Economic Slowdown?

By Robert Hougland

[dropcaps type=”circle” color=”” background=””]W[/dropcaps]hile some form of economic slowdown may seem possible at times, it is important to occasionally prepare for it. In 2007, the experts varied widely in their opinions of an economic slowdown. A few responsible opinions bear consideration. Interviewed on the KNX Business Hour, Jack Kyser, Chief Economist of the Los Angeles Economic piecharts graphsDevelopment Corporation retained his 40% possibility of recession prediction with the qualifier that Orange County would suffer more than other SoCal counties. On the same program, John Augustine, Chief Investment Officer at Fifth-Third Asset Management pointed out that two precursors to past recessions are not in place: there were no excess inventories in other than housing, and all segments of the export market were healthy. In testifying before a Congressional committee, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke expressed support for a prompt economic stimulus package, but maintained his position that 2008 would not see a recession.

Regardless of who was eventually proven right or wrong, we need to be ready for slow economic growth. Economic slowdown can mean that some marketplaces and the revenue they generate are going to grow more slowly than normal…and some may even decline for a while. Permit me to share some thoughts from what I’ve seen about small businesses during down economic times over the last 30 years. You may well have thought of all of these, but it might be worthwhile to refresh your thinking.

You’re an entity: What happens in your marketplace and/or what happens to any or all of your competitors does not necessarily have to happen to you in similar proportion. When revenues taper off or even drop dramatically, every company in that market is not impacted identically. You have opportunities to influence how a slowdown affects you. Focus on your opportunities, not your limitations.

Think wide, not narrow: Consider the value of chipping away at expenses and costs a little bit here and there rather than focusing on one or a few areas to slash. No one likes to lay off staff, but make sure you’ve explored the alternatives of reduced hours, cutting overtime, etc. And, consider the long-term implications of layoffs: you may be able to do some reorganization to permanently trim some fat. Just make sure your job descriptions are based on functions which need to be performed, not the particular array of skills of specific employees. Finally, don’t overlook profitability. If you can trim your profit expectations for a few months, you can relieve some of the cost-cutting pressure.

Don’t stop marketing: The biggest and most common mistake I’ve seen owners/CEOs make is to slash or even trash their marketing/sales/advertising/promotion budget(s) when revenue drops off. Of course, you gotta do what you gotta do. But, consider these things: 1) With very rare exceptions, your revenue stream isn’t going to totally dry up…there will be continued demand to some reduced degree for what you sell. 2) As your customers become more selective in their purchases of goods and services and as they seek to consolidate vendors, you have the chance to distinguish yourself even more from your competitors. 3) Its likely that some or possibly most of your competitors are going to chop their marketing budgets, and the ones who do are working from a position of weakness while those who don’t from a position of strength. 4) Numerous studies have shown that its more difficult for a customer to stop ordering or to cancel an order from a vendor with whom they have good rapport than one who’s just another supplier. 5) Perhaps most important, if you can gain some market share during a downturn, that will translate to better market share and profitability when the market rebounds. So, what can you do?

good times mkt sharebad times mkt shareback to good times mkt share

Maintain contact with your customers to the greatest degree possible. Talk to your large customers personally. Listen to their problems and see if you can offer any kind of help.

Be creative: Are there ways where you can “package” your products together to make them more attractive? Are there any premiums or freebies you could offer on the short-term? (Many industries, particularly the auto industry, have found that the most effective is something that improves the usefulness or enjoyment of the basic purchase). Can you give some kind of short-term financial break in return for a commitment to keep buying from you? Look at your vendors the same way. What can they do to help you to reduce inventories or costs?

Keep the blinders off: You never know what might be important to a customer or prospect and what will influence them to continue buying from you. Some examples from my experience:

A client was seeking to take a $400K/yr contract with an aircraft manufacturer away from a competitor. Knowing the prospect was looking to cut costs, we interviewed the buyer and learned they had problems with internal distribution of large, palletized shipments among their many buildings over several square miles. We met with the receiving supervisor and several shop foremen, then returned to the receiving dock with an idea: custom, rather than bulk, palletizing with additional color-coded labels to identify destinations, backed up with availability of one of our knowledgeable people to answer questions. The supervisor agreed to write a letter to the buyer on our behalf, and we got and kept the contract without having to underbid our competitor. Our cost was about one manday of blue collar time per month and we maintained a normal profit margin.

