SuccessRealities: Ambition in Action!

RESULTS ... start getting some today!

2008-11-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

We all have a list of items we want to accomplish – lose weight, find a better job, get promoted, increase revenue and margin. But many times while we can state the result we want, we stop and commit no action or effort to achieving it. Why is this? Sometimes it is overwhelming. We don’t know where to start. What to do first and if we know what to do first, maybe we are stuck on what to do next. So it is time to get SMART about getting results.
We all know writing something down and seeing it on a daily basis keeps us focused. Here's how to start and make your goals SMART.

Specific: Ask yourself questions like: How much weight do I want to lose? What kind of job/promotion do I want? How much do I want to increase revenue and margin? Be painstakingly specific. It has been proven that the more specific your goal is the more likely you are to achieve it.

Measurable: You've got to be able to measure your results. It could be in pounds or the acquisition of skills to reach the next level on the career ladder or dollars and percentages. The key is that you need to be able to quantify and measure your progress.

Attainable: Setting unattainable goals simply sets you up for failure. If you have a major goal then break it down into small attainable goals. As you achieve each smaller goal you will reinforce your progress and ultimately get the results desired.

Realistic: This step is all about knowing yourself. What type of actions would you realistically stick with? Look honestly at your abilities, current commitments and how additional activities will fit into your already busy day; but don't underestimate yourself either. You'll need to push yourself to achieve your goal.

Timely: Every great goal is set on a timeline. Keeping the above steps in mind, give yourself an exact date and time that your goal or sub-goal needs to be accomplished by.

Now it's time to get to work. Write down your SMART goal and place it somewhere that you see often then tell three people of importance in your life about your goal. Have the focus and the drive to pursue your SMART goal, just like the Olympians, and go make yourself proud!

I love nothing more than seeing my clients achieve their goals. Contact me today to get started on a coaching program that is specific to your goal.

Expectations – The Key to Customer Satisfaction

2008-11-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Managing Expectations – It’s an art … not a science

In the 1982 Academy Award winning film Gandhi there is one scene that will tell you everything you ever need to know about managing expectations. The year is 1917 and Gandhi is visiting remote villages in India where famine and poverty are the rule not the exception. When villagers ask … no beg… Gandhi for help he responds “We shall do what we can do.” By using ‘We’ and not ‘I’, he clearly stated that he alone could not do anything, but that everyone working together would be the action to take for creating solutions. He commits to do something, however sets expectations appropriately and allows for the realism of the situation to unfold. The problem can’t be fixed overnight; there are no guarantees. He was truthful and in turn they became his followers.

In a business sense, how many times has an executive been in a seemingly dire situation with a customer? If you promise too much, the disappointment when delivery does not meet those set expectations causes the customer to lose all faith in the company/executive/team. Your trust is completely destroyed. On the other hand, if you promise too little, there is no motivation to really fix the underlying issues. Leaders must issue realistic objectives that engage all interested parties and not make promises which they cannot deliver, or set the bar so high it is unachievable. It is a delicate balance between the two extremes – art not science.

Unrealistic Expectations - The number one ingredient in failure

When that seemingly dire situation arises during project delivery, it is imperative the vendor company leadership be committed to understanding all the issues swirling about and not the most critical of the day. A conversation with a leading question to the customer of ‘what do you want’ can quickly become the unavoidable black hole of request after request to rectify every sin ever committed by anyone at the vendor company. Quickly sunk is the project team that has leadership trying to respond to the literal wish-list of the client. It sets up the team, client, product and both companies to fail miserably.

Instead, executives must listen to all aspects of the current situation and discern the true interest of the client and the company. Once the common needs are defined, a transcendent plan can be constructed to address those needs, eliminating the distractions of petty items and quickly focusing the team on the greater good. Uniting the client team and the delivery team with the common dominator gives hope and revitalized commitment to the success of the project.

