Hi,
My boss does not understand my intention to move to customer service. He can't believe it is best for me. Any idea how I could change his decision? What is the first competence of customer service?

Thanks

Your post has left me with a lot of questions. I hope you don't mind.

With reference to your boss, do you have an idea of what is driving his opinion? Have you had an in-depth discussion with him about this?

I see a few potential "reasons." He might be giving you absolutely the best advice possible, based upon your performance and your rate of development combined with the company's goals and objectives.

Another scenario is that he doesn't want to "lose" a good worker to a different department.

A third possibility is that it has nothing at all to do with you, but everything to do with his relationship with the manager of customer service.

Without understanding his motivation, I don't really know how to respond to your question about changing his mind. My initial reaction is why do you feel you need to?

There is no "first competence" of customer service. There are a number of behaviors (competencies) that are essential to success in business, but except for some rare career choices, we need to have a good mix of many competencies to perform well at our jobs.

This is by no means meant to be an inclusive list, but here are some areas of competence that I believe are essential:

Conflict management
Negotiation
Presentation skills
Listening
Compassion
Writing/communication
Integrity
Trust
Customer focus

If I put more time into it, I could easily come up with another 15 "must-haves."

Hope this helps!
Karen

Karen,
The reason I want to move is that I will strategically improve my competencies in customer service. This is importance for my career. I feel I've been too long in purchasing.
You're correct, without knowing my boss motivation we could do nothing to change his decision. When I asked him this morning about it he said he already have a few name for the position and I am the only one who request for it while the other are "offered". He needs me to be patient for a while.
What I have to do then?

Thank s
Mesi

Hi Mesi,

What needs to happen to get on the "offered" list? I think I would want a clear understanding of what is required so that I could work towards it, given that a move to customer service would improve my career path. Perhaps the opening this time around is not meant to be for you, but if you know what the goals and objectives are, and you work on building your competence to meet them, perhaps the next opening could be for you.

Best regards,
Karen