What If You Don't Speak The Language?

The summer of 2005, I spent 5 weeks in small-town, rural Quebec in a French immersion course learning the language. With my high-school French as a base and a lifetime around my French-speaking relatives, I built my vocabulary quickly. Then there was Jean-Louis, whose house I shared. We would converse each night for at least an hour. In week one, I understood maybe 5% of what he was saying. At the end of week five, I was conversing with 95% accuracy.

But I will never forget that first week where 95% of conversation was over my head.

Starbucks is another place where newbies get all nervous at the counter because they don't speak the language. A "venti, skinny, double-shot, extra-hot, no foam, no whip, caramel macchiato" runs fear through the veins of newbies not wanting to be embarrassed when they order a "medium coffee."

P'shaw. There's no such thing as medium because a tall is a small, a grande means large but is the medium size and a venti is Italian for "twenty" and refers to the 20-ounce sized cup - a large. Then there's the coffee. C'est confusant.

How about sending a courier package? Do you speak "courier?" Did you know that "height X width X depth" divided by 194 will give you the dimensional weight - the billable weight of your package - not the actual weight? And that the formula for calculating brokerage, duty and taxes varies but not based on weight or contents?

Are you speaking your language or the language of the people you serve? Take the time to educate clients in how your industry works. Speak plain language. (IT guys are famous for not getting that one.)

Build your relationships based on clear communication and trust, then you can build on that to bring people up to speed. Organizations and people of greatness make it easy for customers to follow them and they don't embarrass their potential customers or make them afraid to do business with them by using jargon.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Being Busy Is Not An Excuse

Have you ever used the excuse, "it's too busy" as a way of not paying attention to details, taking too long to get back to customers, missing project deadlines or being late for appointments?

Isn't the purpose of being in business ultimately to be busy?

If you can't handle juggling a few balls and still get your project in on time, can't get a meal out in a timely fashion, can't show your client or prospect some respect or show up on time because you're too busy, then I will guess that you won't have to worry about being too busy for long.

If your 100-seat restaurant gets bogged down after 60 chairs are filled, then take out 40 chairs and do a great job for 60 people instead of a lousy job for 100.

If you're leaving yourself ten minutes to get to your next appointment twenty minutes away, then start scheduling in 30 minutes of travel time - but show your customer/prospect that you think they are important enough to be there early.

If you can't seem to handle the details to get the project done on time, then delegate something or admit that you're over your head but don't let your project team grind to halt because you're "too busy.".

At a sporting goods store sale today, one clerk served one customer while 6 others waited for service. The clerk leaned against a stack of boxes while the customer took his time trying on several pairs of shoes - not acknowledging the others who waited. We didn't wait. We left, found a store where the clerk served us promptly, checked us for our walking style, brought out four pairs of shoes, allowed us try each, helped a couple of other customers at the same time and rang us through while we gladly paid a premium for premium service.

What's the point of having a sale to bring in more customers if you can't handle the numbers once they arrive?

Do one thing well. Be outstanding. Be the standard to which your competitors will measure themselves. Don't offer mediocre service (or none at all) and blame being too busy. You may end up solving your own problem of being too busy.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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What Do You Make?

It's not a question of money. It's a question of how the world is different because you're here.



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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Set Your People Up To Win

At the door last week, was a rep from my cable and Internet provider. She introduced herself and displayed her company employee card clipped to the outside of her jacket.

"I'm here to see if I can save you a few dollars by bundling our services," she started out.

The she asked, "So, can you tell me what services you are currently subscribing to from us?"

Huh? Wouldn't she already know what services I subscribe to before she got to the door if her purpose was to actually save me money?

What I soon figured out is that the cable company, instead of using a third-party call center to phone to pester me, sends people out into the field to knock at doors. They probably have a better closing ratio than the phone since no one answers their phones anymore. But why did she have NO information about my account?

This is what makes an organization look dumb, mediocre, ordinary: sending their people (contracted or not) out to represent the company, to talk knowledgeably to their customers, to sway new customers to increase the number of service subscriptions, and yet give them absolutely nothing to go on - no help, no "warm call," no support, no nothing. Any ordinary and mediocre company can do that. Most do. There's no effort required in being ordinary.

If you were an organization of greatness, you'd make sure that the reps you send would at least know a little something about me - even what services I subscribe to. If you're going to save me money, then you had better know exactly how you could do that before you get to my door. This pathetic sales attempt at my door was not about making me, the customer, the focus of the call.


I checked their web site under the "Careers" section. It's where I found their "Values" statement: Together, we designed a value system that will guide us and that will represent to our team and our customers how we do things here. Our values are: Accountable, Balance, Customer Focused, Loyalty, Integrity, Positive, Can Do Attitude and Team Player.

Do you want some advice cable behemoth? How about you walk your talk and actually do what your "Values" statement says you will do: support the people out in the market who deal with your customers by at least giving them a modicum of information and set them up to win instead of finding ways of getting doors slammed in their faces and your company to get a bigger black eye as a company out-of-touch with its customers?

Just another mediocre company paying lip-service to their company values.  It's no big surprise that on the same page of their web site I also found: We are always looking for motivated individuals to fill a wide range of positions in a variety of locations. No kidding.

 

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Savvy Shoppers Are Kicking Your Butt

This week, I went looking for a specific item, an AV cart for my office, but didn't know the name of any stores that would carry what I wanted. For the office supply stores, it is a "special order" anyway. So why not just save a useless trip to the store (only to be again disappointed) and instead just order it on-line - like they would at the store. So I Googled.

I didn't bother with opening my copy of the Yellow Pages because, well, the information in the Yellow Pages is from last year - and besides, there are no prices - and no pictures of the specific item - and no updates - and no way to check if it is in-stock - and no info on new stock - and no way to see their web site - and no interactivity - and no way to compare against others - and no video showing how to use the product - and no recommendations - and no reviews from customers - and no pictures of the storefront - and no interactive maps with directions. And businesses still spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars monthly on their Yellow Pages ad for basically a billboard on paper that only gets seen when someone needs your product immediately and is willing to haul out a big book and you hope they can find your category.

I search on-line. I am a Baby Boomer with no fear of technology. Today I know the name of a great kitchen store because I've read some great reviews on it. Today I know to NOT deal with my neighborhood flower shop because they're out of business - caused by poor service that I discovered on-line. Today I know which restaurants are great, which car dealers to avoid, which hotels have the best view, which second-hand store has that classic guitar I've been looking for and also that people, no matter how great the review, will not put their trust in a hair stylist that isn't recommended by a friend or neighbor. I might use the Yellow pages at 2 in the morning if I wanted a pizza - but then maybe not - unless I were in a strange city.

If you are using the Internet to do your homework before you buy, wouldn't it stand to reason that your customers are doing the same thing? You've got to be on-line and on-line needs to be one of your primary marketing strategies. You can probably forget that big, flashy Yellow Pages ad and go with a simple free listing in the book with your web site address included. Then, make sure you are where everyone else is already gathered - on-line. Besides, if your customers already know your name, they'll find you in the white pages - not the Yellow Pages surrounded by all of your competitors.

I bought the AV cart, not from a local company, but from one in the USA. They had the best web site, the best selection, outstanding pricing, free shipping to my front door (even to Canada) and it was in-stock today and would be shipped immediately. Add to that the fact that their web site was so easy to navigate, didn't ask me to set up an account but automatically set one up for me (with user name and password) once I keyed in the credit card info, gave me a tracking number for my shipment, had hundreds of testimonials from over-the-top satisfied clients who rated each product individually ... and ... they also said "thank you." And I think they meant it.

