Customer service continues to enter the public awareness, as consumers continue to have more choices and, in a down economy, even more competition for their business. Yet many customers see past the low price offers and advertising campaigns, and are willing to pay more in order to receive outstanding service. Even if budgets are tight, [...]
Archive for Leading & Managing
A Customer Complaint is a Chance to Shine
In any service-oriented business, customer complaints are an unavoidable part of the territory. However exceptional your customer service culture, and however well intentioned, there are going to be occasions where you receive a complaint. Many complaints are customers blowing off steam because they have had a bad day, and all that you can do is [...]
7 REASONS WHY GREAT EMPLOYEES LEAVE
“People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash The attitude that employees are expendable and replaceable is slowly changing as businesses realize that investing in good employees is the [...]
Work, Life, and the Butterfly Effect
How does the Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect apply to our lives? Can implementing these principles improve personal and organizational performance? Most people have heard of Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect, the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings over the Atlantic can cause hurricanes in Florida. A huge, dynamic system, like the [...]
How To Make Five Successful Authors Work for YOU
Do you have a precise strategy for business success? Not yet? There ARE winning strategies that will bring you closer to your vision of success. Your favorite author may bring you all kinds of lofty joy and even guilty pleasure, but they also offer an unexpectedly keen sense of wisdom, or a strategy, that you [...]
Will Creative Thinking Make You More Successful?
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs In our knowledge-driven economy, creative thinkers excel. They have learned the art of managing their thought processes in a productive way. Creative thinkers are the pioneers and problem solvers in their chosen fields. Creative thinkers are constantly expanding their mental horizon, which helps them [...]
Making Your Workplace More FUN: FUNdamentals
Making Your Workplace More FUN: FUNdamentals “Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov Internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author Dr. John C. Maxwell once said: “When you are truly having fun in your work, creativity flows freely.” Yet, how many of us really have fun in our workplace? Successful people, and [...]
Energize Your Organization: Motivate Without Money
Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation – Learning From History As the sheer scale of the economic crisis folds, consumers, employees and businesses are all reassessing their core values. One of the biggest criticisms we’re hearing about the causes of this recession is the idea that businesses have become locked into short-termism, seeking to generate profits quickly, while [...]
Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions
The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization In the 1990’s Peter Drucker published a self-assessment tool titled, The 5 Most Important Questions. One of Drucker’s many legacies is the New York-based Leader to Leader Institute, an organization that focuses on developing leadership in the social sector. Leader to Leader Institute [...]
The New Leaders
The New Leaders “It’s up to each one of us to lead in today’s new kind of world.” (former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley) Seth Godin’s latest book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, a bestseller, is about the most powerful form of marketing (according to Godin) –leadership–and how anyone can become a leader, by [...]
Planning Successful Team Building Events
Planning Successful Team Building Events Interview with Pat Whelan, of Team Dynamix “It’s easy to get good players. Getting them to play together, that’s the hard part.” – Casey Stengel While the recession brought severe cutbacks in the events and meeting planning industry, some meeting planners and vendors have found creative solutions and managed to [...]
Energize Your Organization: Motivate Without Money
Energize Your Organization: Motivate Without Money Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation – Learning From History As the sheer scale of the economic crisis folds, consumers, employees and businesses are all reassessing their core values. One of the biggest criticisms we’re hearing about the causes of this recession is the idea that businesses have become locked into short-termism, [...]
10 Powerful Phrases
10 Powerful Phrases Rick DeVos, cofounder of Amway, successful businessman, motivational speaker, and philanthropist, offers his wisdom on keeping a positive attitude, in his book: Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People: I’m Wrong I’m Sorry You Can Do It I Believe in You I’m Proud of You Thank You I Need You I Trust You [...]
How to Create a Coaching Environment
“Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.” – Eddie Robinson One of the major foundations of coaching is creating an optimum environment. Sports coaches have known this for many years, and understand that the key to success is to develop a culture of [...]
Coaching in the Workplace
COACHING IN THE WORKPLACE Workplace coaching is rapidly increasing in popularity and scope, becoming an integral part of any long-term strategy. Business leaders are adopting one simple principle that athletic performers have known for generations: Personal attention and coaching is the best way to maximize performance potential. WHY IS COACHING NEEDED? A good coach will [...]