Setting Expectations – The primary key to success

Expectations go both ways. Clients expect delivery of a defined scope of work, within a predetermined budget and within a specified time frame. Vendors expect once that delivery is completed the client will become a promoter for the products and services. So if both the client and the vendor have specific expectations of the process, then why are only the client’s expectations defined and refined up front? The customer upfront should be made aware of what is expected of them after successful completion of the scope of work. In other words, set the expectation that the customer will be a PROMOTER of the services and products after successful completion of delivery.

During delivery, this becomes the temperature check per say for how well the customer’s expectations are being met and how well that customer is going to meet the vendor’s expectations. It is a key indicator of progress vs. successful progress of the project and corrective action can begin the instance it is understood that expectations, on either side, are not being met. Open, honest, clear and concise communication of expectations regularly during delivery will promote an atmosphere of commitment to success.

All in all, expectations are tricky to navigate. If set too high, failure is assured. If set too low, it all becomes a non-event with little or no commitment from those participating. To plot a course for success, set expectations appropriately relying on pragmatism as a guide.

What makes good people stay?

2008-10-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

As leaders of organizations/departments, the main resource used to accomplish the organization’s work is its people. Attracting, recruiting and retaining these resources are vital to successful business operations and customer satisfaction. So what makes good people stay? Let’s put it in the perspective of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Physiological Needs: air, water, food, shelter – basically all the elements needed for physical survival. This is the primary motivator of most employees for seeking and staying at any one particular job – the dollars it produces to meet their most basic of needs. Compensation should keep pace with performance and experience levels. One of the biggest issues faced by long time employees is the fact that their pay, based on a decade ago economy and 4% increases year over year, has not kept pace with what the going rate for that level of experience in the open market.

Safety/Security Needs: job security fits into this category. Given current market conditions we are all well aware that the security in any job is minimal and can change at the blink of the Wall Street ticker tape. A leader/manager as part of their charge must communicate regularly with employees to ensure they have a feeling of safety and security at their current positions. An organization run on fear based principles, whether by design or by accident, is draining the workforce of productivity. Knowing individually and as a group that they are meeting or exceeding their goals and objectives makes a big difference in the organizations wellbeing.

Social Needs: getting employees involved and creating a team atmosphere fulfills this need. This is a challenge for many organizations today as they are distributed geographically and do not see each other on a daily basis. So creating the camaraderie and all for one type of feeling requires more effort. Regional meetings can help meet this need as groups get together and discuss the current state of business and plans for the future. Knowing your company, organization and group have future plans is comforting. It says there is sustainable business and growth in new areas, making work more abundant.

Esteem Needs: high self-regard and regard for others accomplishes the esteem need. Self-confidence and sense of value are essential. When the value, importance and contributions of an employee are validated by the manager, that employee is motivated and able to help build esteem in others. High self-esteem is an essential element in any leader and how they promote esteem throughout the organization is a driving factor in job satisfaction for both the leaders and the employees in the group.

Self-Actualization: making a significant contribution and reaching a high level of self-worth. Goals, whether group or individual, need to focus behavior on stretching to achieve the most possible. Achieving goals that push the limits, allows the employee to realize even greater personal potential. Helping to achieve worthwhile objectives validates self-worth. Employees in this top level of Maslow’s Hierarchy require more opportunities to be involved with the forward progress of the group and the organization. And in conjunction, management style, team structures and processes need to remain flexible to maintain motivation.

All of these levels can be met through interaction in the workplace with the critical link being the direct supervisor. Anyone who manages resources must understand and appreciate what those resources want from their work. This allows the manager to adjust the management approach to each individual vs. the one-size-fits all management style of decades past. In summary, here are the things that make good people stay:

• Compensation – compensation plans are a great starting place, but after 5 years, an employee can typically take their experience and knowledge capital, go somewhere else and get a 10% to 15% increase in their base and possible increases in incentive payments. Payment for performance and experience needs to be the goal of any company wanting to retain the best of the best.

