“You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you change.”
Les Brown
I’ve Been Thinking . . . how amazingly blessed I am to have uncanny, peculiar and untimely experiences that teach me valuable life lessons.
I recently attended a wonderful dinner on the roof of 101 Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. It was my first visit to this spectacular venue. The view of our nation’s capital was breathtaking as the sun set in the west and the lights of the city illuminated the skylight. The pictures I captured on my iPhone couldn’t do justice to the beauty observed by the human eye.
A couple hours into the evening I needed to use the restroom. The staff politely instructed me to take the elevator down to the ground level (we were on the 11th floor) and follow the signs to locate the restroom. I followed their directions and the signs posted. Success. Relief.
As I made my way back to the elevators, I suddenly learned the door to the lobby was locked. I knocked repeatedly but to no avail. I made the decision to run up the ‘11’ flights of stairs to the doorway leading to the roof where the dinner party guests were all gathered. Arriving sweaty, breathless and a bit panicked, I promptly learned this door was locked as well and no one on the other side was able to hear my repeated beating on the door. . . let alone my deep breathing.
I’m stuck. Two locked doors and an exceptionally warm, humid stairway had me imprisoned from the celebration going on outside. Being an impatient, action-oriented (and thankfully not claustrophobic) person I decided not to wait until someone discovered I was missing to be freed. Running down the stairs to the lower level (wishing I had on running shoes), I began pushing on doors.
Much to my delight a door opened to the alleyway on the side of the building. It wasn’t exactly a suitable place to hang-out for the remainder of the evening so I hastily made my way to the front lobby and pled my case with the security guards.
Minutes later I rejoined the dinner party. I’m sure the sweat dripping from the side of my face, my shiny brow and my relieved expression was no cause for curiosity with my dinner mates. Well, maybe one.
I’ve now had a bit of time to reflect on this brief adventure and the broader application of being “stuck in the stairway of life.” I wonder how many people are running up and down the same stairway everyday seeking a way out of their current circumstances. They are beating on locked doors unable to navigate their way to freedom or catch the attention of someone who might be able to help. Each day begins and ends repeating the steps they traversed yesterday. It’s frightening!
There’s little fulfillment existing in a stairway of stale air fed only by desperate panting and the odor of exasperated and exhausted stairway companions. This is a surefire prescription for monotonous, repetitive, even grueling but unproductive activity. It’s impossible “to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy,” as author Stephen Covey says we all want to do, when our life is derailed by circumstances seemingly beyond our control.
The answer is to persevere in finding the ‘alleyway’ to freedom. Find an opening, no matter how small that leads you out of the prison of predictable sameness. This dilemma cannot be resolved with the conventional thinking that got you into the bind in the first place. Liberate your mind to think outside the obvious stairway walls and get a fresh perspective on new, possibly even unusual or extraordinary options.
The elevator to the top is waiting . . .
Your primary job is to make any effort, overcome any obstacle, and scale any height to become the dynamic, unstoppable, irresistibly self-confident person that you are capable of becoming.
Brian Tracy
Monday, August 1, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Demystifying the Magic of Service
Service is just a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate type of activity.
Leon Gorman
L.L. Bean
I’ve Been Thinking…there must be a magical answer for consistently delivering unequalled, exceptional, out of this world service. Then, I remembered Walt Disney’s comment that, “There is no magic in magic, it’s all in the details.”
I love the story of the trucker who came into a truck stop café and placed his order. He said, “I want three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards.”
The brand new server, not wanting to appear naïve, went to the kitchen and said to the cook, “This guy out there just ordered three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards. What in the world does that mean?”
Chuckling, the cook said: “Three flat tires mean three pancakes, a pair of headlights is two eggs sunny side up, and running boards are two slices of crisp bacon.”
“Oh, OK!” said the server. She thought about it for a moment and then spooned up a bowl of beans and gave it to the customer.
The trucker asked, “What are the beans for, missy?”
She replied, “I thought while you were waiting for the flat tires, headlights and running boards, you might as well gas up!”
I marvel at the way the server quickly learned to see the situation from the trucker’s point of view. Three simple, brilliant service details evolve from this simple illustration.
First, treat every person you encounter as the most important person in your life. I mean everyone!
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan. She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the side of the road with torn clothes, wounded and bleeding, what would you do?”
Visibly affected by the image the teacher described, one little girl softly responded, “I think I’d throw up!”
Some people are more lovable than others. Service excellence digs deep to treat “every person” special and over deliver the way you serve them.
Be so nice to people they won’t believe it. It’s much easier to build a good relationship, treat people with kindness and go out of our way to make them feel special than to struggle rebuilding damaged relationships.
Companies spend fortunes every year on market studies, product evaluations, and future projections. What if they invested equal time in determining from their customers what makes them feel like the most important customer the business works with?
Key Point: The people you make feel special will become special… And they will never forget the way they were treated and who treated them that way.
Second service consideration. Incredible service flows out of the brilliant mastery of small details.
Lee Cockerell, writing about his experience as executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney said: “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.”
Service mastery means paying attention to the small stuff. Extraordinary results are not an accident. They flow out of consistent, robust, carefully orchestrated common sense practices that sincerely make people the priority.
It’s not the fancy stuff that makes the difference. . . It’s the fundamental stuff. The simple stuff. As W. Clement Stone has written, “Success comes from doing common things uncommonly well!”
