Building relationships and managing them is a driving factor for achieving success. Knowing the needs of your colleagues and your subordinates is what makes you a great leader and inspires people to follow you.

There were about 70 scientists working on a very hectic project in the town of Thumba, Kerala. All of them were really frustrated due to the pressure of work and the demands of their boss but everyone was loyal to him and did not think of quitting the job.

One day, one of the scientists came to his boss and told him – “Sir, I have promised my children that I will take them to the exhibition going on in our township. So I want to leave the office at 5:30 pm.” His boss replied “OK, You’re permitted to leave the office early today”.

The Scientist started working. He continued his work after lunch. As usual, he got involved to such an extent that he only looked at his watch when he felt he was close to completion. The time was 8.30 PM. He suddenly remembered the promise he had given his children. He looked for his boss, He was not there. Deep within himself, he was feeling guilty for having disappointed his children.

He reached home. The children were not there. His wife was sitting in the hall alone and reading magazines. The situation was explosive; any talk would boomerang on him. His wife asked him “Would you like to have coffee or shall I serve dinner straight away?” The man replied “If you would like to have coffee I will have it as well, but where are the children?”

The wife replied “You don’t know? Your manager came here at 5.15 PM and took the children to the exhibition”. What had really happened was…. the boss, who granted him permission, was observing him working seriously at 5.00 PM. He thought to himself, this person will not leave the work but if he has promised his children they should enjoy the visit to the exhibition. So he took the lead in taking them to the exhibition.

The boss did not have to do it. But once it is done, loyalty is established. That is why all the scientists at Thumba continued to work under their boss even though the stress was tremendous. By the way, can you hazard a guess as to who the boss was????????

He was none other than Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

A lot of people feel content with their life, how it’s progressing and if it is what they expected it to be. They experience stress when they are not able to see that picture or are not satisfied with it. Take a look at the research study for a better understanding.

Many college students may find the academic experience very stressful (K. J. Swick, 1987).165 students completed a questionnaire assessing their time management behaviour’s and attitudes, stress, and self-perceptions of performance and grade point average (GPA). The study revealed 2 major findings. Students who perceived control of their time reported significantly greater evaluations of their performance, greater work and life satisfaction, less role ambiguity, less role overload, and fewer job-induced and somatic tensions. Findings are consistent with theory and advice on time management (e.g., R. S. Schuler; 1979) but also indicate that the dynamics of time management are more complex than previously believed.

A lot of times for a lot of people, success is a need. It denies them clarity and aid in figuring out what’s important. Prioritizing though, is easier for people who are satisfied with their work and excel by means of careful planning and implementation.

Take GOTHAM CONCIERGE for example,in the summer of 2008 at its peak, Alison Kero, Gotham’s founder, was running errands and handling tasks for more clients than she could handle, from busy housewives to disorganized lawyers and hedge fund managers.

WHAT WENT WRONG As home prices and the stock market plummeted in the fall of 2008, Ms. Kero’s clients began cutting back. She spent thousands of dollars on advertising that did not work. Worse, she became increasingly frustrated with the tedium of running errands. In July, when one of her two remaining clients forgot about a meeting — and then blamed Ms. Kero for not reminding her about it — she decided to close up shop.

“I realize now I didn’t love what I did,” she said. “I loved running a business.” In late October, she moved to Denver and started a pet care business, Alicat Pet Service, which is doing well for itself.

Procrastination concerns a person’s ability to meet deadlines hence temporal dimension is clearly important to this personality construct. Person’s with arousal motives, like the rush last moment gives to complete a task so they put it off until then. Avoidance motivation of procrastination pushes the person to keep aside the feelings of anxiety and hence the tasks associated to it. Read on to see that there are times that brilliant people work like this too but the ball will drop sooner or later. You cant get away with this all the time.

The last of “Five Good Emperors,” Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from AD 161 to 180, when its empire controlled most of the western world. He was a great warrior and statesman, but is best remembered now as a philosopher. This is what he had to say about procrastination, in his famous Meditations: “Think of all the years passed by in which you said to yourself-‘I will do it tomorrow’, and how the gods have again and again granted you periods of grace of which you have not availed yourself.” 180 AD though, now, we do not necessarily think on the same lines.

