Naomi Karten's Blog

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Naomi Karten's Blog

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. In this blog, she focuses on observations, thoughts, ideas, and the wisdom of others as it concerns people and how they function (or don’t), particularly in organizations.

How Not to Communicate Critical Information

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by Naomi Karten

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Aug 24 2010 - 5:07pm

My husband and I recently took a cruise. I didn't board the ship in search of blog topics, but I found them nevertheless.As is customary on cruises, shortly before departure, the crew held a safety drill so we'd know what to do if the ship was going to tipple, topple or sink. To run the drill, they gathered the 3000 passengers into small groups at assigned locations, with a crew member on hand to...

On Being Absolutely Certain—and Wrong

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by Naomi Karten

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Aug 6 2010 - 12:28pm

While en route to present a seminar, I had to change planes in Denver. On arrival in Denver, I checked the departure monitor for my connecting flight. There it was, Gate B52 at 3:20 p.m. Just as I expected. It was a short flight on a tiny plane. I had taken many such flights from Denver and they had all departed from B gates numbered in the 50's.Having time to kill, I wandered around,...

Anthropological Listening

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by Naomi Karten

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Jul 19 2010 - 10:37pm

Have you ever had the distinct feeling that the person you were speaking to wasn't really listening? Were you convinced the person was a million miles away, give or take a hundred thousand? Has it ever gotten so bad that if your words went in one ear and out the other, it would be a step in the right direction?Do you suppose other people have ever had that reaction when speaking to you?

The CIO as a (Really Bad) Role Model

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by Naomi Karten

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Jun 15 2010 - 12:16am

Morale in the IT organization had been poor for a long time. After other strategies to address the problem failed, the CIO (whom I'll call Brad) decided to try something new. He invited employees to volunteer to be on a team of non-managers that would evaluate the morale problem from their perspective and submit recommendations for improvement. Brad and his senior management team committed to...

Why Recognition Programs Don't Work

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by Naomi Karten

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Jun 8 2010 - 10:00pm

I was consulting to an IT organization in which employee morale was rapidly slithering to the bottom of the employee satisfaction chart. These people, hard workers all, felt unappreciated. It was as if, no matter what they did, their managers barely noticed.

PositiveSpeak 101

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by Naomi Karten

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May 25 2010 - 2:45pm

A chap named Tony was a master at putting a negative spin on things, telling customers what he couldn't do rather than what he could. So during a busy spell, when a prospective customer asked when he'd be available, his response was, "Gee, I'm really sorry. I can't possibly be available for three months." Hardly a surprise, therefore, that the customer took his business elsewhere.Certainly, Tony'...

The Art of Keeping Customers in the Dark

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by Naomi Karten

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May 19 2010 - 8:04pm

Have you ever had an experience where you gave your all for your customers and still they were unhappy? If so, one possible reason for their reaction is that you implemented a major change without preparing them for it. In a company I visited, I came across a situation that aptly illustrates this kind of failure to communicate.

When Is Communication Not Really Communication?

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by Naomi Karten

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May 5 2010 - 7:09pm

Complaints in the workplace about insufficient or inadequate communication are common, yet that very word "communication" is subject to multiple interpretations.Here's an example of what I mean: A director had a survey conducted to determine the cause of his employees' low morale. One of the key findings was their desire for more communication. Eager to put things right, the director began...

The Risk of Embellishment

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by Naomi Karten

Apr 27 2010 - 7:54pm

A frequently touted claim is that when customers have positive experiences, they tell 3 (or 4 or 5) other people, and when they have negative experiences, they tell 11 (or 13 or 16) others. Or the unhappy customer posts the experience on the Web, alerting millions. Clearly, if you're a service provider, negative customer experiences can seriously damage your reputation.

Four Frequent Feedback-Gathering Flaws

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by Naomi Karten

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Apr 12 2010 - 7:39pm

If organizations really want customer satisfaction feedback, why do they make it so difficult for customers to provide that feedback? Here are four examples of common flaws and how you can avoid them: