To Be Productive (aka 2bProductive Blog): attitude

Showing posts with label attitude. Show all posts

Never-the-less Principle, Adjusting Attitude at Work

With the seasons of Thanksgiving through New Years approaching, I began to think about the different feelings and attitudes people many experience on-the-job. All too often, work and holidays bring stress and grips rather than relaxation and joy. Are we letting the wrong attitudes steal our happiness at home and work? There is this old principle for attitude adjustment called "the nevertheless principle". The principle works this way - take a negative complaint and add a positive spin to it with the word nevertheless (never-the-less) at the end of the statement.

Below are a few statement examples to consider for adjusting attitude at work:

I get tired of working so much of the time, nevertheless, I have a job that helps support my family.
My position here is not very high, nevertheless, I find satisfaction in doing my job well.
I have a lot of work to do before the holidays, nevertheless, I will have free time with my family once it is done.
A few here seem to get away with doing very little, nevertheless, I will do my best and know that I truly contribute.
My boss is hard on me, nevertheless ,I know he appreciates it when I make the department look good.
This company only cares about profit, nevertheless, those profits are what enables them to pay me.

How does this help adjust attitudes? First by forcing oneself to turn from a negative thought into a positive one. This will immediately make one feel better. Eventually, the negative fades as we concentrate more on the positive. Resulting in a more positive attitude more often so that the negative goes away to be replaced with feelings of contentment rather than resentment. Happier employees are more productive employees. Happiness them=n spills over into their personal lives as well.

What are some of the statements you might make? Please share them in the comments for this post. If you want to see some personal life example statements, see Lifestyle Organization blog

Nevertheless, Attitude Adjustment and Thanksgiving in Adversity.

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Millennials in the Workplace: Social Awareness for Business Leaders

In the 15 minute video below, Simon Sinek explains some of the issues business leaders face with millennials n the workplace. A lot of it is funny, bur the message is really serious. Managers need to be aware of the social issues this generation faces due to the "everyone is a winner" attitudes they were raised in. The instant gratification of social media has caused some problems with their perceptions and self-esteem than management and human resources has to work to overcome. An unexpected key message - no cell phones in conference rooms! Cell phones are a distraction that well working teams can not afford. Want more on dealing with millennials in the workforce, visit Millennials in the Workforce: Learn To Use It or Expect To Lose It.

NFL Makes BIG Business Blunder

For a business to succeed, it must have customers. If a business is fortunate enough to have repeat customers, they try their best to understand how to keep them coming back.

What, Where, and When was the NFL business blunder? Sports is a business! So why did NFL team owners (leaders), coaches (managers) and players (employees) agree with each other to make such a blunder of their business? Obviously they were not thinking about fan (customer) response to their actions over the weekend in various stadiums across the country. Did they not realize that fans are their customers, not blind followers. Their customers (aka American citizens) felt insulted over the weekend and have been showing their anger in true protest by: burning team products and tickets on social media, canceling football packages via cable, boycotting both games and sponsors.

How does the NFL get back their customers? Good customer service says to apologize and emphasize. Instead, the NFL keeps piling on excuses for their behavior. This is a bad move for an organization already showing profit loss. Apologizing will not get all their fans back this season (business quarter), but it might result in a few since some may be quick to forgive - especially if an incentive to return is given. If the NFL wants a better profitable season next year, then they need to start with a general apology to the whole USA and then teams need to give a targeted apology with refunds on game tickets where insult occurred to fans.

Why is it important for their business for NFL and teams to apologize? Like any business, they have competition for their customers' attention and money. For the game pf football, may fans prefer their college team over professional teams, and of course there are the high school games as well. Another obvious competition is other types of sports. For example, the main competition team sports are those that were created in the USA: Baseball and Basketball, Other competition team sports with a USA beginning include: Lacrosse, Roller Derby, and Volleyball. American football is an adaptation on the English game of Soccer, as is Rugby. Other team-based sports competitors might include: Bowling (origin Egypt), Hockey (origin Canada), Polo (origin Persia). Then there are also smaller competitions from: Archery, Badminton, Billiards, Boating (all types), Boxing, Climbing, Cycling, Darts, Fishing, Frisbee, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Horse-riding, Horseshoes, Jumping, Kites, Knife-throwing, Paintball, Pickle-ball, Racing (boats, cars, motorcycles,and other motor-types.), Rodeo, Running, Shooting, Skateboarding, Skating, Skiing, Skydiving, Snowboarding, Swimming, Tennis, Tug-of-war, Weight-lifting, Wrestling, and even more. Chess, dancing, gambling, and knitting are competitive events now too!

