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The Flexible Culture

In today’s article, I wanted to talk about the culture that is really gaining momentum. Though this is not anything new, many refer to this as “The New Flexible Culture”. Realistically it has been around for decades but only available to a select few who worked for forward-thinking companies that understood the value.

So what is a flexible culture? If you haven’t heard about it, it is really simple. In a flexible culture gone are the days of punching into a time clock and sitting in your cubical for at least eight hours a day dressed to whatever dress code is enforced. In today’s virtual world everyone is connected. Through applications such as Zoom, Web-ex, and Go To Meeting, just to name a few; these applications make it easy to have face to face meetings with your team virtually and just as effectively. So today’s office environment isn’t really an office at all. It is a virtual network of people working from home. While yes, you may still need an office for meetings, presentations to customers, and other external reasons, there is no need for team members to drive to an office every day and punch in.

There are still naysayers that don’t embrace this work environment because they believe they are not getting the same effort from their team as they would if they were at the office where they can be whipped, I mean, watched.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the way of the future and happens to be the format we use in my group. Why have your team drive, in many cases several hours in traffic, to get to an office where they can start work when they can roll out of bed and start working immediately? They also can spend time with their families during break, lunch, or even when things slow down. In my experience, they are much happier and much more productive in this scenario. I find my team online working over the weekends, after five, and even sometimes in the wee early morning hours because it fits their schedules better. This is also a huge money saver for them, in gas, wear and tear on their vehicles, clothes, not mention daycare for those with small children.

However, to really be forward thinking you need to extend this flexible culture to your field team as well. Now I understand that in some cases you need your team to work the hours your customers are available. I mean obviously, you cannot have a service technician show up at someone’s home at 2:00 AM. However, there are many ways in which you can offer extended flexibility to your frontline team members. While I cannot address every possible application, I will share one we are implementing next week. In the electrical world, we have positions called apprentices. The standard way that you provide training to these positions is to enroll them into an apprenticeship program where they have to drive to a school and attend classes two nights a week for four years. This is the method we were using in the past. However, by listening to our team, we received feedback that it is very taxing on them. It causes them to lose overtime hours when available, costs them gas money to get to the schools, and time away from their family. So, by working with a great mentor of mine, Mike Holt; his company has a virtual, study at home, training process that mirrors the apprentice programs but with more skills, much better books, videos, and other products. This allows our team members to work at their own pace from home and reduces the stress on their personal lives. While some people are not self-disciplined enough to follow a study at home program, we still offer the traditional apprenticeship programs. However, for those that can complete the training quicker, in a more relaxed environment, this is the perfect program for them. This is just one way you can offer flexible culture options to your frontline team members.

Remember, as a business owner, or manager, it is your responsibility to help your team be as successful as possible and build the American Dream for themselves. By being open-minded and actually listening to your team, you can usually come up with answers to better their lives. But first you, yourself, need to be flexible.

The Customer Service Revolution

Are you ready for the customer service revolution? Little by little, I am seeing signs of what I am calling a customer service revolution.  If you are not prepared, you are going to find it difficult to retain your current market share, let alone gaining any new clients.

I started my first blog based on examples of bad customer service because of my passion for providing exceptional experiences for customers. That was nearly 15 years ago and not much has changed in the overall level of customer service, it still is not very good. Especially after the horrible economic times, we faced from 2008 through 2014. It always strikes me odd that when a company starts to struggle the first thing they do is cut out things that make the overall customer experience better. Safety, training, appreciation events or any other type of team member or customer recognition. I could write a book just on the things companies get wrong when it comes to finding areas to try saving money when things get tight. But that is not what I want to discuss today. No, today I want to talk about the future.

Since the inception of social media, companies have been held to a level of accountability like no other time before. In the past, if you didn’t hear anything bad, then you felt like you were doing well. That was a big mistake! Studies have shown that when someone has a bad experience they are unlikely to say anything about it, they will just stop patronizing that company. But in today’s world of social media everyone is a customer experience expert, a food critic, or a focus group and will affect your future business. It doesn’t matter if you are a restaurant, a coffee house, a publisher or anyone who offers a product or service. You are susceptible to any customer’s comments on social media sites. The biggest difference between the inception of social media and now, is that people are now listening to those comments.

