You can push issues until your face turns blue, but sometimes a counterintuitive approach just works. That and more in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Mental health break: Do your members feel overwhelmed by messages from you — like, say, TV viewers who have been inundated with campaign ads over the past few months? Take a cue from Richard Tisei, who’s running for Congress in Massachusetts, and give people a chance to catch their breath. This sudden-death overtime move, involving a pristine shot of a Massachusetts beach, has helped raise Tisei’s national profile since its release earlier this week. Only downside: It didn’t come quickly enough for this 4-year-old girl. Think you can take any tips from this when reaching out to your members?

How to onboard: According to Association Executive Management’s David M. Patt, throwing new workers onto tasks too quickly won’t allow them to properly prepare for the task at hand. “Let new staff ease into their jobs,” he explains. “That will make them better prepared, more confident, and will actually shorten the learning curve.” He also recommends having a transition period between old and new staffers.

The danger of disruption: According to Jamie Notter of Management Solutions Plus, you may be the market leader now, but if you’re not planning for the next thing, you could put yourself in danger of disruption. “How many of us are working on our internal capacity to respond to disruption, or even our ability to move in and disrupt other parts of our environment?” he asks. “Not enough, I think. Of course, I understand why: our organizations are run like machines, and machines were never designed with disruption in mind.”

Bad service = low loyalty: Feel like you’re scaring off your members with service issues? Consultant Colin Shaw, writing on LinkedIn, says the major customer service issue that many organizations face is one of end-user confusion. He recommends streamlining: “We all intuitively know it often does take too much effort when dealing with organizations, like waiting on the phone, using clunky websites, and lack of integration. Too many organization’s systems do not allow a real-time, integrated experience,” he writes.

What are you doing to improve your customer service? Let us know in the comments.

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