Feedback

I asked some seasoned colleagues (and good friends) to review some of my writing. They were wonderfully honest with their questions and comments. You can't buy that kind of candor and honesty built on trust. Building a network or community where you know that there is no malice or alterior motives, is priceless. It may not always fun, but truth is more helpfull than flattery.

Customer Service II

In my last post I mentioned my dissapointment with some on-going customer service issues at my coffee shop. As a follow up, I owe it to them to share how they helped to restore my loyalty today. I walked in this morning and the owner asked if I'd like to try his favorite mocha drink. He said it was on him. (Mind you, I have ordered the same drink in 6 states for the last 8 years. A lot of trust was needed to take a risk like this. don't laugh, I'm dead serious.) I tried to pay, but the cashier told me that they owed it to me since they dissapointed me for being closed the day before. AWESOME. Moral of the Story: Strong relationships are a huge advantage in maintaining, or restoring confidence to customer loyalty. All is well with the world for another day.

Customer Service

How many times do I forgive an enterprise for poor service before I cut them off? I have a coffee shop I love to visit in the morning. It does bug me a bit that they are not open on Monday. Ok, it's a start-up company, with limited budget. Forgiven. They always play Jazz and are always willing to banter about music, local gossip, movies, coffee etc. I love the atmosphere. The coffee is good and reasonably priced. They know my name, where I work. Cool!
Here's the rub. At least 5 times in the last 4 weeks, I have gone to the shop to find a note that they will not be working today. That sucks. I suppose if they had a good reason (start up, remember) I would be ok. Here's the excuses:
1. Had a concert last night, everyone was too tired.
2. We did some cleaning yesterday
3. (Through the window) . . ."drive around the block and come in the back" (not sure why???)

I got in my car, drove on, did not look back. Just a simple reminder . . .Customer service, consistency and quality are still important. We'll see how the forgiveness muscles are working tomorrow.

Met with a non-profit group the other day. They wanted some help in building a PowerPoint to use in their fundraising. We started down the path by describing the situation, what the architecture was to deal with the situation and finalize by defining the mission of the group and what they needed. The rubber always hits the road when you have to be succinct in defining your mission. Simple litmus test: if you can’t define your mission in a Tweet (140 words) then your followers, employees, stakeholders etc. don’t have it clear either.

Leader Talk

I'll talked with a dozen business leaders in our industry (Sporting goods) over the last two weeks asking them where there business is going. It is interesting to see the different styles in action. The head of one business, who is 74 years old, is focused on building an employee stock option to ensure that they receive a benefit from their labor when he is gone. Others are focused only on their strengths and utilizing their talents to grow their companies, and yet others who continue to build their organizations, think strategically about how their companies fit into the current landscape. The unwavering optimism of many of these entrepreneurs and business leaders is both contagious and inspiring. My favorite said he is growing his business by focusing on a core group of engineers who really get to know the end user and design cool stuff for them . . .seems simple, but absolutely profound when you see the growth he has overseen from doing that!! The conversations confirm that there is no one set of skills and abilities or even one strategy that fits all. The passion, commitment and "stick to it" attitude is the same, but that is all. Awesome!
Recession Smession. We can do this!

Do You Have a Significant Brand?

Heard a good comment today about being a significant brand. If you are not making 40% GM then most likely you are not important to your customers or suppliers. Conversely, if you are 1.2 or 3 with your customer and your suppliers, you are most likely profitable too. Conclusion, you have to become more important to both suppliers and customers! Wow, what a way to look at things more objectively! It changes the complex situation into a set of problems that can be broken down further into a strategy or direction. Good filter to analyze your business

Square pegs: driving positive change in the organization

Square Peg in a Round Hole

Have you ever picked last for the baseball team? Since you hike so much, Jan, would you be one of the captains on the rafting trip? How about being put in charge of production when you don’t like detailed spreadsheets and schedules? Or work as a cost accountant when you were really not that good in math? How about being put in charge of product development when your training is brand management? This happens frequently in the workplace, which can make management a real challenge. It would be a mistake to think a job needs a precise formula of strengths or characteristics. One of the best cost accountants I ever worked with did poorly on our pre-employment math test. We discussed the test score at length before we went with our intuition. He was good at digging out excessive costs on the production floor and in the materials group, and then pulling all the people together to help drive solutions. Marcus Buckingham has led the discussion in recent years to focus on your strengths and also how good managers design the work to fit people’s strengths or fit people to the right jobs. This is pretty liberating, when you have 6 good workers, but things still aren’t jelling for you as a manager. You know the team can accomplish more.
The rubber hits the road when you want to make change. Dealing with people can get pretty messy. We each have our egos, world views, habits, processing preferences etc. Our intentions can easily be misinterpreted based on those filters. When we make a change, we are playing with their daily habits and practice. At my house, the worst thing you could do would be to interfere with my Saturday morning ritual. Grumpy Gus lives! How do we go about organizational change and achieve the result we are looking for?
First of all, do not be daunted. Managers are paid to drive improvements within the business. The single most powerful tool a manager has to effect change is to reorganize the work or restructure the group. Continuing to get Hank to work on his math skills as an accountant, is worthless. He doesn’t really like the tedium. He likes the big picture, and his foundation of cost accounting will provide him a unique view as he works with others to create solutions to cost challenges. Secondly, there is no perfect solution. The structure we built last year is working now, but will the foundation be adequate next year? Perfect solutions are always temporary as the world changes. Keep preaching that change is constant, and the folks will begin to realize they should never build too roots too deep.
Two elements are critical as change is introduced. Building trust as a leader and instilling a practice of team work, i.e. sharing of problems together to cultivate and understand the strengths within the group. To accomplish these two critical elements, the leader must keep the following focus in front of the group consistently: “Put the business (organization) first in all things work related”. Staying consistent to this mission will help build trust and engagement, and provide an environment that keeps people focused in the right direction rather than their own agendas. It also weeds out those who have their own agenda and refuse to get on board. To foster the teamwork, it is critical to engage the group, especially those who have different strengths than the leader. In order to value those strengths they must be employed in full view and cherished for their results.
I read somewhere years ago that change is fun to create if you are doing it but scary as hell if it is being done to you. Be open and honest and communicate frequently, but drive positive change by taking the risks associated with moving the work or the structure to better fit the team at hand.