RSS
 

The Blind Side: Who’s got you covered?

11 Apr

It’s been awhile since I posted, I’m sorry. I can assure you that it was not due to the lack of inspiration, but rather time it took to figure out the direction of this blog. I recently started to contribute for one and only WebHost Industy Review on the subject of Customer Care. I’m super excited to be a part of that team. Please subscribe to my blog and feel free to leave comments: http://www.thewhir.com/blog/profile/elya-mccleave

As for my personal blog, you are reading at the moment, I shall continue talking about leadership, performance and knowledge management.  If I decide to add an article or two on healthy eating and exercise, don’t get upset :-)

You may be familiar with Michael Lewis, author of Money Ball, a look inside the world of major league baseball. Since then Lewis turned his attention to football, with the release of his book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.” I didn’t read the book yet, but watched the movie and really enjoyed it.

Lewis tells the story of Michael Oher who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee. He’s uneducated, shy and raised by a drug-addicted mother. He has quite a physical presence: 6’5ft tall and 350 pounds, but never played football. Thanks to certain improbable circumstances Michael ended up attending an exclusive Christian School, and a wealthy family took him in, to tutor, nurture and make him one of their own. They also got Michel to play football – he was now destined for greatness and riches in the NFL.

Michael’s position was left offensive tackle, which protects the blind side of a right-handed quarterback.  “I’ve got you covered.” That’s what a left-tackle is supposed to do. Give the quarterback the time to get the throw off to his receivers. It’s all about protection…

In one of the interviews, Lewis said, “It became very clear to me that if Michael hadn’t crossed out of poor, Memphis and made his way into rich, Memphis, he never would have been discovered. If he hadn’t been protected by this affluent and savvy family, his career probably would’ve been over before it really started.” That family was distended to appear in Michal’s life to protect him, to have his blind side covered. Michel then went ahead to help others on and off the football filed.

Who’s got you covered? And who are you covering? I truly believe we (people) all need each other. You need someone else protecting your blind side – and someone else needs your encouragement and protection also.

For a leader of an organization it carries so much more power and meaning. You are in the position to change other people’s lives. It’s a huge responsibility, but can have tremendous rewords. Perhaps that’s what leadership is all about – holding a position of an offensive tackle, protecting the blind side of the team you are responsible for and with that letting them to do the same for your clients.  Some of the principles I follow while working with my teams are:

1)  Be there – make sure your team knows you are there for them every step of the way

2)  Be able to ask tough questions and make tough decisions  – it’s not about being a “nice guy”, but being fair

3)  Stay inspired – if the leader is burnt out, the team shall follow the same footsteps. You need to do everything you can to keep the fire burning, and if you are unable – remove yourself and let someone else to step up.

“Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves.”  -Lao Tzu

 
Comments Off

Posted in Business Excellence, Personal Excellence

 

Are you like the coffee bean?

04 Dec

My mom just sent me an interesting story, I thought I’d share with you… I shall never look at coffee the same way again :)

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a gas burner. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he got up and turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He took the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her he asked. “Darling, what do you see?” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. She asked. “What does it mean Father?” He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

How about you? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, or a layoff have you become hardened and stiff? Your shell looks the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart? Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and make things better around you.

“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.” -Plato

 
Comments Off

Posted in Personal Excellence

 

Dealing with Abusive Customers

06 Nov

The first step is to understand where anger and abusive behavior comes from. People who get emotionally upset tend to forget the methods that are appropriate when dealing with an uncomfortable or unfavorable situation.

When people are infants, they are programmed, instinctively, with methods of getting what they need without knowing how to speak. Adults will regress to this state, in one way or another, when they are faced with a problem that upsets them emotionally or puts them in a position of helplessness. It is important to note the phrase “in one way or another”. Some people handle themselves better than others, depending on how well they can deal with things, without getting emotionally upset.

I would like to review some of the points made by Robert Bacal in his book “Defusing Hostile Customers“. I hope you find this information useful next time you deal with an abuse client.

Some Definitions

Anger

Anger refers to an internal state (feeling) experienced by the person in question. An angry
person experiences some physiological changes, some invisible and some visible. There
are some important things to note about anger, and angry people.

