September 9, 2010 - Are You a Team Player?

Main Idea

What do you think of when you hear team spirit?  Does the old Saturday Night Live skit come to mind?  Do you care about the team or do you care about you?  What is more important, you winning or your team winning?

Expansion of Idea

One of my core principles is that the team has to win in order for you to win.  If you read any interview with Albert Pujols, you will find that he is not happy with this year because the Cardinals do not look like they are going to go very far, even though individually he is having a great year.  The same is true in business.  You may be at the absolute top of your game and yet, if the business fails, you will be out of a job.  Most every successful company or team has its unsung heroes.  A classic unsung hero is Radar O’Reilly on Mash.  He made sure the camp ran smoothly and was deeply embarrassed when he was praised.  The real key to his character was his eagerness to make sure everyone else was able to do their jobs.    

What does this look like in a small business? 

• It is the employee who checks on another employee who was sick at work. 

• It is the leader who gives credit to his team. 

• It is the team member who acknowledges his teammate. 

• It is cleaning up someone else’s mess that they did not realize that they made. 

• It is taking out the trash when it is not your job. 

• It is doing that one extra step for a boss who doesn’t realize the amount of extra work it took. 

• It is spending the extra 10 minutes explaining a new process to a team member so that they truly understand what they are doing. 

• It is encouraging each other in good times and especially in bad times. 

• It is collectively taking responsibility for a problem even if one person created it. 

Team Spirit can be a lot of things.  Mainly, it is wanting to help each other succeed. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. How would you assess your team spirit?

2. Are you eager to help your team succeed?

3. How would you assess your team’s spirit?

4. How can you help someone else succeed?

5. What do you need to stop doing that is creating roadblocks for someone else?

6. Are you working to serve or to be served?

August 18, 2010 - Does Your Team Show Initiative? Do You?

Main Idea

Are you afraid of failure?  Do you hesitate to take a risk?  When was the last time you tried something just because you wanted to do it even though in the back of your mind, failure was a real possibility?  When did you follow up on something just because you were curious? 

Expansion of Idea

One major difference between great team members and good team members is the amount of initiative that they have.  Great team members are trying something new to help the team.  Yes, there has to be boundaries.   However, team members who are looking for something new to help their customers or other team members are invaluable.  Maybe they are not looking to do something new for the customers but instead they are trying something that their boss normally does.  They are asking for more work and more difficult work.  They want to be challenged.  This may be something as simple as asking an extra follow up question to a customer.  Or it may be something more complicated like realizing that your systems could be simplified and taking the time to design a newer system.  They take a few minutes to follow up on a problem to make sure that the problem was resolved.  They send a thank you note to a coworker who helped them. 

A couple of weeks ago, I heard Terri Kelly, the CEO of Gore-Tex, speak about the culture at their company.  Basically, anyone could take an idea and try to develop a team to spearhead the project.  If they were able to sell enough people to join them then the idea would go forward.  While this may be an extreme case of initiative, it shows the benefits to a business organization.  In roughly 50 years they have become a $2,500,000,000 company.  Initiative can be good for business.  

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Is there something that I know I should do but just have not done it because it isn’t required?  (DO IT!!!!)

2. Is there something that I could do that is completely unexpected by a coworker or customer but would be deeply appreciated?  (DO IT!!!!)

3. Is there a technical piece of our business that I do not know enough about but which would help me in my job? (LEARN IT!!!!)

4. Is there something that your boss is doing that you could do and free up your boss to do even more important work? (ASK ABOUT IT!!!!)

5. Is there something that you could add to your service that would make your customer’s lives so much better?  (EXPLORE IT!!!!)

6. Make a list of better questions to ask yourself and then go do it.

July 23, 2010 - Does Your Office Work Well?

Main Idea

What is the impression when someone walks into your office?  Is it closer to a circus where everyone is having fun or a morgue?  Do people like working with each other?  Do they trust each other to do their jobs and respect them for that?

