Lawrence Fine

Do you ever step back and take a long look at the various abilities and capabilities within your organization that are not being used?

This might be something as simple as looking in your computer and seeing all of the software you might have that could be used to be more efficient. Or, it might be finding out all of the skills your employees might have that are being underutilized.

So many people are quick to rush out and buy the latest and greatest thing and forget to look at what they already possess which might be as good, if not better.

In most cases, we don’t take advantage of the skills, abilities, programs we already possess and instead waste money on something newer, shinier and in many cases, not as good.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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We tend to look at individual events and ignore patterns that can be built upon for future development.

As an example, a restaurant might find they have their best sale days on Thursday’s. Some might be content and be happy. Others might look at the pattern and look for the cause. The pattern of good sale days on Thursday’s might be the result of plays at a local theater and people come by after the play. If this is the true cause, rather than be content, the restaurant might decide to be proactive and sponsor another night of plays at the theater While it would cost money in the sponsorship, the increase in sales might more than offset it. Without looking at the pattern and cause, this would never happen.

There are very few truly random acts. Winning the lottery might seem to be a truly random act. However, in looking at the pattern one thing that will be discovered is no one wins the lottery who hasn’t purchased a ticket (or had a ticket purchased for them). Purchasing a lottery ticket in no way guarantees a winning ticket but it does increase the chances over not purchasing a ticket.

When looking at problems with a computer program, there will almost always be a pattern that will show the problem. If you are willing to look hard enough, you will find the pattern and then the cause.

See the pattern, determine the cause and the rest will be easy

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Many organizations have annual reviews for their employees. In these reviews they look at what was done well and what was done poorly, they determine improvements that need to be made and those things that need to be continued.

The problem with these yearly reviews is they are all done after the fact (and frequently, long after the fact).

Instead these evaluations and adaptations should be done during the moment. Fix as soon as possible as opposed to letting things build up over time. This will allow your organization to adapt quicker and also will allow you to prevent the building up of frustration over time

Coach in the moment as opposed to after the fact and see how quickly good things will happen

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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I can’t speak for anyone else but personally, I prefer to buy from a person as opposed to an organization.

This means I would rather buy from a small privately owned business rather than from a big multinational conglomerate.

This also means I would rather deal with “Lisa” rather than “customer service” and would rather work with “Rich” rather than “Coach”

For some reason some people think it sounds more impressive to be “accounting” rather “Mary” even though it’s turning off some people they are dealing with.

Take advantage of your true personality, it’s your best selling point!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When you have a problem or idea, do you have someone to bounce the idea off of?

Frequently a problem arises and when you keep it to yourself, it builds up in your own mind to the point where it seems to be MUCH bigger than it really is. By talking it out with someone (especially someone who is not closely related to the issue) one of two things will frequently occur.

1.You will realize the issue isn’t as big as you have built it up to be
2.You will realize there is a solution that might not have been readily apparent without talking it out

The sounding board frequently doesn’t actually give you the answers, they just allow you to verbalize the issues and let you arrive at the answers yourself.

If you don’t have a sounding board, I strongly recommend finding one soon

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you were to ask me to build a bridge and those were the only instructions I was given, I might build a bridge that goes over a river, it might go over a street, it might go over land or might go no where at all. It might be made of concrete, of aluminum or of paper.

If you were to ask me to build a bridge and then gave me the specifications (from Point A to Point B and should be able to support X, Y and Z and should be modeled after G, H and I) there is a much greater chance you will get the bridge you were wanting in the first place.

The more specifics you can provide, the more likely you are to get what you want.

Be specific!

Have a great day!

Lawrence
PS. If you ask me to build a bridge, you will be sadly disappointed, I don’t know how

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Do you want to support a negative organization? If a store keeps saying no to you, are you going to keep going back? If you think there isn’t a lot of negativity out there, take a look around some time

No smoking
No cell phones
No checks
No exit
No No NO

I’m not saying you should encourage or allow these things but can they be presented in a more positive way?

Instead of “No Smoking” how about “Thank you for helping us provide a smoke free environment, if you feel the need to smoke, we have an area on the side of the building available to you”

Instead of “No Checks” how about “We gladly accept cash, money orders and credit cards”

Anything you can say in the negative, you can find a way to say in the positive.

There are times you might want to stay with the negative approach (“Do not touch, HOT!”) but if you want to improve your business, look to create a more positive approach

Instead of “no, no no” find a way to say “yes, yes, yes” you will find it’s contagious!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When hiring or retaining employees we find they generally fall into one of three categories.