A company providing technical consulting services to a major insurance company was notified of the necessity to look at cutting back or even cancelling the contract because of new budget constraints. We put ourselves in the client’s shoes and took the initiative to present a new proposal. By separating the observation and information-gathering portions of the project from the analysis and documentation portions, we could have our high-hourly-rate professionals work at home instead of client-provided offices and reduce their on-premise time to alternate weeks and even every third week. Since we didn’t have adequate office space, all the consultants agreed to work at home and we would reimburse them for telephone expenses (this was pre-internet). Finally, we prioritized some of the steps in the project, identifying those which could be obeyed without interfering with goals, and we told the client we’d pick up the long-distance bills. The client said the reduced billable hours along with reduced transportation, lodging, per diem, etc. didn’t quite match his economy goal, but it was so close that he agreed to the changes and found the dollars he needed else where. Eventually, the hours that were postponed were made up.

My client who sold primarily to the hospitality industry was devastated by the impact of 9-11, and we rushed to see what we could do to salvage as much business as possible has hotel and restaurant business dropped dramatically. By learning some of the changes our customers were going to make, we were able to determine that earlier daily deliveries would be helpful. Since we used our own fleet, it was easy to schedule trucks to leave the plant at 2AM instead of 3AM to accommodate our customers’ new needs, and we implemented it within 24 hours. By taking a critical look at our internal operation, we were able to offer acceptance of orders until 4PM for next day delivery instead of 2PM. Several large accounts actually consolidated their business with us because we were there promptly with two workable solutions, even though the total volume lagged for a while.

Keep your presence out there: As much as possible, maintain your advertising and promotion activities so your name remains in the minds of your customers and prospects. I’ve lamented with a number of CEOs over the years who, after the fact, realized that pulling in their horns in caused them to lose market share during a tough period and that they faced an uphill battle to try to win those customers back. One client thought long and hard about not attending a trade show which they hadn’t missed in years. Deciding finally to go, he discovered that both of his major competitors backed out and he came back with plenty of business cards of people for follow-up.

Bottom line: Your customers will continue to buy something from someone. You need to be aggressive and show interest to keep them in your corner, although in reduced volumes for a while. When the economy bounces back, if you’re the supplier or provider who helped that customer through his rough time, you’re in the perfect position to reap the benefits in man carrying piea robust market. You could rebound with an increased market share.

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2014

Bob Hougland holds a BA in Psychology and is a Vietnam vet with almost 5 years’ USAF active duty. He began his business career in the fast-track executive development program at AT&T, but sought out smaller employers. For most of a decade, he held sales management positions at L.A. radio stations KIIS, 93KHJ, and K-EARTH101, and created a successful marketing consulting division for RKO General Radio. With both sales management and marketing management awards under his belt, he founded RGH MARKETING. He now is the Owner/Consultant at SuperTemp where he continues his career of helping good organizations be better, new ones to get off the ground and bringing some back from the brink of failure. He is a strategist who sees opportunities where others see problems and bring lessons learned in a wide range of industries to bear on new situations. He can be reached at 803-774-7777 or SuperTemp@pacbell.net or you can read his blog at http://businessguy.biz/.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training and operational productivity improvement.

To order the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code” please go to www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Opportunities Could Be Standing Right In Front of You

By Dana Borowka, MA

[dropcaps type=”circle” color=”” background=””]I[/dropcaps]f this topic keeps you up at night, we have some ideas for you to consider and implement so your sailboatorganization will not only make it through the current state of business but will thrive well into the future! You’ll know by reading this article if your ship is heading towards the rocks, towards the open sea or on a clear course to your destination.

Think for a moment about the various components of a boat that are needed in order to keep it afloat and heading in the intended direction. Observe how they compare to your organization.

Components of a Vessel

Hull – Need to have a structure that can endure and thrive in the elements.
Fuel – The energy needed to move the vessel forward and towards its destination.
Crew – The crew will either make sure the ship reaches its destination in a timely manner or cause it to go off course or cause an incident that could result in loss of resources.

The Changing Environment

Water is the most unstable surface on our planet. No matter how much planning a business does a rogue wave can come along and cause havoc. This might be changes in the market, unhappy clients, distribution channels, technology, financial, etc. Preparation can only go so far yet if your organization has one key ingredient you’ll be able to survive and thrive beyond your wildest dreams.

Key Ingredient to Thrive

The answer always comes back to having the right crew on board. It all begins with the selection process, mentoring and staff development. If this is done correctly or you have the right people with potential for growth, you’ll not only make it through to 2013… you’ll also be ready to ride the wave of 2014 and beyond! Let’s take a look at how this works.

