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Pass me the keys please…

Jul 13

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

No not the keys to the car, the keys to my business success!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few keys to making your business better? For many in business its about building the team they have so they can leverage their time and money more effectively. So here goes, check these key tips out to help you create a team to assist you to be more successful in business.

1. Know you need to plan for people - If you aim to get staff at the last minute to fill a gap, chances are you will end up with a few challenges down the track, get a clear idea of what sorts of skills you want and the attitude you need to make the job work for you. Then hire carefully with these key points in mind.

2. Train them - Okay so you are not big on training, it does not need to be big, just effective. Make a list of what things they need to know and tick them off as you show them… Where things are, who the OHS officer is, how the system works, who does what, who their buddy is. Do it bit by bit and share the load with others if you have a few people in the team already.

3. Buddy them – Link the person to a buddy, a buddy will look after them for proably a few weeks until they know things inside and out. Then you can assess the persons performance three ways, from your observations, the buddies view point and a chat to the person in question.

4, Chat to them – Find out how day one went, then day two, day four, day seven and so on. Keep them in the loop about things that happen and things you expect. Remember to be friendly and fair, so tell all the team the same things in a friendly way, inspire them, don’t push them.

5. Start them late – Most people start a job on a monday, but what if its was a thursday or friday… they don’t get a brain overload that way and you ease them into the role in a more relaxed way… Chances are they will remember more of the info you want them to remember as well.

6. Career path - Provide a series of steps for them in the business, its probably only a title and then a small rise in pay, but it can build a sense of self esteem, self worth, growth and development and not just become another job they turn up to day in day out without any opportunities.

7. Reward them with incentives - It may only be a few small things, concession items like dinner for two, an award plague for x years of service, but the aim is to show you care about their contribution and provide the little things along the way that make their job worth doing. ure  you pay them but this little add ons can have a huge bonus effect becuase people generally love it when they are noticed for all the right things.

8. Share the businesses successes - Peoople often like feeling they played a part in the development of something and in this case it can be a big buzz to know you helped the business to win a job, create better systems and so on. BUT you have to tell them about it and not just expect them to figure out that things are going well.

So there’s a few keys to your business success, keeping the team firing on all cylinders. Its not rocket science but it can cause your busines to shoot for the stars!

What do you know…

Jul 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

People are only as good as what they know. That’s a simple piece of information everyone should know. But very importantly in business its a great thing to be aware of with staff and customers alike. You might assume they know lots of things like you do, but when push comes to shove you might find out too late they don’t know what you thought they knew… and that can be VERY CHALLENGING.

Here’s an example, I remember in Uni I wanted to buy a typewriter to do assignments with (my handwriting is illegible to most…) and my father in law asked me did I get one that was a word processor? I gave a blank stare, at time I did not know what that meant… I fobbed him off with a “Oh yeah it can plug into some thing to print out a thingy…” and I did everythng I could to change the subject.

Clearly I did not know what the term meant or how it would be of value to me.

There are plenty of examples I am sure you can think of. Of real interest to me here though is to raise the awareness of management training to small and medium business operators. Many are tradespeople who learn a skill, start a business but are unable to grow the business successfully as they do not know how to manage it, they were never taught that.

And often its right across the board, staffing, finances, leadership and so on. So to ensure you are able to make your business sustainable, make the time to learn more so you can be, and do more in your business.

The Four Styles – Acting on the Golden Rule

Jun 12

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | 3 Comments

With the natural differences among the four behavioral types in mind, pretend that you want to give four people 15-20 minutes to make three simple decisions:

1. Where the next meeting will take place
2. When it will happen
3. The theme of the meeting

Quite by accident, your group consists of one Relater, one Thinker, one Director, and one Socializer who all believe in practicing The Golden Rule. Do you think they’ll get the job done? Perhaps, or perhaps not, depending on how each responds to one another in handling the simple task. Let’s see why this may not work out.

As they walk into the room, the Director typically speaks first. “Here’s my plan…

The Socializer says, “Hey! Who died and left you boss?”

The Thinker says, “You know there seems to be more here than meets the eye. We might want to consider some other relevant issues and break into sub-committees to explore them.”

The Relater smiles and says, “We may not get this done if we don’t work as a team like we have before.”

If you think that I’m stacking the deck, consider putting all four of one behavioral type into the room to make those decisions. They’d get the job done, wouldn’t they? Not if they follow the Golden Rule verbatim!

What do you call it when you send four Directors into the same room? War!

Or four Thinkers? Paralysis by analysis!

And four Relaters? Nothing! They sit around smiling at each other: “You go first.” “No, why don’t you go first. By the way, how’s the family?”

When four Socializers walk out, try asking them if they’ve gotten the job done. “Get what done?” They’ve had a party and instead come out with 10 new jokes and stories.

I may be exaggerating to make a point, but in some cases, not by much. Directors tend to have the assertiveness and leadership initiative to get tasks started. They may then delegate to others for follow-through, enabling the Dominant Directors to start still other new projects that interest them more.

Thinkers typically are motivated by their planning and organizational tendencies. If we want a task done precisely, find a Thinker. Of the four types, they’re the most motivated to be correct — the quality-control experts.

Relaters have persistence and people-to-people strengths — patience, follow-through, and responsiveness. When we have a problem, we may choose to go to a sympathetic-appearing Steady Relater because he or she listens, empathizes, and reacts to our feelings.

Socializers are natural entertainers who thrive on involvement with people. They also love to start things, but often don’t finish them. In fact, they may pick up three balls; throw them in the air, and yell, “Catch!” Emotional, enthusiastic, optimistic, and friendly, Socializers usually pep up an otherwise dull environment.

Nurturing creativity…..

Jun 10

Posted by Bren Ryan in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Personal Development, The Board Room, The Operations Dept | 1 Comment

Well, I guess not much got done that afternoon, but I bet there is never any bad ideas there…. Read the rest of this entry »

Apathy is a Major Social Problem — But Who Cares?

Jun 5

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | No Comments

Actually, it is — and we all should care because it’s enthusiasm, not apathy, that makes the world go ’round. John Wesley, the famous founder of Methodism, was asked how he was able to attract such crowds when he preached. He replied, “I just set myself on fire and people will come from miles to watch me burn.”

Being enthusiastic isn’t merely talking energetically and gesturing wildly about your passion. It can take a quieter path. Maybe your enthusiasm is revealed by the earnestness and persistence with which you seek to get others involved. Maybe it’s shown by your strength of commitment, your refusal to become discouraged. Maybe it’s that spark in your eye, or that warm smile, and the unmistakable genuineness that emanates from you as you explain, again and again, your mission.

How People Learn

Jun 2

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development | No Comments

“The longest journey on earth begins with a single step.”
(Anonymous)

Can you remember when you first learned how to drive a car? Before you learned how, you were in the Ignorance stage. You didn’t know how to drive the car and you didn’t even know why you didn’t know how to drive it.

When you first went out with an instructor to learn how to drive, you arrived at the Phase 2: Awareness. You still couldn’t drive, but because of your new awareness of the automobile and its parts, you were consciously aware of why you couldn’t drive. You may have felt overwhelmed by the tasks before you, but when these tasks were broken down one by one, they weren’t so awesome after all. They became attainable. Step by step, familiarity replaced fear.

With some additional practice and guidance, you were able to become competent in driving the car through recognition of what you had to do. However, you had to be consciously aware of what you were doing with all of the mechanical aspects of the car as well as with your body. You had to be consciously aware of turning on your blinker signals well before you executed a turn. You had to remember to monitor the traffic behind you in your rearview mirror. You kept both hands on the wheel and noted your car’s position relative to the centerline road divider. You were consciously aware of all of these things as you competently drove. This third phase is the hardest stage – the one in which your people may want to give up. This is the Practice stage. People tend to feel uncomfortable when they goof, but this is an integral part of Phase 3. Human beings experience stress when they implement new behaviors, especially when they perform them imperfectly.

In Phase 3, you must realize that you’ll want to revert to the older, more comfortable behaviors, even if those behaviors are less productive. At this phase, you must realize it’s alright to make mistakes. In fact, it’s necessary so you can improve through practice, practice and more practice.

Returning to the car example, think of the last time that you drove. Were you consciously aware of all of the actions that I just mentioned above? Of course not! Most of us, after driving awhile, progress to a level of Habitual Performance. This is the level where we can do something well and don’t even have to think about the steps. They come “naturally” because they’ve been so well practiced that they’ve shifted to automatic pilot. This final stage, Phase 4, is when practice results in assimilation and habitual performance; where your productivity increases beyond its previous level and reaches a new and higher plateau.

This four-phase model for success can help you break out of the rut most of us dig for ourselves. By experiencing success and encouragement at each level, change can be exciting instead of intimidating. The bottom line is this: skills and attitudes will both improve by taking one step at a time.

Are You Eating All Your Marshmallows?

May 20

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | No Comments

A fascinating study was conducted at the University of Stamford some years ago. Four-year-old children were placed in a room, one by one, and a marshmallow was placed in front of them. Each child was told that if they didn’t eat the marshmallow in fifteen minutes, they would get two; but if they ate the marshmallow in front of them, they wouldn’t get another one. Two out of three kids ate the marshmallow. Fifteen years later, there was a follow up to the study and what was found was incredible. Every child that participated in the study and hadn’t eaten the marshmallow was successful and many of the children who had eaten the marshmallow were not doing well at all. Some had dropped out of school, others were not making good grades, and others still were very much in debt.

If you only saved and invested only $5 a day in a mutual fund averaging a 10% yearly return (instead of spent it on junk food, cigarettes or alcohol) from age twenty one to age sixty five, you’d have nearly an extra $1,500,000 at retirement.

The conclusion of the study was that people who are able to delay gratification have a much better chance of being successful in life.

There are marshmallow eaters and marshmallow resisters in our society, but the eaters outnumber the resisters three to one.

This principle is perhaps the only success principle that can be applied by anyone. Even if you don’t apply any other principles, financially at least, you will be successful.

How Conflicts build up, and how to resolve them

Apr 27

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development | 1 Comment

Organizational conflict can occur at several levels: between individuals, between groups and between organizations. While we will focus on interpersonal conflict, the principles and ideas discussed here are also valid for inter-group and inter-organizational conflicts.

Conflict typically proceeds through four stages even if each step is not recognized as such. The phases identified by theorist Louis Pondy are as follows:

Phase 1: Latent — When two or more parties must cooperate with one another in order to achieve a desired objective, there is potential for conflict. Latent conflict is often created whenever change occurs. Examples are a budget cutback, a change in organizational direction, a change in a personal goal or value, a new crisis project added to an already overloaded work force, or an expected occurrence (such as a salary increase) not happening.

Phase 2: Perceived — This is the point when members are becoming more aware of a problem, even if they are not sure where it comes from. Incompatibility is perceived and tension begins.

Phase 3: Felt — The parties begin to focus in on differences of opinion and interests, sharpening perceived conflict. Internal tensions and frustrations begin to crystallize around specific, defined issues and people begin to build emotional commitment to their particular position.

Phase 4: Manifest — The outward display of conflict occurs when the opposing parties plan and follow through with acts to frustrate one another. Conflict is very obvious at this point.

As conflict proceeds through the stages, resolution becomes more difficult. People become more locked into their positions and more convinced that the conflict must be a win or lose situation. The ideal is to recognize conflict early and work for a resolution that is a win for each of the parties.

