Tags |
|
|
Article Check - Shaping Culture for Success
“Is my vehicle ready, yet?” may seem like pretty innocuous words. However, these are the five little words that could hurt your dealership’s bottom-line. Anytime your customer initiates a call AFTER the promised delivery time, you have damaged your image in your customer’s heart and mind. Granted, if our answer is “Yes, Mr. Jones, I was just about to give you a call. We have completed all the work on your vehicle. You can come and pick it up at your convenience,” it may stem the bleeding. But if we say, “Oh, let me check. No, we haven’t gotten to your car. Boy, have we been swamped today,” you are adding insult to injury.Think about it from your customers’ perspective. They are busy people who are already inconvenienced by the loss of their vehicle. If they call you, you have compounded that in
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would.
Once considered an unacceptable option to the career-minded, underemployment has become increasingly common as more professionals find themselves out of work for extended periods of time. You need a job and the optimum one is not on the horizon. The key is to be flexible. Taking a step down doesn't have the negative impact on one's career that it used to have. Nor does changing jobs with regular frequency. Climbing back up the career ladder is commonplace in today’s volatile employment market.If you have made the difficult decision to accept a job that is below previous employment levels - in terms of title, responsibilities and salary -- stay as long as necessary, but not one day longer.Tips for managing underemployment1) Continue networking and job-hunting even after accepting a
Whether you have one employee or thousands, there is “the way things work around here.” That’s your culture. Culture is a set of shared assumptions and unwritten rules - a force field that shapes how we do things. Since your culture shapes how things are done in your organization, it can make a direct contribution to your bottom line.
There are four mandates you can build into your business culture to enhance your ability to succeed.
MANDATE 1: HAVE NO “KNOW” BOUNDARIES
Let’s say you’re the CEO and a customer tells you that your support guys make him nervous. “Nervous?” you say. “Yes. I don’t want to hear ‘I have no idea if this will work but we’ll try it and see.’” What do you say? Bill Daniel (CEO, Surgient, Inc., http://Surgient.com) told the customer, “We can coach people so they don’t necessarily make you nervous but I won’t coach them to not be open with you.” If someone at Surgient doesn’t know something, they just come right out and say so. And that’s just the way Daniel likes it.
This is a key ingredient in creating a culture where everyone can contribute her expertise fully. Where gaps in knowledge are considered normal, not a “problem” but just a routine part of exploring solutions. Then everyone can contribute without fear of stepping on someone’s toes. Knowledge flows freely without getting stuck in eddies of invulnerability.
MANDATE 2: LIVE OR DIE TOGETHER
“This sounds corny, but we live or die together.” If your team knows how to get full commitment from each team member, then each of you will be saying that, just as Gary Moore said it of his team at Dell Computers. Corny, maybe - but fully committed, engaged teams get results.
It’s essential that team members express their views. You want to encourage a healthy level of debate and discussion. As Moore said, “It’s fine for me to say ‘this is a stupid idea’ right up till we decide.” Listen to all opinions, ideas and concerns. As a team, sort out the facts from the opinions. See where you are making assumptions and test them. Identify what you don’t know. When decisions are made, engaged teams move as one.
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would. I
Ongoing career training is something that can help separate you from other job searchers in more ways than one. Specifically, I’m referring to training that can positively affect your career by helping you learn new skills or improve upon existing skills.Other than showing potential employers that you are the type of person that understands the value of ongoing learning, career training helps keep your mind fresh and ensures that you don’t fall behind in any particular skills area.As a recruiter, I can think of numerous occasions where companies required candidates applying for a job to have specific training - and in some cases, professional certifications - to be considered for the position.Certainly, when new technologies or processes are released, it often results in required upskilli
There are four mandates you can build into your business culture to enhance your ability to succeed.
MANDATE 1: HAVE NO “KNOW” BOUNDARIES
Let’s say you’re the CEO and a customer tells you that your support guys make him nervous. “Nervous?” you say. “Yes. I don’t want to hear ‘I have no idea if this will work but we’ll try it and see.’” What do you say? Bill Daniel (CEO, Surgient, Inc., http://Surgient.com) told the customer, “We can coach people so they don’t necessarily make you nervous but I won’t coach them to not be open with you.” If someone at Surgient doesn’t know something, they just come right out and say so. And that’s just the way Daniel likes it.
This is a key ingredient in creating a culture where everyone can contribute her expertise fully. Where gaps in knowledge are considered normal, not a “problem” but just a routine part of exploring solutions. Then everyone can contribute without fear of stepping on someone’s toes. Knowledge flows freely without getting stuck in eddies of invulnerability.
MANDATE 2: LIVE OR DIE TOGETHER
“This sounds corny, but we live or die together.” If your team knows how to get full commitment from each team member, then each of you will be saying that, just as Gary Moore said it of his team at Dell Computers. Corny, maybe - but fully committed, engaged teams get results.
It’s essential that team members express their views. You want to encourage a healthy level of debate and discussion. As Moore said, “It’s fine for me to say ‘this is a stupid idea’ right up till we decide.” Listen to all opinions, ideas and concerns. As a team, sort out the facts from the opinions. See where you are making assumptions and test them. Identify what you don’t know. When decisions are made, engaged teams move as one.
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would.