Who gave excuses for NFL actions? According to reporters, the first kneeling incident was last year and was suppose to be a protest. Typically protests are obvious because of signs or clothing containing words about the reason for protest. Doing this on an NFL field might result in fines, so the protester could lose money. Instead last year's player got a free interview to explain his kneeling and later in interview said he would stand this year for anthem. Some say the mass NFL protests by some team members were suppose to be a sign of solidarity for the person causing the 1st incident, others say there is more to it than that. Whose idea was this so-called political protest now known as a bad business move, even though anthem standing is in NFL operation manual? Whose idea was this political protest that is now known as a bad business move? A few sportscasters have tried to defend the NFL actions by saying it was not flag or patriotism related. Oops again... Telling your viewers (network's customers) they are wrong might result in lost ratings rather then keeping open a time slot for sports. If sportscasters are worrying about filling time slot with enough sports, without NFL, they might want to check WHY paragraph above for alternatives.

LESSON TO LEARN: Admit a bad idea, apologize, then get on with your real business! Sports is supposed to be fun escape/entertainment from what is going on in the world, it is not for politics or protest.

Millennials in the Workforce: Learn To Use It or Expect To Lose It

A Message to Millennials (on Amazon #ad) is a book that merges Charlie Jones’ 7 Tremendous Laws of Leadership advice with lessons on followership learned and shared by author Tracey C. Jones. Tracey calls each of the seven lessons of success targeted at millennials a different function of followership. Below are examples from the 2^nd law of leadership and the 2^nd function of followership: USE OR LOSE.

Charlie asks “Are you multiplying what you already have?” If you are using the skills, talents, and opportunities that are present, you cannot help but gain more. If instead you are letting things slide or blaming others for your failures, you stay the same or slide backwards. There is no gain if you do not put in the work with a good attitude.

Tracey asks “Do you seize the day or do you seize the excuse?” Seek opportunities to be part of something greater than yourself. Value what you have and share your resources with others and in the organization. Remember not everything is in your control, but you can be diligent in how you handle things and the attitude you choose.

An excellent word puzzle shared in this part of the book is
OPPORTUNITIESNOWHERE.
How many words do you see in the puzzle? Why do you think you found those words?

The above is small sample of how this book makes you stop and think about doing their job. A Message to Millennials includes a hyperlink to a 10-page followership questionnaire and an interesting set of ABC’s for millennials in its conclusion.

“Leadership and followership are two sides of the same coin.” - Tracey C. Jones

For other views on millennials or this book, check out these posts:

If you have more time and want data to help you understand the different generations in the workplace today, check out 11-page Generational Differences Chart or 14-page Understanding Generational Differences whitepaper.

Is the Era of Incivility Going to Destroy American Business?

Recent rude demonstrations from the vocal minority trying to instill political unrest and doubt had me wondering how this could impact businesses. I was looking for ways other than inconsiderate protests that block airports and streets, which kept people from getting to work or going home. To satisfy my curiosity, I did an internet search and found that there have been many experts showing a concern over how incivility affects business in the last decade. Below are a few of the best results I found. There were many going beyond the past 10 years as this has been quickly progressing since the 1990’s.

In 2012, an international survey of rudeness by country was conducted by the travel site Skyscanner. Results were published by magazines Forbes, citing cultural differences, and Time blaming language barriers. (USA = #7) A different survey was conducted by international cell phone distributor, Mobal, of both friendly and rude countries (USA = #4) to visit.

A lot of book titles also showed up for personal and professional use on Amazon. The following books were published by business experts for company managers and human resources:

- Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace (2016) by Christine Porath on Amazon #ad

- The Cost of Bad Behavior (2009) by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath on Amazon #ad

And there were various articles based on the oldest book above.

- The Price of Incivility was written by the authors and it appeared in Harvard Business Review (2013) with various statistics worthy of noting.

- A summary article Bad Behavior Costs Businesses Billions states repercussions and warnings.

- An informative white paper The Cost of Bad Behavior in the Workplace shows statistics and dollars.

What should be done to turn things around? A few suggestions can be found in Entrepreneur article Good Manners Are a Career and Business Necessity and sales blog post Increasing Sales Effectiveness via Etiquette: Five Simple Principles.