1. People choose their own emotional states. That is, their feelings of anger, or for that
matter, any other feelings, belongs to them. As such, those feelings are not your
responsibility. What is your responsibility, however, is to ensure that you don’t
knowingly or unknowingly do something they choose to take as anger provoking.

2. We need to accept the fact that people will be angry, at times. They have a right to be
angry when they choose. What they do not have a right to do is to take out their anger on
you, particularly when you have done nothing to contribute to it.

Angry Behavior

People express their anger in various ways. Most angry people will raise their voice or
become more animated. Mild expressions of anger are simply ways a person vents a little
steam. As with the feeling of anger, we need to be reasonable in terms of what offends us,
and allow the angry person some latitude in behavior before we deem the behavior
unacceptable.

There is a clear reason for this. If we allow ourselves to be offended every time we
encounter angry behavior, we are going to be pretty miserable and, in turn, ineffective in
dealing with just about everyone. The problem with angry customers is not the anger in
itself but rather the hostile/abusive behavior that sometimes accompanies it.

People choose their own emotional states. That is, their feeling of anger, or for that
matter, any other feeling, belongs to them.

Hostile/Abusive Behavior

What sets apart hostile/abusive behavior from angry behavior is that hostile/abusive
behavior is intended, consciously or subconsciously to have some or all of the following
effects:
- put you off balance
- manipulate and control you
- demean you in some way
- cause you to feel guilty
- intimidate you

It is this kind of behavior that causes the greatest amount of stress for most employees.
While we may tolerate some degree of angry behavior without being concerned, we need
to be concerned about hostile/abusive behaviors. We want to stop these behaviors as
professionally as possible. If we can, at the same time, reduce the anger of the client,
that’s great. If we can’t, we need to recognize that the anger belongs to the client.

Verbal Abuse

Verbal abuse takes a great many forms, from very subtle, to very obvious. Here when we talk about verbal abuse, we refer to behaviors like the following:
- persistent swearing
- yelling
- sexist comments (both explicit and implied)
- racist comments (both explicit and implied)
- irrelevant personal remarks (e.g. about you or your personality in particular)
- personal threats (e.g. I will have you fired).
- intimidating silence
- accusations of various sorts (e.g. calling you a racist)
- comments about your competency, knowledge, dedication, etc.

These behaviors are intended to demean and control you. Don’t be trapped by these
tactics used to bait you.

Non-Verbal Abuse

However rare it is, to deal with an angry or abusive customer who is actually in the
office, it should be mentioned nonetheless. Nonverbal abuse refers to behavior that has
nothing to do with what is said, but has to do with things like body posture, facial
expressions, gestures, etc. Nonverbal abuse is intended to send a message or messages to
you, such as “I don’t like you”, or, “I am fed up”, or even “In my eyes you aren’t worth
anything”. When we talk about nonverbal abuse we refer to behaviors such as:
- standing in your personal space staring at you (long eye contact)
- throwing things
- leaning over you (using height)
- fearsome facial expressions
- loud sighing
- pointing, other offensive gestures

Sometimes, these behaviors may not be intended to intimidate or demean you, and may
be a relatively normal way of expressing anger. However, we classify them as abusive,
because they do tend to have a manipulating effect on you.
As with verbal abuse, we want to take steps to stop these behaviors used to bait us.

Do Not Be Baited

If a customer is truly attacking you, they will likely bait you immediately. A customer
may call and when they get someone start with something like “What the hell is wrong
with you. Every time I come here, you hassle me and give me the runaround If you knew
what you were doing, this wouldn’t happen. And, this is the last time you are going to do
this to me.” This type of statement is meant to bait you into being defensive and to
ultimately control you and your behavior.

If you are being baited, be sure to remove yourself from the situation and not take it as a
personal attack. Don’t allow yourself to fire back in your own defense. Instead, it is
better to commiserate with the customer, ask why they are so upset and ask them how
you can help resolve the reason they are upset.