Stop being ordinary. Start being the standard to which your customers become raving fans and your competitors bristle. Change your Attitude about how you do business. Your customers have just as much knowledge as you do. Don't ever treat them like you're doing them a favor. You're not.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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How To Excel When Business Is Down

Jeffery Gitomer, perhaps America's top sales trainer, said yesterday, "When business is down, it’s likely morale is down. Invest in attitude training for every member of the team FIRST. The best way to get more sales is by creating more friendly and human interaction. The best way to gain loyalty from existing customers, and get more sales (the surest path to survival and growth), is by making service IMPROVEMENTS, not service cuts."

When business is down, there is greater competition for fewer dollars in the marketplace. My audiences always seem amazed to hear that 51% of buyers buy "Attitude" factors like staff, friendliness, approachability, ease-of-business, after-sale service and follow-up. A smaller percentage buy from you because of product knowledge.  

More people buy your Attitude than your knowledge. Pay attention to that. The companies who will be successful when times are tough are the ones who have the right customer-focused Attitude. A buyer expects you to have product knowledge but the competitive edge goes to organizations that address Attitude factors.

Attitude also happens to be tied for second as most popular criteria on job performance reviews: first, quality of work followed by Attitude and productivity. Attitude finished ahead of teamwork, goals, customer service and skills development. Why then do most organizations spend the majority of their training dollars on teamwork, goals, customer service and skills development if the top three criteria for how you judge your people aren't even in that list? When times are tough, you're wasting your money if you're not addressing Attitude.

45% of workers feel "work" is the biggest source of stress in their lives. That's about half of your staff who hate coming to work because they get stressed. Great Attitude to build a successful organization on.

Your Corporate Culture is nothing more than a collection of prevailing Attitudes in your workplace. You will never, and I mean NEVER, improve your culture without addressing Attitude. Without addressing Attitude, you will be never be more than an ordinary, mediocre organization. To go to a "Greatness" culture requires you to do something that none of your competitors are doing - like, change your attitude about Attitude.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture
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Fire Your Bad Clients

Years ago, when I was selling radio advertising to small businesses, I would ask my potential clients to tell me specifically who they wanted to attract as customers. It helped me to identify whether our audience was also their audience.

"Everybody," was the usual reply.

But you can't have everybody. Not everybody is going to buy from you. For example, for the 50% of the population that doesn't play a sport, they would have no use for a sporting goods store and therefore never enter the store. So everybody is not their customer.

Identify your ideal clients and your market segment, to ensure that you aren't just spinning your wheels out in the marketplace. You can't target your potential clients effectively by targeting everybody.

Everybody doesn't see your one billboard. Everybody doesn't see your Yellow Pages ad. Everybody doesn't visit your web site because not everybody has ever heard of you. You don't have the kind of advertising budget to achieve that..

So who is your ideal client? If you don't have a clear idea of who that is, then you will end up aimlessly taking whatever you can get from whoever will give you something. Change your attitude about just taking what you can get and instead start to focus on what you want.

Do you want to do business with people who will beat you up on your prices just to knock you down to mere pennies in profit and then to have those same people complain because they don't value what you do? Be specific about who you want to business with. Don't think everybody wants to do business with you. Not everybody wants you, needs you or even likes you.

The Attitude of Service isn't just an outward attitude. The Attitude of Service isn't just about you serving others. The Attitude of Service also includes an honest study of who deserves what you offer. What is your service worth? Who would most appreciate what you do?

Don't do yourself a disservice by thinking that you must cater to price-hungry, high-maintenance customers who have no loyalty to you because it's all you can get right now. You'll never achieve greatness arguing with penny-pinchers who don't value you, your product and your service and who would never give you a recommendation. It's the wrong crowd. Maybe it's time you served yourself a little better a fired your "headache" customers. Let someone else have them. They're dragging you down anyway.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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A Kinder, Gentler Business Of The Future

This month marked a very important milestone, one that quietly slipped under the radar. The consequences of this milestone are far reaching and it is only going to get bigger and play a far more important role in business in North America.

January officially recognizes that women now comprise OVER 50% of the workforce. Where once women were largely confined to menial jobs, their brain power now outnumbers men in the workforce.

Add to that women dominating in terms of educational performance, volume of university degrees and especially advanced professional degrees and you can see how this can become a tsunami of change down the road.

It's been said that women are better leaders overall than men - largely due to their ability to lead with compassion instead of cutthroat business tactics - and we face a workforce that is about to change. As more women move up the ladder, the old-boys clubs are doomed to go the way of the dodo.

Personally, I welcome a change in the demographics. More women in senior management would mean more women dominating boards of directors as well as shareholders. That means how business gets done is going to change with a heavier emphasis on long-term growth and prosperity for the sake of the employees and loyalty while lessening concentration on jumping into takeover situations, raping and cutting up companies for the sake of profit and not caring about the families that cutthroat business affects.

Maybe by finding a way to be kinder, gentler organizations, we can help employees find loyalty, purpose and pride in their work and the companies they work for.

It couldn't hurt. I can't possibly imagine how much worse employee engagement, diligence and work ethic could get. Maybe we'll see the end of the practice of "company profits first, employee welfare second." Maybe it'll turn into employee welfare AND company success together. After all, you can't have one without the other.
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Where's Service In A Tight Economy?

It's no secret that this recession has hurt many businesses. There are only a handful of businesses who are having, or have had, a banner year over this past 12 months.

That means that more businesses are fighting for fewer dollars from fewer customers in the marketplace.

That last statement begs the question: so if there are more businesses fighting over fewer customers trying to win a larger share of fewer sales, then where is the increased customer service experience you would expect to see in a tight economy?

I'll tell you where it is: it was eliminated (cut) with all of the other so-called "wasteful" programs that organizations felt they could do without as mediocre organizations made cutbacks and sat on hoards of cash hoping to weather the storm. Unfortunately, most organizations think that Service is something to be addressed by only their Customer Service department - when, in fact, Service is an Attitude, not a department

Ironically though, 80% of senior executives have reported they would use this recession to improve their competitive position (Bain & Company Survey 2009). Has your organization done anything about your customer experience over the past year? Hmm, then you must be one of the 20% who aren't doing anything about it (or the other 80% who are simply blowing smoke about re-tooling in a down economy). Service is an Attitude, not a department.

80% of senior executives believe that their companies are delivering an exceptional customer experience (Bain & Company Survey 2005). Only 8% of their customers agree. Why is there so much delusion at the top? Because senior managers believe that by training their Customer Service Department using the same trainers and same training models that churns out the same mediocre service of every other competitor, that somehow it's good enough. "Good enough" is mediocre - not great.

88% of companies view Corporate Culture as important as Strategy for business success (Bain & Company Survey 2009). So why then are 60% of North American workers actively looking for a new job in 2010 (Right Management Work Force Survey 2009)? They're leaving because they feel abandoned by their bosses which creates a terrible corporate culture - the same culture that 88% of companies apparently view as important as Strategy. They work in a culture of "good enough" which obviously isn't good enough to keep their people.

The numbers don't add up. Organizations are becoming so out of touch with their customers that they think they know what is right for their customers and employees but in reality, until you create a two-way dialogue, you will never know. It's arrogant to think you know what is best for people without asking.

There are too many sides not talking to each other - and that makes for a corporate culture that sucks.

The difference between a mediocre culture and a Culture of Greatness is seven distinct Attitudes. Here's a 7-minute video overview of the Attitudes that make organizations "Great."


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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE by Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist

Creator of the 90-Day Strategy to Greatness Culture


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Service or Margins - Which Is More Important?

A coffee shop that I used to frequent is for sale today. It's the third time in five years that the store has been for sale.

The original asking price of the folks who started the business five years ago was $130,000. Then new owners bought it. After two years, they put it up for sale at a price of $100,000. Now, the store is for sale again but this time, it is closed - out of business. The current owners are asking $75,000.

That means that over a five year period, the business has lost $55,000 in value or about 40% of its original value. Now, because it's closed for business, it's worth nothing more than the liquidation of the equipment. You probably could get it all for less than $50,000 because the current owners are still paying the lease on the building. It's costing them money to stay closed.

