Think about the qualities you like in other people. Some examples might be:
Generous
Knowledgeable
Honest
Open
Once you have a list of the qualities you like in others, wouldn’t it make sense to try to develop these qualities in yourself? If these qualities are what you appreciate, chances are they are what others you want to be around appreciate as well.
Just something to think about
Have a great day!
Lawrence
When conducting surveys or post event reviews we tend to ask “what did you like?” Shouldn’t we also ask “what would you like removed?”
We tend to try to guess what other people want in our products or services and sometimes we are right but other times we might be quite wrong. If that is the case, let them tell you what they don’t want and remove it.
Let’s use a Mexican restaurant as an example. If there is a mariachi band playing in the background and you ask people what they would like removed, if the majority of the people request the band be removed, not only can you make them happy by doing so but also, you can save money by not paying the band in the future.
If a non profit organization is providing a service that the majority of the people DON’T WANT wouldn’t it be nice to know so you could make them happier and save some additional money?
Don’t assume that more is better. If you are offering services or features that your customers/clients don’t want, you are making them unhappy and costing your organization money.
Frequently, this will result in a true win/win situation.
One word of caution, there are times you will need to provide services that the majority of the people don’t want or need. As an example, you might provide some services for the handicapped. The majority might not find this to be something they need but for legal and ethical reasons it’s the right thing to do.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
Instead of trying to “guess” or “research” what other people want why not start providing what YOU want?
If you own a hotel and think the pillows are ‘fine’ but not necessarily what YOU want when you stay somewhere, consider upgrading the pillows.
If you run a camp and think your own child would really like a certain feature, consider providing that feature for others.
If you run a web design firm and update the design of your web site every 6 months, maybe that should be a feature you offer to others.
Consider offering to others what you would want as a client, you might find that not only you are customers happier, you might enjoy what you are doing even more.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
We live in a world of tweeting, wall posting, IM’ing and texting. People are being conditioned to write with incredible brevity (can’t be more than 140 characters, use abbreviations whenever possible, skip words that aren’t “necessary” etc). The problem with this is in the business world, it causes some very incomplete and unsuccessful communications.
What might be acceptable in communicating with your friend is not acceptable with a boss or client.
Just last night, I received an email from someone wanting to do business with me where it was so unprofessional, so immature in style that there is no way I want to be involved with them. Does everything have to be professionally written at all times? Of course not (these posts certainly aren’t) but it is important to understand your audience and make sure you write accordingly.
R u sure u get it?
Leave the cute stuff for the kids (and if you really want to make a difference, encourage them to write correctly as well)
Have a great day!
Lawrence
What’s more important the people you hire or the culture they will be joining?
Frequently, when we have a number of troubled employees we look to replace them with new employees only to find the same problems with these new employees as with the old ones. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are hiring the wrong people, it might just mean good people are joining a bad culture.
A good culture can help a “bad person” turn good. A bad culture can turn a “good person” bad. Fix the culture and then the people. It works better that way
Have a great day!
Lawrence
“Excellence is not about being the best but its about doing your best. To always strive to be the best you can be in everything you do. Excellence is a way of life, not a destination. Excellence is about what you become not what you receive.”
Tony DeMeo
One of the “joys” of management is delegation. Instead of having to do everything yourself, you can delegate some of the work to others. Unfortunately, many managers don’t understand that just telling someone to do something is not all there is to delegation.
Once you have told someone what to do, the next step is to determine whether they know how to do it or not. You can tell someone to build a rocket ship but if they don’t have the expertise, they aren’t going to be able to do so. If they don’t have the expertise, you have either delegated to the wrong person or you have have to provide the education/training to get them the expertise.
Next, you must make sure it’s on their schedule. Some managers will delegate some work to an employee who has so many other things on their schedule, they can’t get everything done. If it’s not on their schedule in a time slot that allows it to be done on schedule, this must be worked upon.
Next, you must provide follow up. Just because you told someone to do something doesn’t mean you can ignore the follow up. If it’s important enough to have done, it’s important enough for you to follow up on to make sure it was done, it was done right and it was done on schedule.
Many people see delegation and management as a one time thing when the reality is, it’s an ongoing process.