Conflict Resolution Behavior

There are five basic behaviors that will help you resolve conflict in almost any situation you encounter. They will allow you to benefit from positive disagreement without having those disagreements escalate into out-of-control personality conflicts that damage the morale and productivity of the organization. These basics are:

Openness — state your feelings and thoughts openly, directly, and honestly without trying to hide or disguise the real object of your disagreement. Don’t attribute negative statements about the other person to unknown others. Use I-statements and talk about how you feel and what you want. Focus on current specifics and on identifying the problem.

Empathy — listen with empathy. Try to understand and feel what the other person is feeling and to see the situation from her point of view. Demonstrate your understanding and validate the other person’s feelings. Comments such as “I appreciate how you feel” … “I understand your feelings” … “I’m sorry I made you feel that way” … let the other person know that you are sincere in understanding her views.

Supportiveness — describe the behaviors you have difficulty with rather than evaluating them. Express your concern for and support of the other person. Let him know you want to find a solution that benefits both of you. State your position tentatively with a willingness to change your opinion if appropriate reasons are given. Be willing to support the other person’s position if it makes sense to do so.

Positiveness — try to identify areas of agreements and emphasize those. Look at the conflict as a way to better understand the entire situation and to possibly find a new and better solution. Be positive about the other person and your relationship. Express your commitment to finding a resolution that works for everyone.

Equality — treat the other person and his ideas and opinions as equal. Give the person the time and space to completely express his ideas. Evaluate all ideas and positions logically and without regard to ownership.

Conflicts offer many benefits if we can resolve them productively. Healthy disagreement can have a positive, generating effect. As people are forced to work through a problem to its solution, they get a chance to better understand the point of view of others. Successful resolution of small conflicts can diffuse the possibility of more serious conflicts and result in better working relationships.

Creating Employers of Choice.

Apr 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 1 Comment

With a shrinking job market and an aging workforce there are higher levels of competition for workers in the western world than probably at any time in our history.

How then will employers handle this situation and create workplaces, which employees will love to work in, be delighted by the work they do and generally be passionate about their job choice?

It’s easy to be in the outside looking in and offer possibilities to the employer, but in reality tight budgets, limited resources and often seemingly inflexible management practices make this process a challenge to be reckoned with.

Firstly lets take a look at some of the possibilities and then discuss how they might be implemented. Remember that a shrinking workforce means less people to do more of the work, so finding people to tackle these tasks may well be a solid challenge and one that needs dealing with now and not later.

  1. Formal and informal training – From on the job informal training that takes place on a daily basis to formal classroom training, make it useful to the business first up but in time it may be useful to offer the team other personal training that they can focus on without thinking about a job related outcome e.g. personal development training. From the induction program and beyond the aim may be to build a positive sense of belonging in the organisation.
  2. Flexible work hours – Many mature aged workers may not want to work a full time slot, but look to be involved in a workplace on a part time basis so they can enjoy a greater work life balance. With a shrinking workforce, remember they will be looking for the employers that suit them, not the other way around, so the focus then becomes one of lifestyle choice, rather than job choice.
  3. Great Conditions  - After all who wants to work on a place where the toilets need an overhaul, the lunch rooms microwave has formed a biological growth that has not yet been classified and the office is as inviting as a prison cell. It’s simple, and need not be expensive if you can clearly demonstrate that it is a work on progress then you will have a better chance of keeping them on board. Also work on the psychological conditions to ensure they are healthy, inclusive and team oriented to ensure the right people are leading more of the right people to create a legacy of excellence.
  4. Community Minded – At the top end this is could be a company offering staff for free, while they pay them, or a big donation to a community group. On a smaller scale it could be supporting a community venture by al putting in small donations and measuring the results. This sense of connectedness indicates a caring approach to the wider community and not just a profit-taking grab by management. Often staff look for a sustainable approach being taken by your business so they can feel their normal job is making a positive impact on the community.
  5. Clear Values – All organisations have values (things they care about) some know them intimately and publish them; others have them but don’t know it. Discover the things that are important and find ways to explore them with the team and bring them to fruition in a way that counts for the team.
  6. Develop a Sense of Ownership – Involve the team in discussions on how the organisation is going, what should be in the business and or strategic plan. Consider 360-degree feedback loops to develop things further. When they are “Co-owners” they are less likely to walk away. Other possibilities can include surveys and focus groups, peer support, buddy systems and the like.
  7. Rewarding Work – Probably the most obvious point of the lot. It can be easy to give a person a job and walk away, but if you take a coaching or mentoring role with the person you can assist them to have input into developing the role so they can have a solid sense of fulfillment.

So that’s the list, NOTE I have not listed wage rises as an incentive device for staff. Researchers have often found that productivity goes up for a while and the effect often fades in time. Also this is not a definitive list, but intended as a starting point for your organisation to build from. With the above points, may I suggest you take the headings and jot down bullet point ideas on how you might develop each of these to suit your business situation. Of course you will have involved the team in this process, so getting ideas on how to implement them should be just as easy as involving them.

5 Steps for Building a Business Growth Strategy – A Quick Reference Guide

Mar 30

Posted by Jenny Stilwell in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, The Board Room | No Comments

  1. Set Goals
  2. Develop Business Growth Strategy
  3. Align & Mentor People
  4. Execute Plan
  5. Review Performance

The strategic planning process is not simple. It involves understanding your market, your competitors, your clients, the motivations and drivers of the people on your team, your own drivers and needs, what is working and what isn’t, where the core competencies are for the business and the individuals in it, how ‘big’ should a goal be, what is the ‘vision thing’ for your business, and how do you grow it and have a life at the same time.

Not easy questions, not a quick process. However, if you use this Quick Reference Guide as a prompt to remember the key foundations for growth – Goals, Business Growth Strategy, People, Execution and Reviews – you will be able to gain value from the process as you build your organization.

Goal Setting
Goals must be SMARTA

  • Simple to follow – too many goals won’t stay top of mind
  • Measurable – how will you know when you get there if you don’t or can’t measure
  • Achievable – if the goal is set too high, it becomes de-motivating if it can’t be reached
  • Realistic goals – it has to be realistic to the business itself and the time
  • Timeframes – must also be set at realistic dates
  • Attractive – if the goals are not something that really appeals to you from an emotional level, you are unlikely to do it. They must be goals from the heart.

Goal setting should be a combination of past performance, future capabilities and opportunities, with your real dreams for big goals and a bigger picture.
Goals are the stepping-stones to the bigger picture.

Business Growth Strategy
Understand your environment
Be honest and realistic about your company’s core competencies

Brainstorm all your options and opportunities and how they fit together
‘The Vision Thing’ is critical – without it, you’re not going far
The Vision must be championed and reinforced by the CEO –a key part of the CEO’s role is to provide a very clear direction
Buy-in from competent people in the business is critical to successful implementation of the business growth strategy
Ask yourself what is the purpose of your business
What will the business look like at some point in the future if you focus on that purpose?
What sort of team do you need and want to help you realise that purpose and that vision?

Align & Mentor People
Mentoring adds real value to business people in key areas such as leadership, and management expertise and skills.
Not everyone wants to be, or needs to be, a leader. Some are more effective and supportive as followers. For those who want to, or have to, lead the pack, leadership skills are required.

There are different types of leaders, but all can benefit from understanding their impact on others and the world around them, their communication style and effectiveness, and their emotional intelligence in connecting with people in a more effective way.
Management skills can be learned along the way, but learning by osmosis does not usually produce the breadth or depth of expertise that is required by managers or business owners in a highly competitive and dynamic market.

Business mentoring not only helps teach these skills, but helps develop and strengthen them to produce new levels of confidence in the person being mentored. This applies to managers, managers-in-training, senior executives, entrepreneurs and professionals in their own practice.

Execution

  • Stay focused
  • Work to timeframes
  • Use the roadmap as a working document
  • Enlist support where needed
  • Execution is the critical part of the process, and why many strategies fail – because nothing is done, or the plan isn’t actually followed, which produces a whole different set of outcomes.
  • A key person needs to drive execution of the business growth strategy.

Review Performance

  • Accountability for, and to, everyone involved
  • Individual & business progress is importance – individuals achieve & business grows
  • When goals are fun/attractive/exciting, there will be a commitment and certainly a desire to achieve them.

Jack LaLanne — Physical Genius

Mar 27

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development | No Comments

When we think of genius, for the most part we think in terms of mental or intellectual power. We think of brilliant human beings. We think of mathematicians or inventors or writers. Painters and sculptors may be in a slightly different category — a little more physical and intuitive — but even here, we still don’t think of artistic gifts as a physical skill. It’s the quality of the mind and heart that manifests as paint on canvas.

In light of this, let’s look at physical genius — the genius that expresses itself through physical action, whether it’s running or swimming or hitting a ball or, perhaps, even hitting another person. By the time we’re done, I think you’ll have an appreciation of what physical genius really is — how you can connect with it in your own life — and how the person I’ve chosen as our model in this session can help you do that.

He once did 1,033 pushups in 23 minutes — an average of 44 pushups every 60 seconds.

He towed 70 boats at once, carrying 70 people each from the Queen’s Way Bridge in Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary ocean liner, which was anchored a mile and a half away — and he was handcuffed and shackled while he did it. This was to celebrate his 70th birthday.

He also has made the supposedly impossible swim from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf, in San Francisco. He not only made it, but once again he was handcuffed and shackled when he did it. Just to make it more interesting, he was towing a 1,000-pound boat.

Jack LaLanne did not start out as a genius of physical fitness. Into his teenage years, he was a sugar addict and junk food junkie. In an interview, he explained what this meant. “It made me weak and it made me mean,” he said. “It also made me sick. I was nearsighted, and I had terrible skin problems.

He was 15 years old when he attended a talk by a nutritionist in his hometown of Oakland, California. This was a turning point in his life — and at that moment, he decided to totally recreate himself. He began lifting weights at the local YMCA, and he made changes in what he ate and drank. He also read everything he could find on anatomy, nutrition, and health. Very quickly, Jack developed the lean, muscular body of an athlete — and a thorough knowledge of physical fitness to go with it. But rather than keep all this to himself, he was determined to share it with the world. He began to develop approaches to physical fitness and nutrition that were both highly effective and scientifically sound. Many, if not most, of the exercise devices in today’s health clubs were first thought of by Jack LaLanne. As he said, there are 640 muscles in the human body, and he wanted to have a specific exercise for each of them. So he invented the tools that could do that.

Since then, Jack LaLanne has done many amazing things. But none of them are more amazing than the way he invented an entire industry. In 1936, he opened the nation’s first health and fitness center, on the third floor of an office building in Oakland. He was 21 years old — and he knew more about the workings of the human body than most doctors. Even so, many people viewed him with suspicion. Weightlifting, for example, which LaLanne has always advocated, was believed to cause heart attacks. Incredible as it seems, even coaches discouraged weight training by athletes, which was supposed to make them “muscle bound.”

Over the years, LaLanne’s message began to be heard. In the 1950s he began to appear on television as an advocate and motivator for fitness and health. The message was simple but compelling: Everyone should engage in physical exercise every day — and everyone can do that, including the elderly and the infirm. Even in 2004, approaching his ninth decade, LaLanne practices what he preaches. He took up golf at the age of 50, and shot his age four times when he was 73 and five times when he was 74. He still describes his daily workout as the top priority in his life, and he’s still coming up with new ideas and exercise programs.

When an interviewer asked about the differences between today and when he was first starting out, LaLanne replied, “It’s gratifying to see that everything I was preaching and advocating 50 years ago is being accepted. Back then I was a crackpot. Today I am an authority. And believe me, I can’t die. It would ruin my image!”