• Secure and stable environment – define short and long term goals and objectives for the organization and cascade them down to each individual employee. Otherwise, everyone is trying to do everything, creating chaos and mayhem vs. a clear definition of what is needed to grow a successful and stable business environment.

• Involvement in the decision making process – no business grows on the skills of one person alone. Involving employees in the planning and execution of a strategy garners ownership and pride in the efforts required to execute.

• Validation of worth – offer rewards, incentives and motivation. Knowing you are doing a good job is not enough – others need to know it too and recognize and reward it. Direct supervisors are the first place to start by ensuring when someone does a great job the employee doing it and the rest of the team knows it and celebrates the success.

• An opportunity to make a real difference – when personal goals and measureable results coincide, an employee has a clear picture of how what they do on a daily basis drives the business forward. Feeling like they are an integral part in the success is a great motivator.

Are you Dreamer or a Doer?

2008-09-01T05:13:00.000-07:00

The world is full of dreamers and doers. Dreamers are contemplating the next epiphany, having bright ideas and full of big bodacious potential. Doers are out there getting it done, all day every day. Most individuals gravitate to the doer role because actions can be measured and seen in the activities completed, the sales closed, the work-product produced, the margin achieved, the awards bestowed. Seeing progress gives them the boost to keep going and making more progress. So what does a doer do when there is nothing to do? How about, become a dreamer; easier said than done.

Dreamers, always a fascinating lot, can whip up a vision out of nothing. Their excitement is driven by the mere fact that if they can think it, it must be possible. Hours can pass with a dreamer crafting and recasting an idea. Put a few dreamers together in one room and the possibilities are limitless. They feed off each other: one idea leads to another leads to a spin on the first idea. Dizzying … to say the least, but, at the same time, amazing. And dreamers always have something to dream about – new services and products, new deals to be struck, and new lands to be explored … endless. So, do dreamers ever become doers? Sometimes.

There is also a combination of the dreamer and doer, called a leader. Leaders have a way of creating vision where none existed – just like a dreamer. Leaders bring clarity and goals to the dream – just like a dreamer. Leaders create paths to success paved with tasks to accomplish – just like a doer. Leaders use solid indicators to measure progress and create motivation to keep going – just like a doer. And guess what? Leaders are not always the person in charge – they are the field resources working with clients, day in and day out; they are the team managers juggling schedules of 20 resources and about 50 critical client requests; they are you. So how does one parley their current strength – dreamer or doer – and become a better leader?

For doers, stop doing and start dreaming. Doers can get so caught up in the tasks at hand and the next task on the list that the entire strategy around doing the task is no longer viable, making the end result less successful. So instead of becoming frustrated, stop doing and start dreaming: better deliverables; new ways to accomplish tasks; repeatable / profitable delivery with packaged widgets; new offerings.

For dreamers, stop dreaming and start doing. Dreamers can spin an idea 6 ways to Sunday and back again … over and over and over again. The dream is the vision and the vision is comprised of goals. When you have a big dream, the best way to tackle it is head on with an action plan that includes goals and detailed tasks.

So, whether you are a dreamer or a doer, you have the makings of a leader. Someone willing to take the challenge of strengthening their weakness and parley it into a big bodacious success!

Keeping it Simple

2008-08-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Our lives, our jobs, our families: why does everything have to be so complicated? It is a serious question we need to ask ourselves on a regular basis. Complications happen and when they are added to an already complicated process – well, chaos prevails.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind as you plan your week:

Schedule – being proactive with schedule is vital to a well run organization – whether it is a household or a corporation. Jam packing your schedule to the degree that there is no time for the unforeseen creates enormous problems for us and the people depending on us.

Required tasks vs. want to tasks – putting first things first is vital to success. When conflicts in the schedule arise, prioritization is necessary and the realization that some things just may not get done. Ask yourself, what is the worst thing that can happen if something doesn’t get done? That answer is usually a lot less traumatic than the stress, strain and physical illness produced worrying about it getting done.

