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Tips - Articles - Presentations

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Vision: If You’re Not Customer Driven, Best Stay Off The Highway

What Would John Do? — A Leadership Case Study [300 words]

Just how important is a living vision for your organization? Critical if you’re John Rice, General Manager of Sierra-At-Tahoe ski resort, and hospitalized in the middle of your ski season.

Best Practices: — A Performance Based Management Case Study [1450 words]

Planning

Sierra-At-Tahoe has the most comprehensive and congruent customer driven operational plan of any organization I've seen. Here's what it is and how it works!

.: If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’re Likely To End Up Somewhere Else

Why E-Tail Gets Derailed - [600 words]

"There’s a huge shakeout going on," says John Warnock, chairman of Adobe Systems. "There will only be a handful of survivors." Two primary reasons for the e-tailer’s crisis: Pricing and Service

Insights Into A Winner: University of Cincinnati Administrative Services Division interview [992 words]

Accountability: In Matters Of Importance, It’s Accountability That Counts

THE ACCOUNTABILITY RACE - [262 words]

United Airlines and Southwest Airlines decided to engage in a competitive boat race. Both companies' teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance.

Organizational Situation Survey - [450 words]

Check those that apply to you and your organization. Jot your answers on a piece of paper. You’ll use them in the next section -- Managing/Leading Assessment

Managing/Leading Assessment - [450 words]

Most everyone seems to want to be a leader rather than a manager. Leading is sexier. Leading involves such dynamic activities as championing new imperatives, sponsoring reengineering teams, problem solving, decision making on critical issues, motivating people, and communicating important information.

Several Tips on Managing Change - [733 words]

Change can be difficult [often], change can be smooth [infrequently], and change can be challenging [always].

BEWARE Internet Boasters - TIPS Subscriptions Explode! [365 words]

What an incredible 60 days we’ve just experienced. TIPS subscribers are not approaching 60,000 readers. The Common Sense Managing book sales are approaching 127,000 copies. I received my second Ph D and have been asked to serve on the Boards of two Fortune 150 companies and one dot.com startup. WOW!

Unfortunately, none of the above paragraph is true.

Motivation: Call Off The Search, We Already Have The Holy Grail

Employee Retention, Part 1: Competitive Compensation & Benefits [749 words]

This is the first in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention.

Employee Retention, Part 2: Sound Organizational Structure [1156 words]

This is the second in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention.

Employee Retention, Part 3: Leadership & a Motivating Work Environment [1003 words]

This is the third in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention.

Employee Retention, Part 4: Recognition & Rewards [675 words]

This is the fourth in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention.

Employee Retention, Part 5: Employee Empowerment, Personal Growth, & Dreams [1306 words]

This is the fifth in a five part series on achieving Employee Retention.

Monkeying Around With a Motivational Work Environment? [363 words]

The following is allegedly based on actual experiments. Since I can not find the actual source, accept it for what it's worth. I have certainly seen it replicated in our organizational world.

Employee Retention Survey Results

In April, I presented The Magic of Employee Retention at the Nevada State Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM] conference. During my presentations I surveyed the participants on the retention questions listed below. I've added my comments to the survey results.

Motivation is free, so why try to buy it. - By Robert F. Gately, PE, MBA

Managers are seldom equipped psychologically to talk to their people on a personal level. One reason is that many people are managers because of their technical ability not because of their managerial or people skills.

CUSTOMER SERVICE 101 -- If You Don’t Know The Steps, You Can’t Do The Dance [2768 words]

What can this brief article possibly offer on customer service that is not already in print, film, or video? How about a brief summary of what all these publications offer. Customer Service 101 describes the basic six steps to building customer satisfaction.

eService and Other Oxymorons [307 words]

I've been reading and hearing about the lack of response and service of many Internet companies. Now I'm experiencing it first hand.

The "Perfect" Service Technician - [587 words]

This week I called for technical assistance on my computer and encountered Bob, the "perfect" technician. He was sharp, very knowledgeable, and Certified. He was ready and willing to answer all customer questions with maximum efficiency. Perfect? Well, almost perfect.

Customer Service Interview by Karon Thackston

The 1996 US White House Office of Consumer Affairs study on customer service told us that 96% of the business we lose is due to customers who perceive that we (business owners) are indifferent toward them. What are some ways we can combat this feeling of indifference?

Customer Satisfaction 102: The Operation Was A Success, But The Patient Died

CASE STUDY: John's Adobe experience - A classic non-responsive online example.

Pleasing The Boss, Rather Than The Customer — A Humorous View [245 words]

A humorous look at what happens when organizations value pleasing the boss as more important than pleasing their customers.

Reduce Costs AND Improve Customer Satisfaction - [1850 words]

Camelot? A fantasy? No, reducing costs while improving customer satisfaction can become a reality when you authorize your people to make decisions and allow them to design customer driven procedures.

CU$TOMER $ATI$FACTION $TILL COUNT$ - [884 words]

U.S. banks with the worst customer satisfaction ratings are running into the most profit troubles.

PROBLEM SOLVING -- Fixing The Problem, Not The Blame - [955 words]

Focusing on why a mistake occurred and who is to blame wastes time. The larger the mistake the less likely anyone will take responsibility for making it. Fear of repercussions makes great debaters of many of us.

But We’ve Always Done It That Way - [600 words]

Training: Training That Produces No Change Is As Effective As A Parachute That Opens On The First Bounce

Customer Treatment Training Can Make The Difference - [937 words]

Seamless customer satisfaction every day, every time, every interaction - every "moment of truth." Realistic? No. Attainable? Maybe! Building a seamless customer satisfaction organization begins with understanding what will enable us to produce successful "moments in truth."

Empowerment Training [1044 words]

No place is perfect – no one is perfect – no customer expects you to be perfect. However, they expect you to recover in near perfect time. Empowerment enables you and your organization to do this. Only an empowered Service Engineer can respond immediately to the infinite variety of customers’ needs.

Measurable Objectives -- If You’re Not Measuring It, You’re Not Managing It [858 words]

For over thirty years, I’ve observed that most training efforts are a waste. They focus on teaching people to "learn" and "understand." The problem with such training is that it is difficult to measure what someone has learned or understands until they are asked to demonstrate it with behaviors that are observable and measurable.

Motivational Training [919 words]

Want a motivated work force? One that will jump through fire, leap over buildings in a single bound, work faster than a speeding bullet? Then schedule an inspirational speech or hire a motivational speaker. If done well, you may immediately accomplish all of the above. Unfortunately, speeches that motivate people are best limited to "half-time", because second halves usually last 30 minutes, and, that’s approximately the effective length of motivational speeches.

Training That Produces No Change Is As Effective As A Parachute That Opens On The First Bounce [958 words]

Motherhood, apple pie, and training. All sacred . . . until budgets become tight. Training is the first to go because, upon close inspection, we too often discover it isn’t producing profitable results.

Turbo Charging Your Training Parachute [636 words]

‘Constitutional’ training turbo charges the training parachute. This is training "of the people, by the people, and for the people." ‘Constitutional’ training is based on several truisms.

A Recent Example That Proves The Poin

Kathy Aguglia and Francine Neilson, Customer Service Managers for Ivoclar North America, are two great examples of the five percent who "do it" — walk the talk.

Applying The 85 — 15 Rule To Training - [960 words]

Before attempting to use training to fix a problem, make sure it’s a problem training can fix. You could save up to eight-five percent of your training dollars, while reducing staff frustration and cynicism.

10 Dirty Words