Administrative Assistant's Update

3 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE Credit: bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock Her response was fi rst to make sure that I understood that it had nothing to do with her. She wasn't in charge of any of this, she said, and it wasn't her fault. I said that I realized that, but I wanted the company to know so they could fi x things in the future. She then said she would give me a phone number I could call to complain. I thanked her. She checked my ID and gave me my package and said, "good-bye." I said, "Do you have that num- ber?" She said, "What number?" I said, "The complaint line." Yes, that rang a bell with her; she gave me the number and I left. We live in a world of social me- dia and information sharing. When you are on the front lines of any organization, you are representing the company and you have an op- portunity—and a duty—to ensure that the organization's customers are satisfi ed. The woman I spoke with could have done a number of things that would have restored her company's good reputation in my eyes. She should have apologized profusely for the mix-up that took two days too long to send me the package. She should have taken down my complaint and offered to forward the information to the complaint department herself. She could have even offered to reimburse my bus fare! And perhaps it wasn't in her power, but ideally she would have given me a discount off future deliveries. Instead, she refused to take any responsibility and, when she of- fered to help, she promptly forgot her offer so that I had to ask twice. She didn't realize it, but she was talking to a reporter, and it didn't take me long to decide to write this article about the encounter Continued from previous page Do you have a high EQ? The traits of people with high emotional intelligence By Joyce Grant Decades ago, researchers discov- ered that many people with average IQs were outperforming people with high IQs, according to an article in The Globe and Mail by Travis Bradberry, author of "Emo- tional Intelligence 2.0." What those people had, beyond IQ, was a high EQ—emotional quotient. EQ is so important that it's known to be a secret ingredient for success with "90 per cent of top performers (having) high emotional intelligence," writes Bradberry. He says that although EQ is intangible and diffi cult to defi ne, "it affects how we manage behaviour, navigate social complexities and make per- sonal decisions to achieve positive results." People can fi gure out their own EQ by taking a test (there is one in Bradberry's book), but he has also analyzed and compiled a list of the most sig- nifi cant qualities of people with high EQ. Among them: • A well-developed emotional vocabulary that enables them to identify, understand and label their emotions as they are hap- pening. • A curiosity about people. "This curiosity is the product of empathy, one of the most signifi cant gate- ways to a high EQ," said Bradberry. • A thick skin. They don't get of- fended easily, likely because they have a fi rm understanding of who they are. • The ability to let go of mistakes. People with a high EQ know that "nothing's perfect," so perfection isn't their goal. They can look back on their accomplishments instead of looking ahead at what they weren't able to achieve. and her company's terrible service (although I'm not mentioning the company's name—it took me a bit longer to make that decision). In this day and age of social media and smartphone cameras, everyone is a reporter. Everyone has an audience of friends and colleagues who are also "report- ers" and can easily spread the word about an organization's poor customer service. Every company, and every person on the front lines (such as administrative assistants) should put customer service at the forefront of their mission state- ment. Because, in this day and age, it's only good business.

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