Those we should not keep
Those who make our jobs comfortable
Those we can’t survive without.

It’s somewhat obvious what to do with the first category (fire or don’t hire in the first place).

The second type of employee is the one most of us cherish. They are on time, they do their job, they don’t cause problems. In many organizations these are the employees who are valued the most. We want safe. We want comfortable. We want…boring

The people in the third category are frequently pains in the butt. They are constantly pushing us and others. They don’t seem to understand limits or boundaries. They keep us up at night because they are trying new things and we don’t know if they are going to work or not. They are the reasons our organizations keep growing.

The sad thing is while some organizations are too stubborn and will keep people in the first category simply because they don’t want to “rock the boat” or make change and they find it’s easier to keep the bad than have to fire and then hire new people, many organizations will get rid of those in this third category because they create too much uncertainty.

Think about this for a moment. Some organizations are keeping those they should not keep because they feel the status quo is better than the unknown, so bad is better than uncertainty and they cherish the people in the middle who are the epitome of mediocrity but they are willing to get rid of those who they need to ultimately survive.

Thinking this way certainly explains our business economy doesn’t it?

By the way, if you are an employee, which category do you fall into?

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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An organization will have two different standards they need to reach when dealing with the public. This is true whether you are providing a service, a product or anything else.

The first level is the satisfaction level. When a customer/client makes a purchase there is either a stated or an implied contract. In return for you providing X, they will provide Y. If you are selling a product it would be in return for the product they will give you money. Same for a service. You are legally, morally and ethically required to meet this level if you expect to receive their part of the transaction (or if you expect to keep their part). This means if they purchase your service and you don’t provide what was agreed upon, you wouldn’t expect to still receive their money. Sadly, this is the level most organizations try to achieve (just above the expected).

The second level is the repeat level. The repeat level is way above the satisfaction level and it’s when you achieve this level that you can expect your customer/client to be so happy that they want to repeat this transaction many more times. Rather than simply giving the customer what they expect, this is where you give them much more. By doing this, they will want to repeat the transaction and tells others as well about your great service/product.

Using a hotel as an example, if I check into a hotel and the room I receive is what I would expect for the price I paid, the hotel would have achieved the satisfaction level. It means I might return or I might not. If I check in and paid for a regular room but because it’s available they upgrade me to a suite at no additional cost or they go out of their way to provide some type of additional service I wasn’t expecting I’m much more likely to return.

Raising the bar would mean bringing your organization from trying to achieve the satisfaction level to the repeat level. There is a risk involved with raising the bar. Once raised, you must stay up at that level or risk falling further behind further (once you raise the bar consistently, the satisfaction level rises as well). It might cost a bit more money or time to raise the bar but the return is well worth it!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Business has it’s ups and downs. People get hired, people get fired. Someone gets a raise, someone else has their hours cut back.

The key is to work for the the best, do everything you can to achieve your maximum while at the same time, preparing for the worst.

As a simple example, you get a new high paying job. Many people would see this as a great opportunity to move from a small apartment into a new house. Based on your current salary, the mortgage payments shouldn’t be a problem. To some, this would be a no brainer. Then the unanticipated problems start. A bigger home needs more furniture, more decor, more landscaping etc. Frequently, these additions require more money than anticipated, take more time and more thought. So, while you should be concentrating on this new, high paying job, you are concentrating on other things. This would NOT be an example of working for the best situation. Productivity gets effected, moods change and worse case scenario, you lose your job (whether it’s because of your poor performance or the economy or other issues). Without the high paying job, you can’t afford the house house anymore and additional stress has to be dealt with.

The alternative is if you get a new high paying job, don’t make dramatic changes to the rest of your life. Keep some stability, allow yourself to get off to a good start with this new job and then in a year or two, when you are truly comfortable in your new position, then, if you feel the need, look for the new house. By this time, you will have a much better understanding of what you can really afford, you will know how stable your position really is and you will be better able to handle the demands of a new house. This will have allowed you to devote your time and focus to the new position and will most likely result in a much happier life. If the worse case scenario does occur and you still lose your job, you would have been able to save up a good deal of money by continuing to live in a small apartment and either wouldn’t have the high mortgage payment, or, if you do, you would have some savings to help with the payments.

Work to be the best but be prepared for the worst. You will find it allows you to be much happier long term.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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