When people buy a business, they are usually attracted by the potential cash flow. That's what gets them excited - the possibility of a big payoff without a lot of effort. They don't buy the original dream, the original vision or the excitement of opening a new business. Because of it, most usually end up cutting corners, reducing costs and going "cheap" to find find ways to maximize profits. The original owners invested in their customers. They "built" the business. The new owners usually just want the revenue. New owners rarely have any history with the customers and the customers have no history with them. 

Rarely have I ever seen a business bought out and improved upon. Most either drop in quality or simply maintain status-quo. Yes, there are a few exceptions but over all, most people who take over an existing business do so because they are attracted to the cash-flow without a lot of work. But they soon find out that keeping a clientele is just as difficult as finding new customers. Without a willingness to do the work, the value of the business drops. In this above example, each new owner of the coffee shop lost money over time.

Customers don't frequent your business to make you wealthy. Customers come because of the service and they leave because of a lack of perceived value. You can't "cut" your way to greatness. You can't view your customers as marks to be fleeced. You must cherish and value your customers or they will find someplace else where they feel that.

Service is the key to success in any business. Margins don't matter if there are no customers. Service is what keeps them coming back - not margins. Service is what spreads the word - not margins. Service is what creates long-term loyalty - not margins.

People deal with people. People buy from people. People talk with people. Don't forget about the "people" part of your organization. Develop the Attitude of Service™ if you want to build a strong business. Service first, profits second. There are no profits without customers.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Rewards Make Performance Worse

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a large networking event. You are surrounded by hundreds of people. You reach into your pocket and pull out a handful of your own business cards. Then, with all of your might, you throw that handful of business cards straight up into the air and let them fall to the ground like snowflakes. Then, you stand back and wait for people to pick up your business card. What are the chances that people will call your phone number to place an order for your product or service using this model?

This is exactly the same sales business model that companies are using worldwide: make a cold call, throw a business card at the prospect and rush back to the office and wait for the phone to ring. Essentially it's the same as throwing a handful of business cards into a crowded room. And yet, sales managers still believe in cold call competitions: rewarding salespeople for knocking on the most doors in a day. They believe that by handing out prizes and incentives for knocking on doors that their business will increase as a result.

Dan Pink, former speechwriter for Al Gore, is now studying motivation in the workplace. What he and many other researchers and economists have found is that rewards and incentives do not work. Perhaps small incentives work a little bit but large incentives actually make performance worse. In fact the bigger the incentive, the worse the performance. As Pink says, "there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does."

So, what does business do? The same thing it is always done: offer incentives for performance. In other words, business holds onto an attitude that says, "don't confuse me with the facts because I have already made up my mind." But now here's the strangest part, business will offer incentives for out-of-the-box thinking. Do you see the problem with this? Incentives retard thought. And the bigger the incentive the less likely someone will come up with a solution.

So now even a bigger problem exists because of the findings that incentives retard performance: there are incentive companies that have built their survival on the misconception that incentives improve performance. But science and research prove otherwise. In spite of these findings, you may still receive a telephone call from an incentives company offering their services to improve the performance of your people. Incentives companies were formed on opinion and not on fact. How many other companies do you deal with whose very business models are based on opinion and not fact?

You need to see the video for yourself. The video is from a TED conference and runs 18 minutes in length. Might I suggest that you close your office door, put your phone on voicemail, turn off your Blackberry and give your undivided attention to this video. It is important. Findings like this will change your attitude about what you believe to be true and the way business gets done. Ignore this video and its findings and you may actually be impeding the performance of your people. This is an Attitude Adjustment of monumental proportions.



http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Old-School Training Are Like Cold-Meds

Why are the newest and weakest people in the organization tasked with the most important job in the organization: customer service? Why are not the CEOs, Veeps and Supervisors, the veterans of the organization, not serving the revenue stream to the organization – the customer?

At the end of the day, senior management is responsible ultimately for the financial success of the organization. So why then is the most important responsibility - the maintaining and development of revenue streams - left to the minions who are simply treating it like a job?

Corporate America needs an attitude adjustment. If the customer is king and without them the organization ceases to be, why are customers not being served directly by the kings? What consumers are experiencing today is service by dimwits - people who take a dim view of their work and do not use their wits in service of the customer. The solution from above is, "let's send our front-line people to another customer service seminar to improve our service."

So they hire trainers who are desperately clinging to last year's model of business service and are leaving the responsibility for improving their internal performance with a bunch of outside contractors. In essence, you've just said to your people, "Take this course and do it better OK?"

Corporate America may know how to make a profit but it sure doesn't know much about people. And it's people who make the thing run. As long as your people treat their jobs like a job, service will never improve. It can't. It's impossible to build any solid relationship-creating culture on a foundation of "Is it 5 o'clock yet?"

• Time management training to someone without self-discipline is a waste of time.
• Sales Training to someone lacking self-confidence is wasting your money.
• Teamwork training to someone without self-esteem creates a weaker link.

Customer Service, Time Management, Sales and Teamwork training are like taking cold meds for your flu symptoms: you mask the symptoms but don't really address the root problem. You're still sick inside even though you may look healthy outside.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The workforce is changing. Workplace values are changing. The people in the workplace are changing. So why are you still trying to run your business using ancient business models that are dying?

If people can talk to Presidents and Prime Ministers on social networking sites, your customers ought to be able to talk to the CEO. The old business model of "top-down - keep your customers at arms length - blanket policies" is not going to sustain your organization in the future. People around the world are creating conversations with people who matter. Why can't your customers talk to the people who make the decisions in your organization?

Your business model is sick and risks dying soon. Stop feeding it cold-meds and simply hoping it gets better.

The Recession: What’s In It For You?

General Motors, Chrysler, Air Canada and Canwest Global are “on the ropes.” They, of course, are all blaming the recession for their current situation. They won’t admit that they have been building sub-standard quality products or offering sub-standard service, sub-standard programming, over-extending and over-leveraging themselves when times were easy or possessing a “take as much out of the market while you can” attitude. No, it’s the fault of the recession. It’s much easier to point the finger squarely at something out of your control and not be accountable for your performance.

This time in our economy has been nothing more than someone pushing the “reset” button to weed out the weak, the lazy and the greedy. It’s easy to make money when everyone is flush with cash and many did. The challenge is in listening to what the market wants, what the market demands and what the market expects and give people what they want – not what business thinks they need. The companies who will survive this time in our economy will be the ones who deserve to – not the ones that have an entitlement attitude because of their tenure in history.

Last week, the Federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy reported that personal bankruptcies increased over 50% in March 2009 compared to March 2008. That’s “personal” bankruptcies. But what about business bankruptcies during the same period? Business bankruptcies have actually declined by 10% over the same period which means that when times were good in March 2008 there were more bankruptcies than there were when we are supposed to be in a recession. Business is actually doing better during this time in our economy because they are changing, adapting and responding to their customers in a positive way. For those businesses that are in trouble, natural selection and market cycles have a wonderful way of weeding them out.

Let’s not ever forget that you, as a consumer, vote with your dollars. You get to vote who stays in business and who doesn’t. You don’t vote for mediocre service and market complacency. No business is entitled to your money. Every single business should earn it. You get to vote for those businesses you want to succeed. In other words, if there’s nothing in it for you, why would you give your money freely to a business that is doing little for you?

As a consumer, you also get to choose whether or not you participate in this recession. Oh yes, you have a choice. You always have a choice. My friend Marty Park (www.martypark.com) said something so profound recently that I have been finding myself repeating it at every opportunity. He said, “The recession? I’m not participating.”

Here’s why you should make the choice right now as to whether or not you participate in the recession: what’s in it for you? No really, ask yourself what’s in it for you?