If this has sounded a bit like an infomercial for Jack LaLanne, don’t let that distract you from the facts of what LaLanne accomplished. He wanted to bring knowledge and experience of physical fitness to everybody — and he did it. Today there are many others in the field that he pioneered, but Jack La Lane was one of the very first. And his message was simple: you can become healthier and stronger, starting right now, no matter how unlikely that may seem. Just as importantly, he himself exemplified exactly what that meant.

In this sense, Jack LaLanne models what I mean by physical genius better than many professional athletes and Olympians. The fact is I could train as long and hard as I want, and I’ll never play in the NFL or run in the Olympics. But I can do what Jack LaLanne teaches. I can exercise every day and pay attention to what I eat and drink. You can do this also. And when you do, the genius who is your model — whether you realize it or not — is none other than Jack LaLanne.

Total Customer Satisfaction

Mar 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

This is it folks, the holy grail… Total Customer Satisfaction… TCS for short. Notice its not total customer excellence or any other nonesuch just plain old SATISFACTION.

It’s a part of the Six Sigma quality stuff and it makes sense, after all why would you want total customer DISsatiasfaction? does not compute right….

So making this work can be tricky but should be the overarching aim of ALL business. AND it should be for both the internal and external customers. (staff and the paying customers).

Here’s an example of how not to do it.

Scene: Hospital… Day surgery with an overnight stay. Players… Me and the staff. Date: recently…

Walk in, on time (a bit early actually) wait while one person handles the people waiting… other staff wander through most not happy looking, moving about here to there, paperwork bits flying about, xrays etc… “Who’s is this” “Dunno… ” shuffle shuffle… more papers, more people “NEXT”… That’s me, gave the details, yep I’m on the list, take a seat they will call you through soon. I was wondering who they were and where they were going to come from, people were coming in and going out of about five different doors! I look around, paper signs, reminders if you will, they were dog eared and all needed to be replaced… not a good look. Staff behind the counter seemed all over the place as well.

“Mr Gray…” asked a poilite young lass, “Hi Mr Gray, I’m Alice, this way please” She was nice, I later found out that it was her second day in the facility and she was happy, one other guy was too, he had been there 22 years and loved his job, amongst his first statements to me was “As long as you keep clear of the politics its not a bad place to be.” he says with a wink. A nice guy, shook my hand and held my shoulder for a brief reassuring moment, good.

There was paperwork, I didn’t mind that, I just answered the questions. There was a lady, grumpy looking, needed to have some major work on her attitude and girth!, not a good role model for a healthy lifestyle, she lost her pen more often than she wrote with it, got grumpier as she went.

It’s a surgical facility, beds lined up, curtains flipped back and forth, machines that go “bing” etc. The aneasthetist came in for a chat, good questions, good beside manner, nice guy. Okay yah.. the surgeon came in, fleeting visit, his assistant marks the spot for surgery with a pen (felt tipped!) okay on to the trolley, we’re off, jab in the arm, injection and good night nursey!

Surgery, slice and dice… I will spare you the gory details as I did not see them to tell you anything about it.

Two hours later, up to the ward from the recovery room, I even cracked a few jokes on the way. Hmm should have saved that… not to worry the lass that was assigned to me Nurse R was on the ball, checked out the wound, asked questions, nice and polite.. so far so good, but in amongst the movement in the room (four beds with men in various states of ‘repair’) there were the odd interns, other nursing staff, cleaners, visitors, this place was a veritable high st at noon. Questions were asked of each of us, about things, tea, coffee, have you had your scans, where are your charts? etc.

In the hubbub and shuffling one mans charts did go missing, disappeared for a few hours. (not good!) Customer not staisfied (Dr for one, head nurse for two and patient that makes three all up!) the other guy was not fussed in the bed near me either, his “bag of fluids” was a different brand to what he was used to, “not happy Jan!” they washed out the old one (the new one did not fit on to the existing fittings very well, worried about a leak you see.) I was also worried about a leak, and was handed a plastic recepticle in which to dispense my concerns… okay yah! they want to keep it to see how much, “Just pop it on the trolley next to the magazine you are reading Mr Gray, we will pick it up soon… I hoped no one mistook it for apple juice, although the pharmacist nearly elbowed it over the edge!

On the story goes, on into the night! the night nursey (no names please you might forget…) Was sharp as a pin but delighted in chatting to the other nurseys until 3am just outside the door… “How did you sleep” Mr Gray (on to the chart went restless sleep!) 2am one of the guys wants to get up, no can do, Steve to the rescue, press the nursey button, the nurse walked straight by him and got to me, I sent her in the right direction, was that a faint thankyou from either… no I did not think so… Why didn’t he press his own, could not reach it.

In the morning the cleaners mopped, no sign to say wet floor thanks very much! and no sign of nursey for about 15 mins while it dried. Interns followed the Dr’s and we all heard the plight of this ones bowels, that ones tubes, and this ones stroke and the drama it’s causing… It was amusing, good thing I did not know any of the guys, it would have been a solid breach of privacy in my view (I think it still is!) Lost charts came back, scans taken were sorted out and my Dr paid a cursory visit in the blink of an eye with an asisstant that was not introduced. (names, just more things to remember…)

I got out alive, saw a few sour faces (patients and some of the staff.) and thought that the customer satisfaction was in all a bit LOW.

No doubt there will be a new crew of patients with hopefully a good dose of patience, and a nursey and Dr or two to see after their aliments. I know its a busy world and its spins a bit faster each time I look, but please dear people stop for a moment and create a few more satisfied souls.

Leadership frameworks

Mar 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

When it comes to leadership, business operators are given the reigns often by default rather than as a planned part of the process. So here’s a framework you can use as a starting point. At any time you can refer back to it and ask yorself, “How am I doing in each of these areas?” it might just be the development framework you ahve been looking for…

A suggestion might be to grab a piece of paper and write down the practical implications to your organisation, then assess yourself and your organisation based on these.
Effective leadership utilises the following aspects:

Technical
An effective leader demonstrates the capacity to optimise the organisations, human, and physical resources through relevant management practices and organisational systems that contribute to the achievement of the organisations vision and goals.

  • Thinks and plans strategically
  • Aligns resources with desired outcomes
  • Holds self and others to account

Human
An effective leader demonstrates the ability to foster a safe, purposeful and inclusive environment, and a capacity to develop constructive and respectful relationships with all stakeholders.

  • Advocate for all stakeholders
  • Develops relationships
  • Develops individual and collective capacity

Educational
An effective leader demonstrates the capacity to lead, manage and monitor organisational improvements through a current and analytical understanding of the organisations processes and its implications for enhancing the organisation as a whole.

  • Shapes the structure and style of teaching
  • Focusses on achievement
  • Promotes enquiry and reflection

Symbolic
An effective leader demonstrates the capacity to model important values, beliefs and behaviours to the organisation and wider community, including a commitment to creating and sustaining effective personal learning communities within the organisation at all levels.

  • Develops and manages self
  • Aligns actions and shared values
  • Creates and shares knowledge

Cultural
An effective leader demonstrates an understanding of the characteristics of effective organisations and a capacity to promote a sustainable vision of the future, underpinned by joint purposes and values, which secure the commitment and alignment of stakeholders to realise the potential of the organisation.

  • Shapes the future
  • Develops the organisations culture
  • Sustains partnerships and networks

Your aim as a leader, based on all of the above, is to create an organisatation that thrives, not just survives. To do this you might have to think outside the square and stretch yourself to make relevance of the information to your organisation. However the results can be exceptional and you may just find the leadership skills you thought you might never have, have just become achieveable.

Take the bull by the horns as they say, and lead on…

Time Management Tips to get more every day

Feb 27

Posted by Wayne Berry in Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Planning, The Sales Dept | 1 Comment

“I don’t have enough time”, “I have to work late tonight”, “I have to pick up the kids”, “I have to go to the supermarket”, “I’m too tired to get out of bed that early”, “I’m too exhausted after work”, “I think I need another rest day”, “I don’t have time to take a lunch break”.

We’ve all made these excuses at one time or another in our lives or careers.

We can all make these excuses today but if we are truly committed to achieving in life, we have to find a way to overcome this sometimes overwhelming hurdle.

As sales and business professionals, we all face challenges:

* The challenges of learning new business skills
* The challenge of overcoming the fear of rejection
* The challenge of moving to the absolute limit of our comfort zone.

However, one challenge that we are not all so apt at facing head-on, is something that we all must deal with no matter who we are and at what level of success we are currently achieving. It catches up to every one of us.

It’s the challenge of time management.

Here are a few quick tips on managing your time more efficiently and getting more done in less time.

1. Long-Term Goal Setting

This is the first step in proper and successful time management in any area. We need to set goals. We need to decide what we want to achieve so that we can set up a plan to get there. Once we know a desired outcome, we can gain greater concentration, constantly focusing on our desired future performance.

2. Short-Term Goal Setting:
Once our long term, large-scale goals are set, it is also important to set mini goals for ourselves along the way. This will help us to focus on our long-term vision by providing us with short-term motivation.

3. Prioritizing

Along with setting our goals on both a large and small scale, we also have to force ourselves to prioritize our activities and put them into our daily calendars.

4. Scheduling

In scheduling our days, we must consider what we can realistically accomplish in the each 24 hour block. We need to plan to make the best use of our time. This may mean giving up certain activities that do not contribute towards the achievement of our goals. Like TV, socializing and even sleeping as much as you may do now.

5. Attitude Assessment

Finally, we must also pay attention to our attitude and our commitment to our goals. Is there any part of our mindset that is holding us back or eating up our time? This is a problem that must be fixed before we can succeed. Is the goal something we really want to do? If so, then we need to get motivated. Go back to our original goal to remember why we wanted to accomplish this task in the first place.

Now we have no excuses. We know how to meet the physical and mental challenges of achieving our goals and there’s not much else that can stop us from success. With some goal setting, prioritizing, and a positive attitude, we can conquer the final challenge of time!

Have a great week. Make it a great week.

Does your business myth out?

Feb 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

Can I suggest you read the ‘E’ Myth by Michael Gerber. The book mentions creating an effective system of operation in your business, doing so can give your business a distinct edge over others who may be  throwing caution to the wind without a system of operation. Here’s the link to find the book…

E-Myth-Revisited

Think about it, you build a business to a certain point and then at some stage in the future you decide to sell it, retire or whatever. How will someone be able to step into your shoes and take it over?
What if you fall ill or you have to take a long earned trip and leave some one else to follow up?

I guess a measure of a businesses effectiveness in the long term could be gauged by this, the handover factor. How long would it take for someone else to take it on and get it up to speed?

Systems are also invaluable to assist the company to build on its strengths. Having a system to work with and ‘tweak’ will give your business the edge against most of your competitors. It can assist you to find loopholes and areas for improvement.

Of course all of this will only work if the staff have an input into it at some stage.

One business I know of spent a few weekends of hard slog by the management team to develop a system to be used by all the staff, before long the staff had let aspects of the new system slip, simple because they did not value it as they had not played a part in developing it. All the time that went into developoing the system went out the window for a while and caused some ‘staffing hassles’

A smart organisation is a learning one, and this team learnt the hard way. Ask yourself this, If we could have a better system of operation, what would it be, what would it look like? How would it feel… and how would we include everyone in it so they ‘buy in’ to the process (new team members buy in easily, they have to accept the system as it stands).

In time bringing a new system in to being can be time consuming, so consider how best to implement it. Could it be done section by section? Could the staff be delegated some ‘downtime’ to focus on the developing the systems tasks? All in all, getting the results can be exhausting, however only if you let it. Of course remember planning to do this is half the battle, failing to plan can get you into hot water very quickly.