Divide and conquer – creative cooperation is necessary in any personal or professional relationship. There are times when you absolutely must depend on someone else to get things done without your assistance and oversight. When you plan with some up-front creativity, typically activities go off without a hitch.

Listen – to understand what is needed it is important to listen. There are five levels of listening – the first four: ignoring what is being said, pretending to listen, selective listening and attentive listening. Most of us are stuck somewhere between selective listening and attentive listening and never reach the fifth level of empathetic listening – listening with the intent to understand, to really understand. Many times what appears to be a request is just someone telling you what they are doing and why – not what to do and how.

Renew – health and wellbeing are essential. Your most valued asset is YOU. Endurance or the ability to move through your week in a state of wellbeing is powered by the physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions of our lives. Taking time to renew physically involves some form of movement or exercise. Renewing mentally is achieved by challenging our thoughts with new ideas found in books, lectures or discussions with others. Spiritual well-being is maintained through meditation, prayer and/or gratitude. The Social aspect is remembering to have some fun!

So does everything have to be so complicated? Not with a little work and effort up front. It is best to never underestimate the value of keeping it simple.

Change: Personal and Professional

2008-08-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, change happens with no warning: an accident, an illness, a lay-off. Sometimes change happens over such a long period of time we don’t even notice: our lives, our careers, our happiness. The only real constant in the world is change; how profoundly true. Every second brings a change – a new breath, a new note on the radio, a new bird at the window, new words spoken. Managing this constant change is a skill that we all could use a little brushing up on.

Change can be a difficult thing to manage. First you must recognize the need or requirement to change which can elude you for many years, if not your entire lifetime. The best way to recognize the need for change is to take inventory of your current feelings – happy, sad, mad or numb? If you laugh 30 or more times a day, if you like what you are doing 90% of the time, if people enjoy your company, if you get excited when it is time to go to work, if you love your body, or if you are pleased with yourself, then you can stop reading here. The rest of us can keep reading.

Because it is possible to feel the feelings noted above all day every day, you have just recognized your need to change. Where do you begin? Well, the best place is to identify the task during your week that gives you the least amount of satisfaction. If you think about it, you are probably going to be able to list 5 or 10. If that is the case go ahead and get them down on paper and then rate them 1 to x … with 1 being the least amount of satisfaction. This is your starting point.

Once you have the preverbal key, then ask yourself, ‘do I have to do it’? If it is your job, well you don’t have to do it – you can quit - but come on! We have mortgages, bills, mouths to feed … we can’t drop everything and begin making baskets from recycled materials because that is what makes us forget what time it is. Let’s bring a little realism into the picture. If your true passion is weaving baskets, then that becomes your goal and you build steps to reach that goal. It could take months or years to be a profitable venture, but because it is what you have always wanted to do, the journey is worth every bump, rut and breakdown.

So in a professional/career sense, this is long-term change where you will go through many revisions of paths to the desired end goal. These paths can be identified as sub-goals and broken down into small steps so that each day you can make progress toward the goal. Making progress keeps us motivated and helps us keep our eye on the prize. These small steps allow for nimbleness in the light of changing terrain and the option for redirection.

Change is within reach now that you have a big bodacious goal (BBG). You can make it happen in small steps that will carry you to that place where you will laugh 30 or more times a day, like what you are doing 90% of the time, people will enjoy your company, you will be excited to go to work, love your body and be pleased with yourself. Such positive change, whether personal or professional, can only serve us, and others, in the best ways possible. So what is your BBG?

Who needs a coach?

2008-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you know you need to make a change but have no idea if it is the color of your hair or the color of your kitchen cabinets that needs it most, you may need a coach.

If you eat every item in the house that contains some form of cocoa and have no idea why, you may need a coach.

If you consider making it through the day without crying a success, you may need a coach.

If you are attempting to build a relationship and your to-do list includes more tasks for your partner than for yourself, you may need a coach.

If you are contemplating duct taping your children to a wall, you may need a coach.