By having the right crew on board, you’ll have:

  1. Contributors – That will help the ship reach its course through innovation, ingenuity, timely fulfillment of tasks, follow through, etc.
  2. Happy customers – They’ll keep coming back due to the outstanding service and quality of the product.
  3. Happy employees – They’ll go the extra mile for the organization and its customers. This also leads to positive word of mouth that can attract top talent.
  4. Open Minded Culture – Problem solving is the key to anticipate needs, deal with weather changes, being open to adapting to the environment.
  5. Profitability – You’ll meet your organization’s goal and objective where everyone is rewarded for doing a great job and your organization will be able to continue to provide services and products with the opportunity to visit other destinations in the future.

ocean waveAn organization can build a sturdy ship but without the right people behind the scenes it won’t leave port. All this starts with the captain of the ship and with its officers. If they select the correct crew up front, they know the job will get done correctly, in a timely manner and the work can be trusted. Can you trust that your crew will do their job not only correctly and in timely manner? Do they also contribute ideas for further improvement so you can get the maximum value from each individual?

If the answer is “I’m not sure” then your answer may be reflective of the future survival of your vessel. Every organization must have all hands on deck with crew members that are excited and grateful to be aboard and have the ability to perform the best they can.

A Whale of a Tale for Teamwork

A manager once had an outstanding team but always told everyone what to do. This person didn’t listen, didn’t ask questions, demanded a higher level of volume without asking if the organization could handle it and created a closed environment. Over time things started to slip through the cracks, customers were not getting the attention they needed, sales slipped, people started to leave and the organization began to develop a bad reputation where recruitment became a problem. Upper management stepped in and started to ask the team members for their feedback. It turned out that the manager was not a good fit for that position and was transitioned into another department. When the new manager was selected, it was based not only on experience but also the ability to work with others. They learned that it is vital to understand a person’s work style and how they interact with others in order to have a high performing team. If just one person isn’t “playing well in the sandbox” the effects can ruin a brand and effect sales and future growth of an organization.

A Checklist for Success

  1. When selecting the crew – have a clear understanding of the ideal crew member and have a system and process to assure you have selected the correct crew members. This can be done through interviewing and asking questions for specific examples and compare those answers to what an ideal crew member would do. Gather as much data as possible from reference and background checks as well as provide an in-depth work style and personality assessment with Lighthouse Consulting Services. The information should be used to validate the interview responses, background and reference checks.
  2. Ask each current crew member for feedback on where they see the team and themselves could be more efficient in the market place within the next 30-60-90 days. This means that everyone on your ship needs to have their eyes and ears open to seeing where it might be possible to improve and enhance processes, structure, services, customer service, etc.
  3. Captains and officers need to listen to everyone and create a truly open environment. Come up with three things that you can do that will make that happen.
  4. Define what the ideal crew member would possess in skills, work style and personality and make it measurable.
  5. Assist the current crew to fulfill that role. Make sure you have an in-depth work style and personality assessment of your crew members so you’ll have the insight to help man on lighthouse with boatseveryone thrive and to get the best performance from every member of the team. You’ll want to know how someone problem-solves, deals with stress, makes decisions, processes information, creates and follows up on leads, etc. This will help to ensure that you have the right person in the correct position so they can perform to the best of their ability. Contact us at reception@lighthouseconsulting.com to get started.

If you have the right team in place, your organization will be able to deal with the many challenges that will come along during the voyage. The key is to hire right the first time and to assist those on board to be the best that they can be. This will lead to happy customers, happy employees, innovation for the future, efficiency for delivery of the product or service and of course, a profitable bottom line.

You can gather additional ideas for working with your current and future crew members by reading Cracking The Personality Code. To order this book, go to: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2014

Dana Borowka, MA, CEO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC and his organization constantly remain focused on their mission statement – “To bring effective insight to your organization”. They do this through the use of in-depth work style assessments to raise the hiring bar so companies select the right people to reduce hiring and management errors. They also have a full service consulting division that provides domestic and international interpersonal coaching, executive onboarding, leadership training, global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training, operational productivity improvement, 360s and employee surveys as well as a variety of workshops. Dana has over 25 years of business consulting experience and is a nationally renowned speaker, radio and TV personality on many topics. He provides workshops on hiring, managing for the future, and techniques to improve interpersonal communications that have a proven ROI. He is the co-author of the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code”. To order the books, please visit www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training and operational productivity improvement.

