We are brought up learning that nobody is perfect. Fine. I can handle that. As a Success Coach who specializes in Team Building and Leadership Training, I am not perfect. I am far from it. "Perfect" is a nasty word. It encourages us to beat up on ourselves when we are not perfect.
That important thought helps me handle mistakes that I make when I present and facilitate groups. I tell myself that I am not perfect. That I will learn from this. That I recommit. And boom ---- I bounce back and proceed to be the best Success Coach on the planet.
At least that is what I tell my mind.
A turning point in my life happened when I learned the flipside of "perfect." All groups are perfect.
Yes, you read that correctly. I have incorporated that brand new belief into my belief system because it works for me. Now, wait a minute. I just said that nobody is perfect. Yes, and I still believe that. I also believe that all groups are perfect.
I success coach groups of all sizes, ages, and occupations. They are all different. And I mean different. I love the challenge of working with a variety of participants who have different personalities, needs, and outcomes. That stretches me and that is how I learn and grow.
More importantly, when I remember that all groups are perfect, it's OK for anything and everything to happen. I follow the lead of my group. If I anticipate one direction, and they go another, I go their way. If a conflict or upset occurs, we handle it and discuss it. If it takes 90 minutes to do a 20-minute activity, we do it. If we spend 12 minutes on an hour activity, we do it. If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it, they see I am human, and we connect even better. If they make a mistake....
That's the point. The group never makes a mistake. It was meant to happen because a team building day mirrors real life situations. The learning takes place as we choose how to handle our reactions to these mistakes or unplanned events.
I used to get scared handling situations that pop up unplanned in a team building seminar. Truth: I almost welcome those moments now.
I used to think that there were bad apples in every group: you know, the ones who refuse to participate, the ones who blame others, the ones who are never happy, the ones who thrive on conflict and upsetting others.
These folks are part of that perfect group. In fact, they are theteachers. How would the team learn if nobody pushed our buttons? It is those folks who push our buttons from whom we learn the most.
Do you use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel? If so, there are two quick changes you can make to your Office settings that will save you time and disk space!
Fast Saves
The first change you need to make is to turn off Fast Saves. Fast Saves is a feature that (at first glance) looks like a good idea. After all, who doesn't want to save thier documents faster? Unfortunately, when you have Fast Saves turned on, you are actually telling Office to save your documents fast, but open them slowly.
When Fast Saves are on, the changes you make to your files are not made to the actual spot in the file, but instead are stored as a change log at the end of the file. Imagine if you will a book which has had changes made to it, but where the changes are listed on a separate page at the end of the book. If a paragraph is inserted, a marker is added that says, "Jump to the change log and read paragraphs 33 to 37, then jump back." If a page is deleted, a line is drawn through it, but the content is not removed.
With a book or letter that has change markings in it, this may not seem to have a big impact. But imagine if you will that you aren't removing the page, but replacing it. You now have both copies in the file. And if that page had pictures on it, you now have both the old and the new pictures in the book. Bad news, huh?
What can you do? Turn off Fast Saves. Open Word, PowerPoint or Excel and go to Tools--> Options. Find the Save tab. On that tab, you will see a checked box labeled "Allow Fast Saves". OK your way out and close the program. You have now turned off Fast Saves for all there programs. As you open and close files, the changes will be merged into the main file and each file will shrink in size.
A side benefit... Making this change will also cut your chance of having a corrupted file by at least 50%.
Full Menus
Someone at Microsoft decided that one way to make the Office products less confusing to use was to hide the features you don't use as often. That decision still doesn't make sense to me. Why take the features I don't use and hide them so that I can't easily find them when I do need them?
The solution to this problem is to turn on full menus. How do you know if you have full menus turned off? Simple. Open Word, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher or Excel and bring up a menu. Does the menu end in a bar that contains a downward pointing chevron? If so, you need this hint.
To turn on full menus, you are going to use Tools--> Customize. Go to the Options tab. Check the box for "Always show full menus". OK your way out and close the program. As with Fast Saves, your change will be automatically applied to all of the other Office products on your system.
What does this change do for you? First off, you are now seeing all of the possible functionality of each Office product. You will be surprised at how much more the products can do than you imagined. Second, you have taken back control of your environment. Instead of Microsoft deciding what functions you see and don't see, you have decided to see all of it at once.
One final note: If you use Office 2007, you don't need to make either of these changes. Both "features" were removed from the new version.
Looking to save time, disk space, effort, and money when using your computer? Coach Kathy offers the ultimate in short - easy to understand hints for making sure the computer doesn't get in the way of getting work done.
As well as being an MVP Seminars coach, Coach Kathy is a Microsoft MVP in OneNote and PowerPoint. Check out Coach Kathy's bio for more information.
Want to bring Coach Kathy in to your organization to learn more about how to keep your computer from getting in the way of doing work? Contact MVP Seminars!
At last writing I mentioned my program called "R.I.S.K. To The Power Of Two!" The eight categories being:
Riches......................Resources
Image.......................Integrity
Safety......................Security
Kindred.....................Kingdom
These pairs of similar qualities represent the priorities in out lives. They are fairly self explanatory but what may not be quite so obvious is that they are compliments or contrasts if you will.
