Just Do It!

May 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Procrastination … we all do it at times.  Instead of jumping in and tackling our to-do list, we find other things to keep us busy.

There are many reasons why we procrastinate. Perhaps we are faced with the unpleasant task of breaking bad news to someone.  Sometimes a project is so large that we simply don’t know where to start and so we don’t.  Perhaps the task that needs to be completed is boring and generates absolutely no feelings of passion or enthusiasm.  And sometimes there are so many distractions around us that we simply cannot focus the way we need to.

Your ability to select and then act on, important tasks is a critical skill.  So how do you do that?  Here are some tactics that have helped me tackle my projects:

  1. Tackle the hardest (or most dreaded) task first: In his book, “Eat that Frog”, Brian Tracy states “If the worst thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!”  The longer we put off the boring or challenging, but necessary task, the more it weighs on our mind.  We are not able to fully focus on what we are working on so simple tasks take longer and may not be done to the quality required.  Get the tough tasks done first so that you can fully focus on other items on your to-do list.
  2. Chop it up:  Large projects can be overwhelming.  Sometimes we just don’t know where to start and so we don’t.  Instead of looking at the whole, break the large project into small, actionable steps.  Identify step one, then step two, then step three and tackle one step at a time.   The sense of accomplishment from completing each step is itself a motivator to take on the next one.
  3. Set deadlines:  When we have all the time in the world to complete a project, that’s probably how long it’s going to take.  Assign deadlines to projects.  Be realistic when setting those deadlines. Scheduling 24 hours’ worth of work in 12 hour time period is self-defeating.
  4. Remove distractions:  Spider Solitaire, Facebook, Twitter, co-workers dropping in for chats … all of those time wasters keep you from starting or completing a project.  Remove the distractions or schedule time to enjoy them.
  5. Reward Yourself:  Sometimes the reward is the sense of satisfaction at having completed a difficult or dreaded task.  I personally love the real sense of satisfaction I get when I physically cross an item off my whiteboard or in my daily journal.

What are some things that you do to keep on top of the important projects or tasks, instead of just being busy?

(This is an update of a blog originally posted in April 2012.  Every once in a while, I need to take a step back and remind myself of these steps!)

Filed Under: Personal Development, Stress Management, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

What Are You Holding On To?

May 22, 2013 By 2 Comments

My husband bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day. As you can see, they are well past their best before date and yet, there they sit. As the petals fall off, I pick them up and throw them away. I break off the dried leaves and for some reason, cannot bring myself to throw them away.  Just two short blocks away is a flower shop. There is nothing to stop me from replacing my browning blooms with fresh new ones, expect perhaps sentiment. These came from my husband. He took the time to pick them out for me.

Keeping a bouquet of flowers past their before date is a harmless indulgence, but it made me wonder what else do we hang on to that has long passed it’s best before date, both personally and professionally?

What hurts and slights, real or imagined, are hugged close and keep us from being all we can be?  It is funny, in a very sad way, how easy it is to remember words and actions that make us feel small, incompetent and unworthy.  Are we stockpiling the negativity and using them as a safeguard to prevent us from taking on a new challenge?

Are there new technologies, routines or ideas that are not being implemented because we are comfortable with our current technologies, routines and ideas?  Perhaps we refuse to even consider new routines or ideas because we created the current ones and letting them go seems too much like  acknowledging we are also moving closer to our best before date?

My wilting flowers are being replaced with fresh blooms today. That’s the easy part. The hard part is throwing out old habits, ideas, routines and thoughts that no longer work.  Are there some you are hanging on to as well?

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With:

She Broke the Rules

May 20, 2013 By 2 Comments

My dad is getting older and every time he tries to put his shoes on standing up when leaving our home, I’m scared he is going to fall down. The obvious solution; buy a small bench or stool for placement in the front entry.