Smile uncommonly well. Be interested. Affirm people. Be uncommonly personal. Show the highest level of respect. Be positive. Upbeat. Unshakeable. Uncommon professionalism and unmatched friendliness.
Understand feelings. Get results! Make “please” and “thank you” your favorite phrases. Look people in the eye. Display a contagious positive attitude. Spruce up your appearance.
These are your basic, essential, worth mastering “magic” details.
Key Point: Pay attention to the small stuff and you’ll get attention.
Third service detail worth mastering. Anticipate and exceed people’s expectations.
I’m increasingly convinced the purpose of an organization is to anticipate, identify and exceed people’s needs and expectations. That should also be the priority of every person working in the organization.
Hospitality expert Walt Disney said; “We’re in second place if we meet expectations. We need to exceed them. We’re convinced of that.”
Under promise and over deliver. Know your customer better than anyone else. Get close. Treat every situation as unique. Give personalized attention that meets personal needs. Do what you say you will do and don’t do what you say you won’t do. Eliminate stupid rules that make it impossible to go above and beyond.
Service is no longer about satisfaction. The expectation’s bar is continually being raised. What’s good enough today probably won’t be good enough tomorrow. We are involved in the unending challenge of leaping over the bar to delight a customer. Service standards are higher than ever. There are brief moments, and sometimes enormous windows of opportunity to exceed expectations by doing the unexpected.
Fix things, seek alternatives, and freely admit mistakes. Apologize, customize and individualize your approach. Deliver on your promises. . . Plus one percent.
Key Point: You don’t decide if you’ve exceeded expectations. The customer does.
Virtually every guest at the Walt Disney World Resort typically sees three very recognizable aspects of the magical service: the cleanliness of the park, the show and certainly the sincere friendliness of the cast.
Comments, surveys, focus group and letters affirm the business philosophy of Walt Disney, who said; “Quality will win out! Give the people everything you can give them. Keep the place as clean as you can keep it. Keep it friendly. Make it a fun place to be.”
This basic philosophy applies to every form of business. Demystifying the magic of service begins with treating every person as a V.I.P. Then determine how you can anticipate and exceed people’s expectations. Finally, pay attention every minute detail that makes the first two possible.
Sincere efforts to deliver excellent service are easy to spot. They are personalized, focused and leave the customer looking to their next experience.
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
Peter Drucker
Leon Gorman
L.L. Bean
I’ve Been Thinking…there must be a magical answer for consistently delivering unequalled, exceptional, out of this world service. Then, I remembered Walt Disney’s comment that, “There is no magic in magic, it’s all in the details.”
I love the story of the trucker who came into a truck stop café and placed his order. He said, “I want three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards.”
The brand new server, not wanting to appear naïve, went to the kitchen and said to the cook, “This guy out there just ordered three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards. What in the world does that mean?”
Chuckling, the cook said: “Three flat tires mean three pancakes, a pair of headlights is two eggs sunny side up, and running boards are two slices of crisp bacon.”
“Oh, OK!” said the server. She thought about it for a moment and then spooned up a bowl of beans and gave it to the customer.
The trucker asked, “What are the beans for, missy?”
She replied, “I thought while you were waiting for the flat tires, headlights and running boards, you might as well gas up!”
I marvel at the way the server quickly learned to see the situation from the trucker’s point of view. Three simple, brilliant service details evolve from this simple illustration.
First, treat every person you encounter as the most important person in your life. I mean everyone!
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan. She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the side of the road with torn clothes, wounded and bleeding, what would you do?”
Visibly affected by the image the teacher described, one little girl softly responded, “I think I’d throw up!”
Some people are more lovable than others. Service excellence digs deep to treat “every person” special and over deliver the way you serve them.
Be so nice to people they won’t believe it. It’s much easier to build a good relationship, treat people with kindness and go out of our way to make them feel special than to struggle rebuilding damaged relationships.
Companies spend fortunes every year on market studies, product evaluations, and future projections. What if they invested equal time in determining from their customers what makes them feel like the most important customer the business works with?
Key Point: The people you make feel special will become special… And they will never forget the way they were treated and who treated them that way.
Second service consideration. Incredible service flows out of the brilliant mastery of small details.
Lee Cockerell, writing about his experience as executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney said: “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.”
Service mastery means paying attention to the small stuff. Extraordinary results are not an accident. They flow out of consistent, robust, carefully orchestrated common sense practices that sincerely make people the priority.
It’s not the fancy stuff that makes the difference. . . It’s the fundamental stuff. The simple stuff. As W. Clement Stone has written, “Success comes from doing common things uncommonly well!”
Smile uncommonly well. Be interested. Affirm people. Be uncommonly personal. Show the highest level of respect. Be positive. Upbeat. Unshakeable. Uncommon professionalism and unmatched friendliness.
Understand feelings. Get results! Make “please” and “thank you” your favorite phrases. Look people in the eye. Display a contagious positive attitude. Spruce up your appearance.
These are your basic, essential, worth mastering “magic” details.
Key Point: Pay attention to the small stuff and you’ll get attention.
Third service detail worth mastering. Anticipate and exceed people’s expectations.
I’m increasingly convinced the purpose of an organization is to anticipate, identify and exceed people’s needs and expectations. That should also be the priority of every person working in the organization.
Hospitality expert Walt Disney said; “We’re in second place if we meet expectations. We need to exceed them. We’re convinced of that.”
