I've added a new page to the blog, containing media. First additions are excerpts from a recent educational television interview about job hunting and interviewing. Check it out from the menu at the top of the page.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Doing More with Less...
Everywhere you go these days, the talk is about getting more results with fewer resources. In my field of public higher education, we are seeing massive budget cuts, yet the need for our classes is growing faster than ever. We need to find ways of educating ever more students with less and less funding.
Working people in general have been facing this challenge for years. As wages have stagnated, costs have risen. Spending more dollars and getting less for them is a familiar picture to many households.
So what can you do? As this article from The Economist discusses, creative uses of technology have been saving us, and will continue to do so. Whether its smart residential electric meters, or smart phones, technology has allowed productivity to soar even with constricted resources.
If you're a business owner, you need to look at your technology platforms, and see how they can solve your problems. The solution doesn't need to be complex or expensive either. A client of mine is drowning in paperwork, and was convinced that until he invested in expensive case management software, he couldn't avoid it. But I showed him how a simple design in Microsoft Excel, a program he already owned, could save hours with far lower costs.
If you rely on a paycheck, you already know how much pressure you're under to get more done. Marc Lesser's book and practice focus on simplifying what you do to accomplish more.
Whatever your circumstance, what's important to realize is that you can apply proven techniques to create positive growth and change. There's always some thing, small or large, that can be improved. You just have to have an open mind about where to find it.
Working people in general have been facing this challenge for years. As wages have stagnated, costs have risen. Spending more dollars and getting less for them is a familiar picture to many households.
If you're a business owner, you need to look at your technology platforms, and see how they can solve your problems. The solution doesn't need to be complex or expensive either. A client of mine is drowning in paperwork, and was convinced that until he invested in expensive case management software, he couldn't avoid it. But I showed him how a simple design in Microsoft Excel, a program he already owned, could save hours with far lower costs.
If you rely on a paycheck, you already know how much pressure you're under to get more done. Marc Lesser's book and practice focus on simplifying what you do to accomplish more.
Whatever your circumstance, what's important to realize is that you can apply proven techniques to create positive growth and change. There's always some thing, small or large, that can be improved. You just have to have an open mind about where to find it.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Traffic Jams and Customer Service...
After a recent visit with family in my hometown of Sacramento, I happened to be browsing the local news magazine. In it appeared a review of a book about traffic (Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
. The reviewer listed several factoids about traffic and being caught in a traffic jam that I think apply to managing your customers and other clients.
When you have people waiting for you to finish a step in a project, or to deliver a product, the waiting itself can have a negative impact on your customer's perception of you. Here's what we can learn from traffic theory:
1. Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits. Don't leave your customer guessing about what's taking the time. Provide a basic explanation of what you're doing, and why it will take some time.
2. Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits. Always give your customer an idea or estimate of how long it will be before you can deliver. Even if you have to change it later, never leave your customer in an indefinite situation. As with traffic, the wait will seem longer if they don't know what to expect.
3. Anxiety makes the wait seem longer. Stay in touch with your customer during the delay. Make sure you keep them confident that you are on top of the matter, and there are no major problems other than simple time to process.
4. Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time. Sometimes, especially with a longer wait, you need to keep your customer working on something else to give them the feeling of progress. Ask you customer to gather some important information while waiting, or develop delivery details. Perhaps there is draft language or designs that the customer could be looking at.
Good ideas can come from surprising places. Who would think that traffic principles could apply to good customer management? Two lessons here: handle your customer waits well and you'll benefit, and look everywhere for good ideas!
. The reviewer listed several factoids about traffic and being caught in a traffic jam that I think apply to managing your customers and other clients.
1. Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits. Don't leave your customer guessing about what's taking the time. Provide a basic explanation of what you're doing, and why it will take some time.
2. Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits. Always give your customer an idea or estimate of how long it will be before you can deliver. Even if you have to change it later, never leave your customer in an indefinite situation. As with traffic, the wait will seem longer if they don't know what to expect.
3. Anxiety makes the wait seem longer. Stay in touch with your customer during the delay. Make sure you keep them confident that you are on top of the matter, and there are no major problems other than simple time to process.
4. Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time. Sometimes, especially with a longer wait, you need to keep your customer working on something else to give them the feeling of progress. Ask you customer to gather some important information while waiting, or develop delivery details. Perhaps there is draft language or designs that the customer could be looking at.
Good ideas can come from surprising places. Who would think that traffic principles could apply to good customer management? Two lessons here: handle your customer waits well and you'll benefit, and look everywhere for good ideas!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Admitting Your Mistakes...
Great leaders are never afraid to admit their mistakes, because they realize that mistakes are inevitable. Mistakes are only a problem when we refuse to admit them because we then cannot learn from them and will probably repeat them.
Stephen R. Covey, famed management consultant says "Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it -- immediately."
This blogger has it right. The strongest motivation for refusing to admit mistakes is fear. We fear that admitting we made a mistake or we're wrong somehow means we're not smart, or competent. The true leader understands what the great poet Alexander Pope said: "A man should never be ashamed to own that he is wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday."
Author Elliot Aronson in his book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), discusses how "cognitive dissonance" can work to convince us we're right even when we know we're wrong! Especially our own self-image. "If I think I'm smart and I do something stupid, I think it really wasn't that bad, or everyone does it, and I can sleep better at night without the cognitive dissonance," he says. But, he says, if you make a serious blunder, and convince yourself otherwise, you lose the opportunity to learn. Worse, he gives the example of going into war by mistake, but continuing to justify it anyway. Listen to his NPR interview about cognitive dissonance and how it drives us to refuse to admit mistakes, and how to overcome it. Read more of his writings here. For a leader, admitting mistakes can actually pay off. "The risk of looking foolish is miniscule compared to the goodwill earned from standing up and doing the right thing," says Inc. Magazine. More recently, “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility in her book Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. Check out a video of her speaking on the topic.
Sarah Green in her Harvard Review article discusses how often we actually are wrong, and comes up with two resolutions I wholeheartedly support: (1) Actively look for anomalies, and (2) Be gentle to each other — and to yourself. And understand that, like the evolving beings we are, we learn most from our mistakes, but only when we recognize and admit them.
What do you think? Do you have trouble admitting when you're wrong? Or do you have a special strategy for checking yourself? Share your "adventures in the margin of error" with us.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Twin Baby Boys Have a Conversation! on Shine
Twin Baby Boys Have a Conversation! on Shine
This clip reminds of me of many staff meetings I have attended!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
In Faith is Freedom...
As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
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