At C-Level

Old Dogs and New Tricks

A new study from the UC Berkeley suggests that the time teens are spending online often provides them valuable social and technology development.  And as expected, it's a mode of learning that is inexplicable to most older adults, who tend to view the text and Twitter pastimes with disdain, as a virtual waste of time.  

What strikes me as profound is that technology is constantly transforming how we learn.  And as might be expected, the majority of the older generations are not keeping up.  It has been my experience that many of my contemporaries, the Baby Boomers, don't really know how to use the Internet.  Oh sure, they have web access, send emails, shop and watch YouTube.  But they don't know how to quickly find the answers to their questions, or how to study a subject from all sides.  When I was a kid we always had a 24-volume Encyclopedia Brittanica in the living room and we often referred to it when our curiosity was piqued on a subject.  Now the Internet brings us virtually all the world's knowledge at our fingertips.  What a marvelous breakthrough, if we only know how to use it, how to efficiently gather data and objectively assess and analyze its contents.

Part of the problem is that we must learn to use technology in a brand new way.  A generation ago every consumer electronics product came with an instruction manual, and the first thing most of us did after purchase was read it.  Hah!  I wonder if my kids have EVER read an instruction manual.  Technology manufacturers have taken the cue and instruction manuals now often exist only in pdf form on the web, or as Help or FAQ pages.  If you haven't switched to learning by experimentation and trial and error, then you're hopelessly behind.  Just watch a kid with a new video game.  First step: Pop it in and start playing.  Fool around with every button and note the effects like a laboratory scientist, except you record the observations in your head.  Learning is shared with peers ("Push the X button three times--awesome!").   Very quickly, expertise is developed.

It seems to me that effective learning in simple programs like word processing or spreadsheets results from two approaches:

1. Curiosity and experimentation.   I see this thing called "Watermark" under "Page Layout" and one day I try it, just for kicks.  Now I know a bit more, and am likely to use the feature one day.

2. As assumption, embedded in experience, that the technology should provide the capabilities you are imagining.  So you search around until you find it and figure it out.  For example, although I've never used the feature, or seen it used, it makes sense to me that there should be an easy way to change a section of text to all capital letters in Microsoft Word.   I look on the Font section and click on a few things until I come to an "Aa" logo that looks right.  But I don't know how to use it.  But then I notice that Microsoft is telling me to click on F1 right now for help on this feature.  And voila, the correct instructions pop up.   Plus, I've learned about the handy F1 feature, which will surely prove useful in the future.

Baby Boomers needn't all start building Facebook pages and Twittering their innermost thoughts to keep up with the times.  But if we want to understand the way technology is changing the world, we have to be willing to live the changes, to participate in and adapt to the experience.  That means a new way of learning.

Actionable Listening

Todd Defren in his PR-Squared blog points to a bleeding-edge customer-care trend—something he calls Actionable Listening (vs. the so-1990’s “Active Listening.”) Active Listening is answering the phone and learning to sound empathetic. Actionable Listening is scanning the horizon for problems and quickly fixing them. That requires two things—technology and empowerment. (Well, three really. You also need a pretty heavy dose of commitment to the customer, perhaps the ingredient in shortest supply in these troubled economic times.)

Defren cites a great example of Comcast, historically a customer-service disaster which is trying to right itself. Not long ago he complained on Twitter about his Comcast service. He immediately received a call from Comcast to check his line and address the problem. How cool is that?

I had a similar, although less dramatic experience with Actionable Listening not long ago. I had some questions about my American Express bill. I always pay in full and on time, but saw a finance charge on my bill. So I called. Turns out I had completely missed paying my previous month’s bill. But without hesitation, the rep dropped the charge, even though I hadn’t complained or been angry. After all, it was my mistake. I admit to being floored by her proactive offer, and equally so by the organization that had empowered her. Yes, I’ve been an Amex member for decades and have spent a lot of money there, information that I’m sure was available to her. Still, her response was an exceptionally nice touch, and further cemented my kinship with American Express.

Too many companies think answering the phone and sending a computer-generated response within 24 hours is a metric for excellence. Wrong. Good enough is not good enough any more.