For quite some time, I was part of the management team of a manufacturing facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Quality was top of mind as we were getting ready to hire a new plant manager. Senior management in the organization refused to build high-profile components in Mexico because the expectation …
Goals
Hit me with your best shot
The famous Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had an Intern working for him. On one random Thursday morning, Secretary Kissinger asks the Intern to write a position paper on a particular topic. If you would rather listen to a podcast version, CLICK HERE, otherwise continue reading The Intern is …
Tips: Investing your time
Today's blog is a story that I love. I've heard it from numerous people, but the one that tells it the best, is my favorite story-teller, Zig Ziglar. Zig Ziglar tells the story of Emmanuel Ninger. In 1887, Ninger walked into the local grocery store to buy turnip greens. He gave the clerk a …
3-2-1 Grow
Most of us can't remember what we had for breakfast yesterday; how can we be expected to remember all our victories and challenges? So this week's blog is a short and simple exercise that I've used for years. I call it the 3-2-1 Grow Program. I usually do this on Saturday or Sunday morning, spending …
The 3-steps to any type of sale
In last week's blog "What type of Pencil do you use", we mentioned the sales process. To refresh your memory, we wrote: "Sales come to those that have something someone needed when they needed it. They offered value, a solution to a problem, a service that was missing. Success comes when you rinse …
Quick tips on how to build trust in teams
Identifying the issue Last week we discussed staying in your lane. In the article, we mention that trust and respect are some of the causes. For example; if your engineering manager doesn't trust the sales manager to follow through, you may see him butting in to this area of the business. Why isn't …
What can you learn by planning your summer vacations?
Planning your summer vacation? It's Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of summer. What are your plans? Have you decided where you are going to spend those days or weeks off? Maybe you've elected to take every Friday off between now and Labor Day so you can get long weekends in and do a …
Balancing the needs of the organization and team in the post-pandemic era
In last week's blog, Motivators vs Consequences, we showed a pre-pandemic list of what employees value. Since the pandemic, the needs for autonomy, work-life balance, and flexible scheduling have moved up the list in importance. As leaders we must always keep the goals & objectives of the …
Motivators vs. Consequences!
You layout the new policy … your team will adapt their daily work habits and put it in place. If they do this the company will have; higher efficiency, more effectiveness, improved customer satisfaction, and they all will be treated to an additional week off with full pay after the results are …
Determining the value of the team
If I were to ask you what the value of this is, what is your answer? Pretty simple - it's $100. A nice crisp brand new bill. You would be able to give me one-hundred $1 bills, five - 20's, or any other combination to come up with the magical $100. Now, look at this picture … What's it worth? This …