Expansion of Idea

One of the all time classic business movies is “Office Space”.  The main character’s name is Peter.  Peter goes to work, shows up late, sits and stares at computer screens and printouts, avoids any semblance of work and then goes home.  His life is completely devoid of meaning.  He has eight bosses who constantly remind him when he does not attach the cover sheet to the TPS report.  The only friends he has at work have the same negative attitude that he does and they spiral downward to the point where they steal from the company.  It is a very funny but extremely weird and disturbing movie because we have all been there at some time in our life.  Chances are there is someone in your organization that isn’t very far from being like Peter. 

What is the effect on your business when your people don’t like working with others?  When I was with my previous employer, we had seven support team members who did not function as a team.  It was a real life version of the reality TV show “Survivor”.  It was destroying productivity and just wasn’t much fun to go to work.  With the partner’s approval, another manager and I put them together in a room.  We told them that they could either figure out how to work with each other or they could leave.  At that point, we honestly did not care.  They chose to stay and productivity rose significantly. 

In our business organizations, there needs to be a level of camaraderie and respect for each other and for our bosses.  We have to enjoy working with each other and we have to trust each other to do their part.  There will be mistakes, but when you work together, you can fix and overcome the mistakes.  When the team is dysfunctional, the level of mistakes will rise in geometric progression as the level of dysfunction rises.   This can cripple our businesses.

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Do I like working with my team? 

2. Do I trust my coworkers to do their job?

3. Are there things we can do to improve the camaraderie?

4. Are there things we can do to improve the trust and respect?

July 8, 2010 - Do You Like Working with People?

Main Idea

Do you like to build puzzles?  Have you ever put together a puzzle with someone who took a piece and saved it without you knowing it so he could put in the last piece?  Have you ever thought that this job would be easy if I did not have to deal with coworkers, customers, vendors or bosses?  Do you have co-workers who are only concerned with who gets the credit? 

Expansion of Idea

Work would be real easy if we did not have to deal with customers, employees, vendors and co-workers.  The reason is that there would not be a business.  We have to work with people.  This can be a challenge but it is the reason we are here.  We have to learn to cooperate and work together.   You may think I am warped but I think it is fun to help others look good.  It is fun working together to find the best answer to a complex problem.   Even though the Lone Ranger was the star of the show, he would have died at least once in each show without Tonto.   When we work together, we come up with answers that we would not have discovered by ourselves.  This can only happen when we are open to input from others.  We need to be actively searching for the right path.  To do this requires that we are not focused on being right.  Instead, we have to be focused on finding right. 

Is the better leader one who tells his employees what to do or one who asks his employees if there is a better way?  In each of our businesses, the person that has the most customer interaction knows things about the customer that the president of the company does not know.  The really smart leaders will look for input from the customer service people.  Ultimately, the leader has to make the decision.  But the wise leader keeps his ego and emotion out of the decision and instead focuses on the wisest decision.  This helps the rest of the company work together to achieve results that they could not achieve independently.  This creates a culture of cooperation which is a very powerful business advantage.  There is an ancient proverb that says that a cord of three strands will not break quickly.  Is your business a cord of three strands? 

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Am I more concerned about being right or finding the right answer?

2. Do I look for input from others for improving myself and the systems that I work with?

3. Do I help create a culture of cooperation? 

4. Have I contributed to a culture of “ME,ME,ME”?  How do I fix that?

March 17, 2010 - Do You Have Better Talent or Better Teamwork?

Main Idea

Have you filled out your NCAA bracket?  Can anyone really guess how the games will play out?  Who do you think will win it all? 

Expansion of Idea

This week of the year is one of my favorite times of the year.  (If it weren’t for tax season, it would be perfect.)  The main reason for my excitement is college basketball.  The NCAA championships start tomorrow and anything goes.  The games are exciting.  There is heartbreak and exhilaration.  There are upsets and blowout wins.  If you look at the wins and losses, you normally can see one of two things.  Either the team with the better talent wins, or the team, that plays better as a team, wins. 

It is really fun when a lower seeded team beats a favorite.  Why did they win?  Teamwork can beat talent.  However, talent wins most of the time.  The key is when you combine talent and teamwork.  Then you have some truly special games.  The same is true for our businesses.  When we hire talented people, train them, coach them, nurture them and teach them to work well with others, we can have truly amazing results for our businesses.  When we make the most out of our talent and teamwork, then we are winners.  It is everyone’s responsibility to develop their talent and teamwork and to work with the coach to improve.  That is what life is all about. 