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If there is nothing in it for you, do you participate in something anyway? Of course not. So why do you think that you NEED to participate in the recession? You don’t. Plain and simple, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. The economy is resetting itself. You have no control over that. Let it go and stop worrying. It doesn’t really affect most people. It’s your “personal economy” that’s most important right now. Spend a little less and save a little more. Make business work for your money. You’re in charge. Even during the boom times, people got laid off, got downsized and got squeezed by mergers. They just dusted themselves off and went and found a new job or went back to school to upgrade their skills. You can do that now too.

You’re still buying groceries, the lights are still on and the doors to work are still open for 92% of Canadians. What really has changed? Not much. In fact, in the last year, small businesses with fewer than 20 employees created 36,800 new jobs across Canada. Why can small business create so many new jobs? Because they respond to what customers want. Small business knows that consumers vote with their dollars.

Before you spend a dime today, think about whether or not the business you’re considering spending your money with is actually earning it or not. Don’t give business “pity money” because you feel sorry for them. Make them earn it. Most businesses, fortunately, are starting to figure that out. Those who don’t ever figure it out though, will join the list at the top of this article. But that’s not your problem is it?

Car Wrecks, Grieving Mothers And The Economy

You’ve seen it happen when a tragedy befalls a family. You see the media clamoring and jockeying for position to try to get an exclusive interview with the affected family members. Family members are in tears trying desperately to remain coherent and composed while facing the barrage of cameras and microphones shoved in their faces.

I get no pleasure from watching events like this. I don’t understand how the media can be so calloused as to think that someone who is suffering a personal tragedy would make for good TV. But they do it anyway because in order to boost ratings, the media feels compelled to put the most sensational, gut-wrenching and over-the-top footage on their newscasts. We, the public, love to watch a car-wreck. Events like this are sadly, just like that.

Shoving a camera in the face of a grieving mother is not factual – it’s sensational. Interviewing the investigating police officers of a crime is factual.

At the same time, we look to that same media for the facts of what is happening to our economy. If they will go through great lengths to make a personal tragedy sensational, wouldn’t it figure that they would do the same with every story – including the state of our economy.

There are many experts who believe that we are turning the corner in the economy right now. There are just as many who believe that we’re headed for more trouble. Those who think more trouble is ahead seem to get more than their fair share of the headlines. Those who think that our economy is on the upswing usually get buried in the story (for balance so they tell us). If you read only the headline and the first few paragraphs of a newspaper story, you get the idea that things are going to get worse.

In no less than twenty stories in various newspapers across the country in the past few weeks, I have found buried inside the dastardly-headlined stories, some hope, some optimism and some good news. But the headline rarely suggests that. My friend and business growth expert, Marty Park, made an interesting suggestion: start telling your friends that the recession is over and claim you heard it on the news. Watch how people react.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Let’s not forget that the media is a business. After being a member of the media for eighteen years, I can tell you with no reservation that the media’s job is to sell advertising. Ads are easier to sell for those with a bigger share of the market. In other words, a bigger audience means bigger dollars. Make the headline sensational. Make it loud. Make it brash. And make it appeal to the inherent “car-wreck watching” parts of us.

The awards for best photo don’t go to photojournalists who shoot beautiful sunsets. They go to those who shoot tragedy. Journalism awards don’t go to reporters who write good news stories. They go to investigative reporters who uncover a major plot. Documentary awards don’t normally go news crews who tell happy stories of companies succeeding during tough times. Those awards go to crews who bring down the big multi-nationals.

Before you think that what you read in newspapers, see on television and listen to on radio is gospel truth, think about what the individual reporters are trying to do (win awards) and what the media companies are trying to do (win awards and raise advertising revenues). Journalism is “supposed” to be fair and balanced – but that doesn’t mean that the headlines have to be.

It’s your own personal economy that’s really most important to you anyway. Your own personal economy is turning the corner if you whatever is necessary to make it turn the corner. For the most part, what’s happening in the rest of the country or the world won’t have much effect on you personally if you look after your own personal economy (household, personal finances, revenue streams, etc.). Let’s keep our eyes on the ball and stop getting so spooked by organizations trying to profit from our difficulty.

The Loudest Person In The Room

Have you ever been struck by a line in a movie? You know the kind of line I’m talking about; a line that had profound meaning for you perhaps like the ones below:

• “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” (Coach Carter)
• “Writers are meant to write for readers who are meant to read.” (Finding Forrester)
• “Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it.” (Braveheart)
• “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” (Dead Poets Society)
• “Either get busy living or get busy dying.” (The Shawshank Redemption)

Last week, I witnessed another line that spoke volumes about organizational values and could be identified as one a very profound statements for the workplace. Denzel Washington spoke this one.

“The loudest one in the room is usually the weakest one in the room.” (American Gangster)

You know that this quote is bang-on truthful. You know the people that this quote describes. They are the loudest ones in the bar trying hard to be popular. They are the loudest of critics voicing their displeasure at your choice of new car. They will insult you – but say it’s just in fun. They will attempt to bring others on-side to create an “us versus them” situation. They brag about their expensive clothes and lifestyle. They attempt to make you wrong when they themselves don’t understand.

You have worked with people like this. They are the know-it-alls in the room. They poo-poo everyone else’s ideas. They pretend that they work with idiots and attempt to control the work of the group. They think themselves superior and believe that no one else is capable of contributing anything of meaning to a project. No one wants to work with them because they shoot down the ideas of their co-workers. They hate to be challenged. They dislike opposing ideas.

But the truth is the loudest one in the room is usually the weakest one in the room. Real confidence requires no proof so those with confidence don’t feel the need to prove themselves. People who feel the need to be loud usually need the attention focused on themselves. Attention seekers have low self-image and a big ego as their defense. They compensate for low self-image by looking for attention to fill them up inside. They outwardly point out your faults so that the attention is not focused on their own. By tearing you down, they believe that they somehow elevate themselves. That is the classic definition of the workplace bully. Bullies hate to be found out.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Every organization needs confident leaders: those with a good sense of self-worth. Sending the loudest person to management training only feeds their desire for superiority. Sending the loudest person to management training only creates tyrants for managers.

Bullies need to be challenged by the rest of the staff. In group projects, outvote the tyrant in every opportunity. Calmly and confidently challenge every insult immediately. Refuse to back down from a bully’s barbs because deep down, bullies are cowards who use insults to make you feel inferior.

The loudest person in the room has a need to be the loudest person in the room. Take that power away from the bully and he or she will either leave on their own or be labeled as a non-team player and be removed by management as not being a good fit.

The Service-Leadership Attitude™ says that you, as a leader, give people a reason to follow. Fear is not a reason to follow. Bullies use fear as a tool to deflect criticism on themselves. Leaders use inspiration and ideas to give people a reason to follow. Bullying, tyranny and conflict will sink an organization quickly. Leadership has difficulty surviving in this environment. That's why bullies need to be fired - even at the cost of expensive legal bills.

The Fine-Print Attitude Adjustment

So what do you think would happen if you stood up in a public forum and announced, “Our Company is in trouble and we now need a big injection of cash to keep our company going. If we don’t get the cash injection, we will be forced to lay off a lot of our workers, we will have to consider closing some of our plant locations and our future as a viable company will become tenuous at best.”

Do you think that a public declaration like that would inspire customers to continue doing business with you?

Well that’s exactly what the big automakers did in late 2008. And guess what? The report came out today saying auto sales dropped substantially in December. Now who would have ever thought that people would stop buying cars when the car makers say that they’re in trouble?

Has your organization stopped spending because of the media-induced, economic-crisis hysteria? Many companies say that they have stopped spending but not for things they need. If your computer crashed today you would be buying a new one tomorrow because a computer is necessary to get the work done. So companies are still buying. They’re just ensuring that they get value for their money.

Many companies have ceased their training and management meetings and conferences – yet continue to pay the Meeting Planner on-staff who is planning no meetings. That seems like a senseless waste of a good salary. Ceasing training at this time is just about the most ridiculous idea an organization could follow.

