One of my favorite movies is Coach Carter. It’s based on the true story of a high school star basketball player who comes back to coach at his old school. The team was on a losing streak with few prospects for improvement. Coach Carter steps in and makes some radical changes to help the players become successful both on the court and in their personal lives. While the movie focuses heavily on the coach and his unusual methods, it’s also offers lessons for any organization wanting to improve. The story line includes powerful themes of teamwork, leadership, hope, hard work, [...]
change
The biggest reason we don’t accomplish what we want in our businesses (and, in our personal lives) is we’re not always willing to change when we should. It’s easy for us to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s habit. It’s comfortable. It’s known. Our brains are hardwired this way for some very good reasons. But this can also be an obstacle to growth and improvement. Too often our habits stop us from making internal changes in response to external changes the world had brought to our door. They can blind us to how the rest of the world has changed, [...]
If you’ve been paying attention, you know things have changed in the world of business. As customers, we are smarter than ever. We know we have more options. We know we deserve to do business with companies that help us accomplish our goals. And we understand it’s okay to expect companies that will work WITH us as partners rather than adversaries. Companies that ignore this will end up just like “Mr. Advertising” in this video: alone and wondering what happened.
We hear a lot of talk about how the recession has caused companies to improve their customer service. In fact, this assertion is almost cliche. And we know why. In a recession, there are fewer dollars chasing the good and services available. This creates much more competition for customers. So businesses need to attract them by making changes. This usually means lowering prices and or offering more value. We like to say the “smart businesses” sharpen their customer service edge during a recession. And maybe this is so. But maybe not. The smart businesses have been offering good customer service [...]
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.” -Stephen Covey Author of: The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
Here’s an easy formula to bring positive change to your life: (DVP) x (BA) = Change D = Dissatisfaction (with a current situation or condition) V = Vision (for how you would like things to be) P = Plan (actions and strategies needed move you toward your vision) B = Belief (the genuine belief and faith that you can make your vision happen) A = Action (actions you actually take to move toward the change you want) (This uses similar elements as both Gleicher’s Formula and the Harvard Change Model.) It works like this: D = Dissatisfaction (with a current [...]
In my work, I spend a fair amount of time helping people bring change to their companies. That’s what improving customer service is all about. The companies that make a substantial and permanent improvement in how they serve their customers have discovered how to change their organizations. Seth Godin has some useful things to say about this. Here’s a great example from his latest book, Tribes:
Last week I read an article about people called “high-milers”. These folks go to great lengths to get amazing fuel efficiency from their cars. Some have high mileage cars like the Toyota Prius. Others don’t. But they all make it their goal to squeeze every last drop of fuel efficiency they can from their autos. I found the article fascinating because the it talked about specific things these people do to get higher mileage. Most suggestions they offered were low-tech things anyone could do. Like coasting when ever possible or driving the speed limit. They employ a lot of little [...]
Leadership is what every organization needs and so few have in adequate supply. Part of leadership is what the first President Bush called “the vision thing”. It’s the ability to see what does not exist and then gather, mold and shape the resources needed to make it happen. Part of leadership is passion for the purpose and the mission of the organization. But it needs to be passion with direction and focus. It needs to have strength of character; courage, integrity and fairness or it cannot sustain itself. Leadership needs to have drive and initiative. It needs to have faith [...]