With sites such as Yelp and Google, you can find out about any restaurant or service long before you ever turn over a single dollar. With sites like glass door and others, your overall company culture is exposed whether you like it or not. And once more, with companies like Home Advisor, Expedia, and Amazon, they have turned many services into a commodity, the same as a straw you would use for a drink. No one puts much thought into buying a straw; I mean heck, a straw is a straw right? In the future, if you are not the cheapest price, the only thing that will set you apart in this connected world will be the customer experience. How much do people like doing business with you? Available to all, in one site, you can see reviews, prices, and other determinable information to help steer you in the right direction. Side note; I would warn most consumers not to trust everything you see since much of the information is based on how much each company is willing to spend, you could end up with what you thought was the right provider only to find out none of the information you obtained was accurate. You have to remember that the internet is based on the information people provide, and you need to question people’s motives. But all in all these sites are great tools for gaining information and hopefully getting a better buying experience.

Fueled by all this information at your fingertips, is why I feel we are on the precipice of a customer service revolution. In the future, you will have no choice but to provide exceptional customer service if you want to compete in a connected world. You will be required to not only understand all the things that go into exceptional customer service such as leadership, great work environment, and a service company that really cares about its team and customers but also know how to measure, manage and improve the customer experience.

I have attended many CX workshops over the past few years, and I will tell you the attendance is going up. I see companies I have never seen at a CX workshop, like pharmaceutical companies, and convenience stores. Again in the past, the idea was a convenience, you didn’t have to have great customer service, the only thing you needed was to be convenient. But now, with a convenience store on every corner, you need to be better than the others and provide a memorable customer interaction to stand out. In other words, to stand out in the future, you will need to be outstanding.

So how can you prepare for this revolution? I am glad you asked. You need to start with leadership. This is the most common thing I see missing whenever I do any consulting work. Without strong leadership, it is nearly impossible to create an exceptional customer experience for your customers. Leadership touches everything in your company. You need to be innovative, you need to have a harmonious work environment, you need to have solid business processes and procedures, and you must truly care about your team and your customers. All these are natural traits of a great leader. If you have to pick one thing to start with, make sure you have great leaders. The rest gets easier if you have the proper leadership in place.

With all this said I hope you are prepared for what is coming. You will need to be quick, innovative, in-tune with your customer’s wants and needs, and able to adapt to ever-changing situations and technologies. In the end, you will have to have all these things to be successful because let’s face it, if you are not willing to, your competition will be more than happy to oblige!

The 24 Hour Employee

It makes me cringe just typing the word employee since I don’t believe in that word. But I had to write this article based on something I heard at the Disney Customer Experience Summit. One thing they discussed was about treating your employees like 24-hour employees. I knew what they meant but had a problem with the terminology. So for the rest of this article, I will refer to this as the 24-hour team member!

I love this idea, and the term is what inspired this article. What is a 24-hour team member? Over the years I have always told my team that I am not only here to help you in your career but in life as well. I try to make sure that all my actions and training events are geared around not only making things better for the company but also good for the team and their happiness. The whole idea is that you don’t stop caring about a team member because they clocked out for the day. In order to provide exceptional customer service, you have to treat your team the way you want them to treat your customers. This includes caring about their health and happiness as well as their entire family unit.

I can hear managers from earlier generations gasping as I say these words. While I have always felt and managed this way, it is definitely not the norm. Although, as the times are changing, it is my opinion that it will be very difficult to be successful without this approach. We are on the precipice of a customer service revolution, and just being good will not be enough in the coming years to keep customers.

Over the years I have been told that “I am too close to my team” and that “in order for me to be successful, I have to stop caring about people, they are tools to get the job done.” While everyone’s opinion on the definition of success may be different, I consider myself extremely successful in my career, and I have done so all the while caring deeply about my team. If they hurt so do I, whether it is work-related or not. This type of caring cannot be faked, so don’t try. You must really care, and want the best for them and their family. Their success is your success; their failure is your failure.

