Customer Service with a YES!
To use humor in the workplace effectively, you need to have a “yes and…” attitude. A “yes and…” attitude opens your mind to new ideas, to trying new things, to possibilities and to having more fun. It’s a playful state of mind. As comedian Robin Williams once said, “Humor is about saying yes, when everyone else is saying no.” “Yes. . .and” is also a key ingredient for creativity – where we need to adopt an attitude of building on ideas instead of blocking them by immediately say, “but”, which really, typically means no.
We also need a “yes…and” attitude with our customer service.
This point was again driven home to me when and friend and I tried to get a table the other day at a local outdoor deck in my beautiful hometown of Canmore, Alberta.
When we entered the restaurant, the hostess made us feel as welcome as Michael Moore at a Bush family reunion. Without even checking when the next reservations were due, she actually put up roadblocks to us giving them our hard-earned money!! We had to overcome three of her objections to finally get a seat!
This hostess clearly did NOT have a “yes and…” attitude.
An attitude of “yes and” would have meant her immediately welcoming us in a friendly manner, and then simply saying, “You know what, we’re a tad busy right now, and YES, we can make this work. Just give me thirty seconds.”
So the next time I’m heading out for a cool, refreshing beverage in my home town, I may just adopt a “yes and” attitude myself…as in, “yes and I’m going to take my business elsewhere!
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