And so my search began.  It wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. We are in a condo which meant a small-scaled stool was needed.  After numerous shops, unable to find what I was looking for, I finally found a beautiful stool, with a linen covered cushion.  The problem, it was on clearance and all sales were final.

I took the chance, put the box in my cart and went home.  When I got home and opened the box, I realized that the stool must have been a return.  It was not packed correctly, the directions to put it together were missing and so was the hardware to do so.  Figuring out how to put the stool together was not a problem, but I did not have the hardware I needed.  And so I brought the stool back to the store.

I didn’t bring it back hoping for a refund; I just hoped they had extra hardware so I could build the stool.  The young lady that helped me went above and beyond. When I explained the problem, she scanned the barcode, saw there were three stools in stock and went to look for hardware or a replacement stool.  After about 10 minutes she returned.  She simply could not find the stools and offered to refund my money, even though my sales receipt clearly said FINAL SALE.  When I thanked her for breaking the rules, she simply said “That stool was no good to you like that. We want you to be happy with your purchase.”

I took a chance when I purchased that stool.  I knew there was a risk buying it “as is”.  I’ve taken that risk before and by far the majority of the time, it has paid off.  The young lady did not have to give me my money back.  My sales receipt clearly stated the conditions of the sale, but as a service professional she took it upon herself to put the customer ahead of the policy.

And the result … I ended up purchasing a beautiful print to put on the wall next to the new bench I knew I would eventually find elsewhere.  The print cost twice as much as the “as is” stool.

Moral of the story:  Putting the customer first is good for business.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Sales Tagged With: , , , ,

Feel Good Friday: Living the Dream

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Living a dream depends to some extent, on luck, on the alignment of the stars in an individual’s favour.  But luck only comes to those who dare to dream, who work hard to develop their talent and who refuse to listen to the people who try to pull them down from the stars and back to the solid world of safety and sameness.

This dance troupe took a chance,  followed their dream and from the bottom of my heart … thank you for daring to share your talent and your vision .. and for introducing me to another amazing talent, Emile Sande.

Read all About It – Emile Sande

You’ve got the words to change a nation,
But you’re biting your tongue,
You’ve spent a lifetime stuck in silence,
Afraid you’ll say something wrong,
If no one ever hears it how we gonna learn your song,
So come on, come on, come on, come on,

You’ve got a heart as loud as lions,
So why let your voice be tamed,
Baby we’re a little different there’s no need to be ashamed,
You’ve got the light to fight the shadows so stop hiding it away,
Come on, come on

I wanna sing,
I wanna shout,
I wanna scream til the words dry out,
So put it in all of the papers,
I’m not afraid,
They can read all about it,
Read all about it, oh

Oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

Oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh

Filed Under: Feel Good Friday Tagged With: ,

Stop the Power Tripping

May 15, 2013 By 2 Comments

The same way leadership isn’t a privilege bestowed to people with a business card, title or corner office, neither is power tripping.

Power trippers walk amongst us in many shapes, sizes and guises and wield their “I’m smarter/more important/more worthy than you” stick in many different ways.  Do you recognize any of these?

  1. The supervisor or manager who insists on reviewing each and every piece of documentation before it goes out.  Their lack of trust in the knowledge, expertise and experience in the people they hired to get a job done kills motivation and creativity.
  2. The co-worker who believes length of service bestows super powers and treats newer team members with condescension.
  3. The micro-managers who check, double-check, triple-check and alter someone else’s work until it turns into their work, their project, all under the guise of managing a project.
  4. The co-worker who consistently forgets to forward messages or hoards information, instead of sharing it with others on the team.
  5. The nitpickers who are blind to the 90% of work done well and focus only on helping someone get better at the 10% that could still use some work.
  6. Co-workers, supervisors and managers who play favourites.  They build up and surround themselves with their posse, shutting others out of offers for lunch or opportunities to take on new challenges.
  7. The co-worker who embarrasses others with their jokes and pranks.

