If you hear a whisper of a problem with a customer or team member, what’s your first move?  

Every single day I speak with members of our team and some of our customers.  We talk about work, we talk about life, we talk about what’s going well and we talk about what’s not going so well. 

If I ever hear of a potential problem that could get worse, my next move is always to get to the source of the problem as fast as I possibly can. Sometimes this means having difficult conversations with prickly people. But, in my experience, understanding a problem and talking to the people involved is the best thing I can do. 

If I get to the source and it turns out there is a problem, fantastic, I have an opportunity to understand and help solve it before it gets any worse.  If I get to the source and there is nothing to worry about, even better, I’ve created another opportunity to chat! 

The more difficult questions I ask, the less problems I seem to have.   

PS - Getting to the source of a problem NEVER involves emailing.  Asking questions and listening very closely are the keys.