RACK for the Workplace

The other day my friend and I were in the drive-thru line at a Starbucks. When we went to the window to pay we were told that the person in front of us just bought our coffee and gave us a card saying we were “RACKed” (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness.) So what did we do? Paid it forward and bought coffee for the person behind us of course! What made this fun was it was anonymous; we were surprising someone with something unexpected that put a smile on their face.

Having that happy experience gave me the idea that we can use some RACK for the workplace. If you want you can shorten it to RAK for simply Random Acts of Kindness which works regardless of your beliefs or the holiday you celebrate.

Workplace stress has a way of escalating during the holidays. Stress can be caused by end of the year deadlines, special projects, the push to meet profit goals, and increased customer demands. In addition to the extra workload you may feel stressed about all the personal holiday tasks you need to do at home such as shopping for gifts, baking, and entertaining. Your coworkers are probably feeling the same stress and may be a little harder to work with this time of year.

What can you do to bring a smile to your coworkers and “make their day?” We all know the song The Twelve Days of Christmas so why not The Twelve Days of RAK?

Bring a tray of treats for the lunchroom
Leave Starbucks coffee or hot chocolate anonymously on coworkers’ desks
Leave candy canes on desks
Tape quarters to the lunchroom vending machines
For cold weather locations, clean off the snow/frost on the cars parked near yours
Start a book exchange with at least 10 books (can be already read)
Bring lunch back for a coworker who is working on a deadline and can’t leave
Attend a meeting for a coworker so they can leave early for a child’s event
Bring flowers (carnations are inexpensive) with small discount store vases for all the tables in the lunchroom
Leave lottery tickets on desks for coworkers
Start a coupon basket to leave coupons you do not need
Write notes of appreciation to coworkers

An interesting thing happens when you RAK someone, they start thinking of how they can RAK someone else. If everyone is thinking of how they can make others happy it lightens the atmosphere at work and captures the spirit of the season. What ideas will you add to my list of twelve?

Visualize What You Want in Life

We recently lost an influential author, Stephen R. Covey. Most people, if they have not read the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (on Amazon #ad) , have at least heard about it. Mr. Covey was once named one of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Americans and his book has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Although all seven habits are impactful, the one that has influenced me the most is Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind.”

What this habit says to me is that it is important to have goals. As the saying goes “if you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Instead of being a victim of circumstances, make a decision on the type of life that you will find fulfilling. A favorite activity I use in my training workshops is to have everyone picture their retirement party. Who will speak and what do you want them to able to say about you when you retire? You can use this same concept with asking yourself where you want to be at the end of the year or at the end of the day. What accomplishments will you have achieved? What road will you be on? What will make you smile with satisfaction?

Here are a few tips to help you “Begin With the End in Mind”:

Visualize Your Life: What do you see yourself doing? What is the environment? Who do you interact with? What makes you happy and how can you use your natural abilities and skills? Once you decide on what you want to do, examine how to get there. For example, will you require more experience or education to fulfill your dream?
Create Action Plans: What gets planned gets accomplished. Creating a to-do list every day is like taking steps down the road you want to travel. It may take a while but at least you know you are on the right path and are making progress to your destination.
Visualize Your Day: Before I get out of bed in the morning, I visualize my day and what will give me a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction. I picture myself focused and easily completing the tasks I have outlined on the day's to-do list. The items on the to-do list bring me closer to the picture I have of the life I want to lead.

Everyone’s definition of a life well lived will be different. The time to do something about it is now, so find your road and you will start making progress towards the life you want to live and the end you have in mind. It is living your life without regrets.

Do you have the potential for a second career?

After reading Boundless Potential (on Amazon #ad), I have to wonder is this a business book or a roadmap for a journey for personal discovery?
In this book, Mark S. Walton shares success stories of many Americans who have started second careers after retiring or being let go from long-term assignments. He shares a blueprint on how others can find their passion to begin rewarding careers and new life adventures too. Below are outlines in groups of 3 that share some of the key points from the book.

Steps in the reinvention process:

1. Discover your fascination

Ask yourself "What is the direction that pulls me forward?”

2: Find your flow

Ask: “What kind of work will turn my fascination into flow?”

3: Envision your structure

Ask: “Will I create a project, role, career, business, or non-profit?”

Definitions:

Fascination – intersection of heart and mind that sets the direction for re-inventive work.

Flow – highest level of human happiness, achieved when fascination is turned into action.

Structure – opportunity that is essential for success in midlife and beyond.