Under promise and over deliver. Know your customer better than anyone else. Get close. Treat every situation as unique. Give personalized attention that meets personal needs. Do what you say you will do and don’t do what you say you won’t do. Eliminate stupid rules that make it impossible to go above and beyond.
Service is no longer about satisfaction. The expectation’s bar is continually being raised. What’s good enough today probably won’t be good enough tomorrow. We are involved in the unending challenge of leaping over the bar to delight a customer. Service standards are higher than ever. There are brief moments, and sometimes enormous windows of opportunity to exceed expectations by doing the unexpected.
Fix things, seek alternatives, and freely admit mistakes. Apologize, customize and individualize your approach. Deliver on your promises. . . Plus one percent.
Key Point: You don’t decide if you’ve exceeded expectations. The customer does.
Virtually every guest at the Walt Disney World Resort typically sees three very recognizable aspects of the magical service: the cleanliness of the park, the show and certainly the sincere friendliness of the cast.
Comments, surveys, focus group and letters affirm the business philosophy of Walt Disney, who said; “Quality will win out! Give the people everything you can give them. Keep the place as clean as you can keep it. Keep it friendly. Make it a fun place to be.”
This basic philosophy applies to every form of business. Demystifying the magic of service begins with treating every person as a V.I.P. Then determine how you can anticipate and exceed people’s expectations. Finally, pay attention every minute detail that makes the first two possible.
Sincere efforts to deliver excellent service are easy to spot. They are personalized, focused and leave the customer looking to their next experience.
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
Peter Drucker
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Incredible Power Of Choice
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed by words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run - we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are our responsibility.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
I’ve been thinking. . . about how life is filled with changes, challenges, demands, pressures, and a host of other unavoidable dilemmas. That’s reality!
This, too, is reality. We can choose how to deal with these issues. Whining, complaining, moaning, and groaning are popular. In fact, pessimism has become a national pastime. It is the popular way to look at the world. It’s seems too painful or takes too much energy to do something about the undesirable events. Instead, we want others or the situation to change so life will be easier for us.
Choosing to rise above the circumstances is powerful and greatly affects the outcome of the day’s activities. It’s not the events that mold your life, determine your feelings, or guide your actions. Rather, it is the way you decide to interpret and respond.
We must be convinced that we actually have the ability to choose our responses. The value, power, and impact of any life event are determined by your response. Unfortunately, there are many who have conditioned themselves to practice just the opposite.
Internalize this simple yet profound truth. You alone make all of your life's choices and these choices determine the quality of your experiences, what you become and the destination you attain. The seemingly smallest choice, just like a gentle breeze, will set in motion the influences to dramatically affect your life.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi invested twenty-five years researching what makes people happy. He discovered that happiness doesn’t just happen. He was also intrigued to find that happiness had little to do with money, power or material possessions.
Csikszentmihalyi’s conclusion showed that “people who control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.”
Our present and our future are not a matter of chance but are intricately woven with the threads of our own choosing.
Be careful not to allow yourself to be victimized by the society in which you live. It’s not the culture, the times, the social circumstances. When we blame these elements for our conditions, we return to them for the answers and are continually disappointed. This is the fast track to “victimitis.”
Another roadblock to life by choice is assigning undue control to inherited traits. These people are convinced the quality of their lives have been predetermined through some “gene-o-matic” or DNA mixer. There is no doubt that our social and family conditioning impact each of us but I would be quick to contend each of us possesses the ability to rise above those influences.
Master motivator Og Mandino wrote in The Choice: “There is a better way to live. Choice! The key is choice. You have options. You don’t need to spend your life wallowing in failure, ignorance, grief, poverty, shame, and self-pity. But, hold on! If this is true, why have so many among us apparently elected to live in that manner? The answer is obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure have never exercised their options for a better way of life because they have never been aware that they had any choices!”
“As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us.
Arnold J. Toynbee
Eleanor Roosevelt
I’ve been thinking. . . about how life is filled with changes, challenges, demands, pressures, and a host of other unavoidable dilemmas. That’s reality!
This, too, is reality. We can choose how to deal with these issues. Whining, complaining, moaning, and groaning are popular. In fact, pessimism has become a national pastime. It is the popular way to look at the world. It’s seems too painful or takes too much energy to do something about the undesirable events. Instead, we want others or the situation to change so life will be easier for us.
Choosing to rise above the circumstances is powerful and greatly affects the outcome of the day’s activities. It’s not the events that mold your life, determine your feelings, or guide your actions. Rather, it is the way you decide to interpret and respond.
We must be convinced that we actually have the ability to choose our responses. The value, power, and impact of any life event are determined by your response. Unfortunately, there are many who have conditioned themselves to practice just the opposite.
Internalize this simple yet profound truth. You alone make all of your life's choices and these choices determine the quality of your experiences, what you become and the destination you attain. The seemingly smallest choice, just like a gentle breeze, will set in motion the influences to dramatically affect your life.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi invested twenty-five years researching what makes people happy. He discovered that happiness doesn’t just happen. He was also intrigued to find that happiness had little to do with money, power or material possessions.
Csikszentmihalyi’s conclusion showed that “people who control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.”
Our present and our future are not a matter of chance but are intricately woven with the threads of our own choosing.