Set aside a time to worry and be averse of the task at your disposal. As the deadline approaches however, get yourselves to work and be as efficient as you can. The great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed his most famous house at the age of 67—in two hours. Wealthy Pittsburgh businessman Edgar Kaufmann Sr. commissioned Wright to create Fallingwater, a house in rural Pennsylvania, in 1934. Wright visited the site in November and wrote to Kaufmann assuring him that he had been working on the plans, but had not actually drawn a thing.

So imagine Wright’s surprise when Kaufmann called him at home early on Sunday morning, on September 22, 1935, to announce that he would be visiting before lunch, and couldn’t wait to see the design. Wright calmly finished breakfast and, while a group of extremely nervous apprentices looked on, drew the plans in the time it took Kaufmann to drive up from Pittsburgh. This time the procrastination paid off: Fallingwater was listed as National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Time management behaviours are closely related to perceived effectiveness and work-related morale. The belief of a good result helps a person to manage his time and tasks well.

The study conducted by Kearns and Gardiner (2007) tests the claims that people who manage their time well perceive themselves to be more effective and feel less stressed. University staff and students were utilized to investigate the relationship between time management related behaviours, perceived effectiveness, and work‐related morale and distress. Results suggested a hierarchy of time management behaviours.

Having a clear sense of career purpose was most important for perceived effectiveness at work, followed by planning and prioritizing. This study has significant practical implications for staff and students. If the aim of using time management strategies is to improve performance and reduce stress, people need to learn to identify the purpose in their career, then plan their time accordingly, rather than tidying desks and hanging ‘do not disturb’ signs on doors.

Planning helps us in understanding the steps that need to be taken towards achieving our goals. Time management just ensures that we most appropriately divide our time between the specific activities so that we can accomplish the desired task at hand punctually.

To conceive and execute an idea step by step, it is important to bring future to the present. It helps in understanding what is more important to be done. It enhances the focus of one who ideate’s. It also helps him or her in not procrastinating or getting stuck.

Todd Henry is the Founder of Accidental Creative. He says, “My biggest method is to end with the beginning in mind. Whenever I’m working on a long-arc project, I always end every work session knowing where I’ll pick up the next day. I don’t procrastinate because I want to avoid the work, I often do it because I’m uncertain of the right next step. This tactic keeps me from getting stuck.”

How do we replicate and scale a successful model in diverse situations and circumstances? An important aspect of time management is also detailing tasks at hand, understanding what is necessary and what can be eliminated.

To understand what works, it is always a good idea to document how many times it did. For anything you do more than three times, write down your process in detail. Build playbooks that you can hand off to someone else, so they can execute something exactly the way you would. Never get held up by people asking what the next step is or whom they should ask about a process.

This is how Uber in particular scaled so quickly. They’ve grown to over 70 cities and they’ve killed it in all of them. How did they do it? With a playbook. They have a list of the things they do in every single city when they launch, with slight regional adjustments. They have practiced this method and tested it and wrote it all down. So now they just execute, like turning a key.

Single tasking is the new buzzword – can it really work in a frenetic paced world where multiple things demand attention all the time…

There’s probably not a job description in the universe that doesn’t call for multitasking. And yet, the trend that is taking hold in many quarters is single-tasking.

Instead of trying to be all things to all people, successful executives are streamlining their work and seeking Zen-like focus. Another trick is to prioritize what is important, focus on that and do the next most important thing.

Take, for example, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault and Nissan. He has streamlined the way meetings are administered, allocating a maximum of one hour and 30 minutes for single-topic meetings.

Dr. Robert Cialdini defined social proof as people doing what they observe other people doing. It’s a principle that’s based upon the idea of safety in numbers. Social proof plays off our insecurities and desire to do the “right thing.”