It’s right now that your people need reassurances that your company or organization is solid. It’s right now that your workplace needs a shot of courage and conviction. Many of your competitors have rolled up their sails and are waiting out the “storm.” But there is no storm. It’s a media-induced frenzy. And if you’re buying it, you’re hurting your own bottom-line.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: So what message are you sending your customers? What message are you sending your people? You see, whatever you say to your people is going to be the same thing your people say to your customers.

Let me repeat that one: whatever you say to your people is going to be the same thing your people say to your customers.

So stop catastrophizing (or making up words).

So how bad is it really out there? Well, outside of car sales, retail sales fell 1.8 per cent in December. 1.8 per cent. Are you kidding me? The mass hysteria is about a 1.8 per cent drop in retail sales in December – which is compared to December 2007. That was the month, if you recall, that retailers were surprised by how much we were spending. We overshot expectations in December 2007 and evened it out in December 2008.

Do not let your organization suffer from the media-induced, ratings-grabbing, hysterical headlines. Read the fine print. Get the information for yourself. Pay attention. Don’t panic and for goodness sake, don’t panic in front of your people or your customers.

Now is the time to give your people a shot in the arm – not a kick in the teeth. Now is the time to arm them with confidence – not uncertainty. Now is the time to give them an attitude adjustment on what’s really happening in the marketplace – not rumours and supposition. Now is the time to rise above the cowering competitors and take a bigger market share.

Now is the time for leadership. Leadership is an Attitude.

The 2% Economic Attitude Adjustment

I’m getting fed up with the media hysteria of the state of our economy. Sensationalism and ratings-grabs are leading the news these days and it’s sickening. Companies and their “Chicken Little” CFO’s are buying into the hysteria while sitting on piles of reserve cash. The sky is NOT falling. In fact, we’re perhaps better off than we were two years ago. How so? Think this way: the Canadian economy for the past three years was running too hot. When you run a car too hot, you do more damage to the engine than when you run it at a constant speed within the “moderate” range. When a machine gets too hot, it needs to slow down to allow the engine to cool a little. In other words, what we’re experiencing right now is a simple push of the “Reset” button. That’s how Canadian Business Magazine has described this time in our economy.

Now if you want to witness an economy out of control, let’s go back to Canada in the early eighties. The unemployment rate was over 12%, inflation was 12.5% and interest rates were over 20%. Twenty percent! Compare those figures to today (January 2009): unemployment at 7.2%, inflation at 1.07%, and the Bank of Canada Rate for January was 1.25%.

So, because the interest rates and inflation rates are so low right now, let’s just take a look at just the unemployment rate and talk about it. On average in Canada, for the last ten years or so, the unemployment rate has run around 5.2%, which means that 94.8% of people who wanted to work were working. Today, 92.8% of people who want to work are working. That’s a two percent difference folks. Two percent! How would a drop of two percent affect your business? No really. Seriously answer that question. Is your business on the brink of financial ruin with a drop of two percent in the employment rate? Seriously?

Interest rates are so low that borrowing money is almost free. Inflation is so low that you can almost guarantee that the prices you pay today will be virtually the same prices tomorrow. The market is consistent with its own performance over the past five years for the most part. So what’s with the panic?

Many people think attitude training is hokey and it's a soft skill that you can do without. But the truth is that if your people are quoting chapter and verse from the media about the sky falling and your people end up passing that uncertainty along to your customers, your customers are going to be uncertain about doing business with you. The attitude of your people transfers to your customers.

US President Obama has recently made a commitment to reduce the US deficit of 1.3 trillion dollars by half within the next four years. In doing so, the plan is to stimulate the economy by creating new jobs. When President Bill Clinton did the same in the nineties, he got rid of the deficit. And guess what happened? He produced 24 million new jobs. The US had eight years that were the most successful in the second half economically of the 20th century.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The truth is Attitude, in this time of economic uncertainty, is far more important than fluff like Time Management. It's the attitude of your people, when they speak with customers, which will make you a winner in a “down” economy. It's Attitude that keeps your people's perspective in check when they hear the media say the sky is falling. It's Attitude that will cause your people to realize that business is in the toilet if you "believe" that business is in the toilet. If your people accept that they can't be successful while times are supposed to be hard, then you may as well close your doors until the economy gets better because you are going to bleed red ink.

Attitude is perspective. Change the perspective and you change the results. You can't do the same thing the same way everyday and expect to magically succeed. But once you change someone's perspective, once you change how they see problems, once you change how they believe things can be, you change results.

There are companies around the world who are succeeding in spite of the "economic downturn." Would you be willing to take the time to find out their secrets? I'll save you the trouble. Companies become successful when they don't allow excuses, reasons or justifiers to stand in their way. The Economic Downturn is nothing more than a convenient excuse for companies doing poorly. That excuse lets business off the hook for being mediocre. That's simply "Attitude" in play.

Leadership is an Attitude. Service is an Attitude. Safety is an Attitude. Success is an Attitude. Winning is an Attitude. Perspective is an Attitude.

None of it is measurable or tangible. But you won't find a single successful organization without it.

If your people are scared when they work or deal with clients, you're doomed. If they've got Attitude, there isn't a single thing that will ever stop them from achieving.

So, what's your next step?

Memo From The Customer

I think I missed a memo recently. I must have. The memo I missed apparently stated that if you are a cashier, a salesperson or even a “sandwich artist,” feel free to have conversations with your co-workers, your friends and other complete strangers while “serving” your current customer.

When exactly did the person with the money (the customer) become the least important part of a front-line worker’s day? Recently, it seems that almost every store I have gone into has someone at the front counter who needs to have a conversation with someone else (not work-related) that is more important than accepting my money. How can everything in a cashier’s day be more important than my willingness to exchange goods and services for money? Did I miss that memo?

In response, here is my memo.

Memo to: The front-line staff of all organizations
From: The Customer
Re: Performance review

It has come to my attention that you have been ignoring me lately. Although nothing has been said directly to me, your performance in the role of customer service has become suspect. I wish to address that here.

Your willingness to make eye-contact with me and to acknowledge that I have chosen to part with my hard-earned money has made me feel as though you really don’t care that I am in your establishment willing to purchase something. I am simply asking that, for the few minutes I am in your business, that you keep your conversations focused on what I would like and, most of all, be thankful for my willingness to frequent your work place. I feel compelled to address this issue as I have noticed it lacking of late.

I am becoming incredibly frustrated at being ignored while I am in the midst of purchasing something. I (the customer) am the revenue source for your business. I (the customer) am the guy who keeps the lights on in your business and gives you the revenue stream to pay for silly little expenses like … oh I don’t know … staff!! I (the customer), in this so-called economic downturn, am the difference between your business going down and your business thriving. Unless there is a fire, ask yourself, is there really something more important that you feel you must handle before you handle my transaction?

Do you really need to create conversations with others about how tired you are, how long the day has been or how many minutes are left before you can head to the bar to hang out with your friends? If I were your boss would you ignore me as I stood in front of you so that you could carry on meaningless conversations with friends or co-workers? Well, how about you think of me as your boss – simply in the fact that I pay you indirectly.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The secret to customer service is to simply be present in my dealing with you. I don’t want to feel like I’m imposing on you when I buy something from you. I want to hear “Thank you.” I want you to mean it when you say it. You can tell me to “have a nice day” or not – that’s really not important to me. A simple “thank you” is all I require.

For this performance review, I need you to improve in only two areas: 1) your attitude of gratitude when I choose to part with my money in your business, and 2) your focus and attention on me for the few moments I stand in front of you.

Failure to comply with these performance issues will cause me to fire you as a company I do business with. You have been warned.

New Car Attitude Adjustment

Sales are slumping in the auto sector right now. The big car makers are feeling the pinch of an economic slowdown. Personally, I don’t believe that the economic slowdown is as bad as the media are making it out to be. In fact, I have yet to meet or speak with one person who has directly suffered any hardship at the hands of the economic slowdown (I’m not saying they don’t exist – I just haven’t met any of them).