Be careful not to allow yourself to be victimized by the society in which you live. It’s not the culture, the times, the social circumstances. When we blame these elements for our conditions, we return to them for the answers and are continually disappointed. This is the fast track to “victimitis.”
Another roadblock to life by choice is assigning undue control to inherited traits. These people are convinced the quality of their lives have been predetermined through some “gene-o-matic” or DNA mixer. There is no doubt that our social and family conditioning impact each of us but I would be quick to contend each of us possesses the ability to rise above those influences.
Master motivator Og Mandino wrote in The Choice: “There is a better way to live. Choice! The key is choice. You have options. You don’t need to spend your life wallowing in failure, ignorance, grief, poverty, shame, and self-pity. But, hold on! If this is true, why have so many among us apparently elected to live in that manner? The answer is obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure have never exercised their options for a better way of life because they have never been aware that they had any choices!”
“As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us.
Arnold J. Toynbee
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tap Into The Power Of Your Potential
“You have enormous untapped power that you will probably never tap, because most people never run far enough on their first wind to ever find they have a second.”
William James
I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the awesome concept of potential? I’m grappling with Denis Waitley’s challenge to “Never rest on your achievements; always nurture your potential.” How does that apply to me? What is my potential?
City slicker Smith smiled as he exited the hardware store with his brand new power chainsaw. Guaranteed to cut down several trees an hour, this was his ticket to clearing away land on his new country acreage. Two days later, he returned to the store in a fit of frustration and anger. “This saw isn’t worth a plug nickel. You guaranteed me it would cut down several trees an hour. I barely fell one tree in an entire day.”
Somewhat puzzled, the store manager stepped outside with the saw, flipped the switch, and gave the cord a rip. The saw fired up and the steel-toothed chain whirled around the 24” guide bar. Startled by the deafening noise, Smith jumped back. “What’s that noise?” he gasped.
Smith’s failure to use the saw’s built in power is similar to our common approach to getting more done. Limits are set on our achievement potential because we underestimate our capabilities. People sincerely believe they are just too busy to do more than their present output. They are only capable of cutting one tree per day. Yet, compared to what we are capable of, our horsepower may be functioning at only half or three-fourths its potential.
Countless intelligent people limit their life enhancing, achievement producing potential. They never move further than the boundaries of their self-imposed limitations or bountiful excuses. As scientist Willis R. Whitney pointed out, “Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.”
I’m attempting to align myself with Erma Bombeck’s desire that, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”
Winners are people who do not leave to chance the gift of time or opportunity to achieve. They realize they are not yet everything they are intended to be -- even though some of us have come farther than we ever thought we would. They pursue it systematically through the use of simple, fundamental truths that generate a new world of opportunity.
“A sobering thought:” pondered Jane Wagner, “what if, right at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential?” I sincerely doubt that it is ever possible or we would need to redefine potential. In fact, Stanford research indicates we use less than 5 percent of our mental ability.
Be bold enough to envision and create a level of effectiveness beyond your present scope of thinking. You are intended to be a different person next month than you are today. There are accomplishments out there for you to encounter that haven’t even entered your mind. You have potential power that is waiting to have its’ engine started.
“The only reason you are not the person you should be is because you don’t dare to be,” said William H. Danforth. “Once you dare, new powers harness themselves for your service.”
Consider the advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” What a great way to reveal the dormant, unused, untapped potential that exists within.
What do you ‘dare’ to become?
“Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we have never used.”
Linus
Peanuts Comic Strip
William James
I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the awesome concept of potential? I’m grappling with Denis Waitley’s challenge to “Never rest on your achievements; always nurture your potential.” How does that apply to me? What is my potential?
City slicker Smith smiled as he exited the hardware store with his brand new power chainsaw. Guaranteed to cut down several trees an hour, this was his ticket to clearing away land on his new country acreage. Two days later, he returned to the store in a fit of frustration and anger. “This saw isn’t worth a plug nickel. You guaranteed me it would cut down several trees an hour. I barely fell one tree in an entire day.”
Somewhat puzzled, the store manager stepped outside with the saw, flipped the switch, and gave the cord a rip. The saw fired up and the steel-toothed chain whirled around the 24” guide bar. Startled by the deafening noise, Smith jumped back. “What’s that noise?” he gasped.
Smith’s failure to use the saw’s built in power is similar to our common approach to getting more done. Limits are set on our achievement potential because we underestimate our capabilities. People sincerely believe they are just too busy to do more than their present output. They are only capable of cutting one tree per day. Yet, compared to what we are capable of, our horsepower may be functioning at only half or three-fourths its potential.
Countless intelligent people limit their life enhancing, achievement producing potential. They never move further than the boundaries of their self-imposed limitations or bountiful excuses. As scientist Willis R. Whitney pointed out, “Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.”
I’m attempting to align myself with Erma Bombeck’s desire that, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”
Winners are people who do not leave to chance the gift of time or opportunity to achieve. They realize they are not yet everything they are intended to be -- even though some of us have come farther than we ever thought we would. They pursue it systematically through the use of simple, fundamental truths that generate a new world of opportunity.
“A sobering thought:” pondered Jane Wagner, “what if, right at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential?” I sincerely doubt that it is ever possible or we would need to redefine potential. In fact, Stanford research indicates we use less than 5 percent of our mental ability.
Be bold enough to envision and create a level of effectiveness beyond your present scope of thinking. You are intended to be a different person next month than you are today. There are accomplishments out there for you to encounter that haven’t even entered your mind. You have potential power that is waiting to have its’ engine started.