Riches represent more value than worth. That is a $10,000 bill or gold or diamonds have a value but have limited worth outside of themselves.
Resources on the other hand, have value potential beyond their inherent worth. Take a word processor for example. For less than $100 you could write the next All-American novel.
Image is what is evident when everyone is watching.
Integrity is when no one else is watching.
Safety is situation dependent and moment to moment.
Security is independent of situation and time.
Kindred involves our "horizontal" relationships, those of family and friends, to people we have never met on the other side of the planet, or universe.
Kingdom refers to our "verticle" relationship with God.
Now I could go into much more detail about these categories and how to benefit by increasing your awareness of them but let's just use these brief descriptions for now.
Here is the $10,000,000.00 question... If you were to list these eight categories in priority of most important to you what would they be?
And here's the $100,000,000 question... if you asked your significant other, a friend, a coworker, to describe your priorities would their list match yours?
Most people never give this any thought, but until you do you're like a someone lost in a smoke filled burning building; wandering around banging into walls but not knowing how to use those walls to get you to where you want to go.
Take a moment right now and make your list. Ask three others to describe you and offer to do the same for them. It could be the most revealing activity you do in your life!
Having cared for more than 10,000 in more than 25 years of Emergency Services Terry knows how to assess and treat what is ailing you and your organization's health. Many have called upon him to save their lives... give him a chance to change yours!
Leading organizational change requires a manifesto for change. Your manifesto begins by saying the following:
I understand that all progress requires change but all change is not progress.
I understand that all change comes from leadership but not all leaders can drive change.
Okay, if you truly get that the next step is to answer these two questions:
What problem am I trying to solve?
What will success look like when I solve it?
It's important that you answer the two questions above. They are the key to your change success. Because you must know that the bridge between what problem you are trying to solve and what success will look like when you do will hinge on the execution of the following steps:
You must stop BS'ing yourself about where your organization is today. You must admit where you are and deal with it.
You must be brutally honest about where you want to go.
You must be realistic about the level of financial commitment that exists in your organization for the change you are leading. How real is the support? Is this support in keeping with what you know to be true about your organization spending money? Get real.
You must be realistic about the level of emotional commitment that exists in your organization for the change you are leading. Senior support of the changes must exist or you fail. Get real about whether your leaders have thought through the pain of change and are realistically willing to endure to the end.
You must know and accept that you cannot succeed at driving change in your organization without the unwavering support of the highest person in your organization that is impacted by the change you lead. Get real, if you don't have their support you fail.
You must have the above five items in place and then I must have detailed plans that I execute daily, make changes as necessary and continue to do so until I succeed.
You must commit to live by the wise words of Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame when he said, "Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything's changed". You must commit to insure that doesn't happen on your watch. Make a difference and make your changes happen. That ... is your manifesto for change!
When was the last time you called a customer service department and ran into a surly individual who comes across as if you are bothering them? Too many times the response is "often." The problem is actually tow fold, one tends to be a shortage of qualified people, someone able to not only read from a script, but one that can think independently. Yes, in these days of litigation we must keep a check on what a customer is told, but forcing a script down their throat and not actually answer, or resolving the issue can hurt you far more then someone trying to take advantage of your firm. The trick is simple, you need to monitor your people, possibly recording their conversations, but also have a confirmation process involved where a secondary party follows up and comfirms the details of the resolution to limit those individuals who seek some form of leverage to litigate. Simply put, have a third party come back and verify that the resolution is confirmed and follows your companies guidelines on what, how, and under the conditions of your aggreement between parties when the original agreement was made for products or services. This way you have a legal way to keep someone from making promises that excede your resolution processes, while still providing world class customer service. Thereby you avoid someone from taking advantage of you and you aren't giving away the store and bottom line of your business. There are ways to do this, one is have the supervisor follow up and confirm the resolution, avoid out sourcing your customer service to nations where US laws aren't applicable, and finally, write your policies out in clear to read English, and not try to convolute it in legalese and fine print. Yes, lawyers need to earn a living, but you do also, and by keeping it simple, you will find both your bottomline, and your customer's satisfaction grows since you display a trust in your product/service as well as the client relationship.
How does this change the fact that you have a surly customer service person? Very simple, you find the pressure to equalibly resolve the issue is spread between staff and management, which in turn gives greater satisfaction to those who both work and buy from you. With this growth in satisfaction, you gain loyalty from both parties and save your business lots of cash since you don't have to recapture, or replace a good customer. This will make for a CSR who wants to help and wants to resolve issues effectively. So realisticly, adding a check and balance system to your operations will allow you greater control and profits.
EXAMPLE: Larry Josephs & Associates is dedicated to providing high quality..........etc, and to achieve their business goals and high customer satisfaction.
Our goal today is to ask 5 KEY questions (sales and/or service related) and based on your answers and any other detailed information you may provide; we will then have a firm handle on what it is you are really looking for in a product/service, and what you will accept as evidence that we have in fact delivered. With your permission I will get started?