Checklists and other systems of operation are only going to be useful if they are valued by all that use the system, they can be easily followed by a new employee or business owner, and is set up in a manner that ensures it can be easily, readily and regularly reviewed to ensure it adequately reflects the organisations development. In the end, which would you prefer to buy a businesswith a system or a business without one…

What’s your job?

Feb 21

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | No Comments

You run the business, you worked your fingers to the bone to get it up from zero to hero, you finally leveraged your way to add in some employees, and after all that you are starting to make the whole thing pay for itself handsomely. Well done.

So what’s your job now… In the begining you were everything to that business, boss, worker, marketing manager, operations manager, planner, ohs manager and the list goes on and on!

Now that you have some staff, and things are ticking over, it’s time to reflect, where are you and where do you want to be… In the “job” stakes are you doing what you want to be doing? Are you leading the organisation to do what it should do and do it well?

For many business owner operators and even for some CEO’s of large businesses they have the role thrust upon them of being the leader. So for you, are you leading well? Do you have the right attributes, attitudes etc to make a fantastic leader or just a Manager of the team…

So, if you are at the top of the organisation, I beleive it’s very useful to review what you are doing and are you doing it well. You wouldn’t send a boy out to do a man’s job would you? Exactly, so step up to the plate and become what your organisation needs, clear cut decisive and committed leadership, after all who else will…

Abstain From Judging

Feb 7

Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, The Customer Service Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

As someone once advised, “Grow antennae, not horns.” If you prejudge someone as shallow, crazy, or ill informed, you automatically cease paying attention to what they say. So a basic rule of listening is to judge only after you have heard and evaluated what they say. Do not jump to conclusions based on how they look, or what you have heard about them, or whether they are nervous.

In fact, a good exercise would be to go out of your way to listen to a difficult speaker. Maybe he talks with a thick accent. Or talks much more rapidly, or more slowly, than you, or uses a lot of big words. Whatever difficulty this speaker poses, seize it as an opportunity not to prejudge but to practice your listening skills. Given some time, you will become more comfortable and effective in listening to diverse styles.

She fainted, and I was shocked!

Jan 31

Posted by Steve Gray in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

We have a new student from overseas in our house, we have two students we host from a local school and have done it for years, we love it. Each time one leaves or completes yr 12 to go to uni we get a new one. This year was no different and the new one is a little younger than we have had in a while. They are overseas students and the issues with language keeps us communicating very carefully most of the time.So last night we sat down to dinner, and the youngest one was not saying much (not uncommon) but then she got up from the table and collapsed (I was glad I didn’t cook!) really she just fainted, she had not eaten all day and had only had a little water, so the result was a teenager flat out on the floor!

After the initial panic my wife and I remembered some basic first aid skills, made a hurried call to the school coordinator. I get our long term students to fill out an info sheet so I can know about any allergies etc, so I knew she had none of those happening, it was a process of elimination and asking her questions etc to establish the situation better. It still caused a shock for me as its not every day a teenager faints in our house!
On evaluating the situation I was looking for any ways I could have done things differently and made a few pointers in my head, then it dawned on me, how about in the workplace.

Just like any workplace this was the scenario, zero incidents for 7 – 8 years, then voom, one that gets you thinking. So what would you do? A new employee starts and faints day one, perhaps its stress related, perhaps they did not eat beacuse of it (the stress that is!) perhaps they have a medical condition they did not want to let anyone know about due to any negative pre conceptions.

May I suggest you find ways of making them at ease and assist them to take care of themselves in those early moments in their new position. It could be a great time to evaluate any induction and orientation program you have in place or perhaps it’s time to start one.

How a few words can change a life

Jan 23

Posted by Sam Leader in Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

A friend described to me today how his 23 year old son ‘turned a corner’ just recently when working in a computer shop. Alistair was bursting with technical knowledge yet really lacked confidence. This all changed after he gave some advice to a customer whose daughter was starting uni.

“She’ll need this, and this. This is optional, but she won’t need that.” he told her. By the end of the discussion, the customer was sold and she complimented Alistair hugely for his help in making a difficult job so much easier.

As a result of this feedback, Alistair’s confidence bloomed. He has now completed a computer science course and has developed a strong sense that the world is his oyster. It may not be totally due to the customer’s feedback, but the experience was undoubtedly a catalyst.

Positive feedback acts like fast-grow fertiliser.

However, many of us fail to express gratitude when it’s deserved. Often we are too wrapped up in our own worlds to verbally appreciate good treatment from others.

A little bit of praise goes such a long way. We forget how fragile others are, and how much of a positive impact our words can have.

So next time you feel grateful, say it! Who doesn’t like to hear that their input is valued? Here at Flying Solo, we never tire of receiving favourable feedback.

I’m not talking about being phoney or sucking up to people. I just mean next time someone has helped you out, say that you appreciate it. It may be that you’ve received great service, but you may also want to thank a partner or a friend for helping you through a tough time, or for making life more fun.

You may not realise how powerful your words of gratitude are.

Work Like a Maniac – Play Like the Rich and Famous – It’s All About Balance!

Jan 18

Posted by Wayne Berry in Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, The Board Room | No Comments

Have you ever wondered how really high achievers manage to get so much done in a business day? Then manage to take so much time off with their family and friends.

Well in my experience it’s because they have learned how to “work like a maniac” when they work, but when they take time off – they really take time off!

Cruising the Pacific with your family sure beats 2 weeks at the local beach!

Hard work alone though does not guarantee success

I meet a great many sales people at our seminars who are seriously limiting their success in sales, because they simply can not fit anymore work into their days.

However they are doing it all wrong!

They are working as hard as they possibly can. In fact many are working harder than they should, and if they don’t change, they will eventually crash and burn and suffer the serious consequences of a ‘burn-out’.

But this need not happen

Hard work is a good idea, but hard work alone will not guarantee anyone’s success in sales.

I learned this pretty early in my sales career because I very quickly figured out that every year the company I was working for was going to increase my sales budget and expect me to achieve higher and higher results every year in the same amount of time.

What could I do?

The answer came to me one day when I had a ‘working lunch on-the-run with the Top Gun’ in our sales team. Ian explained to me how he had found that the answer was simply to be better organised than the average sales person.

I see, so to achieve more than the average sales person, one needs to be better organised that the average sales person. He shared some tips with me that day that changed my income, my level of success and life forever.

Since then I have made a study of successful sales people, indeed high achievers in all walks of life, and I have discovered that they all do certain things that make an amazing difference to the results they get in life.

I now teach these strategies in our TOP GUN® Sales Workshops and I have also coached thousands of sales professionals across more than 13 countries now in how to use these ideas to increase their sales and income.

And for sales people it’s a bigger challenge than for most people to manage their time effectively.

For sales people it’s a bigger challenge than for most people to manage their time effectively.

Here’s why.

  • Sales people often work in many different locations each day
  • We often work as our ‘own boss’
  • The distractions we face every day are many and varied
  • We face constant demands and interruptions
  • We are often reliant on other people. And the list goes on and on. So what can we do to get control of our time?

    • Control means less stress

    I think the first thing to realise is that unless we do take control, we will we never be in control of our career, our income, our goals or our life. And the degree to which we feel we are in control determines the amount of stress that we experience. So the real key to reducing stress is learning how we can be in control of our time.

    Know what your time is worth

    In our workshop on ‘How To Take Control of Your Time, Your Selling, Your Goals – Your Life’ I challenge participants to estimate what their time is really worth per hour. Then I show them a formula for working out what their time is really worth per hour.

    The true figure is often up to 10 times what they estimated.

    So what is your time worth?

    Here’s a tip – work out how many hours you will really be working over the next year to produce income.

    That will allow you to see what each hour is really worth when you are working.

    A healthy respect for your own time

    Here’s the point of understanding what you time is really worth. If you discover it’s really worth say $200 per hour (don’t scoff at this, work out your own figure) it puts how you use every hour at work into perspective.

    For example if someone invites you to take an hour off during your ‘Peak Selling Hours’ you’ll start considering the real cost of that coffee break.

    It’s not just $2,50 for the coffee. It’s $2.50 + $200 for your time. Is $202.50 too much to pay for a cup of coffee? You decide!

    Now before you think I am saying WORK WORK WORK all day long, let me point out that one of the most important keys to high achievement I teach is about…

    Creating balance in your life

    Life and success certainly is not about working every day of our life. Many sales people and managers striving to achieve great things fall into this trap.

    It’s important to value other dimensions of our lives, like time with family, time for health, time for self etc. Without these, money and wealth is meaningless.

    I teach that when you work, work. When you relax, relax. And as much as possible don’t let one intrude on the other.

    My Mentor and friend, the legendary success philosopher, E. James Rohn taught me a valuable concept back in my 20′s. A philosophy I now live my life by. Jim says…

    “Where ever you are be there!” Of course what Jim meant was focus is the key.When you are at work, work. When you are with your family, be there 100%. 

    Don’t answer that mobile phone. Don’t let the conversation drift into business. If you do, you’ll never truly have a break from your work.

    We need to live in the other dimensions of our life to maintain balance and mental fitness.

    Anyway until we speak again…

    Have a great week this week. Make it a great week!

    What you need to know about hiring a professional speaker

    Jan 3

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

    Debbie Carr - Coyote Management IntlChoosing a professional speaker or corporate trainer can be a daunting and risky task.  There are thousands of speakers all over the world so how do you choose?  My advice is to engage a bureau. The reason for this is that we know who the best speakers are and have existing relationships with them.  Many bureaus have hundreds to thousands of speakers, but we at Coyote, stay with a stable of about 140.  There is a very good reason for this, we have built good solid relationships and know that our speakers deliver.  All are experts in their topics.  I would personally find it very hard to represent people I do not know and have no relationship with.

    To ensure you gain the maximum benefit from your investment when hiring a speaker you should consider the following:

    • What is the purpose of the event; Is it to motivate staff, build up a team spirit, launch a  new product, customer service training, are your sales team in need of some serious motivation?
    • Is there a theme to your event which the speaker can tailor to?
    • Who is your audience; age range, percentage of females and males, their roles in the company or organisation?
    • What are the challenges in your organisation that need some expert advice?
    • What do you want your delegates to walk away with after hearing the speaker?
    • What message does your speaker need to convey to the audience?
    • What is the most important thing you want the audience to remember?
    • What don’t you want the speaker to say?  This is very important and needs to be made very clear to the speaker.
    • Will the speaker be permitted to sell his/her products?
    Once you have chosen your speaker some other things you will need to consider are:
     

    • Contract - Do you have the contract in place? Your bureau should arrange all this for you.
    • Materials - has the speaker sent up the materials for the conference i.e. workbooks? Have arrangements been made for distribution?
    • Signage - ensure that the event is clearly signposted.
    • Phone numbers - do you have the speaker’s mobile number, work number, home number and emergency number i.e. the bureau?
    • Dress code - have you informed the speaker of this?
    • Emergency - have you briefed the speaker what to say in an emergency situation?
    • Catering – have you advised the catering staff NOT to serve food whilst the speaker is presenting? If you are going to serve food have you checked with the speaker?
    • Contact on arrival - have arrangements been made for the speaker to make contact when they arrive on site?
    • Speaker’s introduction - Has the speaker’s introduction been given to the MC or introducer? Ideally, the speaker should brief the introducer.
    • Recording – are you intending to record the presentation? If yes, have you written agreement with the speaker?
    • Promotion – have you promoted the speaker? You can ask the speaker to write an article or press release.
    • Brief – have you discussed in detail the speaker’s brief?
    • Check in - have you spoken with the speaker at least two days before the event?
    Contracts

    Always ask the speaker or bureau for a contract. Our bureau has a standard practice of issuing the contract between the client and the speaker. Ensure that the following clauses are included in the contract.