Challenges: impatience, inexperience with introspection, established identity

Lessons for realizing potential:

1. Find your niche and sell it.

2. Stay solvent and focused.

3. Expect the unexpected.

Tips from interview with Mark Miller, author of The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security on Amazon #ad in chapter 12:

1. Prepare by having at least 6 months of living expenses covered.

2. Most small start-ups can be accomplished with $10,000.

3. Do not look for a job at the same time as starting a business because both will suffer from your divided attention.

If you want to find some of the people mentioned in this book, visit OrgThis blog.

Recipe for Happiness

I had an interesting experience the other day at a restaurant. The waiter had been very friendly and interested in my management book that was sitting on the table. I could tell he had been thinking about this question for awhile when he came over to the table and asked me “what do you think is the secret of happiness?” Maybe he thought someone who wrote a book would know the answer. I never had a philosophical discussion with a waiter before so his question surprised me, but then got me thinking the rest of the day. What did I think was the secret of happiness? Why are some people happy and others unhappy?

I put the question “what do you think is the secret to happiness?” on Facebook and received a variety of responses such as: friends and family, health, winning the lottery, knowing our purpose and value in life, belief in God, seeing the glass as half full, philanthropy, and one of my favorites “happiness is a choice.”

So after discussion and reflection, this is my recipe for happiness, it has five ingredients:

Purpose: I believe that people need purpose in life. Purpose can vary from raising a family, having a stimulating job, perfecting a skill, learning something new, volunteering for a worthwhile cause, etc. When you can wake up each morning knowing your purpose for that day, you are happier.
Optimism: Optimistic people believe that negative events are temporary. They can see past their current state at a future that seems brighter. They have hope that things will change for the better and that hope drives them to work towards being happier.
Gratitude: There are some people who spend their time focusing on what they do not or cannot have. People who can express gratitude for the things and people they have in their life now are happier. I like to fall asleep at night thinking about five “gratitudes” for that day.
Altruism: When you use your skills, talents, or time to help others in need, you tend to forget about your own problems. According to The Healing Power of Doing Good by Luks and Payne, altruism can have powerful health and healing benefits including: a sense of well-being, exhilaration and euphoria, a more positive and happier outlook on life, decreased feeling of helplessness, loneliness and depression.
Relationships: Having close friends/family to share the joys and sadness in our life makes us feel connected and supported. We feel accepted for who we are but also know that people care enough to encourage our growth and well being. The world was saddened recently by the death of Steve Jobs. His family, in a statement released by Apple, said Mr. Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family." He was not surrounded by an IPod, I Phone, IPad, or Mac.

So what other ingredients would you add to the recipe?

Smooth Sailing with the Bully Manager

“A number of years ago, I went sailing with my boss at the time, and it started out wonderfully. The sun was shining, the wind was steady, the sea was calm. Best of all, my manager was in a great mood, and we were having a great time talking about work issues as well as other matters. A few hours later, though, a front moved in and the sea became rough. As conditions deteriorated, he reverted to form. As a manager, he was a Bully type—tough, aggressive, decisive, used to giving orders and having them obeyed without question. Though he could be gracious and accommodating when it suited his purposes, his classic Bully traits would come to the surface whenever he was under significant stress. As the wind stretched the sails tight and the boat rose, fell, and tilted at a precarious angle, my boss ordered me to put my life jacket on. He snapped at me when I asked a question. He shouted at me to get something from the other end of the boat and told me, “Hurry up!”

I recognized that he was becoming the tough captain of the ship rather than my friend and colleague, and that he was responding in the only way he knew how to a difficult situation. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a life-or-death situation but one that required him to take charge. An outside observer would have thought him rude and bad-tempered.

Fortunately, I understood this type of boss and was accustomed to this type of mood swing when he was under pressure. I understood that this wasn’t a time to challenge or question him; I didn’t take his rudeness personally. I followed orders, and as soon as we were safely back in port, he returned to his old charming self. He complimented me on how well I had done in a difficult situation, and I thanked him for helping us get back safely.

In many ways, we interacted the same way at work. I had learned how to handle him when he was being difficult. I knew when I could question his directions and when I could not. Because I grasped his Bully type, I was able to maintain a strong working relationship with him, and he in turn was supportive of my career aspirations in the company.

I don’t want to make this sound easier than it was. It took time and study to figure out this managerial type. The Bully was complex, like all the types we’ll discuss. He had good traits and bad ones, and it took a while to identify what made him tick and what ticked him off. But I had observed and worked for other Bullies in the past, and I was able to “get” him eventually. This made managing my manager infinitely easier than it would have been, especially when he was under stress.