If you do what the abusive customer expects, such as reply defensively, the attacker will
continue to attack you in order to get what they want while making you feel abused
and/or frustrated. They may also be also able to manipulate you into doing something
you aren’t supposed to do.

Keep The Problem From Getting Worse!

We should not bait a customer, even in return or retaliation of what they may have done
to us. An angry or abusive situation will escalate if a customer feels as if there are no
options or they are trapped in a bad situation. The situation can also escalate if you feel
any of these as well. If an escalation cycle during a conversation or other electronic
exchange is not interrupted it can quickly get out of hand and cause those involved to say
and do things that can ultimately damage the other party in some way. For instance, if a
customer gets angry enough they may post something negative on a public forum about
our company. This is usually the result of a customer feeling trapped in a bad situation or
as if they have no other options and unable to resolve the issue with us directly.
Customers ultimately want you to fix whatever problem it is that they have. Sometimes
this is simply not possible. What will also help in this situation is if you can offer
helpfulness to at least try and perhaps have someone else resolve the problem, give them
some choices of other ways to get around the issue and/or at the very least acknowledge
their situation and feelings about the problem at hand.

“It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head — it is the unique intersection of both.” -David Caruso

 
Comments Off

Posted in Service Excellence

 

HostingCon 2011

01 Aug

It has been very busy few months; I left the beautiful island of Oahu and moved to the east coast (Toronto, ON). It was tough to say good bye to magical Hawaii and all of the amazing people I met, but for the professional reasons I had to persevere. New city, new job, new life… same old nerdy and sporty me :)

I have some news – I will be presenting at the HostingCon 2001 Conference next week in San Diego, CA. My talk is at 9am on Wednesday. If you are attending, it is definitely worth checking out!

I will discuss methods for achieving higher rates of customer satisfaction, including some of the new initiatives introduced at SoftCom around customer engagement, public ratings improvement and staff training. You will find out what it really means to focus on your clients as the key to the competitive advantage.

I hope to see you all there!

 
Comments Off

Posted in Business Excellence

 

Customer Influence through Core Identity

08 Apr

I  recently joined Frank Kern’s army of fans. Not only he is great selling and marketing things, but he is also quite entertaining. It all started with me watching his early Mass Control presentation and another on Core Influence, which I thought was the better of the two and the one I want to talk about now.

-          Have you ever attended a sales pitch where the presenter said all the right things, used the right body language, the right arguments to pursue you… but there still was something off? .. as the result you didn’t buy the product.

-          Have you ever had a “flow” when everything went extremely well… You met the right people, said that right things… and you thought to yourself “Damn I wish every day was like this!”?

Frank argues, that there are two identities (two versions) of ourselves we all need to be aware of:

1) Shell Identity – walks around every day

2) Core Identity – true identity. The person we day dream about and want to be

The core Identity is held captive due to the circumstances and lack of knowledge. We don’t spend enough time figuring out our core identity and the core identity of our customers. If we did focus on that, the skills of Core Influence would be easy to obtain.

Core Influence comes from the Core Connection/Communication. That happens when you are congruent with your true identity. You are on the same plane with your “audience”  -  you match. Your influence is seamless and not forceful, because you speak to them on the core level. Sky is the limit!

Let’s break it down further … There are two questions to ask:

1)      What you REALLY want and who you REALLY are

2)      What your market REALLY wants and who they REALLY are

Before you can focus on your customers, start with yourself. Discover your true identity! Wake up! Remember that our deepest core desires give clues to our core identity. For example ask yourself why you are here at this moment reading this blog. If it’s knowledge you seek… ask yourself “Why?”

We all want to create and perpetuate experiences. Things are meaningless. A person who drives a Ferrari, it  is not the car (thing) he/she is after… but the feeling (experience) it would provide.  When a family buys a new home, they are not buying “things” but the new life the family will experience in that new home.

The trick is to align your brain and your subconscious:  E + I = L

Experience (E) – We don’t crave things… We crave the experiences the things give us

Identity (I) – Our experiences, believes and values create our identity… Communication comes from our Identity.

Life (L) – Our experiences and Identity work together to form our life.