Recently I had one of my managers come to me with a perfect example of this type of 24-hour caring. He brought to my attention that one of his team had an anxiety attack at home. This didn’t happen at work; it happened at the team member’s home. Yet he was close enough with his manager to let him know about the episode. The manager cared enough to bring it to my attention so that we can try and help this team member with some tools to help manage stress. The next step, of course, is to help coach the team member and continue to keep the lines of communication open so that the team member can feel comfortable talking with us about the stresses of the job and how he is handling them.

I also had another example of one of my managers who was talking with a supervisor. The supervisor was expressing their frustration with a particular team member because they continued not to follow certain policies outlined in the company. After the manager verified that the supervisor was clear about the expectations of the team member, she then told the supervisor that he would have to figure out what motivates that individual. I was so proud when I heard her explain to the supervisor a recent event with her dog to illustrate the point she was trying to make. She explained that she had her dog in obedience training, and one of the tools they taught was that you needed to understand what motivates the dog to perform. Some dogs react to praise, while others want love or maybe even a treat? She explained to the supervisor that he needed to understand what motivates that specific individual. Every person is different and so are their motivating factors. You need to spend more time listening and less time talking so you can understand this team member. Only then will you be able to get through to them what you need.

Above are two prize examples of managers thinking of their team members as 24-hour team members rather than a forty-hour-a-week-person who is there to perform a task. Only when you start to really care about your team and help them get what they want and need in life, are you ever going to achieve exceptional customer service. Because after all, that is what you are asking them to do for your clients.

Building The Next Generation Of Leaders

A few weeks back was a proud moment for me. I have always considered my number one job to be helping my team advance in the industry and realize the American Dream. When it happens it is the most rewarding part of my job, in fact, I would do it for free even without my current position.

Over the years I have helped countless people attain their licenses in our industry, move into management positions, or even start their own business. It is by far the most rewarding thing a person can do. I am very anxious to keep growing this business so I can continue to help others see their aspirations come to fruition.

This week I received word that one of my team will be moving into a management position for our Fire Alarm group here at M.C. Dean. I was so excited for him that I was telling a good friend of mine, we will call him Jerry for the purpose of this article, about the turn of events, and he surprised me with his response. Jerry said to me, “why would you put up a member of your team for a management position in another vertical of the company? All that time you spent training them, and now someone else will get the benefits. I would have kept him rather than let someone else reap the rewards of a great member of my team.”

I explained to Jerry that it isn’t about me or what I can get out of anything, it is about my team and helping them get to where they want to go on their career path. If I can do that, I am successful, if not I have failed. Jerry just stood there shaking his head and didn’t understand how I could think that way. I told Jerry, ok let’s think selfish for a moment. Let’s say I didn’t introduce my team member as a candidate for this opportunity and kept him for myself. I know that this particular individual wanted to be a manager, he had expressed this to me many times, and I also knew that he would be a good fit for the role. So if I didn’t have an opportunity within my division to offer him, what do you think would eventually happen? Yes, maybe he would wait around for a little while, but maybe he wouldn’t.  Then my competition would have the benefit of one of my shining stars rather than our company. Jerry said to me, “well that’s a chance I take every day!”

At this point, I was getting frustrated. I knew Jerry was a selfish person and cared more about himself than helping others, but I was hoping I could get through to him. So I tried explaining to him the joy I felt in helping others. Not because I would get anything out of it, but solely because they deserve the help. I explained to him that I have only received the success I have due to others helping me and giving back is just the right thing to do. But it is more than that!

Knowing that Jerry was a huge football fan, and I have a bad habit of putting everything into football terms (as many of you who have read my book already know), I said think back to when you coached your son's football team. Did you get paid for that? No! Did you work with the kids to teach them what you knew and to make them better football players? Yes! So how would you feel if one of those players you taught came from a low-income family and aspired to be a pro football player someday? Let’s go one more step, what if you were the one who inspired him to become a pro? And then, what if he made it into the pros, and was able to provide for his family and buy his parents a home? How would that make you feel? Jerry, smiled from ear to ear, “that would be awesome” he said! I smiled and said well that is how I feel now and that is what I get to do for a living. Sure maybe not on the same level as teaching professional football players, but I have the opportunity to help transform my team members lives. So it isn’t about what I can get out of it, it is about what can I do to help them.