Question: ________________________
Question: ________________________
Question: ________________________
Question: ________________________
Question: ________________________
NOTE: After the last question, is where you do your "validation or supporting statements" and play everything back in reverse order to demonstrate that you can deliver to their level of expectation. It's really a very simple process...much like Public Speaking 101. "Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them!" Good luck in your new consulting approach.
Using this consulting approach demonstrates that you are professional, organized, and has a system to determine the client's needs. "Professionals prepare, plan and execute! Amateur's wing it!"
As a professional "Risk Taker" I will be focusing my blog entries on that topic. Think about it, everything we do involves risk... and unfortunately we receive very little schooling on the nature of the subject!
That's why I have been developing "R.I.S.K. To The Power Of Two!"
This is a framework of looking at the eight most common areas where we take risks in our lives. The eight categories are as follows:
Riches......................Resources
Image.......................Integrity
Safety......................Security
Kindred.....................Kingdom
In my following posts I'll share with you my thoughts, insights, feelings, and opinions regarding this extremely important part of our lives.
Let's face it. If you want to be taken seriously and move up the ladder of success, it is very important to have a strong command of oral and written English language skills. If English is not your native language, there is a larger margin for error and forgiveness for business inaccuracies, but only up to a point.The savvy and tenacious businessperson knows that in order to "get that promotion", one must be able to soar above the "grammatical glass ceiling." Everyone wants to exude confidence and have their ideas received well. Nobody wants to sound and write "dumber than a fifth grader." Think back to all of the flack that poor Dan Quale received several years ago when he did not spell the word potatoes correctly. Unpolished written and oral presentation skills due to poor grammar are often the difference between being passed over in the business world or even ever getting a decent job in the first place. Business etiquette, writin
I have another "F" word that just might change your life. It did mine. I learned it from a 9-year old girl several years ago.
I was facilitating a team building session for an elementary school in Philadelphia, PA. There were 300 kids, teachers, parents, and administrative folks packed into a gymnasium. I lead them through several interactive, team building activities touching on trust, leadership, self-esteem, and success.
After a particularly challenging activity, one of the participants brought up the subject of failure. People joined in immediately. Everybody starting talking about their failures. The topic spread like wildfire.
Suddenly, this 9-year old girl raised her hand and said, "Mister, I am not allowed to use or say the word, "failure!" The crowd hushed. The silence was scary.
Everyone looked at me and I had nothing to say.
Then she proceeded to say, "I am supposed to use another "F" word instead."
My face turned red. There was not a sound in the gym. No one knew what was coming. I could see the parents and teachers squirming in their seats. She quickly added, "My mom says I am supposed to use the word, "feedback," instead of "failure."
WOW! We all learned something that day. Especially me.
Not a day goes by in my Team Building Seminars where I don't use that little girl's F word of Feedback!
Leadership is a lost art in my book. It is one of the most wrote about topics imaginable. Go on Amazon and there is a ton of books written about leadership. I could write one maybe ‘Everything I know about leadership I learned in the Marine Corp'. It's true, and I know a few things that have worked and a few that don't in my thirty plus years leading people. The one thing I know for sure is that you have to engage the ‘whole' person. Each one of us brings three things to the party, our hands, our head and our heart. Let me explain.
For starters each one of us brings our hands; that is our skills to the job. If we work at McDonalds they have pretty much idiot proofed their processes and the skill required is to show up. If you're a builder you hire people with carpentry skills, a trucker then you hire truck driver skills and so on. For many leaders and organizations this is where their engagement of their workers stops. They hire skills and they get skills and that is that.
The next part of the person a leader can engage is the head. The head represents a person's intellect, their engagement to think and bring more to the job than skills. When I worked at Compaq Computer in the mid-nineties they hired a lot of intellectual people who brought their heads to work. But as leaders, do we engage their heads in their work or allow them to just be involved to the minimum?
The third and most important element a leader can engage is a person's heart, their passion. This can't be bought, it must be led. In the early days of Compaq, or any start up for that matter, the hearts of the people are engaged from the excitement of the start up. Great leaders keep the engagement of the hearts because of their leadership, not because of the start up.
The three parts of the whole person must be engaged to get the most out of your organization. Think about Gandhi for instance. He inspired an entire country with his leadership although he never held an elected position. Gandhi's leadership brought down the British Empire and he never held an official position. Why, because he engaged the whole person, not just one or two of the parts. He led by example and people knew they were important to him.
In my days as a Marine sniper, two consecutive years in the Vietnam War, I found the very foundation of this concept. We were highly trained in marksmanship and that was our skill. We were highly trained in tactics, given incredible support troops and trusted to complete our missions. We were allowed and expected to use our intellect. Then we were part of an outfit with a strong and proud history, with outstanding leadership above us and while our country wasn't behind us, our Corp was ... we had passion.
Why did fifty percent of us volunteer for more time in country than required? It sure wasn't because of the money; I think they paid me $290.00 a month with hazardous duty pay. No, it was because of our passion to serve the man next to us, our Corp and to be the best at what we did. Leaders engage the passion in their follows while engaging the whole person.
