Friday, July 31. 2009Slow air leak in tire is like an unspoken business problem
Have you endured the frustration of a slow leak in a tire? You fill the tire, drive it for a day or two and then notice that the tire is going flat again. If the leak isn't fixed it will get progressively worse. This could prevent a significant danger when driving should you lose the ability to steer the car. It could also go flat at the most inopportune time - especially if you don't have the capability to reinflate the tire. As always, a problem postponed is a larger problem.
Business is the same way. Many organizations have slow leaks all over the company. Personnel problems not addressed, poor quality, bad customer relationships, abusive bosses, entitled bosses, etc. If a company is willing to tolerate the slow leaks, the problems will only get worse. The sad part about these situations is that most all of the employees can spot them. The employees also wonder why top management does not have the fortitude to deal with the problems. Similar to the tire example, left unattended these situations can blow up at any time. Addressing the issue later typically comes at a higher cost. Lesson - fix the slow leaks today! Copyright 2009 Jim Lindell Tuesday, July 28. 2009Personalities - Understanding the Jigsaw Puzzle of Life
My kids are part of the Facebook community. Just recently they took the MyType test created by BSM Consulting. This test uses a personality methodology developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers that is founded on the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung. (source: facebook)
According to the Jung - Myers-Briggs typology all people can be classified using four criteria: 1) Extroversion - Introversion, 2) Sensing - Intuition, 3) Thinking - Feeling, and 4) Judging - Perceiving Different combinations of the criteria determine a type. For example: ISTJ - Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging - or - ENFP - Extravert INtuitive Feeling Perceiving (source: humanmetrics.com) For those of you not on Facebook, you can take your own type test at http://humanmetrics.com/#Jung%20Myers-Briggs. Understanding personality types is a great way to foster communication, learn preferences, build teams and help people find jobs that they have the best chance of succeeding in. For business and personal growth, I believe that this understanding is a necessity. When building teams, they are like a complex jigsaw puzzle. Anywhere that the pieces do not line up can cause friction amongst team members. If team members better understand how their other team members operate, there will be a greater chance for understanding and harmony. For example, the last criteria mentioned above is "Judging - Perceiving". Judging people usually are very good with detail, they are organized and like to operate within guidelines. Perceiving people love flexibility, are less detailed oriented, and typically dislike guidelines and rules. If someone is a "J" and their job entails detailed work, they should derive satisfaction. If someone is a "P" in the same position, there is a good chance that he/she will be dissatisfied if the detail work makes up a significant portion of their job. This is also very helpful when looking at strengths and weaknesses of individuals. I am willing to bet that many annual evaluations contain criticisim of observed weaknesses. When in fact, the supervisor has observed evidence of the personality type. This does not mean that we should not work on areas that need improvement or that if we have a predisposition to dislike "guidelines" that we cannot improve our performance. It does mean that supervisors should give greater importance to understanding one another to help each person succeed. How about the issue of type testing or other testing during the hiring process? Yes, I like to use these tests and others to get a better understanding of an individual's strengths or weaknesses. Do they become the basis for hiring? Absolutely NOT! They become great tools to help us do a better job of understanding a candidate and how they can be a contributor to the organization. Copyright 2009 Jim Lindell Monday, July 20. 2009Job Search in the Recession – DO NOT ABUSE THE NETWORK!
You are searching for a job with millions of other people. You must be creative, you must persevere, you must be prepared for disappointment, and you must network as hard as you have ever done before. This last step has a tag along obligation. Be gracious, thankful and helpful in return. Too many networkers are confronted by the grueling process of the job search and fail to give back to those who help them. By this last statement, I don’t mean that a person is obligated to do business with or send business to the person that helped them. I do mean that a job seeker that has been helped should do the following at a minimum:
1) Thank the person that helped them 2) Send the person a note when you finally obtain a new position – if this person was instrumental in helping find the position – tell them so! 3) Follow up on an occasional basis with the referral person and ask how you may be of service in return. What goes around comes around. If the network believes that you are using them, you will not get further help. My mission is “Improving People’s Lives and their Businesses”. I help people in job searches without any thought of monetary return. I am surprised then when I hear nothing from that individual (for me, “thank you” from step 1) above is sufficient). I am even more surprised when the same people come back in the future with the same problem and expect my help. Good luck, work hard and show appreciation for those that help you. ©2009 Jim Lindell Monday, July 20. 2009RV industry - tough times for manufacturers and owners
If you think your industry has been decimated, consider the RV – Motor home industry. The following companies have gone out of business over the last couple of years: Alfa Leisure, Ameri-Camp, Bigfoot, Chinook, Dolphin, Extreme RV, King of the Road, National RV, Pilgrim International, Sun Valley Inc., Sunline Coach, Teton Homes, Timberland Rv, Trail Wagons, TravelSupreme, Weekend Warrior and Western RV Inc. (Source: http://www.everything-about-rving.com/what-rv-manufacturers-are-out-of-business.html)
Consider the most recent industrial production results from the Federal Reserve. The first chart is a continuous line by month and the second chart is the same data broken down by year. When you look at the continuous line you may wonder if a bottom has been reached and a corner turned. However, the destruction to the industry has been dramatic. Industrial Production from the Federal Reserve G-17 data.