In today’s world, I see too many people in need of help and so few willing to give back unless there is something in it for them. All too often you see people in the entertainment industry giving to charities, or helping the less fortunate only to get the photo opportunity and keep themselves relevant. If it were really charity, you wouldn’t need the cameras. But, with that said, looking for the silver lining, at least the cameras and the photo opps are bringing attention to the charity, so that is a good thing.

Now I am not saying that just because there are cameras, that means people are only doing charity work to be photographed. Many great entertainers use their status to effect real change and help the less fortunate, Fred Taylor is one that comes to mind, and to those special people, I give huge props.

There are many responsibilities when you are the one in charge, and it is easy to lose focus on what’s important. However, the most important thing should always be the health and happiness of your team. I wrote this article so that hopefully I can inspire others to give back, not for the publicity or for what they can get out of it, but for the act of kindness itself.  I can promise you that there is nothing better than helping others achieve their dreams and building the next generation of leaders, who will hopefully also pay it forward.

Don’t Send Me Two People! A look at Arc Blast Liability

Why would you send me two people, just so you can charge me more? This is a complaint we get often in the electrical service industry. In today’s article, I want to talk more on the technical side and lay out five prime reasons why you would want to have two technicians sent out for a service call when it comes to an electrical system. While I believe this article will apply to many different industries, parts of this article are specific to the electrical industry and anyone who uses electrical services.

Over the last decade, the electrical service industry has transformed substantially. Mostly due to the awareness of Arc Flash incidents and the severe risks it presents to electricians. Not that arc flash is anything new, it has always existed, but the industry’s awareness to the severe risks, and ways to avoid those risks did not exist. Depending on when you were trained in the electrical field, you may have had different ideas about working something hot. In my day you were heckled if you wanted to turn off the power, thought of as weak, or too timid to work in the electrical field. In today’s world, quality electrical firms would never think of allowing anyone on their team to work on an energized circuit for anything other than troubleshooting or testing. So if the idea is that you are going to turn off the power, why would you need a second person? Well, that is where this article comes into play. Below I will explain why you should still have two people available for any electrical service call.

1.      It is required by NFPA 70E? I have been told many times that there is no electrical code that requires two people be present when performing electrical work. While this is partially true, there isn’t anything in NFPA 70 the National Electrical Code (NEC) that requires two people to perform electrical work, there are multiple places in the NEC that refer to NFPA 70E (Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace). Since NFPA 70E is the recognized as the standard for electrical installations, by referring you to NFPA 70E, the NEC is inferring that NFPA 70E is the standard for how to safely perform electrical work. NFPA 70E specifically spells out that no electrical work shall be performed in an energized state, with only allowing three exceptions; 1. If it creates a greater hazard by shutting the power down (130.2(a)(1); 2. It is not feasible to shut down the system to perform the task, for example, troubleshooting or testing (130.2(a)(2); and finally 3. If the operating voltage is less than 50 volts. (130.2(a)(3).So where does the second person come into play? In NFPA 70E 110.2(c)(1) it states that “employees exposed to electrical shock, and those responsible for the safe release of victims from contact with energized” parts shall be trained in the methods of safe release. NFPA 70E infers that a second person must be present that has been trained in the methods of safe release from energized parts. I know, at this point you are saying that, if the power is off, meaning you are not doing hot work, then there is no exposure to energized parts. That part is true. However, in order to turn off a circuit, the first step is to verify the absence of voltage. In order to do that you must remove the cover and test the system to be sure there is no active or stored energy. At the point of verification, you could be exposed to energized parts if the power isn’t truly de-energized. It is not uncommon for a panel to be mismarked, meaning you thought the power was off but in fact it is still energized. Furthermore, once you have completed your installation, you must test the system to verify it is working properly, which in most all cases require you to have an energized piece of equipment with the covers removed, thus requiring an additional person per NFPA 70E.