Granted I live in Alberta and yes, we have a pretty strong economy still. And in the same way that you can’t run a hot engine forever without letting it cool down so you can do some repair and upkeep, we are in a cool-down period right now – as we gear up for the next rush. There are a lot of companies and organizations who are hiring right now. These are the same companies who are thriving in a “down economy.”

If you want to buy into the doom and gloom of how the media is portraying the economy right now, well then that’s your choice. Just remember, that you bring about what you think about.

Do I think you need to rush out and buy a new car to help the economy? Nope. In fact, if you don’t “need” a new car, why on earth would you saddle yourself with extra debt just because it’s on sale or the financing is cheap? I could sell you one of my speeches right now and you would be able to use it (the learning) for years to come but do you have the extra cash just lying around to pay for it?

I was walking across the parking lot of a conference facility last week on my way to my car. Now, let me tell you about my car. It’s a 2001 Hyundai Elantra with 5-speed transmission and a little rust forming around the fenders. It’s not a pretty car. It’s not an extravagant car. It’s a useful car that just happens to look a little weathered. It gets me 47 miles to the gallon on the highway and drives quite well. But it’s a little ugly.

I was asked once, as I was crossing the parking lot of a conference center, which car was mine: the BMW, the Lexus, the Mercedes? I simply said, “the Hyundai Elantra.”

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: I guess the perception is, as a professional keynote speaker, I am supposed to be driving a brand new luxury vehicle since I supposedly speak on success. Well, the truth is, I don’t speak on success. I speak on Attitude – Leadership Attitude. Leaders don’t waste their money on cars that they don’t need. Leaders don’t need to impress people – they could care less what others think of them. Leaders do what needs doing and buy what they need.

So here’s the truth of what I do with my car. My car sits for days on end in airport parking lots, hotel parking lots, conference center parking lots and rental car parking lots. The car is ignored and left alone for days on end. The doors get dinged, it’s exposed to elements and little care is given to the car because there are no parking lot attendants. It’s a surprisingly comfortable car to drive and has high reliability ratings.

Knowing that your car is going to be exposed to carelessness and weather, would you buy an expensive car that you would need to “baby” or would you buy something that thieves wouldn’t look at a second time? I still have my car because it’s never been stolen. It’s a little ugly but it’s incredibly reliable. I owe nothing to a bank because I paid cash for it. The car owes me nothing. My car and I have the perfect relationship – it gets me where I’m going safely and I don’t expend a lot of energy worrying about it. Perfect.

The Résumé Is Dead

What is a résumé? It’s nothing more than a collection of things you’ve done in your work life – a sort-of “eulogy” at work. Oh sure, it may also point out some skills that you were allowed to use while on the job but it really gives no indication of your aptitude, your natural talents nor your values and attitudes toward the work world.

Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor, once said, “You are not paid for what you have done in the past. You are paid for what you’re about to do in the future.”

Isn’t it interesting that you (boss or HR professional) decide who you want to interview is based purely on what your candidate may have done in the past – not what they are about to do in the future.

Why is the résumé dead?

• There is no indication from a résumé of what heights could have possibly been reached – only what someone has been given the opportunity to do.
• There is no indication from a résumé of what a candidate is capable of learning – only what they have learned in the past, what school they graduated from and what pieces of paper (degrees) they may hold (relevant or not).
• There is no indication from a résumé that a particular candidate could be the next great leader for your organization – especially if never given the opportunity to lead.
• There is no indication from a résumé of how brilliant a mind may be when hidden behind average grades and average positions in an organization – especially if the candidate was kept down by a tyrant boss.
• There is no indication from a résumé of values and ethics being paramount – especially if only ever given a lowly entry-level position and no opportunity to provide input.
• There is no indication from a résumé that a candidate is a decent human being – credentials on a wall don’t make you decent.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The workforce is changing. Baby Boomers are retiring and Gen Y is here to stay. In a few years, Gen Y will be taking over management positions and leadership roles and the organizational structure that we know today will be dead – along with the résumé.

The great leaders of tomorrow and those who will change the world, including your organization, will be the people with ideas and those who will challenge the standard workforce strategy. They won’t be hired because of their résumés. And as long as you continue to believe that the résumé is the best way to find a suitable candidate to fill a position, you will be eating the dust of the organizations who have found a way to attract people with brains, ideas, values, ethics and a shared-effort philosophy. These people are found in chat rooms, blogging, e-networking, texting and hanging out with those of like-mind.

Who do you think would bring your organization a higher degree of greatness: a person looking for a job (armed with a résumé) or one who is already sharing ideas with others (armed with a Blog, followers and a huge network)? Which of the two choices do you think would give you better results in the future?

The résumé is dead.

Listen Up

“If you think the person behind the counter is dumber than you, you’ll go out of your way to prove it. But what if he’s not? Can you see a very frustrating day coming for you? But if you believe the person behind the counter may offer you an amusing story to tell, you’ll go looking for that. In over twelve years, since I started doing this, I’ve yet to find a day where I didn’t have an amusing story to tell at the end of it.”

That’s a direct quote from my Attitude Adjustment keynote presentation. I go looking for the amusing stories and I usually find them. This was not one of those days.

I was searching for a shirt. I don’t like ties. I don’t understand ties. In fact, I think a tie is just a fancy noose (perhaps I need to change my attitude on that one but perhaps not). So, instead of “expressing my individuality” through a tie, I wear an open-collared shirt – usually something that makes a statement and is normally one-of-a-kind. I have consulted with some very good clothiers and found a look that feels comfortable for me and yet is not what everyone else is wearing.

I entered the men's wear store where I encountered Earl, the sales clerk. Earl wore the requisite sport jacket, dress pants, patterned dress shirt and a tie. I told him I was looking for a shirt that was unique, one-of-a-kind, not boring, not white nor any shade of red or purple (I look very pink wearing reds and purples) … oh, and I don’t wear a tie.

He became indignant and began to challenge me on not looking like everyone else. He chastised me by explaining that a tie expresses my individuality.

“Not if everyone else is wearing one,” I added.

He argued with me, in a sort of polite way. In essence, he was telling me that he knew better than me what I should be wearing. His condescending attitude was beginning to become irritating.

He pulled down a pure white shirt, a purple shirt and a couple of shirts with red running through them and asked if this is what I was looking for. In my mind, I couldn’t help but think that he didn’t hear a word I said, so I reiterated my “non-negotiables.”

Shirt after shirt came out, each looking just like the last with small variations. They all began to look the same. The colors were boring. The styles were boring and honestly, this experience was becoming boring. So I left.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Do you attempt to push your personal tastes on your clients or do you consult with them? If you’re a manager, do you already know more than your people or is there an opportunity for them to teach you something? How often do you actually just sit and listen to your customers’ wants, your co-workers ideas or your spouse’s dreams?

The art of listening isn’t really all that complicated. It simply requires you to clear your head of all of your pre-supposed fixes, opinions and beliefs that you know better than they. Better that you come off as compassionate more than arrogant.

Every single person you come in contact with can teach you something so long as you trash the belief that you already know everything. You don’t know everything. I don’t know everything. I especially don’t know everything about selling clothes but I do know what I like to wear. Maybe cut me some slack that I have a handle on dressing myself and keep the opinions to yourself. Maybe you’ll be more successful if you listen to what I want before you tell me what I need. Listen. Did you hear me?

Leadership Versus Management

Question Posed This Week:

 

If everyone seems to know what leadership is when they see it, why do most organizations seem to bewail lack of leadership continuously, and why is there an apparent huge dearth of leadership at the top of most corporations these days?

 

Is it?
a) Accident of birth? Leaders are born not made?
b) Demographics? Maybe there is only one leader for every 1000 managers?
c) Training? Do our education systems train managers rather than leaders?
d) Selection? Maybe true leaders don't get selected in favour of managers or get screened out, or just maybe are not recognized as leaders?
e) Desire? Maybe folks just don't want to lead even if they have the skills & aptitude?