“The only reason you are not the person you should be is because you don’t dare to be,” said William H. Danforth. “Once you dare, new powers harness themselves for your service.”
Consider the advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” What a great way to reveal the dormant, unused, untapped potential that exists within.
What do you ‘dare’ to become?
“Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we have never used.”
Linus
Peanuts Comic Strip
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Easing The Pain
“Flexibility means the ability to bend mentally and physically, to adapt one’s self to any circumstances or environment while maintaining self-control and composure.”
Napoleon Hill
I’ve Been Thinking . . . about the comparison between back pain and life’s pains.
Our foursome was enjoying the customary Memorial Day round of golf. We arrived at the challenging par 3, sixth hole and I reminded myself not to worry about the water in front of me or the sand traps protecting the front of the green. My final thought before swinging was to swing easy and let the club do the work.
As I stroked the ball and let my body follow through with the swing, an excruciating pain suddenly shot through my lower back and down my right leg. Before I knew it, I was on my knees, unable to move. After several minutes of careful maneuvering, I hobbled over to the golf cart. Needless to say, I didn’t finish the hole or the round of golf.
For the next several days I endured several visits to the doctor, chiropractor and physical therapist. As the therapist concluded her initial consultation, she indicated I had a problem with flexibility. “I rate patients on a scale of unsatisfactory, marginal or satisfactory,” she said.
“Where do I fit on your scale?” I asked.
“Let’s just say it is going to take considerable effort to get you to a marginal level of flexibility. Until you increase your flexibility,” she continued, “the pain will persist.”
Lack of flexibility isn’t a one-time event. It often creeps up on you without advance notice or warning. The climax is painful and sometimes paralyzing. There is no quick-fix prescription for healing. It normally involves a lifetime of exercises designed to increase flexibility and thus minimize the pain.
I’ve learned the hard way that intermittent stretching won’t fix the problem. If I perform the prescribed exercises only when the pain surfaces the result is temporary relief. Permanent improvement in my flexibility requires adjustments in the way I sit and stand, learning to adequately stretch before physical activity and maintaining a daily regimen of exercises.
There is a direct correlation between the challenge of maintaining physical flexibility and the ability to remain mentally and emotionally flexible through life’s challenges, changes, painful moments, and demands. People stuck in habitual behavior and thinking, without being strengthened by a fair amount of stretching beyond what’s currently comfortable, will sooner or later experience considerable discomfort.
These are unsettling times in which we live. Anyone who pretends that life goes as planned is a consummate fool. Stability is no longer on the agenda and adapting only to your own schedule isn’t acceptable. Success in this environment requires continual flexibility and adaptability. Consider this -- if the rate of change in the world exceeds your rate of change, pain is certain.
An immediate and ongoing commitment to loosen up, stretch, and go with the flow will brighten your day-to-day life and ease potential pain. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to give it a try.
“People wish to be settled. Only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Napoleon Hill
I’ve Been Thinking . . . about the comparison between back pain and life’s pains.
Our foursome was enjoying the customary Memorial Day round of golf. We arrived at the challenging par 3, sixth hole and I reminded myself not to worry about the water in front of me or the sand traps protecting the front of the green. My final thought before swinging was to swing easy and let the club do the work.
As I stroked the ball and let my body follow through with the swing, an excruciating pain suddenly shot through my lower back and down my right leg. Before I knew it, I was on my knees, unable to move. After several minutes of careful maneuvering, I hobbled over to the golf cart. Needless to say, I didn’t finish the hole or the round of golf.
For the next several days I endured several visits to the doctor, chiropractor and physical therapist. As the therapist concluded her initial consultation, she indicated I had a problem with flexibility. “I rate patients on a scale of unsatisfactory, marginal or satisfactory,” she said.
“Where do I fit on your scale?” I asked.
“Let’s just say it is going to take considerable effort to get you to a marginal level of flexibility. Until you increase your flexibility,” she continued, “the pain will persist.”
Lack of flexibility isn’t a one-time event. It often creeps up on you without advance notice or warning. The climax is painful and sometimes paralyzing. There is no quick-fix prescription for healing. It normally involves a lifetime of exercises designed to increase flexibility and thus minimize the pain.
I’ve learned the hard way that intermittent stretching won’t fix the problem. If I perform the prescribed exercises only when the pain surfaces the result is temporary relief. Permanent improvement in my flexibility requires adjustments in the way I sit and stand, learning to adequately stretch before physical activity and maintaining a daily regimen of exercises.
There is a direct correlation between the challenge of maintaining physical flexibility and the ability to remain mentally and emotionally flexible through life’s challenges, changes, painful moments, and demands. People stuck in habitual behavior and thinking, without being strengthened by a fair amount of stretching beyond what’s currently comfortable, will sooner or later experience considerable discomfort.
These are unsettling times in which we live. Anyone who pretends that life goes as planned is a consummate fool. Stability is no longer on the agenda and adapting only to your own schedule isn’t acceptable. Success in this environment requires continual flexibility and adaptability. Consider this -- if the rate of change in the world exceeds your rate of change, pain is certain.
An immediate and ongoing commitment to loosen up, stretch, and go with the flow will brighten your day-to-day life and ease potential pain. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to give it a try.