2. OSHA & CFR Regulations There is also nothing in OSHA’s CFR that requires there be a second person for performing electrical work, or is there? The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) also refers several times to NFPA 70E. While the CFR continues to copy verbiage from NFPA 70E as it evolves, there is no doubt that the intention is that NFPA 70E is the standard for safely performing electrical work. As an electrical service company it is our job to know and follow industry standards. Therefore, should someone get hurt due to an arc flash event, you can bet that NFPA 70E will be used in the lawsuit to identify whether or not your team was properly trained and following proper procedures. No one wants one of their team to get hurt, but the last thing you want to deal with after a team member gets injured is a legal battle and OSHA fines. In some cases the courts have proven criminal liability against the company for knowing better, but not implementing a safe work place. So this is nothing to play around with. Make sure you and your team fully understand NFPA 70E and how to properly use this document.

3. Electrical Spotter. Having a team show up allows you to keep a safe work environment not only for the electricians, but also for the general public. Many times while working, you have to go to the truck to get additional material. By having a second person, they can stay in the marked off work zone and insure that no one else enters the work zone, becoming exposed to the risk of getting injured. Also many times electrical service work requires a scissors lift, Snorkel lift, or bucket truck. By having a second person they can be a ground spotter making sure the general public is safe and that the lift remains clear of hazards. Finally, by having a spotter, you have a ground man that can get help in the case of an emergency. Can you imagine for a minute if you had a sole electrician working on a pole light in a snorkel lift and he came into contact with an energized part, knocking him unconscious? He would fall down into the bucket, completely unseen, and remain there until someone figured out something wasn’t right. How long could that take, hours, days?

4. Twice the labor means it gets done faster for a lower rate. If a lead electrician and an apprentice are sent out you are getting twice the labor at a reduced cost. In most cases electrical service companies charge a lower rate for an apprentice. Therefore, the time spent running to the truck, doing simpler tasks, and cleaning up is being done at a lower rate per hour saving you money. While I do realize that there are times when the task is a quick simple fix, you may not be saving money in those circumstances, but in most cases it isn’t known what the problem is until the electrician is on site and troubleshooting. Also, the quick simple fix is the exception and rarely happens.

5. Training the next generation. By sending an apprentice you are helping support the next generation of service electricians. The apprentices graduate school and become lead electricians, knowing the customers facilities, and the process required by each individual customer. It has always been comical to me that no one wants to pay for an apprentice, but they all expect to have an unlimited supply of lead electricians. The apprentices need to learn, and there is nothing better than on the job training.

Hopefully, this article makes sense to the non-electrical crowd. Like I said there are many lessons in this article that should speak to all industries. On the surface it may not make a lot of sense why certain companies do things the way they do, but, when you dig a little deeper you can see why those processes are in place. I know for my company, we are always thinking about the customer and what we can do to continue the Ultimate Customer Experience. While some of the processes may not make sense on the surface, all our processes are created to help serve and protect the customer. While safety should always come first for your team, you also need to think about the impact on your customer and make sure that you have a well-rounded program that protects your team but serves your clients.

Shepherd Wolves & Sheep (A Lesson In Leadership)

In today’s article, I am reflecting on a conversation I was having with a fellow business leader at a networking function a few weeks back. We were both talking about the struggle we each have providing the type of leadership we feel is proper within the corporate structure and regulations in which we were both governed. Since we both are employed by large corporations, many times, we are limited to internal programs we would like to implement. In order to implement a program, it has to be something that can be done for everyone in the company not just in your business unit or division. With this “what’s done for one, must be done for all” type of structure many times internal programs that would help with the team environment, have to be set aside since it isn’t something that every business unit leader within the organization agrees with implementing.

Our conversation quickly covered some of the best forms of reward systems for team members that don’t cost anything. Catching someone doing something right and just giving them specific praise for that particular action goes a long way with letting a team member know they matter and you notice the good they are doing. There are many forms of rewards that cost little to nothing but still have a huge impact on your team. While I could go into details on low to no cost programs, I am sure that anyone reading this article knows you can look those up quickly online, so I am not going to waste anyone’s time with spelling out specific programs. What I would like to discuss is not necessarily a program but an act that all great leaders should perform and will have a dramatic impact on your team.