The Value of Customer Service: It Can Make You or Break You

By Patrick McClure

Thank Your Customers

What impact can one person have on the revenue performance of a large supermarket? Is it possible that one person can create a company-wide impact, sending shock waves of good cheer and driving ever-increasing repeat business? How can one person make such a difference?man holding rainbow

In one Midwestern supermarket chain, this is exactly what happened.

The following story was relayed to me by Barbara Glanz, a world-renowned professional speaker who delivers programs about how to create Legendary Customer service.

It was two days after she delivered one of her programs to a large supermarket chain when she received a telephone call from a 19-year old youngster – Johnny – who had Down syndrome. He bagged groceries at the supermarket. He told Barbara that he really enjoyed her program and had some ideas to make a difference in his company and wanted to know if she would approve. He wanted to create personal messages, handwritten, with inspirational ideas and thoughts and then wanted to drop these ideas into the grocery bags of his customers. Each of his customers would receive a message from Johnny. Barbara told him she thought this was a great idea, and with his manager’s approval that is what he did.

Two weeks later, Barbara received a call from the store manager. He reported that he now had a problem….there were long lines of people waiting at the cash register that Johnny was working. When he tried to move the customers into another less crowded line, they insisted on staying where they were. They wanted Johnny to bag their groceries, and to get his message.

Johnny’s actions inspired others in the store. The flower merchant began handing out spare flowers to young children and older ladies. The butcher wrapped his meat in special packages; the produce manager went out of his way to treat customers with special care. The entire store caught fire with a storm of amazing care and attention to their customers. Bottom line, the store traffic and revenues saw a huge boost, going on to become the most profitable store in the entire chain.

Delivering excellent customer service is not only personally gratifying, but it is immensely profitable. Thanking your customers, showing your appreciation in many small ways, is just good business. How many of you are working in firms, or for your own company, that need to adopt a similar strategy? How many Johnnys work at YOUR firm?

Statistics Show

Statistics show that it is far more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing customer. One of my clients, a medical device company, has estimated that their fully burdened cost of acquiring a qualified LEAD for their product is over $1000. When you add to this the sales and market costs as well as all other expenses involved, the total hands over earthcosts can be quite large. It’s time consuming, expensive, and very costly to acquire new customers. Once they have become customers, your company should be doing everything possible to retain them, by delivering excellent customer service.

Conversely, an upset customer is 5-10 times more likely to broadcast their dissatisfaction to the world. All of the good work you do can be negated by one thoughtless comment, one angry word, and one negative comment. In today’s social media world – everything connected to the internet – a negative customer service experience is easily shared with thousands of people and can actually go “viral” when it is broadcast to thousands.

The most successful companies have developed programs to deliver excellent customer service, and are doing everything possible to protect their market share. After all, there are dozens of competitors that would love to take your customers away, and all they need is the opportunity. Don’t give them the chance! Keep your customers happy!

In Focused or Customer Focused

Another key to successful customer relations is infusing your company to the core with the principals of quality customer service. Every member of your team—executive, manager, employee – has the responsibility to deliver first-rate service to your customers. 

There is a huge difference between a company that is inwardly-focused and a company that is customer focused. Here are some distinctions:

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See if you can spot where YOUR company fits. If you’re spending all your time thinking about internal issues, you’re headed for disaster. Remember, your customers are paying your salary and if you’re not working sincerely to earn their trust and support, they can always take their business elsewhere.men putting road together

One more point: when we use the word “customer” we are talking about your outside customers as well as your inside customers. If you are a manager, you are working daily with employees and all of the customer service skills you have developed apply equally to your employees. In many ways, if you are a manager your most important “customer” is a direct report.

Active Listening

We’ve all heard one of the core maxims in providing excellent customer service: “The customer is always right. “ This is used during training and by management to convey the important concept that when a customer is upset or concerned, it never works to argue with them or discount what they are saying. What it REALLY means is that the customer’s perception of what occurred is correct for them, regardless of what you think. Their experience, and how they feel about it, is the most important factor to be dealt with, and it must be listened to and understood.

If the customer is angry, their impression of what just occurred has lead them to respond with anger, regardless of your impression. This is not the time to react, but it is a time to put yourself into their place and actively listen to what their viewpoint is. You will never be able to deliver excellent service if you REACT to the customer or immediately conclude they are stupid, ignorant or unrealistic.