So how can we go about creating the new life.. the perfect life?

Well the good news is we are all dying! If we all l live an average of 40 more years we’ve got 14,600 more days to go before we are dead. Our life is made up of individual days.  So  to design the perfect life and create your core influence you start with a PERFECT DAY. Yes, individual day holds a key to what you really want.

Exercise:

Answer this question “If there were no Limitations or Consequences what would your Average day look like?”

Limitations: Financial, geographical, health, limiting people, etc.

Consequences: Stuff that could get you “Into trouble”

Average day: You could do it every day and not get sick of it.

Don’t think about stuff think about experiences… The following questions should help

-          Where would you live?

-          What you house would like?

-          What time would you wake up?

-          What would you have for breakfast?

-          What would you do next?

-          What would you have for lunch?

-          Who would you have it with?

-          What would you talk about?

The more detail you are the more profound your results would be.

Biggest stuff:

-          What would you do for personal fulfillment?

-          What life purpose would you strive towards?

-          What would your business be?

-          What time would you start work?

-          What would you actually DO at work?

Really Big stuff:

-          What your relationships with people around you are like?

-          What would you do for family time?

-          What would you have for dinner? Yes! That’s important

-          Where would you eat?

-          Who would you eat it with?

-          What would you talk about?

Wiring Down:

-          What would you do at night?

-          Who would you do it with?

-          Where would you be?

-          What would your thoughts be as you went to sleep.

Notice these questions are all built on desired experiences.. not goals. Remember that our experiences help shape our Identity. Try this exercise, and next time we shall answer the second question from Frank  “What your market REALLY wants and who they REALLY are”

“Repetition is the mother of all Skill” – Tony Robbins

 
Comments Off

Posted in Personal Excellence, Service Excellence

 

What to expect in the 11th year of the 3rd millennium

01 Feb

I am a firm believer that each and every one of us holds the key to his/her destiny.  My outlook on 2011 at the end of December will be affected by how I managed the year’s opportunities and challenges.  At the same time, either we like it or not, we are affected by global events and trends.

I recently came across an interesting article by an executive leadership coach John M McKee, where he pointed out  five mega trends he thought would impact most of us in 2011.

If you’re thoughtful and strategic, the odds are better that you’ll be celebrating a good year. If not — or if you try to ignore the big stuff — you may find this new year to be rough. With that in mind, here are five megatrends that Mr. McKee expects will affect us all, one way or another:

1. The global recovery is for real – Although threats remain, and some regions will take longer to return to “normal,” we’re past the worst of it. Expect organizations to start acquiring and increase hiring (although that will be more part timers than in the past). The stock market, after two great growth years, will continue to pay off for smart investors. The United States will continue to keep the currency value down. As of today, Canada’s buck is at parity, and the OZ $ and the Yen have been greatly impacted as well.

2. Wellness takes the stage – Good health will become more of a status symbol than ever before. Those who continue to be sloths (even great performers) will lose “value” internally at corporations, while healthy looking individuals who appear to have greater stamina will move ahead more quickly. Organizations that market health or wellness products that can fix ailments or prevent misery will grow faster as consumers seek to be seen as healthy and wise. Outdoor activity will become more “status-y.”

3. BRIC grows more important – The countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China will affect everyone, worldwide, even more. Investments in people, facilities, natural resources, and infrastructure will continue at the current fast pace in many areas of these countries. At the same time, “older” (in terms of the twentieth-century growth) countries of the Western world will be cutting back on similar spending for years to come as they try to deal with debt management.

4. EnGen Era is on the rise - In the Western countries, the end of gender wars is nearing an end. A new era where gender roles and lifestyle are less rigid is spilling across all aspects of life. In the United States especially, there is much higher male unemployment, and consequently the “bread winners” are more frequently female. Additionally younger people still want children, and there’s greater awareness that old role models were pretty fictitious anyway. With this comes greater integration of tech and art on the job front.