Most bosses today work in highly stressful environments. I’m sure my sailing metaphor isn’t lost on you—every manager is trying to navigate through stormy seas as companies and industries undergo significant change. To deal effectively with a boss under pressure, you need to know her well. I’m not saying you need to know her personality as much as her managerial persona. Certainly the two concepts are related; many people’s best and worst qualities are muted when you’re having lunch with them or interacting with them socially, but when they put on their boss hat and they’re struggling to meet a tight deadline, they change. They exhibit certain traits that define them as bosses rather than as people.”

Above is an excerpt from the book “Managing Your Manager Your Manager: How to Get Ahead with Any Type of Boss” author Gonzague Dufour, copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Permission to reprint was granted by the publisher.
Visit again to read next post 6 Types of Managers to Manage.

Disclaimer: McGraw Hill makes no representation or warranties as to the accuracy of any information contained in the McGraw-Hill material, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall McGraw-Hill have any liability to any party for special, incidental, tort, or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with the McGraw-Hill Material, even if McGraw-Hill has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
See also To Be Productive blog Disclaimer at bottom of site.

Customers Want Empathy!

Customers want what they want. When they can not get what they want, they at least want to feel like they have talked to a real person who cares and not a programmed machine. It seems that lately, companies are spending time training their customer service personnel to memorize a script for different situations. Customer service personnel are trained in programmed responses. It appears that you are pushing a “button” which triggers the customer service representative to quote policy, procedures, and rules. Say something else and another “button” is pushed and the customer service person says “I’m sorry” without feeling because they have practiced it.

Here is a recent example:

We were on a cruise and booked a shore excursion to go scuba diving. The ship’s scuba diving trip was full so we booked our own arrangements. Unfortunately the ship could not pull up to a pier so we had to “tender” into port. The ship decided to give first tender boarding preference to those customers who booked shore excursions through them and advised everyone else to go to a location for a “pass” which indicated when we could get off. Upon arriving at the appointed time for our “pass” we were told that they would not be ready for another 30 minutes. Being frustrated about the possibility of missing our dive I went to talk to the front desk personnel. First I got the programmed response that the next time we should book through them. When I explained we tried and they were booked I received the lecture that arrival times were estimated and we should not assume we could get off at the posted time. Now I was really frustrated. I did not want a lecture, I wanted someone to care.

Empathy is what everyone wants…to speak to a caring person who can identify with our problem and understand what it feels like to be in that situation. When you show empathy you can “see” the situation through the eyes of the customer. The customer then feels cared for and valued.

How to deliver empathy to customers:

Hire People Who Care About Other People: Identify candidates who genuinely like people and care about their feelings.

Emphasize Listening Skills: Train customer contact people to truly hear and listen to the concerns of customers.

Practice Empathy: Provide sample situations for customer contact personnel to practice thinking about “How I would feel in this situation.”

Speak with Caring and Concern: It is not enough to have empathy, your customer contact personnel must convey their caring and concern through their voice and body language.

Intellectually, most customers understand there will be rules and procedures, but emotionally they also need someone who cares about the impact they have on their specific situation.

P.S. Yes, we made our scuba dive on time and it was terrific!

Annoying Coworkers!

The theme of my conversations this week seemed to be annoying coworkers. I spoke to a number of friends and family members who were all frustrated because of the actions of their coworkers.

“I am so annoyed at him,” one person said. “I can not believe she did that,” said another. “Why does he have such a bad attitude?” exclaimed still another. Amongst their complaints were: the over-controller, the perfectionist, the lack-of-communicator, and the interferer. Do you work with these types of coworkers too?

After hearing their complaints, I thought it would be worthwhile for others to hear the tips I shared in dealing with annoying coworkers:

Avoid the coworker – Easier said then done! If you do not have to work closely with the individual, avoid interaction. Go to lunch at a different time; send emails instead of talking face to face, etc. This will allow you to avoid stressful interaction situations. However, this first tip is usually impractical because of how closely people work in teams these days. On to other tips…

Benefit of the doubt – Give your annoying coworker the benefit of the doubt, they might not know they are annoying. Most people have blind spots that others can see but they do not. I call these blind spots the “you have spinach in your teeth, your slip is showing and your fly is open.” If you knew any one of these things you would fix it, right?