If you don’t like the dog anymore because it is one more being in need of your assistance, you may need a coach.

If you have not brushed your teeth or your hair yet today and you are worried about the cupcakes for tomorrows snack at school, you may need a coach.

If you are mired in the day-to-day grind of earning a paycheck and it is just not much fun anymore, you may need a coach.

If you are contemplating telling your boss to take this job and shove it, you may need a coach.

If the greeter’s job at the local MegaMart is more appealing than your current desk job, you may need a coach.

If you need a coach, contact us today!

What is your Passion?

2008-06-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Passion – according to dictionary.com is any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love or hate; an instance of strong love or sexual desire; a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm or desire for anything; the object of such a fondness or desire. Passion is the power that compels us to seek that which we desire. Love – Success – Fame – Fortune. Defining your passion may seem overwhelming, especially when you have not thought about it for a long time or worse yet, never thought about it all. But once you begin to see it, feel it, taste it, breathe it – all the love, success, fame and fortune will follow.

Reality check: it is not easy to define your passion. It can be elusive, nebulous, blurred in a world of busy days and nights just trying to live life. This may make it even more difficult to pursue. But the rewards are so vast, so fulfilling, that not searching is akin to not trying. We all know you can’t succeed if you never try.

What holds most of us back from exploring and finding our passion? Is it fear, distractions, or possibly the fact that we just take things too seriously?

Fear: What are you so afraid of? Is it failure or maybe it is success? The difficulty of the work it takes to reach a goal? Did you know that 95% of the time, we fear things that will NEVER happen? For example, I am so scared to stand up and give this presentation because I might forget what I am saying and everyone is going to laugh. Well, 95% of the time you don’t forget what you are saying and no one laughs except at the corny joke you tell at the beginning. And so what if you forget what you are saying and look stupid? Most audience participants are very sympathetic because they have the same fear as you and pretty much forget it happened seconds after it occurred. You, on the other hand, are obsessing about it for days/weeks afterward.

Distractions: Let’s see, this one is kind of big. A huge portion of our lives is consumed by an obsession over possessions. Yeah…just things. Suze Orman has a great saying, “We buy things we can’t afford to impress people we don’t know and most likely we would not even like them”. The whole pursuit becomes about the money and what the money can buy. Sure it takes care of needs, but we are talking about the wants – the 8000 square foot house, the expensive luxury car, the 5 carat diamond ring, the Manolo Blahnik shoes and handbags, $300 dollar tees and $500 jeans. From a comfort perspective, the average family (4.5 persons) needs about 800 square feet per person for comfort – 3600 square feet – about 1000 square feet per person for luxury – 4500 square feet. What are we thinking? No wonder there is a real estate crisis. In the haste to achieve fortune, we miss all the fun; next thing you know, you are over 50 years old and completely miserable in your personal and professional life. No wonder we end up in a social crisis that leads us down the path to financial crisis.

Too serious: As an adult, we are told and constantly reminded that life is not all fun and games. Spontaneity has taken a backseat in our society. What happened to taking the family for a picnic, swimming, to the zoo, or ballgame, on a whim? In business, we become so stuck in our day to day schedule that we have no room to roam. Our grueling pace of back to back meetings leaves no opportunity for spontaneity. When we are not in the office, we are glued to our mobile devices. All of this is exhausting. It makes me think of JACK in The Shinning, “All work and no play make Jack a very dull boy”. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome. That is what most of us do on a daily basis. No wonder many people need pharmaceuticals just to keep going!