    • Material Costs – if workbooks are being provided who is paying for them? Is it included in the speaker’s fee? Also, stipulate who will distribute the workbooks, will this be the responsibility of the speaker or will the meeting planner organise to have them distributed?
    • Travel Expenses - is the airfare business or economy? Many Australian professional speakers fly business class although sometimes trainers may fly economy. The meeting planner/client are not responsible for paying for fares other than the speaker, e.g. spouse, unless that is part of the contractual arrangement.
    • Speaker transportation- it is standard practice for the meeting planner/event organise to arrange for transfers to and from airport and venue.
    • Props - what equipment is needed, i.e. projector, whiteboard, what type of microphone? etc. Stipulate this in the contract.
    • Assistants/Staff - will the speaker be bringing an assistant; is this necessary, and if so, is it included in the speaker’s fee?
    • Transport of Materials - costs should be arranged between the event organiser and the speaker.
    • Recording - always obtain permission in writing from the speaker before the recording of any of the session.
    • Promotion & Publicity -is the responsibility of the event organiser.
    • Seating Arrangements - ensure that you have discussed the layout of the meeting room with the speaker and put this in the contract.
    • Audio-Visual Needs -discuss with speaker and have requirements stipulated in the contract.
    • Lectern, Podium -discuss with speaker and have requirements stipulated in the contract.
    • Venue Check - stipulate in the contract what time you want the speaker to arrive and whom to contact on arrival with phone number.
    • Meals - appropriate meals are required as part of the accommodation expenses.
    • Contact Details – always have both speaker and client mobile phone numbers in the contract.
    • Date of Meeting -ensure this is written in the contract.
    • Duration of the Presentation - ensure this is written in the contract.
    • Guarantee - is there a guarantee from the speaker if the conference organizers are not happy with the outcome?
    • Fee - always stipulate the fee and include any other costs, ie. accommodation, meals etc.
    • Cancellation Fee – have this stipulated in the contract. Most speakers will charge a 50% cancellation fee if the engagement is cancelled.
    Phew! A lot of work but remember your bureau’s job is to save you time and help you make an informed decision that will bring you praise – not one that will cause you regret.

    How to Cope with Change Whether you Want it or Not

    Nov 15

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management, The Board Room | 2 Comments

    I belong to an exclusive club called “those of us left behind after a suicide’.  It’s not a nice club to be a member of.  You have a double grieving going on, you grieve for their sad life and their death.  Unless you have experienced losing someone to suicide you can never understand what it’s like.  I guess it’s like losing a child, unless it has happened to you, you can’t really understand the pain and you can’t be part of the club.

    My brother and I were very close.  I helped him to cope with his depression as best I could, I was his rock. I knew he had attempted suicide twice before and failed. I ‘ suspected’ he would die of his own hand one day and thought I was prepared for it. I wasn’t! I was not prepared for the phone call.  I did not think I would lose control like I did, running and screaming up the hallway, out the front door and throwing myself on the grass, pounding it and sobbing  No! No! No!

    I never wanted my three year old daughter to see something like this, her mother totally out of control, devastated and inconsolable beyond words. I didn’t want my neighbours to come running over and drag me inside the house screaming.  This was not in the plan of my perfect life. I didn’t plan to be a pallbearer at my brother’s funeral or read his Eulogy in perfect composure to make him proud of me.  Change hit me hard. There was no turning back.

    You, too, will have change in your life.  Something, one day, will hit you so hard that you will have two choices, you will either choose to sink, or you will choose to swim.  Change can happen in many ways, it could happen dramatically like my family had to deal with. It could be a change in management, change in health, a disaster may hit the country, you may lose your job, your marriage may fail. My question to you is “how will you cope?”
    I am not an expert in change management, I do however represent speaking experts who are.  What I am, is a survivor of drastic change and that gives me some authority to write about it.

    When my brother Gary died, my whole life changed dramatically.  My marriage failed and I had to go back to full time work.  I was dealt another blow to test me that little bit further.  I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease a few months after his death.  So how did I cope with these changes? At first with his death, not very well.  But once I accepted that this change was forever, I then slowly started to build back my life.  His death caused many more changes in my life. If he had not died I doubt that I would be writing articles, own a speaking bureau and be training in Taekwondo.  Nor would I be writing my first book or grooming myself for the speaking circuit.  Most probably, I would still be living in the Blue Mountains making jam and volunteering to help teach art at my children’s school.

    When change hits your life you have to acknowledge and accept it.  You can’t deny it has happened because it has.  Secondly, you have to assess the situation and come up with a plan to help you cope.  I grieved heavily for my brother, my weight plummeted to 47kg and I became very depressed.  One day I was walking the dog and one of my neighbours said to me “Deb, you look dreadful.  Don’t put your brother behind you but put him beside you and walk on.”  Those few words changed everything and to this day, I am sure Patrick does not know the impact those words had on my life.

    I made a decision that I had to accept that Gary was no longer with me.  I had to adjust to this and I had to gather some inner strength from somewhere.  Then came the second blow, Crohn’s Disease.  When my doctor told me I had this disease, I immediately turned a switch on inside my head and told myself that if I kept fit it would not affect me.  I keep fit and I believe, with all my heart, that my fitness keeps me healthy.  I don’t look sick and people are amazed when I tell them I have this disease.  I am not saying that I am in perfect health, I am not, I have my days where I don’t feel so good but mostly I feel great. I accept that I have this disease, I don’t accept that it will control me.

    I could have easily gone into ‘victim mode’ when my doctor told me I had it.  If I did that, I would have talked myself into believing I was sick and I would not be this woman I am today, fit and as I mentioned before training in Taekwondo.  I could have easily allowed myself self pity. I chose not to.

    I had a wonderful relationship with this doctor.  He didn’t really approve of my own ‘mind techniques’ of keeping well, but he supported me with it and would monitor me every month, do the blood tests and keep a very careful eye on me.  I was due to see him one day when I got a phone call.  “I am sorry to inform you that Dr (name withheld) was killed this morning riding his pushbike”.  That hurt me bad.

    I would give up everything I have today to have Gary back.  I admit without his death I would not be who and where I am today.  I accepted the change and today I am doing things that I would never have thought I was capable of.  You see, as drastic as it is, I gathered strength that I never knew I had and that’s why you are reading these words now.

    How will you cope when change hits you? Will you sink or swim?

    How To Make The Most Of Corporate Training

    Nov 5

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

    Corporate training is an investment, not an expense, but how do you choose an appropriate trainer? Firstly, establish what skills are lacking in the company.
    Choosing the right type of training program can be a daunting task. If you haven’t researched the needs of your people, don’t waste your budget on training; make sure it is necessary.

    Time management, for example, is a popular subject and great if your employees are not utilising their time correctly, but it is not appropriate if staff are driving your clients away due to sub-standard customer service. It is far better to engage a training specialist in this field.

    Staff retention is a major concern for many companies. Keeping staff motivated and happy should be a high priority. The amount of money invested in recruiting and training is phenomenal so don’t let it go down the drain. Ensure your employees have the skills to balance their home and work life, have access to inspirational speakers and rewarded with fun team building activities.

    Many companies do not understand that customer service should be a major part of their marketing. Consider this yourself  – how many advertisements did you see today and how many can you actually recall? Not many I’m sure but I bet if I asked you to recall a bad customer service experience you could tell me exactly what happened and who the company was and you are probably not shy about speaking about it to others either. Here is another scenario, your corporation probably spends months in planning an advertising campaign and thousands of dollars. Yet, when it’s time for a senior executive to speak at a media interview or present at a conference can they really keep the attention of the audience? Maybe presentation skills or executive coaching needs to be considered.

    It is important to carefully assess the areas of your business that can be improved and why employees are struggling in those functions. Once you have established your training objectives, choose a reputable specialist in that field. The easiest way to do this is to use a bureau. The bureau has already done the research and knows which speaker or trainer can really deliver results.

    The results can pay for the training many times over. Many companies are amazed at the increase in revenue and production after having brought in a training specialist. One of our speakers at Coyote Management International has a testimonial that reads “virtually all our mobile sales force have not only achieved their targets, but they have exceeded these targets, some by as much as 200%”.

    The return on investment can be astonishing
    It is essential to follow up after the training and evaluate the results. This will not only show you how effective the training was, but can then help identify other areas that may need to be assessed.

    Effective but Fun
    Training should be an enjoyable experience for the participants and incorporate some fun and activities.

    Some professional speakers are also experts in training and often just one keynote can make a real impact. The better the presentation and impact, the more it will inspire the participants to action. Some keynote speakers also offer follow-up online courses.

    Excellence? Is it really the answer?

    Nov 3

    Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Planning | No Comments

    Tom Peters Business Author and world wide management ‘Guru’ says,“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change.”
    -Tom Peters

    An interesting thought. Why label an organisation as excellent and or set a ‘benchmark’ to a certain level of operation or standard. Why not consider the benefits of a constantly developing workforce where people are empowered to ensure effective and relevant change takes place.

    I can hear the cries now, “If we had the money we would change” There in the answer via your thoughts you have the seeds of what just might be ‘killing’ your business… I dare to say, it might just be you…

    For some, the idea of excellence is a great way to head, yet for others they avoid wanting to chase the unachievable.
    Imagine if profit was measured as expanding the abilities of the people you have working in your organisation, and not just the mighty dollar, then your team may become more effective in handling and implementing change. lets face it how many organisations tell their people to chase $$ levels for sales budgets, and cust costs etc.
    Many organisations worldwide have attempted massive change to work practices and have found to their dismay the drop in productivity was not worth it. Perhaps some did not allow the project to mature fully, while others simply met with resistance from their workers to a new idea.

    Constant and never ending improvement may seem to many of you to be a way of being side tracked to working in your business, it may take your ‘focus’ away, however, properly implemented change can sharpen the focus. Here are some points as to how it could happen.

    Planning
    What do you want to change and why, get clear on what areas need work, then set the goals, and action plans to get there.
    Communicate
    Get the whole team on board, not with scare tactics like “we have to do this or we are down the tubes.” Try informing each person that you are aiming to provide a greater level of security form them and the organisation. Let them know they are important in the scheme of things.
    Set tasks
    Get the team to figure out who has to do what and why to make things happen with ease. Break it up into manageable ‘bite sized’ pieces.

    Do it!
    Get the ball rolling, consider what motivates your people other than money to keep them doing what they do well… Focus on this and get the idea clearly across to your people that they are valued for what they are doing and where the organisation will be in the future.

    Review
    Take time out to get them all together to discuss developments and challenges faced, have them brainstorm some solutions and other ideas to be sure what needs to happen next.

    Act!
    Based on the review, map out what the next plan of action is and keep the ball rolling. Before long this simple process will become ingrained in your organisations values and culture and become automatic.
    By the way, watch the productivity go up, the enthusiasm roll and the absenteeism drop all by pursuing the path to excellence.

    Excellence begins with who?

    Nov 2

    Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

    This isn’t just for CEOs. It’s for everyone. Score yourself with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each of these and see how many you get out of 11. Be honest: no-one else will know but you.

    1. Arrogance. You’re right. Everyone else is wrong.
    2. Melodrama. You always grab the centre of attention.
    3. Volatility. Your mood shifts are sudden and unpredictable.
    4. Excessive caution. The next decision you make may be your first.
    5. Habitual distrust. You focus on the negatives.
    6. Aloofness. You disengage and disconnect.
    7. Mischievousness. You know that rules are only suggestions.
    8. Eccentricity. It’s fun to be different just for the sake of it.
    9. Passive resistance. Your silence is misinterpreted as acceptance.
    10. Perfectionists. You get the little things right while the big things go wrong.
    11. Eagerness to please. You want to win any popularity contest.

