The week that went by reminded me about the power of process and presence and how the two dance together to make magic happen.
Every month, one of the processes that I get to play a part in at work is something called the Power of One. I have the opportunity to spend time with different teams, going through the work done for the month and evaluating it in context of “ten commandments” or best practices when it comes to delivering value to a client.
The process of doing this month after month with diligence is in itself one of the strengths of a service organisation that is committed to delivering quality. A process according to Wikipedia is defined as “a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once only or be recurrent or periodic.”
The way a process is setup and governed is really important as it defines the focus of people. For example, if you are trying to build the muscle of proactivity then having a process that asks every team “Please show me one example of proactive work that you did this month” is a simple yet powerful way to reinforce the need to demonstrate proactive value addition to every client. If you choose the right 10 ingredients for your recipe, then by creating a process and building the hardware, software, and human ware to follow through on it, organisational culture is created.
This in itself is of tremendous value. But the true magic happens when process meets presence. What do I mean by this? When the right people show up and follow through on the process in letter and spirit. An example of this would be the senior leader is present to get an overview of the work being done, the person presenting is proud of what they have achieved and keen to showcase it and look for ways in which to improve further. This energy of seeking to be better every month and truly attending to the client’s needs, when brought into the process, creates the opportunity for some great sharing and often a new idea emerges. The process boxes are ticked, and in addition, the grey cells are tickled and together the team races off to explore the month ahead with some fresh new ways to be of service to the client.
A similar learning presented itself to me over the weekend when I was in a study group, further honing my coaching skills. There are a set of competencies and markers defined by the International Coaching Federation, which are in a way the process framework to be followed. Knowing them, and being committed to following them is process adherence. Which in itself is valuable, because it means there is a governing body that has established best practices and has an oversight on how a professional coach shows up for their clients. Presence in this context, is when the process is in the background guiding, but in the moment the real attention is to what the client is seeking. Not getting stuck in the process, but being able to be fully present to acknowledge and attend to what the client is seeking and also staying within the guidelines of the framework is when the coach is following the letter and spirit of their profession. The instructor said, “Learn them, follow them, and then let them go… coach with your heart.”.
I believe client servicing in the PR world is the same, one needs to know all the best practices and then serve the client from the heart. This is what they value most when process meets presence because it is about being tuned into and understanding what is most important to the client and then truly attending to what is showing up as the need of the client in that movement.
This is me reminding myself that in all spheres of life, focus first on establishing a sound process that is aligned with the goal and then become fully present and allow the magic to unfold. If I had to tweet it to myself, or better still post a blue-sky update, it would say #ShowUp #ListenUp #FollowThrough and put your heart into it. Bringing me back to my favourite saying “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
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A trusted coaching and communications professional, Nikhil Dey is a certified life and leadership coach (International Coach Federation - ICF). Nurturing talent and helping clients achieve their goals is what makes him happy. He loves learning from students of communication, teaching courses and guest lecturing at various educational institutions. When he is not working you will find him on the tennis court or out for long walks with his family and four legged friends.
Previously he has held senior leadership positions at Weber Shandwick and Genesis BCW.
He can be reached on twitter @deydreaming
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