 

My answer:
Sorry, I don't buy into the belief that Leaders are born. Anyone can become a leader of any organization at any time. All that is required is a firm commitment to better oneself at every turn, acknowledging every foible and be willing to accept it and to continuously make improvements – real lasting improvements in becoming a better, more decent human being.

 

The more we read, the more we learn, the more personal discovery seminars (not that Meyers-Briggs or DISC fluff – a twenty-minute personality assessment which only explains why you are the way you are but not any real tools to change it) from real hardcore, locked-away for weeks at a time personal development journeys that we can attend, the more work we do on ourselves the more we become real.

 

Leadership must be authentic. In order to be authentic, a leader must be prepared to show all of him or herself - warts and all. Leadership comes from confidence. Real confidence requires no proof (think about that statement until you get it).

 

Management, however, can be done by anyone (I didn't say quality management). That's why it would be easier and more expedient to send someone to management school instead of self-discovery programs. It's quicker. It's cheaper. It doesn't remove the person from the workplace as long. And if he or she doesn't work out, the company can start again and send someone else.

 

You can be a jerk most of your life but it's in the "why" of being a jerk that we can discover many of our subconscious driving needs. Once we figure out what makes us tick, we can find more appropriate avenues to realize those needs.

 

Until organizations around the world figure out that you can't send a jerk to manager's school and expect him to become a leader, we'll keep ending up with the same old - same old. Leaders CAN be made. But they have to want to go out and get it. And it's hard work - I mean HARD work. Most people don't want to do the work. That's why there are so few leaders.

 

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you need to have power and control – then you will only ever be a manager. If you want to help people become better, more proficient and help them find meaning in their work – then you are a leader.

 

If you need to demand respect – you will only ever be a manager. If you give respect knowing deep down that you get what you give, then you are a leader.

 

If you believe that your people serve you – you will only ever be a manager. If you believe that you are, in fact, in service to your people – you serve them - and that you work WITH them – then you are a leader.

 

You see, Leadership is an Attitude. Management is a position.
Service is an Attitude. Customer Service is a department.
Safety is an Attitude. Occupational Health & Safety is a program.
Engagement is an Attitude. Work is a job.

 

The moment you give up the NEED to be in control is the moment you stop being a manager and start being a leader. Managers control. Leaders inspire.

Employee Engagement Free E-Book

David Zinger from the Employee Engagement Network released a free e-book this morning, 52 Powerful Sentences of Employee Engagement Advice. I am one of the 52 contributing members of the network.

 

David Zinger writes, "With 52 contributions, you could read a different sentence each week in 2009 and work at applying the advice to your organization each week. Imagine how much stronger employee engagement would be in your organization if you did this each week! Follow our authors’ suggestions or create a sentence of your own."

 

Click here to get the PDF e-book for yourself. http://www.davidzinger.com/wp-content/uploads/free-e-book-52-sentences-of-employee-engagement-advice.pdf

 

If you would like to join the Network or simply read the posts, go to http://www.employeeengagement.ning.com.

 

Step-Aside Attitude Adjustment

So it’s the Christmas season. “Tis the season of giving. And as we all trundle through the malls during this busy gift-buying season, what better gift to give to your fellow man than a little courtesy.

 

This column was inspired by stand-up comedian John Pinette’s “Get Out Of The Line.”

 

This is the “Step-Aside” Christmas Courtesy Attitude Adjustment.

 

When you encounter a friend you just “have” to spend a little time with chit-chatting at the mall, remember you’re not the only customers in the building. Take your shopping carts and yourselves and step aside to allow other shoppers to not be impeded. The hallways are crowded enough without having to circumvent people who don’t care that they’re in the way of others.

 

As you try to find that perfect parking spot at the mall, you know, the one you circle like sharks in the blood-infested water, remember that you’re driving slowly. Step aside and let the other cars find a spot further down the row.

 

Has all that shopping got you a little hungry? When you get to the front of the line at your favorite restaurant at the Food Court, if you’re not ready to order (I can’t imagine what you were doing in line that you didn’t think to be ready to order), step aside and let someone who is ready to order do so.

 

Got your shopping cart full at the grocery store and the person behind you has just a few items? Step aside and let the lesser items customer go ahead (This especially applies at the $300 Store – you know – Costco? Honestly, when’s the last time you spent less than three hundred bucks there?)

 

When your full order of groceries has been bagged and the total comes up, please don’t suddenly remember that you have a coupon “somewhere.” Please be ready or step aside.

 

Feeling frustrated because the staff of the store can’t seem to comprehend simple customer service? Don’t lose your mind about it. Step aside, cool off and let this season be a happy one – it’s your choice after all.

 

Feeling less than your best with customers as you work in the stores at this busy time of year? Don’t even think you’re entitled to lose your patience with customers. Step aside. Cool off. Remember that everyone’s a little nuts this time of year. Trust me; you’ll be looking for someone to talk to in January. Don’t ruin it for yourself.

 

Are you a boss and conduct yourself as though being the boss is more important than serving the customer? Step aside and let someone who understands that “revenue” and “expense” are on opposite sides of the balance sheet. Step aside until you fully comprehend which side of the sheet your position is on.

 

Do you see that Salvation Army kettle right in front of you? This is the only time you DON’T step aside. Drop a few bucks in the kettle. The Sally Ann does good work. Just because there won’t be a gift tag with your name on it doesn’t mean your gift won’t make a difference in someone else’s world.

 

And on Christmas morning, when it’s time to open gifts, remember it’s not all about you. Step aside and let everyone else have their moment of sheer joy and wonder. Holiday time is for everyone.

 

Playing For Change

My friend and mentor, Bobby Ng, of The Pursuit Of Excellence personal development courses based out of Edmonton, sent me a link to an astonishing video today. This video is just a small sampling of a much larger project called Playing For Change. The video is part of the documentary that has traveled around the world collecting video of street musicians playing songs then piecing them together to form an outstanding musical experience from around the world.

 

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic Stand By Me  by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe. This and other songs such as "One Love" will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD early next year.

Sign up at www.playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content. Join the Movement to help build schools, connect students, and inspire communities in need through music.

 

Check out the video, check out their web site and then try to tell me that isn't a project that will change your attitude that we are all connected.

Bringing Outsiders In

You are, no doubt, familiar with the “swear jar:” putting money in a jar for every time you use a curse word? Rarely does anyone voluntarily contribute to the jar without being caught uttering a profanity. It requires a witness to make the other party cough up the cash. A contribution to the jar usually requires a little teasing or at least some chiding before the guilty party will ‘fess up. Once admitted, the realization is usually followed by another curse word at being caught and a double fine is issued.

When my daughter was growing up we had a jar in the house called the “I can’t” jar. Every time she uttered the words “I can’t,” she would contribute to the jar. I wanted to instill the lesson that she can - whatever she wanted to do she could do. The jar didn’t last long.

I was asked this week, while being interviewed for an article in Safe Supervisor magazine, how to bring “safety cowboys,” those who won’t get with the program by ignoring safety procedures, not wearing their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or doing things they way they’ve always done them because they haven’t been hurt yet, into the fold and getting with the program. My answer was based on the “swear jar” concept.

Instilling a peer-patrolled, PPE-Check program that allows members of the work-site crew to monitor each other would be more beneficial than a top-down, supervisor-led program. Any member of the crew flagrantly flaunting the safety procedures could be assessed a fine of either a fixed cost (for example $20) or have the offender immediately jump into a vehicle and run to purchase a round of coffees for the rest of the crew at the offenders cost.

Currently, many job sites workers watch for the supervisor’s vehicle to approach and yell out a warning to the workers to “safety up” because the supervisor is on the way. This, unfortunately, makes the one person responsible for the safety of the crew the bad guy (Is the one person who actually cares that everyone goes home safely really the bad guy?). Whereas, the peer-patrolled program ensures that the workers are abiding by the rules at all times by being able to issue a fine to their fellow workers without the need for a supervisor to issue a warning or consequence.