My new friend and I ended up talking about issues with large corporations and the effect it can have on your individual team. I will say that I am very lucky in this retrospect since I work for an amazing company where there isn’t any corporate sludge that leaks down into my team. However, I wasn’t always this fortunate. What I am talking about is how in some companies, while you may have a great brand within your business unit, other business units within the company don’t exude the same level of professionalism, quality, team environment, customer service, or the like. Sometimes in those situations, the fall-out can affect your team causing them to question your own business unit. So the question is what can you do about it?

One thing I heard a long time ago, was ‘the responsibilities of a good shepherd’. A shepherd’s job is to lay down their life for the herd. The only thing that matters is the health and safety of the herd the shepherd is protecting. I remember this so vividly because I grew up in a Christian school and remember the stories of Jesus, and him being the shepherd of his flock. There are so many great leadership examples in the bible and the works of Jesus that I couldn’t help but relate the story of the good shepherd to the same stories I was reading in the bible at school. In fact, there is a passage made famous by Hollywood “I send you out as sheep amongst the wolves” which comes from the Bible, Matthew 10:16.

Over the years I have found that being a leader involves the same tasks as a shepherd. You have to protect your team from the wolves at all costs. The wolves can be represented by anything that would hurt the health and happiness of your flock or team. Whether that is corporate sludge, overbearing bosses, micromanaging superiors, anything that can damage your brand or the health of your team must be shielded away, so they are not exposed. Throughout the decades of my career, I have always lived by the creed that I will take all of the blame and none of the credit, purposefully shielding my team from the backlash of any mistakes. I have always felt that if I am the leader than any mistakes made are my fault, so why wouldn’t I take the blame? It doesn’t do any good to throw the person who made a mistake to the wolves. The wolves will devour the person, and then you are down one team member. I will jump in front of the wolves and shield my team from their destructive actions. In all, my job is to protect my team from anything that could bring them harm. While there are repercussions if mistakes are made, those need to be kept internal and between the team. As you know already, my feelings are that when a mistake is made, there are only three reasons that can possibly apply to why the mistake was made; lack of training, lack of communication, or lack of processes and systems.

In order to stand out as a leader you have to understand that it isn’t about you, it is all about your team. You must protect them from danger as a shepherd would and keep them happy and healthy. The happier you can keep them, the better environment you will have and the better products you can produce.

To Protect and Serve A Lesson In Leadership

In today’s article, I would like to start off by talking about being a servant leader and what that means to me. You see I have the greatest job in the world. I get to serve others and watch them flourish as tomorrows leaders. Throughout my career, I have mentored and consulted with many companies and individuals. I can’t count the number of times I have explained to others the concept of servant leadership. The idea is that you, as a leader, are in servitude to your team, not the other way around. Your most important goal should be to help your team be successful in life, as well as in their career. However, over the years I see a consistent problem with many people in leadership positions having it all backwards. These leaders think that the team is supposed to do what they are told and the team’s job is to serve the leader. It is my opinion that in most cases, anyone who falls into this category has never been trained in what true leadership is, how to implement such skills, and how amazing and rewarding it is to be a servant leader. In order to be successful as a servant leader, you must put your team’s needs ahead of your own and set your team up for success. That is what this article will touch on today.

It never ceases to amaze me how many leaders are quick to blame a team member when something goes wrong. Sometimes even going to the extreme of calling them stupid or worthless. However, in almost every case you should take a deep look in the mirror and ask yourself, what was the root cause of the problem. Did I communicate my expectations properly? Did I provide them with the proper support and training? In many cases, if you are honest with yourself, you will see that you probably fell short in one of these areas and the problem was, in fact, your fault.

I have a strong belief that most everyone wants to do a good job. There are only three factors required to ensure that someone has the ability to succeed. First and foremost is communication. Second you need processes and systems in place, and finally, you need to make sure that all team members are fully trained. If you supply your team with these fundamentals, then everything else will fall into place. So with that said let’s briefly explore these fundamentals.