“People wish to be settled. Only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, May 16, 2011
not to Radical Retention Reminders
“In a good to great transformation, people are not your most important asset. The right people are.”
Jim Collins
I’ve Been Thinking. . . a lot about how to keep the right people on your team.
A successful nurse, tragically hit by a bus and killed, arrives at the pearly gates and is welcomed by St. Peter, who says that she will need to spend one day in Heaven and one day in Hell before she decides where she would like to spend eternity.
With great trepidation she enters Hell and is amazed to find a beautiful golf course, friends and colleagues who welcome her, terrific food, a great pool party and even a nice-guy devil. At the end of her day, she regretfully leaves Hell in order to experience her day in Heaven. That experience is delightful as well, with clouds, angels, harps and singing that she expected.
St. Peter pushes her to make the decision of a lifetime (and beyond). In which place would she spend eternity – Heaven or Hell? You guessed it, she chooses Hell.
When she returns to Hell she finds a desolate wasteland, intense heat and her friends dressed in rags and picking up garbage. There are no parties – only misery and despair. She says to the Devil, “I don’t understand, yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a country club, and we fabulous food and we danced and had the time of our lives. Now I see desolation, the heat is overwhelming and all my friends look miserable and despondent.”
The Devil looks at her and smiles. “Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you’re a resident.”
Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you are an employee. Does the reality of employment match the aura of our recruitment?
Here’s the challenge . . . there’s a vicious cycle that naturally occurs requiring us to maintain continual attention to “recruiting” potential and current star performers.
It looks something like this: Recruit. . . Hire. . . Re-recruit. . . then Re-Re-Recruit staff. Otherwise, they feel less noticed. . . less appreciated. . .taken for granted. . .leave. . . we Re-Start Recruiting.
Most leaders need their cages rattled at some stage of the vicious circle just to shake the dust off stagnant practices. Consider these random challenges to determine where you might unlock the chains of the “way we’ve always done it” and inject fresh possibilities.
The first step to retention is who we hire. Hiring Recklessly or Randomly Results in Repetitious Remorse. It’s like planning for misery on the installment plan.
People decide in the first three days if they are going to leave or stay. They may not leave right away but the decision is made.
Repeat the new employee welcome “daily” - forever.
Poor Orientation = 36% of all turnover
What are we doing in orientation to make staff feel good about their decision and convince them that this is the place to be?
EXCUSE: We don’t have time for orientation – don’t have time not to have orientation. Without orientation, people aren’t convinced of the reasons to stay. Outcome: Organization becomes a revolving door.
You NEVER get a SECOND chance to make a good FIRST IMPRESSION. Capitalize on it.
Passionate leaders ensure people are indoctrinated with the driving philosophy of the company. Impassionate leaders constipate potential excitement.
Dynamite Recruiting without Fabulous Retention is a Waste of Energy.
Make a list of the top 25% of your team members – How Can You Keep Them?
Conclusion at Sprint: Employees want a leader who knows them, understands them, treats them fairly, and is someone who they can trust. Pay and benefits are expectations in this day and age. The most important element in retention is the leaders.
Turnover is not an event – it is really a process of disengagement that can take days, week, months and even years until the actual physical separation occurs.
Organizational complacency escalates employee discontent. Create new, fresh, compelling reasons for people to feel passionate about what they do.
89% of managers believe employees leave for money. 12% of employees leave for more money.
#1 reason people leave a job is supervisor/staff relations. Reality: People leave people not jobs.
Healthy Job Market: Unhappy employee will make a mad dash for a 5% pay increase.
Healthy Job Market: Happy employee will need at lest a 20% increase to jump ship.
According to research published by the late Susan Eaton, in What a Difference Management Makes, retention is all about relationships, and relationships are at the heart of a good working environment. This includes relationship with co-workers; across departments; with supervisors; with the organization; and, most importantly with the customers they serve.
Employers quote “unavoidable reason” for 90% of turnover.
Employees who left revealed only 11% had left for “unavoidable reasons”.
Saratoga found “unavoidable reasons” to be 5%.
Leaders can do something about 95% of the reasons people leave. . .
Remember Field of Dreams? Costner played a man obsessed by a vision to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond in order to attract star players from the past. A voice persisted in telling him, “Build it and they will come.” Well, he built it and they came. If you want to attract and retain star players, you must make your workplace one of your compelling recruiting and retention tools.
People need to go home feeling Useful –- Relevant –- Significant!
Get serious about creating a place that is fun to work!
How much time, energy and money are you investing in retention (re-recruiting) versus turnover and replacement?
Reboot, Reset, Refresh your re-recruiting radar ---
Be a place where people love to come (and stay) to work. . .
“The problem is not motivation. It is the ways in which we unintentionally demotivate employees.”
Quint Studer
Jim Collins
I’ve Been Thinking. . . a lot about how to keep the right people on your team.
A successful nurse, tragically hit by a bus and killed, arrives at the pearly gates and is welcomed by St. Peter, who says that she will need to spend one day in Heaven and one day in Hell before she decides where she would like to spend eternity.
With great trepidation she enters Hell and is amazed to find a beautiful golf course, friends and colleagues who welcome her, terrific food, a great pool party and even a nice-guy devil. At the end of her day, she regretfully leaves Hell in order to experience her day in Heaven. That experience is delightful as well, with clouds, angels, harps and singing that she expected.