Questions to ask yourself

1. How can I develop my talent?

2. How can I develop the talent of my team?

3. How can I better work with my team?

June 17, 2009 - Are You Investing in the Right Places?

Main Idea

What do you think of when you hear the word investment?  Is it good or bad or ugly?  Do you associate the word with stocks, bonds, houses, businesses and retirement plans? Do you ever associate it with people? 

Expansion of Idea

When we think of investments we normally think of our savings, our house and our retirement plans.  But I would argue that those are minor compared to the true treasures in our lives.  What happens when you invest in yourself?  Or what happens when you invest in an employee or a relationship with your future spouse?  How much time do we invest in our kids?  There is no immediate payback and our whole goal is to get them off the payroll when they graduate from college.  But the real benefit is the joy we get when they grow up, serve others and become self sufficient. 

We make those kinds of long-term investments and we never look back.  We go to college to prepare us for the real world.  (I know I am stepping out on an edge here.)  The point is that in our personal lives we make very long-term investments in people but that mindset does not carry over to our businesses and our professional lives.  The current view is frequently, “What have you done for me lately?”

Everyone is so impatient and then we wonder why there is no customer or employee loyalty.  What would happen if we changed our mindset a little and started to invest in ourselves, our team members, our customer relationships and other key business partners?  How can we add value to that relationship?  If we can develop the people around us, including ourselves, we will be much more effective, we will have more fun, and we will probably have more time.  By developing close relationships, we also improve our odds for success.  As the ancient King Solomon said, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” 

Areas to Start:

1. Take a few minutes and think about someone you could help or would like to improve your relationship.

2. Schedule some time and go do it.

3. Go do it again and make it part of your daily or weekly lives.

January 29, 2009 - Do Your Employees Own Their Jobs?

Main Idea

When was the last time that you dealt with a customer service representative who really took care of you?  What was the difference between that person and someone who failed miserably?  Is there any difference in technical training?

Expansion of Idea

How we service our customers is critical to our survival in this crazy economic environment.  I would contend that there are two types of people in our organizations, owners and employees.  The only difference between the two is an attitude of service.  If you own a business, you are going to make sure that customers are taken care of properly.  Truly great companies hire employees who have this ownership mindset.  They view serving their customers as a privilege that they want to keep.  They make sure that their customers are served properly.  And if there is a problem, they stick with it until it is completely taken care of. 

I just got off the phone with a representative of a major brokerage firm.  I have been trying to get an account transferred for three weeks.  I called last week and I thought it was taken care of.  Instead they did something completely wrong.  They were able to fix it, but the whole problem is a function of follow through by their representatives.  I have made five or six phone calls to take care of something that should have only taken one call.  Everyone makes mistakes.  The difference between great companies and everyone else is how you deal with the mistakes.  Do your employees own their jobs?  Do they take pride in what they do?  Do your customers get a thrill from dealing with your company?  What could a change in attitude mean to your business?

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Define ownership for your job.

2. Define ownership for the people who work for you.

3. Empower the new owners to take care of the customers.

October 8, 2008 - Have You Developed Your Teamwork?

Main Idea

When you were a kid did you like to play by yourself or with others?  When you see a small group of people accomplish something incredible, are you jealous?   Do you see the beauty in synchronized swimming or diving?  Or have you watched the Blue Angels flying in formation?  How do they do it?

Expansion of the Idea

Almost everyone knows who Michael Jordan is.  He is probably the greatest athlete that we have ever known.  He is super competitive, fiercely independent and one of the best basketball players I have ever seen.  When he came out of college, he played for 6 years with the Chicago Bulls rapidly developing into the best player ever.  However, he could not win a championship.  He could score 30, 40 or 50 points a game yet they did not have a chance in winning the championship.  Not until the Chicago Bulls acquired Scottie Pippen, and a few role players that really do not belong on the same court as Michael Jordan, did the Bulls win a NBA championship.  And then they won 6 championships over the next 6 years that Michael Jordan played. 

What was the secret?