5. World continues love/hate relationship with the United States - Many people around the world enjoyed watching the struggles experienced by the United States over the past two years. It’s almost like when you see an uppity person slip on a patch of ice and fall on his tail. It’s a “They got what was due to them” kind of thing. And yet, when I deal with my clients, subscribers, and colleagues around the world, it’s still very clear that there are many things about the States that they deeply admire and desire. Additionally, the United States accounts for 1/4 of the world’s economy. It invests in fighting wars, at least partially, to prevent horrible situations for poor people and/or women in other parts of the world.”

“The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.” - Albert Einstein

 
Comments Off

Posted in Personal Excellence

 

Staff Performance Evaluation

09 Jan

It’s been proven that 85% of your success in life will come from your ability to communicate and interact effectively with others. If you hold a position where you have to be able to use “OPK” (other people’s knowledge) and “OPE” (other people’s effort or energy, or enthusiasm) – effective communication is the the most important skill to posses.

Extensive amount of research has been done and specific behaviors and mind sets that lead to high performance, working well with other people, and effective communication were found among managers. If you plan to reach the top of your industry, you need to know and practice these traits in everything you do that affects the people around you.

The very best managers are clear about what they want and expect. The staff has to know what they are supposed to do, and when they are supposed to do it and to what standard. The greatest demorolizer by far is when a team doesn’t know what’s expected. It’s amazing to to see some managers become angry and upset when people do not do the job they expected and then it becomes clear that the people doing the work have no idea what it was that the manager was looking for.

The second characteristic of the very best managers is a high consideration factor. The employees need to feel that the boss cares about them as people rather than just as employees. They need to feel that the boss looked upon them as friends and was kind and considerate to them as individuals, as well as employees.

The question is – How can a manager be caring, and constructive while driving high performance and making sure the job gets done..  gets done well and on time?

The feedback of course has to be provided, but there is a fine line between constructive feedback and criticism. One of the most successful coaches in the world Brian Tracy said “Psychologically, destructive criticism is the greatest destroyer of human beings ever imagined. If a person is severely criticized as a child, the person can be destroyed emotionally for the next 50 years. Destructive criticism has acted very much like a reverse neutron bomb in the field of human personality. A neutron bomb destroys all the people but leaves the buildings intact. A reverse neutron bomb, in the form of destructive criticism, destroys the person but leaves them alive and walking around, an emotional and psychological danger both to themselves and others.”

Here are some tips from Mr. Tracy on providing performance feedback (and let me tell you they work):

  • Whenever you have a situation where the job is not being done to your satisfaction, begin by asking questions and getting the facts, in advance. Don’t ever assume or leap to conclusions about a performance problem. Very often, you will find that what appears to be a person dropping the ball is a new and even better way of doing the job. Take your time and get the facts before you react.
  • A good starting point is  to assume the very best of intentions on the part of everyone around you. Assume that they are acting on the best information they have and they are using their talents and skills the very best way they know how. Assume that any mistake that has been made has been the result of miscommunication or misunderstanding of instructions or expectations.
  • Focus on the future over the past – the past is inherently negative. Nothing can be done about the past, so continually harping on the past and reminding a person that they did poorly in the past only makes a person feel badly about himself or herself. In a way, the person feels angry and trapped because the past is like spilled milk, it cannot be redone.
  • The purpose of the evaluation is to give the individual valuable inputs and ideas he or she can use to be better next time. Positive people think about the future and think about solutions. Negative people focus on the past and concentrate on who is to blame.
  • When a person has made a mistake, be sure to criticize the performance, not the person. Talk about the job or the work as if it were something neutral, like a book sitting on the desk or table between you. Instead of saying, “You made a mistake,” you can say, “This job is not being done the way we expect it.”
  • At the end of any session of performance improvement, you should reaffirm your belief and confidence in the other person.

“Everything that you do or say helps or hurts. Everything adds up or takes away. Everything either builds a high trust, high performance environment or detracts from it. Nothing is neutral. Everything counts!”
- Brian Tracy

 
Comments Off

Posted in Business Excellence

 

Work from the Inside Out – IC 101

09 Dec

If you take a closer look at most organizations, you would find that they understand the importance of strategic communication with customers and/or partners… Large investments are being made to produce communication plans for external use. You also would find that there is an understanding of the importance of developing strategic plans to guide longer term decision-making. After all you have to know “Where you want to be and how you are going to get there” otherwise it would be impossible to coordinate organizational resources so that you get to where you want to go.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised if majority of those companies overlooked the importance of the INTERNAL COMMUNICATION. Decisions on what information should be delivered to staff, when and how it should be delivered are often made reactively (when there is a need).