The workers become judge-and-jury and majority rules in the assessment of a fine. Instantaneous gratification to those abiding by the rules at the expense of those who break the rules forces those who wish to operate outside of the rules to get in line or pay up.

The threat of teasing or chiding by one’s peers is a far more powerful compliance tool than the top-down philosophy in place in most workplaces. This same program could be applied outside of safety to issues like workplace tardiness, lack of customer service procedures (for example, customers not being acknowledged within a specific timeframe), missed deadlines that may hold up the progress of fellow workers or even an open display of disrespect for the workplace, the employer or one’s fellow workers.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Negativity, flaunting of the rules, not complying with procedures and grumbling are only allowed to foster in the workplace because there is no immediate consequence to the offender – and more importantly, there is no benefit for following procedures. So switch it up. Let managers manage and let the staff, the people who do the job everyday, police themselves. Empowering your people to improve workplace culture themselves encourages people to take ownership of what they do. People engage better when they have some control over what they do and how they do it. Call a brainstorming meeting and throw out an idea like this. Let your people take the idea, develop the mechanics and institute it themselves. You might be able to hide from the boss but it’s pretty tough to hide from your co-workers. And if you’re one of those on the outside refusing to get with the program, well, step up or pay up. If your workplace is fraught with whiners but you’re not one of them, you may never have to buy yourself another coffee ever again.

Cheap Or Safe? You Choose.

Last December, the government of the Province of Quebec passed legislation requiring all drivers in the province to have winter tires on their vehicles or face a fine equivalent to a new set of winter tires. It turns out that 38% of the accidents during winter months in Quebec are caused by the ten percent of the drivers who choose to drive all year on all-season tires. Quebec made the case, based simply on numbers, that in order to lower the number of collisions, lower insurance claims and lower numbers of injuries simply required a conscious decision to prepare oneself for less than optimum driving conditions. If the general public wouldn’t do it voluntarily, then in order to lower those numbers it would have to be mandated.

I made the switch to winter tires about four years ago and swear I will never attempt to drive in winter conditions on all-season tires again. There is a huge difference. In discussions with tire technicians over the years, I learned that all-season tires start to lose their grip at temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit). Even with seemingly good driving conditions, a thin layer of frost on a road can cause you to lose your road grip and can cause you slide into another vehicle. If you live in any of the Canadian provinces or any of the Northern States, snow, ice and frost is a reality in the winter. Any barrier that comes between the rubber tread on the tire and dry pavement forces a driver to question him or herself while on the road. Any question, even a split-second of insecurity, makes you a worse driver than you would be in ideal driving conditions.

Drivers across Canada, however, are faced with a lack of selection of winter tires this year, some would say due to the new legislation in Quebec. Tires stores across the country are sold out of popular sizes (especially the less expensive tires) but if you look around, you can still find tires in your required size. You may just have to pay a little more.

Do you carry precious cargo in your vehicle (family, kids, etc)? Do you consider yourself to be valuable enough to your company and family to keep yourself safe? Do you possess a little courtesy when it comes to sharing the road with other drivers? How would you feel if your vehicle was damaged and you were hospitalized due to another driver’s decision to forego winter tires when those winter tires could have clearly helped avoid an accident with you? How would you feel if you took the life of someone else by simply trying to save a few bucks?

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Safety is an attitude. You either have the attitude or you don’t. There is no “sort-of” safety attitude. Far too many drivers choose to “cheap-out” when it comes to tires. The fact is that the average passenger car can be outfitted with winter tires for about $100 or less per tire. Let’s work that out. There are about one hundred and fifty days where snow, ice, slush or frost can come into play during the average Canadian winter. That works out to a daily cost of winter tires of about two and a half dollars per day for a set of four tires. Spread that figure over four winter seasons and the cost is just over sixty cents per day. What do you spend daily at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s each day? The truth is, you will have to replace your current tires at some point – especially if you drive all-season tires in the winter as the tread wears faster in colder conditions. But by driving on winter tires in the winter, you extend the life of your summer tires. If your tires are rated for 100,000 kilometers lifetime, then for every mile you drive on winter tires, you extend the life of your summer tires. Do the right thing and save your own life and perhaps the lives of others. Stop being cheap and start being safe.

Your Mission Statement

Do you know your organization's Mission Statement? If called upon, could you recite it correctly in front of your boss and co-workers? If you ARE the boss, could you recite the Mission Statement without hesitation and flawlessly?

If you've never taken the time to figure out what your Mission Statement is, then I'm going to hazard a guess that the organizational Mission Statement is full of generic messages that mean nothing at all and doesn't resonate with you or the people you work with.

"To be the best while offering superior service to our customers." (Boring)

"Treating our employees with respect so they can respect and serve our customers." (Yawn!)

"To be a successful organization making a healthy profit and leaving the world a better place." (Huh?)

How in the world are your people supposed to engage themselves on specific work if the mission or purpose of the work is not specific? Be specific. Be creative. Be bold. No really. Do it.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Employees get a job description which is fairly detailed and specific in its duties. Why then is the purpose of the work not specific. Here's what needs to happen in your place of work during those slow days over the Christmas holidays when people are in the office just no one feels like actually working: assemble a team of thinkers and doers among your people from all levels of your workplace. Lock yourselves away in a board room and don't come out until you have a single sentence that every single person on staff can buy into - helping each employee engage in a purpose for doing the work. This is a great New Years resolution. Get at it and start making the work more meaningful.


Kevin Burns
Author & Attitude Adjuster
Adjusting Attitudes in Employee Engagement - Service Leadership - Corporate Safety

Toll-free 1-877-BURNS-11 www.kevburns.com

A Disturbing Question

I received a question this morning that disturbed me. The question is real.

 

"My father bought me a gold bracelet years ago for my seventeenth birthday. Every time I wear it, I get bad luck. And after I take it off, it takes me weeks to wash off the bad luck (financial loss, emotional roller coaster, weight gain, getting pulled over, etc....) Fast forward years later, I want to sell the bracelet because I can use the money. I have no desire to ever wear it again (although it looks very good). Every holiday season, my father asks me about the bracelet, and if I still have it. Should I sell it and say I lost it? Advice please."

 

Here is my response:

 

I think you answered your own question. You said that when you wear the bracelet you experience financial loss and now you want to sell the bracelet because you need the money? I'm going to guess that you weren't wearing the bracelet when you decided you needed more money. In fact, you said "fast forward years later" and you are still having financial difficulties. The problem isn't a cursed bracelet from your father. The problem is not being accountable for your life issues. No piece of jewellery comes with a curse. So stop blaming the jewellery for your "bad luck." Bad decisions create bad luck.

 

You don't gain weight from wearing a bracelet. I'm going to guess that poor eating habits, lack of exercise and insulating yourself from hurt may be to blame.

 

You don't get pulled over by police for wearing a bracelet. You get pulled over for speeding or driving poorly.

 

Bracelets don't cause emotional roller coasters. An inability to handle stress, poor view of your life circumstances and/or feeling out of control usually are the reasons behind an emotional roller coaster.

 

When you step up and become accountable for what you are and where you are in your life, you will soon figure out that good decisions overcome "bad luck." Life gets better when you get better.

 

Attitude Adjustment: No amount of blame on an inanimate object is ever going to improve your life circumstances. Blame is an outward view that something other than you is responsible for your results. Blame is what "victims" do. Stop being victimized by a loving gift that obviously meant much to the person who gave it to you - your father. Start figuring out what your decisions are that have led you to where you are in your life today and you'll soon figure out that the one common denominator in every difficult situation you find yourself in is not a bracelet. Take control of your life and stop handing all of the control over to a piece of jewellery. It's not making the decisions - you are.