Friday, July 17. 2009Humor at the Treasury Department - Pretty Funny Guys & Gals!
Unbelievable! You have to read the original request from the Treasury Department (Dept. of Public Debt) https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3014e950a92dbb0f7e066f9e088a301f&tab=core&tabmode=list&cck=1&au=&ck=
_____________________________________________________________ As published July 9th Humor In The Workplace Solicitation Number: RFI-BPD-09-0028 Agency: Department of the Treasury Office: Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) Location: Division of Procurement Synopsis: Added: Jul 09, 2009 11:28 am This is a sources sought notice and not a request for quotations. The purpose of this announcement is to seek qualified contractors with the capability to provide presentations for The Department of Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), Management Meeting with experience in meeting the objectives as described herein. The Contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour, Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life. Participants shall experience demonstrations of cartoons being created on the spot. The contractor shall have the ability to create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs. The presenter shall refrain from using any foul language during the presentation. This is a business environment and we need the presenter to address a business audience. Upon completion of the course, participants shall be able to: • Understand the importance and power of humor in the workplace in a responsible manner • How to use talents in a creative way that adds humor to everyday experiences • Alleviate stress in home and the office • Know how and why humor is important to communication • Improve work-place relationships • Prevent burn-out __________________________________________________________________ Commentary - Unbelievable again! The Treasury Department would like to be humorous! They don't need training, they just need to read the newspapers / internet articles. What's the problem? Are they feeling a little down after recent debacles? Welcome to the world of used car salesmen, CPA's and inappropriate priestly actions. What makes this all the more sad is that they wanted the humor presentation to teach them about cartoons! Good humor is spontaneous. People can learn to tolerate humor, even tell a joke or two, but cartoons are not going to cut it. They also do not want foul language. I understand keeping it clean, however, that eliminates one channel of humor. I will also venture a safe guess that DOT has a code of conduct which prohibits discrimination. There goes another channel of humor. By the way, if their original intent was to make fun of their daily jobs, I belong to a class of people that have always been discriminated against - accountants. So remember, no bean counter, green eye shade jokes because an accountant is going to file a discrimination claim. Lastly, one of the objectives is to prevent burn out. Come on ... Burn out caused by stress and overwork is not going to be fixed with humorless humor. If the people need a break, give them some time off. Here's an idea. Let's have some layoffs so the government employees can be in with the rest of the private sector. Then they can really have some fun and share a joke or two about the economy. I give credit to the drudgereport.com for highlighting this issue. To be safe I visited the fedbizopps page to make sure the article was real. Just after I was able to copy the notice, the following appeared: _____________________________________________________________ Synopsis: As published July 17th Humor In The Workplace Solicitation Number: RFI-BPD-09-0028 Agency: Department of the Treasury Office: Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) Location: Division of Procurement Added: Jul 17, 2009 9:58 am Bureau of Public Debt has determined that it no longer has a need for this requirement. ______________________________________________________________ Hmmmmm ...... maybe someone realized in the Department of Treasury that this was too damn funny and pulled the requirement. Now this is funny. They don't need training - just keep on doing a fine job! Copyright 2009 Jim Lindell Thursday, July 16. 2009On Leadership
Leadership is the art of inspiring a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Leaders can be formal or informal – they can also be willing or unwilling. Leaders are evaluated on the achievement of the common goal and on the cost of achieving that goal. To the latter end, if a leader sacrifices: culture, ethics, trust, or their subordinates the achievement of the goal may be counterproductive.
During this most difficult time in our country’s history, we can view many examples of good and poor leadership. We see it all levels of government and we view it daily in our companies and in our families. The impact of leadership on the overall psyche of any organization and its counterparts is readily visible for all to see. 1) Inspirational – the leader must believe in the mission, must share the vision and must convince others of the need and value in both. The challenge then is for each individual to recognize their shortfalls in leadership and then be open to learning the techniques to improve their own skill set. What is the first step on the path of leadership? In all cases, the first characteristic that must be utilized is trust. Whenever there is “chatter” behind one’s back, it will usually take the form of “I don’t trust him / her”. Never forget that the first goal of any leader is to win over the hearts and minds of their followers.