It’s a bit of a mystery why this happens, but there is no doubt that strategic internal communication planning can be a proactive approach to building a better, more directed and efficient workforce. 

Some of the most successful companies build teams that understand the mission, goals, values and policies/procedures of the organization. People talk about the Microsoft’s “way”, or the Google’s “way” to describe the organizational culture… the culture their entire staff shares.

Google Blogoscoped recently came up with a nice post where they listed down the 25 mission statements of the top tech companies and websites. Here are some examples I particularly liked:

IBM: IBM, we strive to lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industry most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics. We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional solutions, services and consulting businesses worldwide.

Microsoft: Microsoft, our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.

Cisco: Cisco … enables people to make powerful connections whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible-providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time.

Google: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Yahoo: To connect people to their passions, their communities, and the world’s knowledge.

Adobe: Our mission is to revolutionize how the world engages with ideas and information.

As you can see, there are no intentions to dominate or control employees, but to make them feel as the part of the “family” and direct their energy towards a set of common goals on which they can act every day. This brings synergy to the workplace, and allows better coordinated action. Other advantages include:

  • Employees making more decisions independently as they have the tools and knowledge needed to make the “right” decisions.
  • Employees identifying with a company, on the part of staff/family, with the goals, mission and procedures of the organization, which can result in a sense of “making a difference”. This can have direct impact on effort and efficiency.
  • Employees having much less day-to-day conflict to deal with. Much conflict is generated by conflicting ideas on what is important to the organization…often an indicator that the people involved do not share a common vision or understanding.


Developing an effective Internal Communication Process is journey with no destination; it involves a lot effort, it has to stay consistent and dynamic. In my experience I have found utilization of the orientation/boarding programs, on-ongoing employee training, company-wide internal blog posts and most importantly managers representing what the company stands for to be most effective.

Now, ask yourself “Does my staff share the common vision and understanding?”

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
- George Bernard Shaw

 
Comments Off

Posted in Business Excellence

 

Building a Strong Team

02 Nov

Managing people and building a team can be quite difficult especially at the beginning. To make things worst research found that more than 50% of managers received no training before starting the job. In fact I was one of those managers just seven years ago when I transitioned from three years of Technical Support to a supervisory position. I was young and restless (I still am.. restless ha), but back then I didn’t even come close to imagine how much it would take to build and lead a team the RIGHT WAY.

“What is the right way?” you might ask… As one of the best coaches in the world Mike Krzyzewski said “A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That’s how I want you to play.” There is no difference when it comes to any other team regardless of the industry, if your people work in synergy THEN you can play .. play to win.

I do believe in power of words. If you are a supervisor try writing a single word or two every morning on the board for your team to see… This can be much more powerful then any lengthy speech. Ask your staff to picture themselves doing these words: having passion, striving for excellence, serving clients with care… If they start to straggle during the day they can look back to these words and refocus.

I have few words I’m governed by and try to encourage people I work with to do the same. Let me share some of them with you.

Courage
As Winston Churchill said “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others.” You can have many good qualities as an individual, but if you don’t have the courage to proceed, you may never see those qualities come to fruition. Courage to me is about taking chances… daring what you imagine.

Pride
Pride comes from many sources, but ultimately it’s a feeling of self-respect and satisfaction over an accomplishment. To me pride means understating that everything you do has your name on it, and you are to ensure it’s done in the best way possible.