A friend of mine used the term “dysfunction junction” to describe this type of workplace.  Dysfunctional workplaces simply do not produce or provide an environment where customers, internal and external, want to be in for long.

Some people are strong enough, confident enough to withstand the jabs, digs and deliberate attempts to belittle and demean.  Some simply refuse to deal with the drama and take their knowledge, expertise and experience elsewhere.  Others stay but turn into warm bodies, doing exactly what they need to in order to stay out of the range of fire. Their productivity, creativity and passion die.

Power is not the same as authority.  Power may be seized and is built on fear.  Authority is a gift given by those who trust their leader.

That’s my two cents … what do you think?

Filed Under: Employee Engagement, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

Get Off Your High Horse

May 13, 2013 By 4 Comments

In the many customer service workshops I facilitate, I’ve discovered that the human tendency to judge others based on personal moral standards or guidelines is by far the biggest hurdle in a person’s ability to provide great service.

Customer profiling is not limited to policing and security.  A customer that doesn’t look quite right, whose clothes and mannerisms don’t match a preconceived notion of what a customer should look like, very often receive lower grade service. They may not be treated with outright rudeness (although that does happen) but the smile, the offers to help and quality checks are not done as quickly or with as much enthusiasm.

Moral judgments and biases really come into play when a customer is unhappy about a policy or a procedure.  The tendency to blame customers for their dissatisfaction or unhappiness is common.

  • “Why should I care if a customer is unhappy because he has to go outside to smoke? Smoking is a disgusting habit. He should just quit and then his problem is solved.”
  • “If she’d read the information, she’d have seen there was a fee for that.”
  • “He’s just like all the others; a scammer out to get something for free.”
  • “Wow, I can’t believe how rude she was.  What a b*#@h!”
  • “She was late.  If she’d been here on time, she wouldn’t have had to wait as long.”
  • “Everyone knows hotel check-in times are not that early.  Why is she so mad because she can’t get into her room early?”

Customers have foibles, bad habits, idiosyncrasies. They are just like us, imperfect.   Excellent service providers have learned to get off their high horse, their pedestal of moral judgment and insider information.  Instead, they join the customer at ground level to look at the situation from his or her point of view; they try to find common ground.  Excellent service providers may not always agree, but they are never disagreeable.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  Please feel free to share. 

 

Filed Under: Customer Service Tagged With: , , ,

Location, location, location

May 10, 2013 By 2 Comments

Would you go to a business with great service if a similar business, with poor service, was more convenient?

Your answer might be “It depends”.

There are times when convenience trumps service. When you realize you’re out of eggs an hour before your family arrives for Sunday brunch, you’ll probably go to the nearby store with indifferent employees instead of driving 15 minutes to get eggs from the store with friendly employees.

Many poor-service businesses are in business because they are convenient.  But, companies that count on the convenience factor to drive business, instead of the service factor, leave money on the table. Their customers do not visit as often and when they do, they tend to get only what they need right now, instead of filling their cart with extras. Their customers are also very willing to cut and run when a competitor opens up nearby, especially if the competitor also provides good service.

When a company focuses on creating a great service experience, their customers feel valued and customers who feel valued are:

  • Less price conscious
  • More likely to try new product or service offerings
  • Happy to provide referrals to family, friends and colleagues
  • Less likely to cut and run when a competitor opens up nearby

Besides, who wants to be known as the business people “have to go to” when you could be known as the business people “want to go to”?

Filed Under: Customer Service Tagged With: , , ,

The Importance of Habits

May 8, 2013 By 3 Comments

In The CEO Code, the author, David Rohlander dedicates an entire chapter to the topic of habits.  The importance of positive, productive habits is not a sexy or glamorous topic.  Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Habits make or break careers.  Negative habits get in the way of success.  Positive habits help you achieve personal and professional goals.

Regardless of the title a person holds or if their desk is in a cubicle or a corner office, it is important to look at the habits held and practiced and then work on replacing the bad habits with good habits.