St. Peter pushes her to make the decision of a lifetime (and beyond). In which place would she spend eternity – Heaven or Hell? You guessed it, she chooses Hell.
When she returns to Hell she finds a desolate wasteland, intense heat and her friends dressed in rags and picking up garbage. There are no parties – only misery and despair. She says to the Devil, “I don’t understand, yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a country club, and we fabulous food and we danced and had the time of our lives. Now I see desolation, the heat is overwhelming and all my friends look miserable and despondent.”
The Devil looks at her and smiles. “Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you’re a resident.”
Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you are an employee. Does the reality of employment match the aura of our recruitment?
Here’s the challenge . . . there’s a vicious cycle that naturally occurs requiring us to maintain continual attention to “recruiting” potential and current star performers.
It looks something like this: Recruit. . . Hire. . . Re-recruit. . . then Re-Re-Recruit staff. Otherwise, they feel less noticed. . . less appreciated. . .taken for granted. . .leave. . . we Re-Start Recruiting.
Most leaders need their cages rattled at some stage of the vicious circle just to shake the dust off stagnant practices. Consider these random challenges to determine where you might unlock the chains of the “way we’ve always done it” and inject fresh possibilities.
The first step to retention is who we hire. Hiring Recklessly or Randomly Results in Repetitious Remorse. It’s like planning for misery on the installment plan.
People decide in the first three days if they are going to leave or stay. They may not leave right away but the decision is made.
Repeat the new employee welcome “daily” - forever.
Poor Orientation = 36% of all turnover
What are we doing in orientation to make staff feel good about their decision and convince them that this is the place to be?
EXCUSE: We don’t have time for orientation – don’t have time not to have orientation. Without orientation, people aren’t convinced of the reasons to stay. Outcome: Organization becomes a revolving door.
You NEVER get a SECOND chance to make a good FIRST IMPRESSION. Capitalize on it.
Passionate leaders ensure people are indoctrinated with the driving philosophy of the company. Impassionate leaders constipate potential excitement.
Dynamite Recruiting without Fabulous Retention is a Waste of Energy.
Make a list of the top 25% of your team members – How Can You Keep Them?
Conclusion at Sprint: Employees want a leader who knows them, understands them, treats them fairly, and is someone who they can trust. Pay and benefits are expectations in this day and age. The most important element in retention is the leaders.
Turnover is not an event – it is really a process of disengagement that can take days, week, months and even years until the actual physical separation occurs.
Organizational complacency escalates employee discontent. Create new, fresh, compelling reasons for people to feel passionate about what they do.
89% of managers believe employees leave for money. 12% of employees leave for more money.
#1 reason people leave a job is supervisor/staff relations. Reality: People leave people not jobs.
Healthy Job Market: Unhappy employee will make a mad dash for a 5% pay increase.
Healthy Job Market: Happy employee will need at lest a 20% increase to jump ship.
According to research published by the late Susan Eaton, in What a Difference Management Makes, retention is all about relationships, and relationships are at the heart of a good working environment. This includes relationship with co-workers; across departments; with supervisors; with the organization; and, most importantly with the customers they serve.
Employers quote “unavoidable reason” for 90% of turnover.
Employees who left revealed only 11% had left for “unavoidable reasons”.
Saratoga found “unavoidable reasons” to be 5%.
Leaders can do something about 95% of the reasons people leave. . .
Remember Field of Dreams? Costner played a man obsessed by a vision to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond in order to attract star players from the past. A voice persisted in telling him, “Build it and they will come.” Well, he built it and they came. If you want to attract and retain star players, you must make your workplace one of your compelling recruiting and retention tools.
People need to go home feeling Useful –- Relevant –- Significant!
Get serious about creating a place that is fun to work!
How much time, energy and money are you investing in retention (re-recruiting) versus turnover and replacement?
Reboot, Reset, Refresh your re-recruiting radar ---
Be a place where people love to come (and stay) to work. . .
“The problem is not motivation. It is the ways in which we unintentionally demotivate employees.”
Quint Studer
Monday, May 9, 2011
Whisper In My Ear. . .
“We are more and more into communications and less and less into communication.”
Studs Terkel
I’ve Been Thinking. . . no, I’ve almost been obsessing over the demise of face-to-face, verbal, heart-to-heart communication.
We’re LinkedIn, twittered, Facebooked, logged on, YouTubed, iPhoned, and even Googled but sometimes I’m not sure we’re really tuned in to what matters.
We now depend on Outlook rather than a conversation. The internet has replaced a spirited discussion over a cup of coffee. We email the person in the office next to us and go an entire day without exchanging words. Maybe we should declare an “email diet day.”
Studs Terkel is right. . . we’re communicating less and less.
As I pondered this blog’s message, I was reminded of a cute story I read years ago on communication. Timmy and his mother were at church. Just as the pastor began his sermon, Timmy shouted out, “Mommy, I have to go pee.”
Mother replied, “Shhhhh, we don’t use that word. We say ‘I have to whisper’.”
Timmy said, “Okay.”
The next week Timmy and his family went to church. He leaned over and said, “Daddy, I have to whisper.”
His dad replied, “Just whisper in my ear.”
Not a pretty picture. Even our simple communications are becoming complicated and misunderstood. We’re not all on the same page and that certainly can lead to some undesirable results.
Consider this, 300,000 users per day sign up for Twitter. Twitter recently disclosed these facts:
• Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users (of course this number is
outdated as you read it).
