Last week I received a message through Facebook messenger from my lovely 21 year old daughter who now lives in London, England. Yes this is a TRUE story. Introducing Amber Joy.
She sent me a few screenshots of a conversation she had had over the past couple of days. I started reading them and was so impressed by what I read I had to share it on LinkedIn with my network and also write a blog post about it. I hope this inspires you this week as it did for me.
She always amazes me, with her insight wisdom and most of all, kindness. She had an experience at a cafe in London, which was not very good. Actually, it was pretty bad and instead of just having that experience and never returning; she took it upon herself to write a review on the cafes Facebook page. Keep in mind lot’s of customers wouldn’t even take the time to write a review they would simply not return. However, knowing how important feedback is she decided to write one.
To her surprise, the owner responded and here’s how the conversation went after the initial response to her review.
The response to this from the owner was that she recognized her lack of leadership and level of stress and that she needed help, she shared she was not using this as an excuse however did not know where to turn to next. She said she is alone and working hard and that her cafe is not doing well.
To that my daughter responded with this:
The one thing that stands out for me in this conversation is that in a normal situation where you write a review and the owner makes an excuse, the reviewer could have got more disappointed and angry and wrote an even worse review however my daughter did none of that instead she responded in Love, Kindness, encouragement and gratitude. WOW!!!
I just learned a HUGE lesson.
- How many times when people let us down do we look at this as an opportunity to encourage, and be grateful to help someone when they are down?
- How many times do we look at the situation and think about a person’s challenges and what might be hindering them from their success as opposed to what we get out of it?
- And, how many of us would have taken the time to engage in something like this when our expectations were not met?
I was humbled, proud and inspired by Amber Joy this week. She is an amazing young lady who shares her healing words and energy with others not because she has to, but because she was grateful to.
I have reached out and had a conversation with the lady who owns the cafe, and as part of my SHIFT business coaching certificate was able to provide her with 5 hours of free coaching, she told me my daughter was a gift from GOD just when she needed it. I am not religious by any means. However I do believe in Karma and doing the right thing.
It made me think deeply about number one, how proud I am to have a daughter that in this situation really showed strong character and care. Number two what leadership is. Number three how the lack of leadership impacts the employees and service levels more than we think.
Even the best leaders under stress may opt to behave poorly, not respect team members and demotivate their team without even recognizing it until someone comes along and takes the time to listen, care enough to question why and then doesn’t judge the person for the choices they have made.
Our mission at retailu is to provide e-courses on developing teamwork, conflict management and much much more at an affordable price so that all manager have access to quality leadership development, this is exactly why retailu exists. I can’t wait to chat with this woman, it sounds like she found us right when she needs the help but more importantly is ready to take action and do something about it.
The power of this, is when you change your response and perspective in any given situation you may be able to change someone else’s and make a positive impact in the world, one leader at a time!
This is something I am truly grateful for.
What will you be grateful for this week?
Founder and President or retailu.ca
Leave a comment if this resonates with you.
Another lesson I have learned over and over again, is If you are not managing your customer reviews who is? If this cafe owner had not responded then what could have happened? Customers read reviews and make their decisions based on what customers say, and how businesses respond. If you need someone to help manage your reviews or your interested in how many reviews you may have floating out there about your business then I highly recommend a friend of mine Nick at FreshFeedback, you can contact him here.
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