For example, CEO’s, sales managers, receptionists, accountants all benefit when poor time management habits are eliminated.  Many of us get stuck in the rut of completing a task a certain way and with a small tweak, could reduce the amount of time spent or perhaps even provide someone else the opportunity to take on the challenge.

Make it a habit, a ritual, a must to acknowledge the people you work with, instead of rushing to your desk to start on a busy day.  This creates opportunities for dialogue and improved relationships.

Instead of jumping headfirst into your day, make it a habit to start each day with reflection.  Spend some time focusing on your personal and professional goals, your successes and your challenges.  This mental mind shift from “must get done” to a long-term, big picture perspective helps prioritize during the rest of the day.

Do you want to become a better communicator?  Identify your poor habits and replacing them with better habits.  Instead of automatically jumping in with suggestions or solutions to problems, make it a habit to ask questions and provide opportunities for others to develop solutions.

The CEO Code is filled with practical advice and tips on how to be a better leader.  One sure way to achieve personal or professional success, is to develop strong, positive habits.

(Thank you to Career Press for the opportunity to read and review David Rohlander’s book, The CEO Code.)

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Personal Development Tagged With: , , , ,

Speak Up!

May 6, 2013 By 2 Comments

How many times have you walked out of a meeting frustrated and angry at yourself for not speaking up at the meeting?

I used to be that person.   I was worried I would come across as argumentative if I saw an issue from another point of view or that my peers around the table would laugh at my idea.  The problem? Very often someone else at the meeting would come up with a similar idea, comment or question, would verbalize it and get credit for the very thing I had thought of earlier.  In almost all cases, the idea, comment or question I was worried would make me look foolish in front of my peers was worthy of sharing. It was my own lack of trust and respect for the skills and knowledge I possessed that was holding me back from achieving my goals.

How many of you recognize yourself in that scenario? The corporate boardroom table could be replaced with a dinner table or a volunteer committee meeting.  No matter what table you are sitting at, each and every one of you is there for a reason.  You bring life experience, skills and knowledge that hold weight, that are valid and that should be heard.

Take some time to reflect on your values, your experience and your knowledge.  Recognize where you have some knowledge gaps and identify ways to fill those gaps.  And last but definitely not least, learn to trust and respect the skills and knowledge that you possess.

My journey from silent observer to active participant was a journey of baby steps.  I will never forget the deep breath I took before I offered my first unsolicited viewpoint at a meeting, and the feeling of pride and accomplishment after.  There were set backs along the way, but with each new attempt, my confidence grew.  And along the way, I’ve discovered that being wrong isn’t the end of the world.  It’s an opportunity to learn and to grow.

(This is an updated version of a blog originally posted in 2011.  After attending a Toastmaster’s convention this weekend, I was reminded that it’s not only the technical skill of speaking that’s important.  It’s also believing we have something to say that is worth listening to.)

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , ,

Is What You Know Boxing You in?

May 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It’s been said that what we don’t know chains us; that lack of knowledge holds us back and keep us from realizing our full potential.

That is true.  But knowledge can close minds as easily as it opens them.  Knowledge has shuttered opportunity, slammed doors and killed dreams.

When we know, or everyone around us knows, something won’t work, we don’t try. When we know we’re not good enough or smart enough or rich enough or poor enough, we give up before we start.

Compassion dies and conflict flourishes when knowledge is used to judge others who have chosen to live or act differently than what we know (believe) to be right.

When we know young people are lazy and old people have lost their usefulness, we lose the opportunity to see our world from a new perspective and perhaps, in the process, gain new insight and new ideas.

A long time ago, we knew that the sun revolved around the earth, bloodletting with leeches was an effective medical practice, that a woman’s place was in the home and that smoking was cool.

Knowledge is fluid.  Recognize, value and respect the knowledge, experience and wisdom you have, but don’t stop pushing against boundaries of that knowledge.

 

Filed Under: Personal Development, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,
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