Category: Company Culture
Service Savvy & Diversity
Service savvy means providing outstanding service to internal and external customers, regardless of how different they may be from you. Here are five things you can do to increase your service savvy: Demonstrate Respect—go beyond tolerating differences and strive to appreciate those who are different from you. (Example: remember that kids are customers too!) Avoid Assumptions—be...
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Where Is Your Focus When Mistakes Happen?
True leaders focus on positives while others are trapped dealing with negativity. How did you react the last time something went wrong in your department or organization? Did you focus on the negative events leading up to the problem? Did you identify fault and take the necessary disciplinary action? I don’t remember when or where...
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Code Phrase Can End Pity Parties
My family has always had a weird way of making light of a wimpy display of self-pity. If one of the six McMichael children whined or complained about something insignificant, they would likely hear this family response: “Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo.” Now I don’t know where this silly retort came from, but I do know...
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Leadership Sometimes Requires Tough Choices
“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” – Bill Cosby Good leadership requires making tough choices that are sometimes going to be unpopular. First, you must have followers who want to follow you and that means earning the trust and respect of these individuals. And, the best...
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Review and Reinforcement = Retention
Many of you reading this newsletter have Training and/or HR departments to rely on for the formal training of your team members. These professionals use a well-known training technique that is reduced to four words: tell, show, do, review. You first tell participants what you want them to know; you demonstrate or show the behavior...
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What Is Diversity
What words or phrases come to mind when you think of diversity? Typical responses include things like color, ethnicity, people with disabilities, gender, age, family status, religion or sexual orientation. But diversity goes way beyond the typical responses. It also includes things like appearance, communication style, music interests, mobility, job status, national origin, socio/economic status,...
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Start the Workday With Something Fun
While preparing for a speech in one of the Universal Studios Hard Rock Café banquet rooms some time ago, I heard a cadence chant reminiscent of those from the old army movie Stripes. I walked out of the banquet room to get a closer look and discovered it was a team of Hard Rock employees...
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Top Five Reasons For You To Invest In Recognizing Team Members
# 5—It will increase the productivity of the person who receives the recognition. # 4—It will improve the quality of life—both personal and professional—for that person. # 3—Positive feedback can be contagious. Others will start looking for things done right. # 2—It will improve your own outlook and quality of life—both personal and professional. #...
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Have Trophy Will Travel …
Every company needs a traveling trophy! Choose a fun (and durable) symbol of recognition, like a 10” Happy (from the Seven Dwarfs) beanbag doll. Award it to someone who deserves a pat on the back for contributing to a happy, productive workplace. Here’s the stipulation—the “trophy” can only stay in the recipient’s possession for one...
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Recognition Done Right
When offering recognition to team members be sure to do so effectively. If the receivers minimize the recognition, don’t assume it doesn’t mean anything to them. It may just be that they are shy or uncomfortable being in the spotlight. It does not mean they don’t appreciate and/or enjoy the recognition. Consider the following tips:...
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Make It Easy for Employees to Work for Your Organization
One of our daughter’s first jobs was in retail, which she left after only three months of service. I would be willing to bet that the top level managers had no clue as to why she left. First: She was told she had to drive to the mall to get her schedule each week (on...
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Four Ways to Nurture a Positive Culture
Hire for personality fit and train for skill, when possible. Encourage and reward ideas that support your company vision, mission, goals and objectives. Allow team members at every level of the organization the autonomy to improve processes that support your company vision, mission, goals and objectives. This includes on-the-spot service recovery when necessary. Celebrate, celebrate,...
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What Is Your Core Company Culture?
In the book Finding & Keeping Great Employees, co-authored by my friend, Dr. Joan Brannick (with Dr. Jim Harris), four core cultures are described: A Culture of Customer Service—examples are Nordstrom, Home Depot, Ritz-Carlton and (the place where I learned about superior guest service) Walt Disney World. A Culture of Innovation—examples include Intel, Cisco Systems...
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Use Humor To Relieve Stress and Boost Morale
Watch a sit-com during lunch hour. Establish a department or company bulletin board for appropriate humorous stories, jokes and cartoons. Take a daily humor moment. On a rotating basis team members are invited to tell an appropriate joke or humorous story. Depending on the size and logistics of your company, your daily humor moment may be...
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Happy Employees = Productive Employees
“Attend to small employee concerns and create a genuinely caring environment, so that they in turn will exude the same attention and care toward customers,” advises management guru Tom Peters. Call it modeling or a positive pecking order, the concept is to treat your employees the way you want them to treat your customers. Hal...
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Workplace Creativity
Surprise – I’m not always feeling creative when I sit down at my computer to write this blog. So this month I searched the Chase’s Calendar of Events, typed in the month of May, hit search and a page came up. I was just sure I could find an idea on the list so I...
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