Archive for the ‘Motivating Employees’ Category

Choosing Joy can be Addictive… Here’s How You Can Get Yourself Hooked.

Sunday, June 14th, 2020

Woohoo, where’s the party? I’m all dressed up for New Year’s Eve. I’ve been trapped with the COVID capture for a long time, and I haven’t been out either. Yet it occurs to me that we can either be morose about the circumstances, or we can decide to be in a state of celebration. Why celebrate? Because we have air to breathe. We have good people we get to work with. We get to be of service to the world. We get to bring joy into everything that we do. It’s how we perceive the world and what we bring to it that really matters because joy is not something that needs great things in order to happen.

I don’t know about you, but I was not raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. I, in fact, grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, and there was hardly enough food growing up. And we just barely eked out a living. So my recollection of growing up is that we were happy. We were joyful. We loved each other. We had a lot of fun. We had fun with neighbors. We made the best of circumstances.

So during tough economic times, it isn’t the end of the world. It’s like winter, you put on a winter coat, but you still go out. But while you’re going out, why not have some fun? Keep the joy in your spirit, decide to make life a party because you can choose misery or you can choose joy. It’s your choice.

Linking the Chain: Team Accountability Starts With You

Sunday, June 7th, 2020

Are you the kind of person who needs to “have” in order to “do”? Well, what does that mean? Well, there are people who basically will tell you many times, “I couldn’t do that thing because I didn’t have what I needed from someone else.” Well, welcome to planet Earth. People will let you down. It’s not an excuse for you not to produce the result. At that point, are you being resourceful? Are you finding out how to get to that person to get what you need? Are you setting up camp at their doorstep? Are you working around them, because you ultimately gave your word to go get something else done?

In life, you don’t always have what you need in order to do what you need to do. After this COVID crisis, we know that we’ll probably not see customers walk in our doors the way that they used to in the past. If we have a “need to have in order to do” personality and mindset, that’s going to be a real hold up to our career, because the reality is now we get to figure out a way to go call on people, add massive value, which means we get to figure out how to do that. We get to figure out the skills in order to be good at it when we do it, and we get to, not have to, but get to, be resourceful in making it happen. Give up the habit, in order to do, don’t ever say to your supervisor, “I didn’t get it done because of somebody else.” If they let you down, step in, get it done, move it along. Be a person of resourcefulness.

“Plus One” It

Sunday, May 31st, 2020

Whatever you’re doing, what if you did it plus one? In other words, if you’re writing a report, what if you made it even better, put a summary at the beginning, brought some color in, and made it really interesting?

What if, when you’re talking to a customer, you went above and beyond? You walk them to the car, and you make sure that you get to know them, and later send them a handwritten thank you note?

What if, every time you’re in a meeting, not only do you take great notes and disseminate the information about whose going to do what afterwards, but you also step up and help manage the projects that were assigned? Wouldn’t that be interesting? I wonder what that would do to your career.

Having an attitude of plus one puts you in a place where you’re always promotable. More importantly, when you come from a place of plus one, you get the intrinsic reward. The feeling of: “I’m good at what I do. I say what I’m going to do. I go beyond. I feel good about me.”

What can be better than feeling good about ourselves?

The Secret to Great Customer Experience

Monday, April 27th, 2020

What if you could see every customer as a way to uniquely express service by raising the bar from the last customer that you impacted? Hmm, that’d be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Instead of just having the same level of customer service, challenge yourself to outdo yourself. You “plus one” it—you see another opportunity. You think and you look in their eyes and you say: “How can I make this person’s life so much better?” It’s one of the best ways to love your job.

Creatively expressing yourself and getting better in a way that impacts other human beings—what could be more fun? The next customer you see, open your eyes up wide and look for opportunities to take it to the next level.

How to Thrive in the Recession: Lean-in to Your Customers

Sunday, April 19th, 2020

Difficult times require us to get massive about making an impact on our customers. What used to work will not be enough in the future. Now is the time to be calling them and finding out what’s going on with them. Find out what they’re fearful about, find out what their dreams are, find out where they think they might be compromising their dreams, asking them how they might take advantage of this situation to find other revenue streams and different opportunities.

Recessions historically have been the opportunity to pull ahead. And one of the best things that you can do is help your people dream the next possibility. Those who sit and wait to be told what to do and stay in the old actions will be very limited, both for you, within your organization, and also for them. So now is the time to get massive about helping your customers see a new possibility, and get busy helping them accomplish that possibility. By helping other people, that’s how we help ourselves and our own organizations.

Now is a wakeup call for us to get even better at that than we ever were before. So seize the opportunity.