barbara Glanz Communications Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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