When the CEO held a virtual town hall in 2020 and said there needed to be layoffs, I knew I would be one of the first to go because I served zero purpose at that point.
Customer service skills define how effectively employees represent a brand and resolve customer needs. In every industry, these skills determine whether a business builds loyalty or loses trust. Customers today expect responsiveness, empathy, and accuracy across every touchpoint-from phone calls and chats to social media interactions.
To successfully repair after a mistake, you need to acknowledge and name the mistake, validate the other person's feelings and viewpoint, and create a plan for the specific actions you will take to prevent this mistake from occurring again.
Recent research from the World Economic Forum shows that demand for digital skills, including AI, Big Data, and technology literacy, is growing faster than the global workforce can keep pace. This growing imbalance is widening the digital skills gap, leaving many business leaders unsure whether they have the right people, with the right skills, ready to perform at the speed their organizations need to compete and grow.
When everyone thinks and talks similarly, miscommunications are rare. When that is not the case, it can be surprisingly easy to say one thing and have the person on the other side hear something completely different. It increases the chances that our natural way of working is different. It makes assumptions and expectations more dangerous, as they are more likely to be misaligned.
