Bite-sized tips from Robert Townsend:
- Memos/Emails – Always make sure that recipients are listed in alphabetical order so as to stop personal insecurities or pride as names move either higher or lower up subsequent lists.
- Complaints – should be passed through to the chairman of the executive committee or one of their staff rather than customer service or complaints departments. If a disgruntled customer thinks they are talking to a big-wig the fire goes out that much quicker.
- Conference table should be round not rectangular, so that junior staff, often with the brightest ideas, don’t sit at the foot while big-wigs sit near the head.
Robert Townsend, 1970, Up The Organisation, New York: Alfred Knopf Publishing, p.21, 32, 44
Bite-sized tips from Robert Townsend:
- Memos/Emails – Always make sure that recipients are listed in alphabetical order so as to stop personal insecurities or pride as names move either higher or lower up subsequent lists.
- Complaints – should be passed through to the chairman of the executive committee or one of their staff rather than customer service or complaints departments. If a disgruntled customer thinks they are talking to a big-wig the fire goes out that much quicker.
- Conference table should be round not rectangular, so that junior staff, often with the brightest ideas, don’t sit at the foot while big-wigs sit near the head.
Robert Townsend, 1970, Up The Organisation, New York: Alfred Knopf Publishing, p.21, 32, 44