I am not a proponent of just throwing everything out and starting over, but you do have to start somewhere. The best place: you. Fear needs to be a thing of the past. Start thinking about what it is that you love to do, can’t wait to do, and forget all sense of time when you are doing it. Once you have some idea, think of ways to incorporate activities that you are passionate about into your everyday life, both social and professional. Distractions need to be minimized. Are you fed, sheltered, and clothed? Then stop spending money on stuff. Get your finances in order, debt paid down, and savings to carry you when your optimal opportunity presents itself. You don’t want to turn down the chance of a lifetime because you need the paycheck you are getting, do you? Seriousness should be saved for critical injury/illness and funerals. If no one is in serious crisis, dead or dying, then you should be laughing and celebrating the moment. Even when battling tough contractual negotiations, there is no comparison between signatures on a contract and the feeling of exuberance when you and your family see each other at the end of the day or after a long trip away from each other.

Stay tuned for more insight on how to find your passion.

Software Products / Services … can you market and sell one without the other?

2008-04-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Where is the focus in a software company? Marketing and selling the product. In a perfect world, revenue splits would be 80/20 product/service. But you have to have a very mature/stable product – when was the last time you worked anywhere the product was mature AND stable? If it is mature, then it is written in Assembler, and if it is stable, it is shrink-wrapped on the shelf at the neighborhood electronics store.

But it is not all about the product – the revenue split at software companies is close to 50/50 product/service – in many cases it is 40/60. So when nobody is buying the widgets the heat is turned up on the service team to deliver more with less. Service organizations are ALL qualified to do anything with nothing because they have done it for so long. What a grind!
How many times have you strolled down to the marketing department and requested some assistance putting together a marketing campaign to spotlight the services you offer? Did you get the look? You know the one. Service organizations need their own glossy print for clients – with processes and methodologies laid out so a client knows what to expect when the ink dries. Campaigns should include product and services – it is a package deal. And every resource in the field should know how to market the package.

Here are the 5 most important things you can provide for your field service personnel to allow them to market the solution:
1) Value Proposition
2) Package Definitions
3) Typical Customer Q&A
4) Methodology
5) Forum for Feedback

Value Proposition
Every resource from executive to the entry level person should be able to, in 2 minutes or less, recite the value that the organization brings to every engagement. And it needs to be the same message – biggest obstacle to overcome is when your executive marches in and says “YES, you can have blue,” and you march in with the “red only package.” The kind of thing nightmares are made of, don’t you think?

Package Definitions
Understanding what services are offered as a package deal and why they should be purchased that way goes a long way in quantifying the value proposition. If clients don’t understand all the tasks that need to be completed within the scope of the project, most likely some of the tasks will be left unaccounted for – which makes the failure not your fault but your problem. If they are going to purchase parts of a package, then make sure they understand the parts they didn’t purchase are their responsibility and are considered out of scope. Otherwise, you end up putting in hours and not getting paid – really bad for the margin if you know what we mean.

Typical Customer Q&A
There really are 10 questions that every customer asks about your product/service – and you have heard them all – plus a few. So everyone should know how to respond to the run-of-the-mill customer question/objection. If they don’t, then the response of “I’ll find out” is your best bet. Never - and we mean NEVER - say “I don’t know.”

Methodology
Step-by-step guidance on how the project will progress, including what PS personnel will do and what is expected from the client personnel. If you don’t have instructions for a project, stop what you are doing and create them. This could be the biggest time- and money-saving effort you do all year.

Forum for Feedback
PS field resources are the closest thing to on-the-ground eyes and ears at any location – as often as possible they should provide feedback quickly and easily to other departments within the company about what is happening with the client – good, bad and ugly. There is nothing worse than having a client who is frustrated because he/she can’t get the invoices from your company mailed to the correct billing address, and the company representative standing in front of him/her can’t get anyone to pick up the phone either. Really doesn’t do much for the “all for one, one for all” mantra.

Every item listed above is a valuable piece of information. Put it next to the product information and you have the whole picture. With both, you create a marketing campaign that produces exponential returns from clients. Arm your resources with the information they need to market the solution. If you market right, the clients are sold on what you have to offer!

What does it mean to be a mentor /coach?

