Are You Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit?
I’m always captivated by the way the seasons suggest various inspirations to ponder in the coming weeks and months. So, what exactly does the transition to spring suggest to me?
Our pear trees are in early bloom, and that evokes images of harvesting the fruit in the fall. When I think of gathering pears, it reminds me of why we should pick low-hanging fruit first. That’s because they’re the easiest to reach and give the greatest satisfaction for the least investment of time and energy.
In contrast, going for the topmost fruit initially is more complicated, takes far more effort, and also means competing with the birds!
Read the rest of this entry »
Start off This Year’s Meetings on the Right Foot
What are the consequences of holding ineffective meetings? Meetings held for the wrong reasons, that don’t involve the right participants, or that don’t use a disciplined meeting process can waste the time, resources, and funding of the business.
Not only do they have the potential to make the participants feel perpetually frustrated and totally unproductive, they’re also a financial drain. Just in the area of cost, have you ever tried to calculate the expense of even a single unproductive meeting?
Read the rest of this entry »
Coming Full Circle
Early in the year is the perfect time to reflect on everything that we have achieved in previous months, as well as what we aim to do in the days ahead.
It’s also a great chance to ask ourselves, “Have I learned from my creative experiences in the prior year? Are there any discoveries I should review to better predict my results for 2010? What would help me identify a more powerful plan of action?”
We can make an inspired effort to address these issues, even if it uses time and energy that we’d rather spend on something else. We will thereby position ourselves to launch future projects with greater clarity and far fewer concerns or doubts.
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Time to Drill into the Details!
This week offered a defining moment in some challenging — even exasperating — experiences with a couple of business institutions with whom I have been dealing in recent months.
Interestingly enough, the one organization that produced the greatest frustration chose today to make a courtesy call. A nice, personable young man who seemingly wanted to “take my temperature” — in all likelihood to test my readiness for doing more business with the company — left the door wide open for a litany of polite but piercingly pointed comments.
Read the rest of this entry »
Are You Experiencing a Circular Dilemma?
If so, join the club! You are undoubtedly keeping good company with many of your highly respected colleagues, clients, customers, family, and friends.
I received great comments on my last newsletter on ways to move forward if you happen to be feeling “stuck” while making personal or business decisions. Therefore, I’ve decided to continue the theme in the context of overcoming overload in our lives — the cause of many circular dilemmas that can prevent us from taking action or making choices.
Read the rest of this entry »
Are You “Sticking” or “Getting Stuck”?
When is it important to get something to “stick,” and when do we want to avoid becoming “stuck”?
Today’s Special Message lists six ways to create the kinds of memorable ideas that people can’t stop discussing or thinking about. In many cases, “sticky” ideas become the glue that binds people together and provides the inspiration to tackle a major project, respond favorably to a message, or make a buying decision.
Read the rest of this entry »
Information Is Still One of Our Greatest Challenges!
Many of us struggle daily with absent or incomplete facts and data within our own organizations, or in relation to communications from vendors and service suppliers. Sometimes we can feel as if we’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to locate even one piece of timely and accurate advice!
Is your organization is experiencing situations in which people seem to be routinely misinformed about how things work — and are thereby giving habitually incorrect guidance to colleagues, clients, and customers?
Information gaps can cause profound ripple effects in areas such as product and service quality, communication, safety, morale, and customer satisfaction, to name a few. So, with regard to your own organization, ask yourself:
- Are employees stymied by missing, disorganized, or inaccurate information? Does everyone constantly need to guess or improvise the data, standards, schedules, or procedures to do their jobs?
- Are customers complaining about nonexistent or deficient product instructions, or about misleading, delayed, or incomplete customer status updates?
Read the rest of this entry »
Take Precautions Early to Avoid the “Flu”
Whether you’re just starting a business or work in a large or small organization, finding ways to boost achievement and avoid the symptoms of the “business flu” (rising turnover, comatose morale, anxiety and wasted energy, cranky customers, and so forth) is paramount. There are many ways to cure the business flu, and I offer a multitude of ideas, prescriptions, and remedies on my Web site.
In a nutshell, I prescribe three ways to prevent or treat the symptoms affecting your personnel, which, in turn, increase productivity, effectiveness, and morale:
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Today’s issue is about reflections — how our internal and external business lives can mirror one another.
Want to find out how happy your customers are? Probe how good your personnel feel about their internal hand-offs and interactions. Want to know how content your employees are? The level of customer satisfaction will likely give you a clue.
Great results on both fronts arise from well thought out systems and procedures that give personnel a consistent and coherent structure to work with, as well as the latitude to “wow” customers as needed.
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s All in the Formula!
Have you ever noticed how much we love formulas — the recurring events that give us consistent, satisfying results time and time again?
While I’m watching my favorite home decorating shows, for example, I’m aware of how faithfully they repeat the same drill every time. I know precisely what’s coming up next — the staged interview, the design plan, then the makeover. And guess what? They haven’t ever let me down.
Those shows remind me vividly of what was so appealing about bedtime stories as a child. They’re utterly formulaic. We know them inside out. But those stories delivered. Reliably. Every time.
Read the rest of this entry »