Wednesday, July 15. 2009People are our most valuable asset - NOT!When you listen to CEO's and Business Owners talk about their most valuable asset, you will typically hear "People are our most valuable asset". Unfortunately this is only lip service. Recent unemployment for U-3 was 9.5% and U-6 was 16.5%. These rates will continue to increase. We are confronted with the most difficult economic times since the great depression and yet we continue to layoff workers in the name of profitability. I understand the layoffs and the preservation of the business. I wish we would honestly recognize that people are not the most valuable asset. If they were, we would not be jettisoning so many resources. We would also be actively engaging our workers (prior to layoffs) to help determine ways to reduce expenses outside of RIFs. Copyright 2009 - Jim Lindell Tuesday, July 14. 2009Economic Cliff Diving and how to tell when we are bottoming outThe wealth of data that is available to each of us is truly amazing. Visit http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/default.htm and get the current data on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization. It is truly staggering. Look at the following chart from their website. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization G-17 S.A. as of May 2009 We have gone off a cliff and we still haven't seen signs of the bottom. When I begin my speeches/ seminars on the recession, I ask the audience for their 3 biggest business concerns and then their 3 biggest personal concerns. You can guess the business concerns but the personal responses are always intriguing - loss of job, loss of income, loss of house, loss of self esteem and the list goes on. I then ask how many people listed concerns such as buying a new car or a new house and there are only a couple of people that raise their hands. Until you regularly hear in conversations that people are thinking about buying a car or buying a new house, the recession will continue. Copyright 2009 - Jim Lindell Sunday, July 12. 2009Northern Pike (a/k/a Jackfish) and traditional job searchesThe Northern Pike (a/k/a Jack fish) is a close cousin of the Musky. If you don't fish on a regular basis, you would have trouble differentiating between the two fish. However, there are some fisherman that do not keep Northerns because they are difficult to fillet. There are others that scoff at the Northern and use the derogatory term of Jack fish. These scoffers wouldn't dare to keep and eat a Pike. A couple of nights ago, I caught the Northern below (30" and just shy of 8 lbs.). If you haven't eaten a Pike, you should try it. They are very good. At this point in my fishing career, I am more into catch and release. So the fella above is still swimming in the lake. How do Northerns and Jack fish relate to traditional job searches? This is a very difficult time in our economy. Many folks are unemployed and I believe that more layoffs and increased unemployment are ahead of us. You must be creative to find that new position. Do not rely on traditional job searches or heaven forbid you listen to people that tell you that a new approach would never work. Balderdash!
Copyright 2009 - Jim Lindell Wednesday, July 8. 2009Expecting Customers to pay for ServiceDuring this recession it is important for businesses to collect from their customers. Many businesses are afraid to force customers to pay for fear that their customers will move their business to someone else. Management teams that are driven by sales volume go to great extremes to avoid putting collection pressure on customers. Consider the following example from the State of California fiasco: From http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
This story is played out time and time again. The lesson here is simple. If a customer receives value - make them pay what they agreed to. If they do not pay, cut them off - period. As to the sales driven team, there is an easy way to avoid this issue. Sales are deemed complete only when the customer has paid. There will always be exceptions, however, in these times, customers that do not pay are not customers, they are leeches! Copyright 2009 - Jim Lindell Sunday, July 5. 2009Interrupted Vacations:15 cent Ferrules and being preparedYou are excited for your vacation - you can't wait to get to the cabin and enjoy some R&R and some great fishing. When you arrive at the cabin, and turn on the power, you find that the water pump is spraying water all over your utility closet. At this point, you fear that the entire vacation will be spent replacing the pump and related pipes. Upon further inspection, you find a broken plastic tube and a broken ferrule. A quick trip to the hardware store: the purchase of a 15 cent ferrule and a few minutes of repair time and the vacation is back on track. In the business environment, there are many 15 cent ferrules that business owners never pay attention to. They forget to say "good morning" to an employee or are stingy with words of thanks. The 15 cent ferrules are the equivalent of "small murders" to the employees. Ignored on a regular basis, employees may create their own uprising or acts of defiance. Any of which will far outweigh the cost of a simple hello or thank you. Know your business - know where the small murders can be committed and avoid them. This concept also holds true for long term planning areas such as contingencies or successions. It is easy to avoid these issues and not deal with them. Ignore them at your own peril! Back to Fishing!!!!!
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Jim LindellJim Lindell is a National Speaker, Author, and Vistage Chair. He is motivated by helping others improve their lives and businesses.
He is President of Thorsten Consulting Group, Inc. Order Jim's book - "Controller as Business Manager". controller as business manager - jim lindell - thorsten consulting group QuicksearchArchivesCategoriesSyndicate This BlogBlog AdministrationNetworked Blogs |