Lastly, when it’s all done, on schedule, to everyone’s satisfaction, the last step is to reward. This might be a monetary reward but frequently, just a “thanks, I appreciate it” is all that is really needed.
Delegation works but only if it’s done properly. If you don’t do it properly, you might as well just do it yourself and fall further behind on everything else
Have a great day!
Lawrence
One of the things most (hopefully all) business owners are looking to do is increase their profits.
They spend long hours (and lots of money) on marketing and sales in order to generate more revenue. The thing to keep in mind is profit is determined by revenues minus expenses. So, while increasing revenues is one way to try to increase profits, decreasing expenses will do the same.
Most companies, organizations and even individuals would be shocked if they actually looked at how much money they were wasting. Too often, we look at the big number but instead, we need to look at all the little numbers.
The challenge is to cut expenses while still maintaining a high level of service.
In large organizations one mistake frequently made is a “task force” (which I believe is another word for committee) is formed to look into cutting expenses. While this is one approach you can take, another approach is to be a lot more transparent than most organizations want to be and share the books with the entire organization. Give everyone the task of finding ways to cut costs. The people doing the “dirty work” are frequently the ones who see all the waste while the ones “in the clouds” are dealing more from theory.
Consider giving an incentive for the person/people who find the ways to save money. Make it worth their time and effort to do so. While some might consider giving a gift certificate to a local restaurant for a person who can save the organization money, why not give them a real incentive? While someone might make a suggestion or two for the good of the organization, if you give them 25% of the savings for the first year then you will see the suggestions fly in. You have to make sure they understand this only applies to those suggestions that are applied and create savings
As an example of the type of cost savings that are possible, two years ago I was in a meeting with a client who was complaining about all of their expenses (it’s a $30,000,000 a year non profit organization so you can imagine they pay out a lot of money). In looking at the breakdown of their expenses, they were spending a ridiculous amount on long distance calls. A good portion of their calls were between their own offices (all within the same state but many were far enough away they were billed at intrastate long distance). By switching over to a VOIP phone system, they were able to quickly cut their phone costs in half. The only reason no one suggested it before was their employees didn’t know how much the calls were costing and had no incentive to do anything about it.
There are many ways for an organization to save money without affecting what they are producing. Give your people an incentive to save money and everyone benefits.
This same concept applies for families as well.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
Are there any employees who are truly indispensable?
Are you truly indispensable to your organization?
Keep in mind, there is a difference between “indispensible” and “invaluable”. We want people who are truly invaluable however if we have people who are truly indispensable it means we are one loss away from huge troubles.
Many people who feel they are indispensable really aren’t. Many people who are feel they are invaluable really aren’t. If you can find some truly invaluable personnel you are quite fortunate. If you have some truly indispensable people, be very careful because you are always one step away from pure chaos
Have a great day!
Lawrence
PS If you didn’t see the announcement yesterday, we have launched a new blog with video tutorials at http://lawrencefine.com/tutorials/
I would like to announce a new Tutorial Blog now available. This came about from a suggestion from a subscriber (thanks Russ) and has evolved over the last few weeks.
Each new blog post will have a video tutorial showing how to do something on the computer. Some will be as simple as how to do a search or how to format a letter in MS Word. Others will be more complex (how to create a nice looking powerpoint presentation or how to create a chart in Word). There will be a video tutorial as well as the transcript for those who learn better by reading.
Each tutorial will only be a minute or two so these are short and to the point.
The first tutorial is now online and shows how to create charts using Microsoft Word. You can see it at http://lawrencefine.com/tutorials/
The plan is to upload a new tutorial each day this week and then starting next week, they will be uploaded on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. You can subscribe to receive the notifications of the new tutorials on http://lawrencefine.com/tutorials/ By subscribing, you can see what the new tutorial is about and then decide whether it’s a subject you want to learn about or not.
If you have any questions or suggestions you can email them to me at lawrence@lawrencefine.com
Have a great day!
Lawrence
PS I would like to thank Nina Fuentes and Jonathon Rose for their help with these tutorials
If there is one thing Lawrence Fine is most passionate about it's teaching. From sharing his knowledge about soccer as a soccer coach, he now shares his expertise in the field of human resources and the Internet. (More...)