• 180 million visitors come to the site every month.
• Twitter gets a total of 3 billion requests a day via its API.
• Twitter users are, in total, tweeting an average of 55 million tweets a day.
I sent that information to my son living in New York City. Ironically, he had an exaggerated (or maybe not) personal experience to illustrate my point. Here’s his message back to me:
“Thanks for sending this dad. It is an incredibly powerful tool. It's also very interesting to see how communication patterns are changing.
For example, Nikki and I were standing in line at Elizabeth & James, a boutique in the West Village, on Friday night. Being that the boutique's designers are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, the majority line holder was female (10-35 years old). We were in line for nearly 2 hours, so needless to say people were on their phones (checking Facebook, email, Twitter, etc.) I tweeted from the line a number of times, including photos, # (hash tags) and @ (at replies).
The moment I found most interesting was when the two girls in front of me were both on their phones, while carrying on a conversation. Here was their back and forth...
Girl 1: "This line is crazy."
Girl 2: "Ya it is."
Girl 1: "I wish Mandy could see this line."
Girl 2: "I just posted a photo."
Girl 1: "Did you tweet it or status it?"
Girl 2: "Tweet."
It's crazy to me that people used to utilize email to avoid talking to an actual person. Now they "Tweet It" or "Status It" (Facebook Reference) to circumvent emailing. Not to mention that both Facebook and Twitter both utilize the GPS in your phone to include your location in each tweet or status update (spooky).”
I know, I know, roughly seventy-two percent of you are saying, “that is ridiculous, I’m not that addicted to technology.” Maybe not. Maybe.
What is getting in the way of your face-to-face, verbal communication with your spouse, friends, family, co-workers? What has replaced the emotion of words combined with body language, non-verbals, and tone of voice? Who is missing out on the unique opportunity to experience your personality? Certainly there are people anxious to “hear” your words of encouragement. It’s not possible to experience the warmth of your smile via an email.
Go talk to someone - - -
“85% of our joy, happiness in life comes from our interaction with others.”
Brian Tracy
Studs Terkel
I’ve Been Thinking. . . no, I’ve almost been obsessing over the demise of face-to-face, verbal, heart-to-heart communication.
We’re LinkedIn, twittered, Facebooked, logged on, YouTubed, iPhoned, and even Googled but sometimes I’m not sure we’re really tuned in to what matters.
We now depend on Outlook rather than a conversation. The internet has replaced a spirited discussion over a cup of coffee. We email the person in the office next to us and go an entire day without exchanging words. Maybe we should declare an “email diet day.”
Studs Terkel is right. . . we’re communicating less and less.
As I pondered this blog’s message, I was reminded of a cute story I read years ago on communication. Timmy and his mother were at church. Just as the pastor began his sermon, Timmy shouted out, “Mommy, I have to go pee.”
Mother replied, “Shhhhh, we don’t use that word. We say ‘I have to whisper’.”
Timmy said, “Okay.”
The next week Timmy and his family went to church. He leaned over and said, “Daddy, I have to whisper.”
His dad replied, “Just whisper in my ear.”
Not a pretty picture. Even our simple communications are becoming complicated and misunderstood. We’re not all on the same page and that certainly can lead to some undesirable results.
Consider this, 300,000 users per day sign up for Twitter. Twitter recently disclosed these facts:
• Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users (of course this number is
outdated as you read it).
• 180 million visitors come to the site every month.
• Twitter gets a total of 3 billion requests a day via its API.
• Twitter users are, in total, tweeting an average of 55 million tweets a day.
I sent that information to my son living in New York City. Ironically, he had an exaggerated (or maybe not) personal experience to illustrate my point. Here’s his message back to me:
“Thanks for sending this dad. It is an incredibly powerful tool. It's also very interesting to see how communication patterns are changing.
For example, Nikki and I were standing in line at Elizabeth & James, a boutique in the West Village, on Friday night. Being that the boutique's designers are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, the majority line holder was female (10-35 years old). We were in line for nearly 2 hours, so needless to say people were on their phones (checking Facebook, email, Twitter, etc.) I tweeted from the line a number of times, including photos, # (hash tags) and @ (at replies).
The moment I found most interesting was when the two girls in front of me were both on their phones, while carrying on a conversation. Here was their back and forth...
Girl 1: "This line is crazy."
Girl 2: "Ya it is."
Girl 1: "I wish Mandy could see this line."
Girl 2: "I just posted a photo."
Girl 1: "Did you tweet it or status it?"
Girl 2: "Tweet."
It's crazy to me that people used to utilize email to avoid talking to an actual person. Now they "Tweet It" or "Status It" (Facebook Reference) to circumvent emailing. Not to mention that both Facebook and Twitter both utilize the GPS in your phone to include your location in each tweet or status update (spooky).”
I know, I know, roughly seventy-two percent of you are saying, “that is ridiculous, I’m not that addicted to technology.” Maybe not. Maybe.
What is getting in the way of your face-to-face, verbal communication with your spouse, friends, family, co-workers? What has replaced the emotion of words combined with body language, non-verbals, and tone of voice? Who is missing out on the unique opportunity to experience your personality? Certainly there are people anxious to “hear” your words of encouragement. It’s not possible to experience the warmth of your smile via an email.
Go talk to someone - - -
“85% of our joy, happiness in life comes from our interaction with others.”
Brian Tracy
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