2008-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Article first published at PS Village October 2007

As a veteran of the corporate climb I grew up, like most of you, on hard work and little advice. Early in any career you survive on pure will or youthful ignorance to succeed. But as you stockpile the good, bad and ugly encounters in your repertoire, you begin to use your experience to help navigate not just your career but the careers of others. Mentoring and coaching is skill that every great leader needs to have. So, what does it mean to be a mentor or coach?
Some think it is an annual review where you give and receive the ‘do better cards’. Some think it is leaning back in their chairs and telling of ‘when I started this career .. blah blah blah’. Others think only sports analogies will give them the distinction of ‘coach’. Categorically all of the above, while useful tools in some cases, have nothing to do with being a mentor or coach. Being a mentor or coach is about the mentored / coached; helping bring clarity to a goal and tasks to an end result.

I got such clarity early in my career when I met my first real mentor/coach – and of all unlikely places, in a pulp mill. Now those who know me, realize that stylish footwear is part of my passion – so the steel toed shoes made by RedWing did not fit my goal and objective of style. But, the learning opportunity afforded me as one the IT staffers far outweighed the horror of lace up combat boots. Our boss was a fabulous mentor and coach – he helped me, for the first time in my career, see that what I did in my daily, weekly and monthly tasks were directly connected to the goals and objectives of the mill and the parent company. In today’s buzz word style this would be known as cascading goals – and if you don’t have them where you work, you need to get them.

Most companies have a mission statement and then annually set goals in line with that mission. These objectives are typically tied to revenue and customer satisfaction. But how does the IT staffer ever know how they affect the revenue – because they don’t sell anything or produce the widgets or cup stock. And customers - Who are they? They don’t talk to or see the company’s customers. So when Dixie Cup calls and complains about the 45 railcars loaded with cup stock all bearing the exact same batch number label (they are suppose to be unique) – who in IT knows about it? All we hear is that the label printer is on the fritz again and someone needs to strap on their ugly shoes and get down to the finishing house and fix it! Yesterday!

During this unfortunate series of events, our boss/mentor/coach, took the opportunity to bring clarity to the goals of mill. Customer satisfaction – well Dixie was none too happy. And revenue – after refunds, rail charges to/from/to the client, labor to refill the order, etc. – pricy to say the least. So beginning that day, not during reviews, we all set goals reflecting what we could do to affect revenue and customer satisfaction. From there, we reviewed our daily, weekly and monthly tasks to ensure we were progressing toward our goals. The lesson - if we are doing a task not related to one of the goals, then we are not doing the right task. Basically, if you don’t have goals, how does anyone know what to do each day?

What a difference one meeting can make. Companies are powered by the individuals working to accomplish daily, weekly and monthly tasks. So I challenge each of you to have that meeting in your teams, set the clarity of the group’s and the individuals’ goals. Then proceed to the list of tasks that will carry them to the end result. Be a mentor and coach – help your colleagues, peers and subordinates realize their contribution and value of the work they perform.

Getting what you want ….

2008-02-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you, but I have read so many articles lately about how to get what you want from others – there is the feeler, the sensor, the thinker, and the intuitor; the quick start, the fact finder, the follow thru and the implementer … the DISC of MBTI. I could go on and on … what I want to know is what ever happened to just ask nicely?

A smile and the word Please can get you pretty far along the path to getting whatever you are asking for. Did we somehow, somewhere forget about this magic word and the happy face? And after someone helps you with whatever you need, there is another magic set of words – Thank You. This will go a long way in ensuring that when you ask that person again, they are very willing to help out, just because you appreciated their previous efforts.

In the past 22 years, I have worked with and for every combination of personality and all of them respond very well to Please and Thank You. It is something we have known since about the age of 2 – when we really wanted that piece of candy or Sippy cup of sugary soda. Our parents and grandparents insisted we use good manners and ask nicely. What was it Grandma always said ‘you will get more with honey than with vinegar’.

So stop being a bunch of sour-pusses – SMILE and say Please and Thank you! You will be amazed at the overwhelming joy you will get in return. And isn’t that what we all want?