    So, how did you score? Before you get too pleased with yourself, even if you only gave yourself a ‘yes’ on one of the 11 it can be your downfall – EACH of these is a common reason leaders fail.

    These points are from the book “Why CEOs Fail” The 11 behaviours that can derail your climb to the top and how to manage them. David Dotlich, Peter Cairo. 2003. It’s not just for CEOs, despite its title.

    I now ask that you consider what you can do to alter things so you don’t fail. Consider making a list of your downsides and then what the opposite (or a more positive descriptor) would be, then work on making that happen (didn’t say it would be easy did I!)

    Some of you may say there is a time for each of these (perhaps briefly at least) to ensure a devils advocate mix to balance things out, I tend to agree to a point, but where these types of behaviours are part of your normal operating situation, that’s when challenges arise.

    Now let me ask, do you want to fail in business or succeed? chances are (99% sure) that you went for success. So here’s your chance to make it happen so that excellence can begin with you!

    Prospecting is easy when you know how…

    Nov 1

    Posted by Wayne Berry in Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, The Sales Dept | No Comments

    “If you do it right, you should be able to make 10 calls and get 5 appointments”

    Most sales people hate prospecting.

    Why is that? If prospecting is such an important skill, why do so few sales people enjoy doing it? I guess the reason is fairly obvious.

    Fear of rejection

    So why are so many sales people rejected when they get on the telephone and seek to make appointments with strangers? I think there are three main reasons. The first can be summed up with what most sales people tell me is the number one objection that they get from prospects on the telephone…

    “I’m not interested!”

    We’ve all heard it, haven’t we? And we’ve all used this line with a sales person or telephone canvasser who has called us too haven’t we? So why would a prospect say that they are not interested?

    I believe it is because¦

    1. What most sales people say is not interesting!

    What you say within the first 30 seconds of a cold prospecting telephone call is critical to the successful outcome of the call. What you say has to “grab” the prospects attention and get a response (either spoken or unspoken).

    “Tell me more!”

    So my advice is spend some serious time developing a written script for what you are going to say in those first 30 seconds. Some sales people say, “I don’t want to use a script. I want to sound natural.” You will sound natural if you develop a good script and then practice it. The second reason I believe most sales people fail to gain appointments on the telephone is because…

    2. Most sales people talk too much about their product or service on the phone

    The purpose of your telephone call should not be to sell your company, your product or your services. It should be to sell the appointment. Nothing else!

    The third reason I think most sales people do badly with telephone prospecting is because…

    3. Most sales people have never learned how to prospect effectively

    Prospecting is a skill and like all skills we are not born with them. Skills are developed. Yet so many sales people fail to understand this. They jump on the telephone with lots of enthusiasm and optimism but no real skills and strategies, and then wonder why they fail to make appointments.

    Having experienced a lot of rejection, they then avoid prospecting, and if you don’t generate new leads or you wait for your company to provide them to you, then you’ll always be an average sales person, producing average results and living an average life. So how can you become a Top Gun sales person?

    Develop this vital skill of prospecting

    Learn them! Don’t leave it to chance with a hit and miss approach to prospecting.

    I’ve seen sales people come to our TOP GUN® Mastery Workshop on prospecting with no confidence, and a dismal conversion ratio (eg. 1 in 45. That is, one appointment made for every 45 calls) and within 7 days they were able to confidently get on the telephone and convert 5 out of every 10 calls into appointments. Amazing? No – not really!

    Brad’s story

    About 2 years ago a young sales person came to our Sales Mastery Workshop on prospecting. His name was Brad and he worked for an IT company. Brad was struggling and his sales results placed him near the bottom of the list of 26 sales people in his company.

    After attending this workshop, Brad’s ability to gain appointments and get in front of qualified buyers improved dramatically. Within 2 months Brad had moved up to near the top of the list of sales achievers in his company. Since then Brad has continued to produce exceptionally good results and Brad credits this dramatic turnaround with the development of his prospecting skills.

    By the way, Brad is happy to tell you his story if you’d care to call him. His number is 0405 100 840.

    When I last spoke to Brad his conversion ratio on the telephone was 6.3 /10. That is, on average for every 10 calls Brad makes, he gets 6.3 appointments.

    So how does that compare to your conversion ratio on the telephone? Would you like to be in front of more prospective buyers? My advice to you if you are in sales or in business for yourself, is develop your prospecting skills.

    A tip on prospecting if you are a Sales Manager

    If you are in Management, don’t expect your sales people to be able to get appointments and gain new and extra business for you if you haven’t provided them with this vital skill training. Investing time and money into this vital skill will provide an enormous return on your investment and will go on paying you, year after year after year.

    Have a great week. Make it a great week!

    Do I or Don’t I?

    Oct 29

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Human Resource Management, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Sales Dept | No Comments

    Fear stops many of us from truly expressing who we are and achieving our dreams. Some of us are risk takers, all of us make mistakes and I would say all of us have experienced fear at some stage or another. In this article I am talking about the type of fear which stops us from moving on, achieving what we want in life and being happy.

    The  lesson I have learnt through my own experience is that if you move through the fear, acknowledge it’s there, but just do what you want to do anyway, it gets easier and easier until the fear no longer exists. I remember the first cold call I had to make.  I kept putting it off and putting it off, until eventually I picked up the phone shaking with fear and made my call.  To my delight, the lady on the other end was very pleasant.  It took a lot more calls before I got to the stage where I can happily pick up the phone and cold call anyone without even thinking about what I’m going to say, it is such a natural thing for me to do now.

    I am a risk taker. I take calculated risks. Taking risks is good, I’m not talking about anything that could physically harm you, end your life, investing in Acme’s latest Road Runner Extinguisher shares without proper investigation, or God forbid, riding on a roller-coaster! (My friends and family will find that very amusing). I am still working on my roller-coaster fear!

    Let’s take for example speaking in front of people. The thought used to make me break out into a sweat, and I’m sure many of you will know what I am talking about. Now, I don’t think twice about it, because I made myself get up in front of the mic whenever the opportunity arose and I just got used to it. This is a good thing, because my goal for next year is to be on the speaking circuit. To prepare myself for this professional speaking goal I have taken some other steps. I am writing a book about my very interesting and at times challenging life. Once upon a time I would have been too scared to think of myself as an author. To overcome this fear I started to write articles for others to read. Because I took the step to have some of them published on various online article websites, I have the confidence to keep writing.

    The biggest risk I took was leaving my full time job to start the bureau. In hindsight I think I should have kept the full time job for a bit longer, as it was very challenging, now of course, I am glad I did because I am so passionate about what I do. It was terrifying making the decision to leave that paid security but I did it anyway, I figured I could always get another job if things didn’t turn out.

    Sometimes in life we miss out on the things we really want because we are too scared to move out of our comfort zone. We won’t ask that person out because we might get rejected. We won’t commit to a relationship because we might get hurt. We won’t write that book because it might not get published. We won’t stand up and do that comedy routine because we might get booed off stage. We won’t leave our job because our new one might be even worse. We won’t spend that money on a holiday because we might need it in an emergency. We won’t ask that question we want to in a seminar because people might think we are stupid. We won’t enter the talent contest because we might not win. We won’t say I love you because they might not love us back. If you are fearful of doing something that you really want to and you try and it doesn’t work out the way you planned, so what? Another chapter of your life closed…next one please!

    Is time on your side?

    Oct 28

    Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | No Comments

    Time is crucial to your business success, or any success for that matter. Imagine not getting to work on time and finding five customers waiting… What would you do about it? Or if your business is service related and you are constantly late for appointments, what now… Too many businesses people are getting caught up in the time trap and before long discover the pain of running out of time.

    Some will say time will run out anyway, so just do what you can. I consider time to be a precious commodity and often know that without a plan of action for the day I will soon become ‘bogged down’ with distractions. Whatever time means to you, ensure you have a way of handling it to maximise the potential of it to ensure your ultimate success.

    Example: What if you could plan your time out so that you avoided known trouble spots and were able to keep things in greater perspective? Like the sales team that knew Monday mornings were a hassle with clients starting out the week after a busy weekend, they scheduled meetings on these mornings and ensured that staff were informed of what had been taking place during the week. They had rescheduled a normally ‘dead time’ to give it a greater impact on busier times.

    Many people discover that time has disappeared when it is too late to do anything about it. Action needs to be taken to correct the situation in the future, otherwise the same thing will happen time and again. Making sure you are using your time wisely is a detail often overlooked. One organisation found they had a staff member ‘tied up’ doing bookkeeping duties when they needed another counter sales person. The cost of an external bookkeeping service was minimal in comparison to the person’s wages and the loss of customer loyalty with too few staff available at the time. This allowed them to leverage their time (and their resources) better.

    To get your business to be timely in its approach, consider measuring the daily efforts of the staff. Getting them to jot down what they did after an hour and then have them do their own audit of the time they spent during the day. This can build responsibility for their actions, gives them an understanding of the time situation and raises their awareness of trouble spots in the day. Of course the information is theirs to keep and is not shared as a measure of their ‘tardiness’ with a supervisor, however it serves as an indicator for their own personal standards.

    Their is only so much time on offer, its what we do with what we have that makes a difference.

    What do “experts” know anyway?

    Oct 24

    Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People! | No Comments

    A number of the world’s all-time great geniuses were at first thought to be anything but gifted.

    Einstein, we know, left school in Germany because of poor grades in history and the language arts. The problem wasn’t Einstein, of course, but the type of learning he was forced to do, which required a lot of rote memorisation and very little of the problem solving he was good at.

    We find an even better example of unrecognized genius in the case of Emily Dickinson. Dickinson, now considered one of America’s greatest literary geniuses, died an obscure poet at 56. A handful of friends and family recognized her potential, but Dickinson herself longed to be known by the world.

    In 1862 she wrote a letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, an eminent literary man of this day, and enclosed four poems for his approval and advice. Higginson was impressed with the raw power of her poetic imagery, but didn’t think her poetry was publishable. When he tried adapting the poems to fit the florid, fancy style popular during the day, Dickinson lost interest in the project and gave up. As a result, only seven of Dickinson’s poems were ever published in her lifetime – five of them in her local paper.

    When a cache of 1,700 poems was discovered in Dickinson’s cabinet after her death, ironically it was Higginson who published the first volume of her poetry. Within a few short years, Dickinson’s poetic genius was being hailed within the most respected literary circles.

    You may look at your own experiences in life and find a teacher, a co-worker, a friend, a boss, or a spouse, who – for whatever reason – can’t seem to recognize the unique gifts or talents you possess. Maybe your gift is hidden below a shy, unassuming exterior. Maybe you’re not in the right environment for it to shine. Or maybe it’s still in the infant stages of what it will become with a little extra work.

    Or maybe, just maybe, your gifts are so innovative and ahead of their time they can’t be appreciated by those schooled in older, more conservative traditions.

    The point is, you shouldn’t let a few people’s “expert” opinions and judgments crush your hopes and dreams and keep you from exploring the full potential of your talents.

    A better course of action would be to accept criticism for what it’s worth and continue sharing your talents with the world. Search for trusted mentors and role models who can give you honest, positive feedback to help you strengthen your skills while still being true to your authentic style. Read books and take courses. Whatever you do, don’t lose confidence in your ability to master your skill. With time, your talents can only get stronger. Besides, down the road, you may finally meet someone who will recognize your talents and give you that long-awaited opportunity to be noticed.