Respect
Respect is like love, there never can be too much of it. Respect is all about treating everyone the same. My parents are the greatest people in my life. They don’t come from a privileged background; my mom lost her dad when she was seven, my dad spent half of his childhood in an orphanage, because he also lost his dad early in life and his mom couldn’t afford raising both him and his sister on her own. They always worked hard, they put themselves trough schools  (both are engineers) and tried to give me the type of family they never had. To get there they struggle quite a bit working low end jobs and saving in every way possible. I learned early in life that some of the greatest people in the world could be the ones washing floors for living…

Trust
Trust plays one of the most important roles in one’s happiness. Trust should be the foundation for not only one-on-one relationships, but also in a team, in a business and a family environment. Trust is all about open and honest communication, and if that’s accomplished it allows to create a shared vision for common goals. Trusting relationships serve as a reminder that you are not doing it alone, that someone else believes in you and you can believe in them.

Building trust does involve a bit of confrontation, not in a negative way though… but one being able to “cut to the chase” and communicate the truth. With my Eastern European background I never had hard time being “head-on”. There were situations when people felt uncomfortable being open/honest. However, if trust was established the sky would become the limit for us as a team. In my relationships, I want you to believe me when I tell you that you are great and I also want you to believe me if I tell you that you are not working hard enough. Both are confrontations, but if we trust each other we know those confrontations are truthful and have the good intentions in mind. No time is wasted, and we can work together on producing even better results.

The thing I loved the most – and still love the most about teaching – is that you can connect with an individual or a group, and see that individual or group exceed their limits.
- Mike Krzyzewski

 
Comments Off

Posted in Personal Excellence

 

“Who?” is the question

04 Oct

The most important decisions we make as leaders are not what, but who decisions.

As Jim Collins author of “Good to Great” said “Who is your #1 problem, not what”. What refers to strategies you choose, products and services you sell and the processes you use. You can spend your whole career chasing solutions. There are millions “What problems” affecting your business. That’s what most managers do… Unfortunately focusing on What means you will continue to feel stressed, make less money and lack the time you desire.. Or you can decide today to focus on who.

• Who refers to people you put in place to make What decisions.
Who is running your sales force?
Who is assembling your products?
Who is occupying the corner office?

• Who is where the magic begins or where the problems start.

Managing is easy except for people part – Economist cover story 2006 reported that finding right people is the biggest business problem today. Virtually every manager struggles to find and hire the talent necessary to drive the business forward.

Hiring Process

1. Score Card

First thing first – Start with the Score Card. SC describes mission for the position, outcomes that have to be accomplished and competencies that fit with both culture of the company and the role. A lot of managers don’t bother to define what they want before they hire someone.

2. Source

Now when you know what you are looking for let’s talk about the Source. The traditional method is to wait for the opening and ask HR .. the wait. This method is very passive as it relays on finding people in the talent pool at the particular point of time. As we all know talent pools go stagnant. Most people that you really would want to hire most probably have a job.

Address this lack of innovation by seeing people that you interact with on daily basis as the best sourcing opportunity. It’s simple just ask the talented people you know who are the talented people they know you should hire. You will be surprised! Ask your customers for contact information of sales people
they enjoy working with the most outside of your company, ask your partners for the best managers they worked with ask your vendors … Never stop looking!

3. Select

Common interview processes are almost random predictors of job performance. Extensive research performed by the top hiring companies proved that the best way to Select is to use a serious of 4 interviews that build on each other. A-player you are looking for should have a track record that matches your needs, competencies identified within your score card and plenty of passion.

The 4 interviews are
• The screening interview – 15min call
• The top-grading interview – registered trade mark that is based on 5 /simple questions (google it)
• The focused interview (verifying the specific skill-set)
• The reference check

There is a final formula I like to refer to while looking for talent – 4 Es + 1 P = A-player
• E – positive Energy.. Ability to go go go
• E – ability to Energize others
• E – Edge .. Courage to make tough yes-no decisions
• E – ability to Execute
• P – passion .. Heartfelt deep excitement about the work


“If I were running a company today, I would have one priority above all others: to acquire as many of the best people as I could. I’d put off everything else to fill my bus. Because things are going to come back. My flywheel is going to start to turn. And the single biggest constraint on the success of my organization is the ability to get and to hang on to enough of the right people.”
- Jim Collins

 
No Comments

Posted in Business Excellence, Service Excellence

 
« Older Entries