Understand motives – Most people do not wake up in the morning thinking “I plan to make my coworkers miserable today.” People behave based on their needs not your needs. The person who is over-controlling might feel very insecure. The perfectionist might be worried about mistakes that will reflect badly on them. The lack-of-communicator probably only needs limited information himself so he thinks everyone is like him. The interferer might be trying to be helpful.

Provide feedback – Feedback is best given when you are calm. Think about how you can “hold a mirror” up to your coworker’s behavior so they can see what you see. Keep your statements professional, non-judgmental indicating the business impact. Example, “I see that you redid that report I finished yesterday. I feel like I can learn from your experience but only if I get to do it myself. The next time, can you please just coach me through the changes and let me try it?”

Put any two plus people together for eight hours a day and you are bound to find things that drive you crazy about each other. With mutual respect and understanding I am confident that everyone can find a common ground to get along.

Don't You Know Who I Am?

I was checking my Twitter feed the other day and noticed a tweet from an associate of mine. In his tweet he commented, okay ranted, about the bad reception and service he received from a local establishment he had been frequenting for years. His issue wasn’t just that he received bad customer service. It was also that they didn’t recognize him as a long time customer. He felt that they should have known he was a regular and treated him accordingly. He wanted some recognition of his loyalty to the business. He ended up so put off that his tweet ended with him thinking of finding a new company to give his money and time.

In reviewing his experience, I thought about my own. I remembered how great I felt when I entered businesses where they recognized me right away, said hello by name, knew my order history, and treated me like royalty. I also remembered other times where I walked into places and no one greeted me and when I finally got their attention, they acted as if I was interrupting their day.

This led to thinking about my own business and my team. How well did we treat our customers, especially our most loyal ones? Were we able to distinguish between the people who might buy something versus our faithful customers who came in repeatedly and spent money consistently?

In order to determine our level of customer awareness, I put together a list of questions. The answers should guide us to creating the right type of atmosphere that enables us to deliver an excellent customer experience. You might find these questions helpful for your business too.

First, I asked some general questions to establish the right baseline.

Do my people know what our strategic goals are?
Do they understand how providing excellent customer service helps us reach our goals?
Do they know what we mean by excellent customer service?
Do they know what role they play in helping us reach our goals and deliver excellent customer service?
Do they understand that we invest money, time, and energy in order to build long term customer loyalty?
Do they know that it is easier to keep a customer long term than it is to find and establish a new one?

Then I put together some additional questions specifically around customers.

Do my people know who our top customers are?
Do they know why they are our top customers? (i.e. what they buy, how often, how much they spend)
Do they know the names of our top customers?
Do they know what our top customers do? (i.e. what their business is, something else about their lives)
Do they understand what products and services we offer that typically meet the needs of our top customers?
Do they know how to provide quality service when working with our top customers?
Do they know how to treat our top customers like royalty?

Answering these questions has helped us make sure we are paying attention to our top customers and gaining their continued loyalty. As we looked at each answer, we put a plan in place or adjusted existing plans to make sure that each answer was YES.

Where is your business? Are your customers tweeting about you? Do you know what they are saying?

Seven Signs to Avoid the Four Losses: Are You an Ostrich or an Eagle?

The story goes that when the ostrich wants to block out the world it sticks it’s head in the sand. If there’s nothing to see things can’t be too bad. Right?! The eagle on the other hand looks for a better and more strategic view. The higher it goes to a lofty vantage point the more it can see possibilities for food as well as potential threats. Are you an ostrich or an eagle?

Whether you’re a manager or an employee retention is a critical issue for your survival. Let’s review the four primary losses that accompany attrition and then we’ll look briefly at seven early warning signs.

Lost Productivity X Four

Here’s the first level of lost productivity. The typical team member begins thinking and planning about leaving from three to six months before they actually depart. This is a period of partial to full disengagement and can be very costly to the organization.
Secondly, there will be a loss of productivity when the person is gone because there will not be anyone who can quickly take their place. This vacancy could remain open from three to six months or longer. That adds to the problem and the loss of productivity.
Next there is a loss of productivity even after the replacement has been found during the on-boarding and training phase. This can easily take weeks or months before a return to full productivity is reached.
Finally, there is the time and energy drain on those employees who are involved in the recruiting, hiring and training of the new person which takes away from their normal levels of productivity.

This ripple effect can involve over a dozen people scattered in several departments and equate to the loss of tens of thousands of dollars or more. That is a huge and costly loss that can be avoided if you’re eagle eyes are open and trained to spot certain details.