    Sure, you may never be called a genius in your lifetime, but then again, very few geniuses ever are.

    The Ill Mannered Corporate World

    Oct 21

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

    Has the world changed so drastically that manners are no longer considered necessary? Is a thank you or a quick acknowledgement of an email too hard to do in our busy and stressed out working lives?
    How can we change this poor culture and start treating each other with some common courtesy and respect again?
     

    Here are a few suggestions that spring to mind.

    • Yes your email can be so overbearing that it is easy to quickly look at it and then decide to go back to it later. Don’t do it! Deal, Delegate or Dump it! If someone needs an acknowledgement hit the reply button and send it. If it’s SPAM dump it, if you have to go back to it, remind yourself in your calendar and file it in a personal folder.
    • If someone sends you a gift in the mail  acknowledge them with a quick email or better still a phone call.
    • Remember you are not  so important that you can’t offer your fellow human being a quick answer, acknowledgment or thank you.
    • Your organization should strive to have happy, helpful and have courteous employees. Returning phone calls and emails is just plain good manners. The voice-mail was invented to take messages for you when you were away from your desk.  It seems these days it’s a tool to help staff avoid speaking to their customers.
    • Always give excellent customer service, and then give that little bit extra.
    • Send cards by mail, yes I mean the old fashioned way with a postage stamp. Thank you cards or just a postcard is a novelty these days and stands out.
    • Take a colleague out for coffee if they have done something to help you, or do it to cheer them up if they are having a bad day.
    • Try and smile to at least 5 strangers every time you walk down the street.
    • Bring some laughter and fun into the office, creating a fun environment is contagious.
    • Always be on time for appointments.
    • Smile and be happy when you are on the phone, it really does make a big difference
    • If you say you are going to be somewhere, be there! Unless you have a genuine excuse do not let people down at the last minute.

    All it takes is just a few tiny changes in attitude to make our working days much happier and productive.

    12 Ways People Make Business GREAT!

    Oct 20

    Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | No Comments

    I love working with businesses as they are made up of people as the main part of the mechanism to make the organisation work, but all too often companies run into negative people issues and that can mean things may not go quite as planned some times. I developed this list in response to a cry for help from David, a client of mine. He was feeling under pressure having 25 staff that were ‘all over the shop’ to use his term. Some of the issues were to do with his style of leadership and some to do with the people.

    In the end the result was great, absenteeism fell, and before long profitability and productivity was on the rise. Occasionally it does not take much, but when you need to take stock, check the list and see how you might pick up the game.

    Points to creating a great workplace

    1. Don’t change people – You picked them, you wanted, you got, now work with what you have to get a great result, if you want something to alter make it you, not them.
    2. Play by their rules (sometimes) – Work with them, if they have rules, they have them for a reason, is it that your rules are not filling the gap/s? Or perhaps they think their rules are better. Be flexible in your approach and check out what they have before running it down, try it you just might like it.
    3. Check list you – Check out what you do, what you can change to better fit the situations you may find yourself in with the workplace. Check your attitude, your communication style, your presentation, your expectations and probably a whole raft of other things.
    4. Look after you – Change can happen at any time, the control of that is up to you, no one else. If you are in control of you and your needs chances are your esteem will allow you to be more, do more, and have more.
    5. Discuss the good and the not so good! – Have open and frank discussions and ensure they stay free form personal attack. Create an environment where people can say how they feel, see how things are going, hear from others and keep in touch with the team and each other.
    6. Listen and do – Talk less about things and go for more actions, doing can make a world of difference to the organisation you are a part of. Remember two ears for listening, and one mouth for talking. So use them in that order. But to add to that cliché, you have two hands, two feet as well, so your capacity to do is greater than the capacity to talk and listen! I won’t even touch how many brain cells you have and how they could come into the equation.
    7. People are different – Neither right nor wrong, just different. Males and females, religious beliefs and ideals, vales and general beliefs. So go with the flow a occasionally, know there are the ‘bad bits’ but learn to be flexible enough in your approach to work with these differences, remember great leaders love people.
    8. Go into battle carefully – Jumping in without too much information from two sides of an argument can be costly, VERY COSTLY! So be careful and choose your battles wisely. Every business has bad bits, they may alter over time, they might get better but love them for what they are at the time. It might also be bothering your staff and they are just waiting for the right time to do something about them.
    9. Develop choices – It’s easy to blame others for things going wrong, but how many choices were there at the time? By developing choices you may just make a powerful difference to the way thing turn out.
    10. Don’t play psych – Psych is for psychs, use your understanding to advantage, but you don-t have to tell them the research and methodology behind what you say and or do. E.g. a plumber does not tell the customer how a pipe is made, the customer just wants it to do its job.
    11. Accuse and lose – Point the finger of blame and you had better watch out, it might just get bitten. People will dodge, lie and leave in no time flat over the smallest issues, why? Because we all want to do good things, and to have the finger of blame leveled at us is not a good feeling.
    12. Let them know you love what they do – Sometimes this might happen very discretely, and others as an over the top display of a job done brilliantly. It might be a few words, a gift, a badge of recognition, but be fair about it and make sure they know they are special people working on a very special task.

    The spiritual organisation… Really?

    Oct 16

    Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, The Board Room | No Comments

    Could non religious spirituality have an intrinsic and or extrinsic value to your organisation? And what would it take to foster this in your organisation? Would the team “buy in” easily or would things have to be disguised in some way to make it seem like a secondary thing…

    Consider this, Non religious spirituality essentially could involve (but perhaps not exclusively) the following…

    • An accurate Self Image
    • Sensitivity to Others
    • A Deep Sense of Mystery
    • Connectedness
    • Emotional Balance
    • Inner Peace
    • Freedom
    • A Deep Compassion for Humanity

    Some will be saying, I am too busy trying to get ahead to consider any of this. Others among you will be suggesting that without this your business can not even begin to make a profit.

    In a highly material age, where the ‘me’ generation is mentioned at every turn, could this ‘sense of spirituality’ be a cornerstone to fresh development ideas for your staff? Could it be a starting point to discussing how your organisaton can move forward in a world cluttered with materialism, Me, me, ME! instead of We, we WE!

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Avoiding the ‘always available’ trap

    Oct 15

    Posted by Robert Gerrish in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Planning, The Board Room | No Comments

    Don’t we just have it all at our fingertips these days? Mobile telephony, satellite monitoring, wireless go anywhere internet connection, SMS and always on email straight to our palm devices. As soloists, there’s no excuse for failing to stay in touch with our work (and our clients) regardless of where we are or when. The marketers of course, would have us believe this is all good.

    I disagree.  Sure, some of it can be good and at times it is very convenient, but the worrying trend is that always available may become the workplace norm.

    A quick glance at how these new services are being marketed and you’ll see imagery depicting young, happy executives tapping away at the keyboard while at the beach or in the garden. In the distance we see friends and family supposedly playing and communing happily.

    Everyone is doing what they love. How nice.

    Let’s now consider the reverse scenario: Friends and family playing happily in the office while you work. Do you reckon you’ll get much done? Nope. Me neither. You’ll be distracted and certainly won’t be concentrating on your work.

     

    Relaxing with friends and family isn’t a totally passive past time. You need to participate if you are to give and receive. It’s called “being present”. If you’re not joining in, all you’re really doing is moving the office to a new location and one where nothing terribly meaningful is achieved.

    Let’s look at other implications of the always available trap.

    Remember the good old days when you took a day or two off and were pleasantly surprised when everything ran smoothly in your absence? The times when your clients and associates rose to the challenge of management and decision-making and showed themselves much more capable than you had given credit?

    Why would anyone risk making a decision about anything now, when you’re just a moment away?

    On the other hand, if you want to make every micro decision (er, control freak!) then carry on, you’re doing just fine.

    While some soloists may quite rightly say that being always available and in-touch is wonderful for their business, a survey on our site suggested over 72% of you would be more than happy if a surprise law banned mobile phones. Chances are partners and friends are sure to agree!

    The answer to this is not that complex. Being available can most certainly be good, but we have to establish boundaries with our colleagues and clients.

    If you don’t stay in control of your involvement in your business, you’ll forever be its prisoner.

    That doesn’t sound like a good recipe for loving your work does it?

    Keep it clean and tidy.

    Oct 12

    Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, Planning, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

    Have you ever had that sinking feeling, when the day simply slides in to a black hole, and sometimes it happens within moments! I have, but in particular I had it a few years back on walking into a business I was invited to evaluate and advise.

    The sinking feeling came pretty quickly as I looked at the front window, it needed cleaning, the floor as I waked in the door had not been vacuumed in a long time, the front desk had grimy fingerprints where staff had turned the corner and held on to the counter, later I found out the toilets were an absolute disgrace, barely cleaned. Various other aspects of the business did not create a professional image either, the business owner felt that this had little to do with the businesses profitability as few clients ever came through the door. I pointed out that the staff cared about the presentation (even if not consciously), and how they felt was reflected in the way they dealt with clients. (That showed up later!)

    Perceptions are everything.
    I was always taught,you never get a second chance at a first impression. For me it is being on time and presenting appropriately to the person I am dealing with. Studies have shown that they will probably judge me in the first 5 seconds of meeting me (unconsciously) and this is followed up by the next minute and a half by my words and actions.

    The same can be said of a business, the “suspect” walks in the door, makes a judgement… the sales person approaches and hopefully turns them into a prospect and then a customer but, only if the person decides that the image meets their expectation of what they were after. The same can be said of the staff in the opening example.

    This approach to the psychology of a business also goes the other way, you can present a business in such a neat and tidy way that it may repel those looking for a bargain, they may consider your store’s contents too expensive based on the presentation levels. Smart business operators use this knowledge to their advantage and build a positive perception about the cost of goods and services they offer. Many then find they have fewer customers, however those that do enter are more likely to buy, sensing the higher value on offer.

    I don’t want customers like that anyway!
    I’ve heard it too often to mention, the grubby store (and probably its owner) says, “if they don’t want what I have to offer, then that’s their problem!” wrong, it is your problem and the thing to do is to get into customers heads and know that you are providing what they want, when they want it before they know they need it… (Tricky eh?) Take responsibility for the business you run and the image you hold, it is vital for people to create the right impression.

    For some the way to maintain and build excellent standards of presentation is to utilize a checklist. Create a few pointers that you and your staff can work with. Then in time add to the checklist with many minor items listed as well as the major ones. Then allocate how often the staff should check the item and do something about it.

    I mention these things to many of my clients and find that this approach works, however aim to check and correct these items at a suitable time, seeing staff cleaning at the start of the day is irritating to me as an early bird shopper. A commtted and motivated team player will ensure that little happens in the day to distract customers from making the all important decision to walk in the door and spend some cash.

    Motivate to Activate Your Staff

    Oct 6

    Posted by Debbie Carr in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

    Motivate to Activate Your Staff

    Love your job or hate it? If you asked your employees the above question how many would say “love it”? For those that answer “hate it” is it because they really are in the wrong job or is it due to environmental factors?
    There are strategies that employers can create to foster an enjoyable workplace. Happy, motivated staff are more inclined to stay with the company. Most organizations spend big dollars to recruit their employees and training them.  So what can you do to make sure your employees are happy and motivated to want to stay and grow with the company?

