Last week, amidst the bustle of new residents moving and others making the last minute decision to withdraw, one of our students was given incorrect information about her contract cancellation fees. After receiving confirmation of her cancellation via e-mail, she called to ask about the fees being assessed. I fielded the phone call on our main office line and confirmed the information she was giving me. Where I failed, though, was assuming she had correct information to begin the conversation. Within an hour, she had sent an e-mail to our departmental account. It was clear she was angry and frustrated by our processes. In addition to the cancellation fee, she also had concerns about a security-related work order she submitted that she believed had not been addressed appropriately. She ended her e-mail by stating she did not expect a reply, but wanted to provide the feedback.
After reading her e-mail, I went to her file and found her cell phone number. I took a deep breath and dialed her number. She answered and I introduced myself. We spent the next ten minutes breaking down the misinformation and clarifying the information she should have been provided from the onset. I gathered more information from her about her work order and asked her to double-check the situation; she confirmed it was actually resolved. I then asked her for feedback about how to better communicate with residents about the completion of their submitted facilities work orders.
At the end of the phone call, I tweeted a quick line about the experience:
Niki Rudolph responded with the following:
I immediately deflected the compliment, telling Niki I wasn’t awesome, but a work in progress. Niki responded via direct message and nudged me a bit. She told me she appreciated my humility, but that I should accept the compliment. And so I responded to her tweet publicly again, thanking her for her kind words.
Like many others in the #sachat community, I chose a one word resolution for 2011. My word is sparkle – brilliant, lively, vivacious and emitting tiny gleams of light. Niki’s nudge was the reminder I needed that the one word should be an all-inclusive package. I certainly demonstrated the sparkle by choosing to respond to the student’s e-mail personally. And then in the next breath, I deferred the opportunity to sparkle by declining a compliment on the choice.
My challenge in embracing my one word resolution is evident. I’m far better about putting sparkle into action than I am having the sparkle acknowledged (especially publicly). And so now, only two and a half weeks into 2011, I have a better concept of how this word will guide my year. I’m going to be more diligent about accepting compliments and using the positive feedback to fuel more opportunities to sparkle.
What’s your challenge in fully embracing your one word resolution? How do you work to overcome it?