Occasionally, in studies, users state that they don’t care about user reviews, they don’t trust other people’s opinions, and they make all of their decisions based totally on their own independent perspective. Unfortunately, thousands of psychology studies prove this statement false — another example of why we should base design decisions on what users do rather than what they say.

Several websites use this to make sure that a viewer is converted to a customer. Take Amazon for example, before purchasing a product, its reviews and star ratings are considered by the customer. If the product has been reviewed favourably, especially by a certified buyer then it must be good. To ensure sales, Amazon also has ‘customer who viewed this also viewed’ section. It tells the viewer that if people like him who viewed the product have viewed the others in the aforesaid section then there must be a cause and he should too.

One way of boosting sales is by letting the market know how much work has gone into making that product. This not only helps the customers to understand the procedure but also accept and applaud its efficiency. It tells a story and adds credibility to the organisation’s claims.

Apple for instance, created a video to tell its customers about how important their gratification and ease of using their product is. In the video, the vice president of different portfolios explain the idea behind the design and what makes it robust as well as unique.

The video, for their new MacBook, is about the quality of the product as well as its aesthetics, which are the traits that matter the most to the customers.

When things are scarce we want them. This principle is a tactic used by several marketing professionals. To bolster the demand of their product, this principle is used.

Ever saw something you were not entirely sure to buy and the webpage or salesperson said that it is running out of stock? Did you then, buy it? The website used this principle to push you to buy what you were looking at. Several popular e-commerce websites use this tactic to pursue the consumer to buy a product.

While talking to your teammate, your boss or a friend, it is always better to use ‘We/us/our’ to make an impact. The agenda, when seems to contribute to a greater good gets more people to agree to it. Not just the listener, the agenda then includes the speaker as well.

One fine example of this is Barack Obama. Read this transcript for more clarity- “That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”

“Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.”

In conflict resolution, managing change and crisis, this technique comes handy.

What do people mean when they describe a person as ‘cold’? Whether at work or in our personal relationships, we like to feel comfortable and appreciated. We count these traits in if we want to trust someone as well. Take this experiment for an instance.

A Yale experiment took two groups of individuals. Each group was to conduct a quick interview with a potential job candidate and then determine if they would hire the individual based on their quick interaction. Both groups interviewed the same guy with the same set of questions in the exact same environment. Before the interview and meeting the candidate, the test groups were asked to hold a beverage. Group A was given a warm beverage; Group B was given a cold beverage. Across the board, the group primed with a warm beverage said they would hire the candidate, Group B, given the cold beverage, all said they would not hire the candidate!

The simple act of priming the target with a warm beverage totally changed the outcome of the interview, all unconsciously. Next time you are performing an on-site penetration test, have a warm drink handy and find an excuse to get your target to hold it for you. The idea is that the warm drink triggers thoughts of comfort, warmth, and friendliness. These triggers change people’s perception of events after the priming.

Verbal Persuasion is another source of self-efficacy. Essentially this involves convincing people that they have the ability to succeed at a particular task. The best way for a leader to use verbal persuasion is through the Pygmalion effect. The Pygmalion effect is a form of a self-fulfilling prophesy in which believing something to be true can make it true.

Rosenthal and Jacobson’s (1968) classic study is a good example of the Pygmalion effect. Teachers were told by their supervisor that one group of students had very high IQ scores (when in fact they had average to low IQ scores), and the same teacher was told that another group of students had low IQ scores (when in fact they had high IQ scores).

Consistent with the Pygmalion effect, the teachers spent more time with the students they thought were smart, gave them more challenging assignments, and expected more of them—all of which led to higher student self-efficacy and better student grades. A more recent experiment conducted by Harvard researchers in a ghetto community produced similar results (Rist, 2000). The Pygmalion effect also has been used in the workplace. Research has indicated that when managers are confident that their subordinates can successfully perform a task, the subordinates perform at a higher level. However, the power of the persuasion would be contingent on the leader’s credibility, previous relationship with the employees, and the leader’s influence in the organization (Eden, 2003).

Set the tone right to create a win-win situation. Change the tone and set it to positive to persuade and convince the other person to agree to you.