Michael Jordan discovered a critical key for success.  TEAMWORK!!!!!  When Michael Jordan and his teammates discovered, embraced and lived by this core value their success was probably guaranteed.  Everyone on that team knew their role.  And when they acquired the ultimate free spirit, Dennis Rodman, a lot of people thought that the Bulls could not handle him on the team.  But he fit in almost perfectly because he knew his role and his teammates could count on him.  Yes, the team was a collection of individuals, but they played as a team. 

Most businesses do not function as a team and the result is that they do not achieve the success that they should have.  Team members do not know what is expected of them.  They do not know what everyone else is doing or what is planned.  Their compensation package is designed in isolation and there is no emphasis on team results.  Our systems are all geared towards individual attention.  Does your team celebrate the victories together and learn from the losses together? 

Action Items

1. Decide if teamwork is or should be a core value for your organization.

2. Make a list of your team and what their duties are.

3. Make sure that people know what is expected of them.

4. Share your plans.

5. Encourage the team.

6. Celebrate all victories as a team.

September 5, 2008 - What is Your Contribution?

Main Idea              

Do you know what you should be doing on a daily basis? Are there duties that only you can do?  What can you do that will push the organization to the next level? 

Expansion of Idea

When I was 8, the Cardinals made it to the World Series.  It was exciting for St. Louis.  We would sneak a radio with ear pieces into school so that we could listen to the World Series games.  Most people would say that we had a couple of key players such as Bob Gibson, or Lou Brock, that made the difference.  They definitely went out and did their part. 

But what about a reserve catcher named Bob Uecker?  No one would mistake him for a professional baseball player.  What could he contribute to the team?  He was a lifetime 200 hitter and a not so good catcher.  But he focused on the one thing that could help. He was so funny that he kept the locker room loose.  The team did not get uptight. They went out there and won games.  I would maintain that he was as critical to the team winning as Bob Gibson.  

The same is true in all of our organizations.  Some have high profile jobs.  Others have lower profile jobs.  All of the jobs are important.  Have we figured out what we need to contribute?  Most of us get so caught up in the daily grind, that we lose focus of the special things that we need to do for our organizations to thrive.  It doesn’t matter what we do for our businesses.  It does matter that we do the critical things that only we can do.

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Identify the one or two things that you are uniquely qualified to help push your organizations goals.

2. Meet with your team and help them identify their unique contribution

3. Work on your unique contribution this week

4. Celebrate when your team has focused on their contributions.

August 8, 2008 - Are You a Control Freak?

Main Idea

Are you a control freak?  Are you the only one who can do something right?  When you think about someone working for you doing something critical, do you get visibly sick?  Is there anyone in your organization that has a clue about what you are trying to accomplish?

Expansion of Idea

Most of us are so busy trying to survive that we just try to get our work done as fast as possible so that we can move on to the next project.  The thought of having someone else in your organization doing something critical is a hopeful wish and is just not practical.  Yet we are so overwhelmed that we end up working too much and we make more errors by ourselves.  Sometimes those are errors of omission, but there is opportunity cost.  We don’t follow up on a lead or we don’t fix a nagging problem or we don’t do the planning that we should be doing.  The solution is to create a team that works well together. 

Once I realized that I don’t have to do everything and that it is okay for my team to make errors, it was incredibly freeing.  No, I don’t want errors going out of the office on tax returns. So, I need to improve my systems and training.  But after I delegated skill appropriate tasks, the error rates actually dropped because I focused on training and systems.  And we have had a marked improvement in service.  We still aren’t exactly where I want to be, but we are headed in the right direction.  And I have time to help us get there because I am not doing everything.  I can take the time that I save on one thing and invest it in another area.   But the most important benefit is that I have empowered and trained and elevated my team.  They are having more fun and understand the purpose of what they are doing.  Whenever you can invest in your team, you improve your odds of succeeding.  This is the purpose of a leader – to take your team to the next level. 

Just so that you know I am serious about this, go back and read the weekly business idea from last week.  You may have assumed that I wrote it.  I had input but I did not write it.  I asked Heather in my office if she wanted to write it.   She thought about it for a few seconds and then said she would try it.  I probably would have used different examples and different words.  But she did a great job and the main idea was communicated.  And that is what is important.

Areas to Start

1. List 5 things that you could delegate

2. Review the list and determine who you could delegate them to.

3. If training is needed, determine the training schedule and set a deadline for the training.

4. Go for it!!!