    For example, the receptionist has one of the most important roles in the company but how often is she or he recognized for their efforts? Greeting your clients and answering the phone is an essential and important role, but many a disgruntled receptionist can scare your clients away. It is essential to always include all staff from the most junior person upwards in your motivational planning.
    Here are some suggestions on making a happier workplace:

    • Create a visually appealing and comfortable workplace aim to have an office with light colours. Ensure also the temperature isn’t too hot or cold, this is a tricky one but very important as body temperatures vary. If your budget doesn’t extend to renovating maybe just adding an espresso coffee machine or some plants could be a small way to improve the office space.
    • Encourage a team environment “ in today’s training world, team building specialists range from fighter pilots, drummers, Ninjas to Mt Everest climbers. There are many exciting programs to help encourage a team comradeship.
    • Thank and praise,  recognize achievements, initiatives and long hours worked.
    • Organise in-house training or bring in an expert on Work Life balance at your next conference.
    • Many organizations now offer their staff in-house shoulder massages.
    • Corporate Responsibility – involve staff in a worthwhile charitable cause. Helping others can be a great way to feel a sense of achievement.
    • Be flexible. Children get sick, people get sick. Develop a good relationship with a temporary recruitment agency that can help you fill a gap for a sick employee at short notice. Be flexible with working hours, especially if a staff member is studying, has children or other personal issues. Many people work very well from home, if not better than in the office.
    • Ensure that your management is well trained in leadership skills.
    • Make sure your employees skills are fully utilized and encourage goal setting.
    • Consider rewards like week-ends away for your employees as a bonus instead of cash incentives. Many senior executives do not get the chance or make the time to go away with their spouse or family.
    • Ask for feedback and take notice of the suggestions. Value the ideas of your employees and implement the useful ones.
    • Keep ongoing professional development. Bring in corporate trainers and use professional speakers to motivate your staff. Don’t be mislead by the title Professional Speaker many speakers offer follow on and online training after their keynotes.
    • If changes are happening in the workplace, keep the staff updated. One way to lower morale is to have uncertainty in the office.
    • Consider childcare facilities, week-end family picnics and other functions to show that your organization appreciates family.

    Exceptional excellence

    Oct 4

    Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 3 Comments

    There are so many average businesses, so why are the excellent ones few and far between?

    If you start out to do something, do you start with excellence in mind or mediocrity? I guess the answer is excellence, after all why would you want to create an average thing, where is the logic in that?

    So go for excellent marketing, excellent management, excellent products and services, excellent staff, excellent premises…

    Then make it exceptional! (and don’t give me a line about having nothing to aim for if its already excellent!)

    Excel at excellence… (What is there to lose, there’s plenty to gain!)

    Wake up!

    Oct 2

    Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Customer Service Dept | 1 Comment

    I walked in the door, no sales person. I called out, no answer. I stood and checked out the display before calling out again, No answer. Finally a person came out and stretched with a wide yawn, “Ehr g’day, I didn’t know you were there… I was taking a snooze out the back. Must have over slept the door buzzer.” That’s ok I said I’m not a thief, lucky for you, otherwise I would have been able to take anything I wanted…. I got a blank look in return.

    The person went on to say that it was a quiet time of the week and the boss was out doing deliveries, this person was just in the shop to answer the phone while the boss was out.

    To top it off this was another, non-smiling staff member oh great! The person stood and made excuses, and was not at all fussed that I was there for a purpose. I eventually told them what I wanted however all the way, there was not a smile or hearty welcome. Therefore I did not feel welcome.

    Who’s at fault, the boss or the worker?
    The boss… Not his fault, He would probably say “You can’t get good staff these days, they are just not motivated. I asked the person to be here to put their best foot forward and make sure that things were looked after, but I can not be here all the time to watch out for them.”

    The worker… Not me! “All I did was what I was asked, that is to be here to answer the phone while the boss is out on deliveries, what more is there? Anyway the boss did not tell me what else to do.”

    The Situation
    Blame, if all else fails blame someone… That’s how it is done in many businesses. In this case one person could blame the other and they would get nowhere. Wake up, avoid blaming others, note the situation and get on with altering it. The aim, perhaps a “blame free zone” so your team can start heading for a business that works more effectively.

    What now?
    How do you make sure the staff are being responsible? Working effectively while you are out, getting other things done? Answer, train them. I can hear the calls coming already “I don’t have time to train people, I am too busy working on the business to train anyone and besides, what do I know about training people?”

    Good answer, and I would suggest that this business owner will always have an average business with an attitude like that. Those that get ahead often train without knowing it, they often let others know what needs to be done and how to do it. This is the age-old principle of the master and the apprentice, these days much of the though around training is more formally based, yet the idea should still hold true for many businesses, even if they are not trades based.

    Consider  this, how many times does a good communicator in business have to pass on information to their staff? Not often, the staff will appreciate the effort taken, will learn readily and retain the information that has been presented (often in a relaxed non-threatening way.) They obtain the skills, hone these, and are ready to pay back the education given by simply doing the best they can.

    Many books over the years on staff productivity and business have shown that staff will give 110% when they are lead by a person that sets high personal standards in all areas of business and personal life. If the boss is a hard task master they are often ridiculed behind their back by the staff, yet if they are great at communicating the task at hand with ease then staff will often go the extra mile.

    Consider going the extra mile yourself and with your staff. Give them your best, that way you can expect to get something back. As for the staff member who was having a sleep out the back, there may well be little hope of reform if the situation is allowed to continue. Six months later I went past the business to find that it had closed down. In reality the sleepy worker may have only been a small part of the problem the business owner faced.

    In business the sleeper soon gets caught out, the business can quickly dry up and the customer can soon go elsewhere. Do yourself a favour… Wake Up!

    Disconnected? Get involved!

    Sep 30

    Posted by Robert Gerrish in Health and Safety Dept, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

    Disconnected? Get involved!

    Ironically for a number of novice soloists the very thing that appeals – the vision of working alone – becomes a major reason to quit.

    Working solo doesn’t suit everyone. Without planned habits and behaviours, isolation and loneliness is extremely destructive.

    The trick is to engage in ‘purposeful participation’.

    If you’re running a business, you’re clearly participating at some level. We’re talking, though, about purposeful participation, the ‘purpose’ in this context is to avoid the incidence of you becoming isolated or cut-off from the rest of the world.

    To keep isolation at bay we must feel connected; we need to foster the habits and behaviours of a purposeful participant.

    The onset of isolation is rarely heralded. One day you’re chuffing along nicely supported by throngs of unseen supporters and advocates, the next you’re seemingly invisible and alone.

    Here are 4 tips to keep you connected:

    1. Build meaningful relationships

    Take a look at what you’re doing to foster business relationships that have meaning and a strong sense of connection.

    If you’ve got it right, a customer conversation will bring the same joy as speaking with a good friend. You will enjoy a feeling that lasts.

    Too often we ignore the ‘relate’ aspect of relationships as the emphasis is on sales outcomes. Look instead at building relationship as a means of furthering a sense of connection.

    Hmmm. Reckon this depth of relationship may just impact on sales as well? Now there’s a thought.

    2. View your neighbourhood as a bustling office

    Next, look at how you relate to those around you – the people with whom you regularly come into contact.

    Isolation rarely impacts those working in a busy, populated office. Why? Because all they need to do to maintain a sense of connection (without even realising it) is breeze through a workstation or two, collecting smiles and nods along the way.

    So consider your acquaintances as your co-workers – whether suppliers, neighbours, corner shop owners, couriers, or the postie.

    Relate more with everyone you meet and you cannot help but feel connected.

    3. Start talking to people

    While email has hugely expanded communication, it has also, sadly, diluted the essential element of voice dialogue. You remember speech, don’t you?

    Talking with others is pivotal to the demise of isolation. Before you whizz off another email, make sure you’re not missing an opportunity to connect with a fellow human being.

    4. Challenge established actions

    Finally, give some of your habitual actions a going over. For example, how do you travel around? Could you move by another means, one that would help you connect more? Think, too, about what you read. Are you learning anything new from your reading? When is the last time you read a teenager’s magazine or tried to understand alternative music/lifestyles?

    Remember, every time you take a proactive step towards getting involved, you’re taking one step back from falling into the isolation trap.

    Give Good Meetings

    Sep 27

    Posted by Tony Alessandra in Human Resource Management, Planning, The Board Room | No Comments

    Meetings are not supposed to be, as one office critic said, “a practical alternative to working.” In fact, if you plan the time and space, meetings can be productive as well as a means of promoting relationships.

    Time. Meetings have been described as “a place where you keep the minutes and lose the hours.” To avoid this, it’s always wise to have an agenda and a time limit. Tell everyone when you expect the meeting to end. That will help everyone stay on track and get everything done.

    Space. Try to hold meetings in an attractive location so participants will feel comfortable and important. If they enjoy their surroundings, they will probably have a more positive attitude toward the discussion. A neutral location avoids the territorial problems of meeting on someone else’s turf. Movable seating allows participants to establish their own semi-fixed territories and spatial arrangements.

    Meetings do not have to waste people’s time; if planned and executed correctly, they can be a useful and constructive activity.

    You cannot be serious!

    Sep 27

    Posted by Sam Leader in Human Resource Management, The Board Room | No Comments

    Judging by a recent poll, credibility is a big issue for solo businesses. Over two-thirds of respondents were concerned that their business was not being taken seriously by others.There’s no doubt cynical attitudes abound in the wider business community.

    When you think about it, those who view soloism using a traditional work paradigm are bound to struggle with the concept. It’s easier for them to talk in patronising terms like ‘how’s your little businesses?’ or ‘Are you still just working from home?’ than it is for them to appreciate our integrity, autonomy and earning potential.

    I suppose they think a regular job in the Cube Farm is the way forward.

    What a cheek. Why should ‘their’ (wider business community’s) be ‘our’ (soloist) way?

    In reality, solo businesses have not so much rewritten the work rulebook as razed it to the ground. Furthermore, there are almost as many ways of working as there are solo businesses.

    For me, soloism is a lifestyle choice. My business is not a stepping stone to ‘better’ things, but a way of work uniquely crafted to fit and finance the way I live. As a result, work is not a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 endeavour. Instead, my weekdays are a joyous mix of family, friends and office time. Ditto my weekends, actually.

    But before you worry that mine is a slacker approach which gives the solo movement a bad name, let me assure you, I can turn on the professionalism when I need to.

    For example, I want to go to the beach at 10am on a Wednesday. Do I divert calls to my mobile? No. I have a message that says “I will respond to your call within two hours.” I am aware that clients don’t want to hear seagulls and pounding surf while talking business.

    And return the calls within two hours I do, without explanation or apology.

    “What if it’s urgent?” you ask. This won’t happen. Because I am not a thrive-under-pressure type, I won’t take on work if deadlines are too tight. Also I don’t believe in being always available, even if it is during so-called work hours. Clients know this, i.e. their expectations are set and boundaries are in place.

    Plenty of outsiders, as well as more earnest solo business types, would frown on me popping off to the beach during the day. They would despair of me working propped up in bed, in my tracky daks, sans lipstick. I can empathise with that view, particularly when so many in the solo community struggle with credibility issues.

    But, I argue, does my unconventional style mean the work I do for my clients is cack-handed? Hardly. Does it make me incompetent or stupid? No.

    Besides, I’ve tried the whole ‘dress smart so you’ll feel more professional’ bit and ended up feeling like an alien in my own skin. It didn’t work…for me.

    However, I’ve found a work style that does and I honour it. I love my work, but I also love my friends and family and recognise the time needed to keep these relationships healthy. And if I lavish time on them in the week, that’s my choice. Happy Sam = happy clients.

    Whether you’re a serious soloist driven by money and prestige or an idler seeking the path to an easy life, surely finding what works for you has got to be central to any soloist’s definition of success.

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