A wonderful example of this in retail is in the case of Starbucks coffee. When you approach the counter to order a drink at Starbucks, the barista will ask you a carefully worded question, “What can I get started for you?” The use of the word started infers that this is the beginning of something and that there is an ending that is separate from the beginning. Starting something infers that the task must be finished which draws your attention back to the bar and onto the food items. Your brain wants to finish your order, started with a drink, with something to eat. A subtle way of cross selling at the point of sale.

Hospitality companies are famed for their high standards of service excellence towards their guests. In fact some of them have almost legendary reputation for service, but one has to wonder: Do they really live up to the hype? Read on to see how a well-known hotel chain ensured that even their smallest customer felt the warmth of their customer-centric initiatives.

The story of Joshie the giraffe certainly presents a compelling case for “yes!” In case you’ve never come across this fantastic tale, the story begins when customer Chris Hurn’s son left his favorite stuffed giraffe, “Joshie,” in their hotel room after a recent stay.

Mr. Hurn assured his distraught son that Joshie was just staying a few extra days on vacation. He then called the staff at the Ritz and relayed the story he had told his son. In an all-star effort to make everything right for their customer, the staff at the Ritz created a series of photographs that included all of the activities Joshie had been involved in during his “extended vacation.”

First things first: They knew Joshie couldn’t just be aimlessly wandering around the Ritz without a staff card … so they made him one! After that, Joshie headed over to the pool area to relax. Not one to sit around and do nothing, Joshie helped out in the loss prevention department.

Joshie then decided to melt away some stress with a spa day. To top it all off, the Ritz sent Hurn and his son a booklet filled with information about Joshie’s stay as well as a host of pictures showing what a good time he’d had. What a story!

Being on time is a credo which all airlines like to live by. However, when it comes to being empathetic to their customer’s needs, the next story will demonstrate how a leading airline bent its rules to ensure that a distressed customer was able to be with his mother in her last moments.

When Kerry Drake got on his United Airline flight, the mother he was en route to see was facing her final hours. To add an extra layer of distress, Drake knew that if he missed his connecting flight he would likely not see her before she passed. After his first flight got delayed, Drake broke down into tears on the plane. The flight attendants soon noticed his state and quickly found out what was wrong. Within minutes, Drake’s dilemma was relayed to the captain, who radioed ahead to Drake’s next flight.

The flight’s crew responded by delaying the flight’s departure to make sure he got on board. “I was still like maybe 20 yards away when I heard the gate agent say, ‘Mr. Drake, we’ve been expecting you,’” he said. When Drake finally sat on the second flight, he realized how much went into getting him onto the plane. “I was overcome with emotion!”

The result of many staff members working together to go above-and-beyond the call of duty to help this customer was that Drake made it to the hospital in time to see his mother. “At one point she opened her eyes, and I think she recognized me,” said Drake, who spent the night at the hospital. “Around 4 a.m. she had a real moment of coherence, a last rally, although we didn’t know it at the time. It was the last time.” She died that very morning.

Drake wrote the staff a heartfelt thank you letter expressing his immense gratitude for a team who was willing to pull together and pull out all the stops to assist in any way they could. In the coverage of this story on CNN, consumer advocate Christopher Elliot said:“Airline employees are evaluated based on their ability to keep a schedule. Airlines compete with each other on who has the best on-time departure record. When the crew on this flight heard about this distraught passenger trying to make his connection, they must have said, ‘To hell with it’… and they made the right call.” We think so, too.

This is a fun story! It’s also a clear reminder that many of the most fondly remembered service stories are the ones that come out spontaneously. This story certainly fits the bill, and it is bound to inspire you to take some extra time to surprise a valued customer every once in a while.

Peter Shankman knows a thing or two about customer service. As an author, consultant and speaker on the topic, it’s safe to say his standards are high. While at an airport, Shankman realized that if he didn’t grab a bite to eat he’d be stuck riding the plane back on an empty stomach. Not one for fast food, Shankman took a shot in the dark and jokingly tweeted to one of his favorite restaurants, Morton’s, asking them if they would deliver him a steak!

