Excellent customer service is a habit… #23: 2012
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence
then, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Aristotle
Several weeks ago, I read this quote as I was working on a report for the board. It went in one ear, and I thought, out the other. However, it keeps returning to my thoughts. I think this is partly because it was coined by perhaps one of the great Greek philosopher and mathematician, Aristotle (384-322 BC). More than 2300 years after his death, Aristotle remains one of the most influential and controversial people who ever lived. He contributed to almost every field of human knowledge, from logic, mathematics, and zoology to poetry, politics, and ethics.
I particularly like this quote, because it speaks to our relentless search for excellence and its origins.
In exploring ways to promote and model excellence in library customer services, I had never directly equated excellence with habit and the internal drive to improve. The more we consistently and habitually strive to do our personal best, the more likely we are of attaining it. According to Aristotle, excellence begins at home and improves every time we model excellent customer service! It’s the classic “practice makes perfect” scenario.
For example, the more times we offer to help a customer find something, the better we understand the customer experience and the better we become at making the library experience an excellent experience. So, when a staff member says after day one, “That thank you stuff simply doesn’t work for me,” it may be because it has not become a habit.
Excellence is driven internally, but the possibility of attaining excellence significantly increases every time we make the effort. My new mantra is “excellent customer service is a habit.”
Have a great week!
Kitty Pope #23 July 2012
on July 18, 2012 on 1:01 pm
It’s a habit and it should be applied also out of the “Place of employment” circle. We should use the same attitude towards neighborhs, friends, family. It’s a style of living.