Did you recognize the sage advice of the rocker George Thorogood. It is the song about how one brother goes to school, gets a degree and goes out and gets a “good job”. The other is a rock and roll singer and his parents and friends tell him to clean up and get a real job.Of course the song goes onto say how the straight brother’s life sucks and the rocker makes millions. Can it happen this way? Of course it can, it just comes down to the basics of working hard at being great at what you do and keeping current to what the market wants.In the search for a job, some people search for a life they want and it also pays. If you like to sing I would not suggest you look into singing for a living. If you LOVE to sing and that is all you think about, then maybe you can look into singing as a career.mer, “We can coach people so they don’t necessarily make you nervous but I won’t coach them to not be open with you.” If someone at Surgient doesn’t know something, they just come right out and say so. And that’s just the way Daniel likes it.
This is a key ingredient in creating a culture where everyone can contribute her expertise fully. Where gaps in knowledge are considered normal, not a “problem” but just a routine part of exploring solutions. Then everyone can contribute without fear of stepping on someone’s toes. Knowledge flows freely without getting stuck in eddies of invulnerability.
MANDATE 2: LIVE OR DIE TOGETHER
“This sounds corny, but we live or die together.” If your team knows how to get full commitment from each team member, then each of you will be saying that, just as Gary Moore said it of his team at Dell Computers. Corny, maybe - but fully committed, engaged teams get results.
It’s essential that team members express their views. You want to encourage a healthy level of debate and discussion. As Moore said, “It’s fine for me to say ‘this is a stupid idea’ right up till we decide.” Listen to all opinions, ideas and concerns. As a team, sort out the facts from the opinions. See where you are making assumptions and test them. Identify what you don’t know. When decisions are made, engaged teams move as one.
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would.
Entrepreneurs and their businesses have a tendency to ambush themselves when they aren't looking. This affects how much revenue they can generate, how fast their business rises, and even if they survive after the first few years. If you feel there is a possibility you are getting in your way to success, review these elements to see if any of these items might apply.1. Imagine investing time and money into a product or services, only to find that it isn't selling. Or at least it doesn't have the results that you expected. Now, I'm talking realistic here, and not some grandiose vision. It’s hard to give up something when you have invested your resources into something, more importantly, you have spout off to the world (okay, friends and family) that you were doing it.Gluing your
MANDATE 2: LIVE OR DIE TOGETHER
“This sounds corny, but we live or die together.” If your team knows how to get full commitment from each team member, then each of you will be saying that, just as Gary Moore said it of his team at Dell Computers. Corny, maybe - but fully committed, engaged teams get results.
It’s essential that team members express their views. You want to encourage a healthy level of debate and discussion. As Moore said, “It’s fine for me to say ‘this is a stupid idea’ right up till we decide.” Listen to all opinions, ideas and concerns. As a team, sort out the facts from the opinions. See where you are making assumptions and test them. Identify what you don’t know. When decisions are made, engaged teams move as one.
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would.
Okay, it has a headline, picture, copy, and even a map. Heck, you’ve been running it for years. It seems to get lots of calls and everything is wonderful in “Directory-Land.” But there’s something wrong. Did you spot it? How do you know it’s doing as well as it could? Where’s the feedback? If you’re receiving plenty of response, which part of the ad is working well and which is failing? In other words, are you tracking the results and also asking the customer why they picked your ad over the competition?You may wonder why this is so important if the ad is pulling well. Suppose it wasn’t. Suppose it got a poor result. You would want to know what went awry so you could correct the trouble for the next issue, right? After all, why waste the space and money?
MANDATE 3: LOVE YOUR MISTAKES
What is a “mistake?” An experiment that didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped it would. It’s also an opportunity to learn what doesn’t work. To innovate, you have to experiment. For employees to be willing to experiment, you must view each experience as “good,” whether it turns out “right” or “wrong.”
As Steve Bercu (owner and manager of BookPeople, http://www.BookPeople.com) told me, “The point is – just keep experimenting. If it doesn’t work, don’t worry; we’ll change it back.” As a result of that attitude, BookPeople employees have generated some very creative ideas. A kids’ camp based on the children’s books by Rick Riordan, a new idea for book display that increases sales and other ideas from store d?cor to merchandising.
These innovative ideas contribute to BookPeople’s success. They are thriving at a time when many independent bookstores are losing their markets to chains and the Internet. The attitude of continual experimentation that Bercu has fostered translates to real bottom line success.
Your attitude toward experiments (both the successes and the failures) should tell employees that failed experiments aren’t “career limiting moves” but learning opportunities.
MANDATE 4: REMEMBER – THEY AREN’T “HUMAN CAPITAL” – THEY’RE HUMAN BEINGS!
David Whyte (poet and author of “The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in Corporate America”) has said that the reason we crack the window of our car when we go into the office is that we leave our soul in the car and we don’t want it to suffocate. Do you bring your “real” self to work or do you leave “the real you” in the car?
Being your “real” self at work can be hard. As Bill Daniel (Surgient, Inc. CEO) sees it, “It’s a tall order. It’s much easier to not reveal who you are and what really is important to you. Because with that knowledge you can be hurt.” So, because we don’t want to be hurt, we leave our true self in the car allowing us the illusion of invulnerability. But, as Daniel points out, it blocks the development of trust and robs the organization of energ
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.caseupon.com/article/21431/caseupon-Shaping-Culture-for-Success.html">Shaping Culture for Success</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.caseupon.com/article/21431/caseupon-Shaping-Culture-for-Success.html]Shaping Culture for Success[/url]
Related Articles:
Is Your Advertising Working? From a South African Perspective
Photo ID Cards-Who Needs Them Anyway?
Bookmark it:
|