Peter Shankman ✔ @petershankman: Hey @Mortons – can you meet me at newark airport with a porterhouse when I land in two hours? K, thanks. 🙂 Even though he’s a longtime customer of the steakhouse, Shankman admits that he had no expectations when he sent out the tweet. After all, who ever heard of steak on wheels?!

To Shankman’s utter disbelief, one of Morton’s staff drove 23 miles to the airport to greet him with a full meal: Peter Shankman ✔ @petershankman Oh My God. I don’t believe it. @mortons showed up at EWR WITH A PORTERHOUSE! “He proceeds to tell me that he’d heard I was hungry, and inside is a 24 oz. Porterhouse steak, an order of Colossal Shrimp, a side of potatoes, one of Morton’s famous round things of bread, two napkins, and silverware.” –Peter Shankman

One of the most interesting things about Shankman’s story is that he admits that this “stunt” was meant to be out of the ordinary … and that’s completely okay.“Customer service isn’t about telling people how awesome you are, it’s about creating stories that do the talking for you.”

This is a stellar example of doing exactly that, and Morton’s deserves all of the attention they received (and more) for making it happen.

What is it that sets a company apart from the fact that its products are of great quality? Read on to see how Traders Joe’s differentiated itself by placing customer needs above all else.

An elderly man, 89 years of age, was snowed in at his Pennsylvanian home around the holidays, and his daughter was worried that he wasn’t going to have access to enough food due to the impending storm and bad weather in the area.

After calling multiple stores in a desperate attempt to find anyone who would deliver to her father’s home, she finally got a hold of someone at Trader Joe’s, who told her that they also do not deliver … normally.

Given the extreme circumstance, they told her that they would gladly deliver directly to his home, and even suggested additional delivery items that would fit perfectly with his special low-sodium diet.After the daughter placed the order for the food, the employee on the phone told her that she didn’t need to worry about the price; the food would be delivered free of charge. The employee then wished her a Merry Christmas.

Less than 30 minutes later the food was at the man’s doorstep—for free!

In refusing to let red tape get in the way of a customer in need, Trader Joe’s shows that customer service doesn’t need to be about the fanfare, it can simply be about doing the right thing.

Sometimes when faced with unusual requests from customers, the response of a company goes a long way to create both ‘customer delight and loyalty’. Read on about a story where the request of a small boy was treated very seriously by the company in question.

Losing a favorite toy feels devastating to a young child. Longtime Lego fan Luka Apps spent all of his Christmas money on a Ninjago (Lego ninja) named Jay XZ. Against his dad’s advisement, he brought his Ninjago on a shopping trip … and lost it. Luka wrote a letter to Lego explaining his loss and assuring the Lego staff that he would take extra-special care of his action figure if they sent him another one.

“Hello,My name is Luka Apps and I am seven years old. With all my money I got for Christmas I bought the Ninjago kit of the Ultrasonic Raider. The number is 9449. It is really good. My Daddy just took me to Sainsbury’s and told me to leave the people at home but I took them and I lost Jay ZX at the shop as it fell out of my coat. I am really upset I have lost him. Daddy said to send you a email to see if you will send me another one.I promise I won’t take him to the shop again if you can. – Luka”

The response he received from Lego customer support representative Richard was nothing short of amazing. Richard told Luke that he had talked to Sensei Wu (a Ninjago character), and he told him to tell Luka, “Your father seems like a very wise man. You must always protect your Ninjago minifigures like the dragons protect the Weapons of Spinjitzu!” Sensei Wu also told me it was okay if I sent you a new Jay and told me it would be okay if I included something extra for you because anyone that saves their Christmas money to buy the Ultrasonic Raider must be a really big Ninjago fan. So, I hope you enjoy your Jay minifigure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay minifigure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight! Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your minifigures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your dad.”

It’s so rare to see such a thoughtful, creative response to a distraught customer – what better way to make a customer for life.