Seven Early Warning Signals

If you find yourself described by these signals this might be your own personal wake up call. You may need to have a chat with your boss about your own level of discontent or discouragement and how it is impacting your behavior and productivity. Or you might be hearing from him/her if ‘ostrich’ isn’t their typical reaction to problems.

Either way recognizing these signals will be a red flag you don’t want to ignore. Retaining those who are engaged and productive is more critical than ever in this weak economy.

Some of the early warning signals you might see are:

Increased sick time
Arriving later or leaving earlier than normal
Increased web browsing and personal calls
A drop in productivity either in quantity or quality
Frequent disagreement with management and company policies
Stops volunteering for projects
A non-complainer expressing discontent
Refers to departed team members

There are other potential warning signs but this list gives you a smart starting place to recognize those who are planning their departure. In the coming months and years of the ‘new economy’ knowing the value and importance of how to avoid the four losses will be one of the three top reasons for your personal success and that of your organization.

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Lessons in Leadership from Undercover Boss

This post is a simple review of the February episodes of the television show Undercover Boss, along with opinions by viewers. From this show upper management learns how their attitudes and policies can affect the company bottom line and lower rungs of the career ladder. It is meant to make managers think and acknowledge the value of employees at all levels of the business. The primary episode summaries here are merely my expressed opinion using a little more text than available for 2bproductive tweets. Also includes a few comments from other people on Twitter regarding their feelings as they related to a particular episode.

If you want to check out someone who made a Twitter comment, please click on their Twitter name at the beginning of the tweet to view their profile. If you want to see a longer review of an episode, please click on the company featured to link to an on-line story featuring the company’s participation on the show. If you missed an episode of the show Undercover Boss, check out video clips and reviews athttp://www.tv.com/undercover-boss/show/76698/videos.html?tag=page_nav;videos

Episode 1 = Waste Management story was about the guys who pick-up our garbage and recycle the stuff we put out on our curbs. This show emphasized breakthrough improvement ideas and true customer service come from the bottom up and that C-levels should listen. This show was very popular although no one who commented on it mentioned the “green” aspect related to the recycling part of that business. We got to see that the COO thought recycling was important, but it is an expensive and labor-intensive business to be in. Has our appreciation for the man on the back of the truck increased? I hope so…What a few people said on TwitterKellyFerrara: #UndercoverBoss - perhaps my new favorite show! Featured Waste Management President and COO Larry O’Donnell...like reverse Apprentice.BGdoesPR: Same here, would work for the COO of #WM after watching #undercoverboss. He is ethical and real, qualities rarely seen in todays execSoSoulfull: *wiping my eyes* It’s so sad how companies will work the life outta folks. This Waste Management Exec really gets it! Kudos #undercoverbossginavergel7: Especially multitasking. This Waste Management CEOs mind is blown! #undercoverboss
Episode 2 = Hooters story was more on the people aspect of the business. The CEO had the right idea that employees were a key part of the brand. If mutual trust/respect exists between employees and managers, it can motivate work performance and company loyalty. Customer service and employee attitude says a lot about the business the people are working for. However, the show seem to take a different turn than what the CEO said for his main goal of changing minds about the brand and hopefully resulting in broadened customer base. Did being on this show accomplish his goal since it spurred a Blog and Twitter campaigns to fire one of their managers? Would promoting that they have more than wings and beer on their menu have been a better way to get in new customers? How about specially-priced quick-lunches to attract professionals working nearby like many of their competitors are doing?
What a few people said on Twittermrobin032009: Anyone else disappointed w/ how the Hooters CEO handled the inappropriate manager on #UndercoverBoss last night? Even hubby said "fire him"!mariva: #Hooters CEO may not be able to #FireJimbo because of corp. bylaws/contract w/franchise. Maybe franchise OWNER is the prob.? #UndercoverBoss404techsupport: Hooter’s #UndercoverBoss instead of just giving the female manager a vacation, should have built a mgmt class from her style.worknclassbunny: This new show is an amazing insight on American companies. Every CEO/President should do this #UndercoverBoss
Episode 3 = 7-Eleven story appeared to result in the goal stated at the start by their CEO. He noted that employees are the key to the business and their attitude supports the business processes and affects customer service and support. He recognized his best workers at the end of the show and emphasized how many people are loyal customers based on how they are treated by the employees at the store they visit regularly. It wasn’t just about how many cups of coffee and donuts are sold, it was about building customer relationships. Isn’t relationship selling the new buzz in business? What is your company doing to build the best customer relationships possible? Can customer service and better relationships be what turns the tide in the success of a company?What a few people said on TwitterChareeKlimek CEO Joe DePinto of @7eleven is the real deal. Humble, genuine, passionate about EE's - the heart of every successful biz #undercoverbossmelindamusil: This #undercoverboss show is so moving! I mean- he improves his company, he gets some free pub, but most of all he improves PEOPLE!childsplayx2: The secret to greater sales is creating relationships. Dolores at 7-11 knows that. #UndercoverBossjingstri: I LOVE Igor on #undercoverboss. He’s so passionate and upbeat about his job. It’s nice to watch. Igor: "Big boss comes to the plain worker. Only in America."JLWNEO: Imagine how many great employees with real capabilities who go unchallenged/unrecognized everywhere. Every boss should be an #undercoverboss
Episode 4 = White Castle story where the owner looks to the youth at his restaurant to find new leadership as well as ideas for future business improvement in various areas of the business. Hopefully the new managers don’t forget where they came from, like one on the show seemed to, and will continue to look to those who work for and with them for process improvement. After all, the people on the front-line know the business the best and can find quick, easy improvements that save time and money. Every business can benefit from building teamwork between peers and supervisors as well as encouraging upward movement and career planning within the corporation to keep the talent and get return on their investment in training employees.
What a few people said on Twittertericee: Kudos to @OfficialWC for pursuing corporate change instead of just individual employee solutions! #undercoverbosscindybutts: Lessons after 60 min of #undercoverboss: have employees write the procedure manual, have wellness programgenochurch: I guess I’m a helpless romantic… but it’s great to see regular folk getting the limelight for just doing their jobs #undercoverbossteresamhauck: Thank you Dave for putting faces on the numbers! Others should do the same! It’s the people #undercoverboss //agreed