Communication: Over the years I have developed strong processes to help ensure the success of my teams. The most important, and the one that has to be constantly improved, is communication. Poor communication is the number one cause of a team member not meeting your expectations. While there are hundreds of ways to improve communication, here is one simple example I used in my industry, to make sure I was clearly communicating with my team. Back in the day when I was running large projects, I would have a meeting with my team every Monday morning. We would go over a detailed three-week look ahead schedule which married with the General Contractors schedule. It would list every crew member and what was expected to be completed on a daily basis for the next three weeks. This plan would not only have what was expected to be completed but also the materials, equipment, and tools required to accomplish the tasks. I never saw a reason to go out further than three weeks because by the end of the first week you needed to adjust your three-week look ahead and revise the expectations for the following week. Things are too fluid on a construction site to expect that everything will go according to plan so constant changes need to be made and communicated to your team.

Armed with the three-week look ahead, every person on my team knew exactly what was expected of them and if they were ahead of schedule or behind schedule on a daily basis. Every team member could go home at the end of the day feeling good about what they accomplished, or concerned if they didn’t meet the daily goals. What I also found was that many team members were working through lunch or getting in early the next day because they were behind schedule. I didn’t have to tell them anything. Their pride took over, and they were self-motivated to meet the goals set on our project plan. That is the benefit of good clear communication. I want to take a minute to make an important point. When you set expectations for your team, make sure they are reasonable. If you set unattainable goals, you will end up having a team that is constantly defeated and will have an attitude of, why even try? Setting unattainable goals is a sign of a weak leader who feels they have to push everyone to their limits. This makes for a horrible working environment, and in the end, you will not keep many high performers.

Processes & Systems: I have always operated under what I call “the French fry theory.” The idea is that no matter where you go to a McDonald's; Florida, Georgia, California, or Europe, you get that same great tasting French fry. This isn’t done by accident. This is done by processes, systems, and training. You need to build a script for the customer experience. You want your team to understand exactly what you’re trying to create as well as your expectations. Processes make it easy for your team to follow. It also makes it easy to develop training in those processes and systems. This is the only way to get real consistency, be it in quality, customer experience, safety, etc. Processes and systems keep everyone tuned in to the vision of the company and the expectations of the team. I am not going to go into details about our processes. One, because I don’t want to give away anything that helps us gain a competitive advantage, but more importantly because what works for my business isn’t what will necessarily work for your business. But to keep it simple, take the time to think through what end result you want, and work backwards through each step. Then spell out a system or process for consistently achieving the desired result for each step.

Training: Training is my passion, and I could write a textbook on this subject alone, so I will try and keep this short. It’s really quite simple. What skills does your team need to obtain the create your vision? Every position that exists at your company should have a clear training guide. This guide will include specific and detailed training for every skill-set needed for that position. Hard skills are easy, such as MS Word or Excel. It would be an amazing world if companies just provided training in the hard skills, but if you want to set yourself apart and be truly world class, then you can’t stop with the hard skills. You should be training your team on all the soft skills required to see your vision to fruition, it includes leadership, how to deal with difficult people, customer service, emotional intelligence, and so many more. Again I could fill pages with soft skills in which many people should be trained but unfortunately are not. The common practice seems to be to throw them into the deep end and see if they sink or swim.

One comment I get consistently is that “I don’t have the money to provide all the training.” That isn’t true. Many people may not have the money to send all of their team members to formal training, but you can do in-house training. For example, who do you have that is the strongest in Excel? Have them put together a class to help train team members that are weaker or could learn some more advanced techniques. Or, pick your strongest leader and have them put together a series of thirty-minute training sessions for your team. Don’t have anyone that could be an in-house expert? Then send one person to some training and have them share what they learned in-house once they complete the training. Can’t afford to send one person to a class? Ok then read a book, watch a YouTube video, heck, read this article and then set up a quick training session for your team. The bottom line is getting your people trained and positioned for success.

In closing, I want to say one last thing about training. A leader once said, “I am not going to spend all that money training my team.” When asked why? He replied, “What if I spend all this money training them and they leave?” To which I asked, “What if you don’t train them and they stay?”

I hope you all enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. This article touches on my true passion which is helping others to be successful, in life and their careers.