If you want to see another nice boss story, view the ABC News video story where Red Mill Natural Foods owner gives company to 200 employees athttp://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/boss-company-workers-9881720.
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Have you checked all aspects of your business for alignment with your vision and plan?

Recently I had the opportunity to observe a great business. In the process, I learned lessons around planning and execution that I want to apply to my own business. I want to share one of those lessons with you now. In building and implementing your plan, make sure you have included a process for checking all aspects of the business on an ongoing basis and insure they stay in sync with the vision.

While on vacation in California, I happened upon an outstanding BBQ restaurant. Right from the start I was impressed. With flyers in the hotel lobby, top billing on the recommended list in the room, a "Ya gotta check it out" from the desk clerk, and an "Ooh, Yeah" from our friends, it became a must do part of our trip.

The next night we changed plans and went for ribs. We become instant fans. The lot was full. The place was festively decorated, Live blues streamed from the building. And the doors opened as we approached with a smiling hostess welcoming us. Just inside the door, the take-out counter had a line. This was going to be special.

It was obvious the owners had put a lot of thought into this. They recognized which aspects were critical for success and mastered the implementation of each. They had a great neighborhood marketing campaign. They understood the benefits of good ambiance and relevant decor. They knew how to play to their concept.

We were quickly seated and greeted by a friendly waiter. He explained the restaurant's history and suggested options for maximizing the menu. We discussed how great the place was and we hadn't even ordered.

The food came, and all I can say is, Wow!! It was some of the best barbeque ever. Even my non-meat eating friend ordered a half-rack to take home.

We were thrilled, and yet, as we paid the bill and walked out, we couldn't help reflecting on one element of the night. One facet of the service was so bad, we left, not talking just about the great food, but rather also the bad service. And it was only one person. Was it possible for one person to ruin an otherwise excellent time?

As good it seemed, as much as they had thought things through, this one person could have ruined the experience. This person was so bad, the great work done in advertising, marketing, decor, cooking, and ambiance was almost overwhelmed by her impact. While the overall service was excellent, this one person, through her attitude, her performance, and general rudeness, caused us to walk out, not raving about the great ambiance and food, but rather her rude behavior. When recounting the trip later, we couldn't get through the story without adding our view of this person's performance.

These leaders had thought of everything. They had set a great vision. They had built a nice plan. They had put it all in play. They forgot, however, to inspect all aspects of the business, and insure that everything, and everyone, was in sync with the vision. They forgot that one person, or process, or issue, could undermine all their other efforts.

What about your business? Have you inspected all facets? Have you checked to insure that all parts are in sync? If not, get to it. The ribs are waiting.

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