Whenever you react and make a snap decision about someone else, this decision will color how you view that person. It’s like your mind is a huge magnifying glass and it will automatically seek out the character traits that you’ve decided must be there! If you perceive that the customer in front of you is messy and disorganized, then you will automatically assume their entire life must be the same way. If you feel insulted by what the other person has said, then you will project this feeling on them and the situation will worsen.

The alternative is Active Listening, a much needed skill in the business world. This requires the following steps:

  1. Shut up, stop talking.
  2. Focus your attention on the other person, calmly and professionally.
  3. Listen to their verbal communication, as well as their emotions and attitudes. Train yourself to become very perceptive with the non-verbal messages that we all project.
  4. Ask questions to clarify as needed. Listen to their answers.
  5. Paraphrase, clarify or summarize what they said to make absolutely certain you received what they said and what they meant. You will be amazed at discovering how often you didn’t fully grasp what was said.

Remember, active listening is not about you. It’s all about the other person, so get out of yourself and put your focus and attention on them. Good communication and active listening man listening to groundskills are the core component of delivering excellent customer service.

The founder of one of the most successful (and largest) companies in the world had this to say:
“Our Goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.” – Sam Walton, Wal-Mart

Final Thoughts

According to Dana Borowka, CEO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC (www.lighthouseconsulting.com) and author of Cracking the Personality Code hiring the right people is key to future growth. If you would like additional information on raising the hiring bar, please click here to see an article on this subject.

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2017

Patrick McClure, Sr. Sales & Customer Service Training Consultant of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC, is a speaker, trainer, consultant, and author who enjoys working with individuals and corporations to help them achieve maximum performance. He has dedicated his practice to helping others become more successful. To learn more, email patrick@lighthouseconsulting.com.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training.

To order the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code”, please go to www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

The Organizational Tune-Up — Time Management Assessment

By Bruce Breier – An excerpt from the book, Cracking the Business Code by Dana and Ellen Borowka

Feeling disorganized? Take the following organizational assessment and see how you can address your specific challenges. Review all the statements that apply to your office below. Now choose which ones you feel are the top challenges and look to the following chart for tips on how to make changes.

 

#

Needs Assessment

Listed below are tools and techniques that increase effectiveness and efficiency. Which ones do you need? Check all that apply in the column to the right.

Select

1,A more balanced calendar (schedule) that enables me to accomplish my priority tasks.
2.Consistent on-time delivery of requests I make of others.
3.Qualitative proactive communications with each of my direct reports.
4.Highly organized, effective, and efficient group meetings within our business.
5.A better master task list system to manage my projects, promises, and priorities.
6.A more proactive weekly and daily planning method.
7.A reduction in the number of interruptions, disruptions, and distractions I receive each week.
8.A stack-free, clutter-free office environment and work space.
9.A better system to organize and manage my email environment.
10.More time each week for personal life priorities.

For the items you selected above, which number represents the biggest need right now?

Next, for the number you selected, see the tips for improvement in the chart below.

Organization Systems

1

Private Work Time (PWT) 1. Schedule 5-10 hours of PWT each week (recurring) 2 Move rather than cancel if necessary 3. Predetermine tasks to be done during PWT

2

Acutely Clear Delegation 1. Be very clear with what and when 2. Provide adequate lead time for non-crucial requests 3. Proofread for clarity if delegating elctronically

3

One-to-One Briefings 1. Customize the frequency and schedule for all staff 2. Begin and end on time (reschedule, don’t cancel) 3. Follow a framework agenda

4

Organized Group Meetings 1. General policy: no agenda = no meeting 2. Always begin and end on time 3. Institute acutely clear endings

5

Master Task List 1. Decide on the best system for you (digital v. paper) 2. Fully populate your list with tasks and due (do) dates 3. Download and upload from the list every day

6

Personal Planning Process 1. Produce a realistic weekly task list prior to Monday 2. Institute the scheduled workday bookends 3. Predetermine the top 3 priorities each day

7

Managing Interruptions, Disruptions, Distractions 1. Diagnose prior to causing or accepting (3 sec.) 2. Establish a company-wide policy re: diagnosing 3. Seclusion and privacy during PWT

8

The Uncluttered Office 1. Perform a total office purge of the unnecessary 2. Organize chronological and categorical filing system 3. Maintain this system during the Daily Wrap-UP

9

Email Management 1. Select the best email management option 2. Setup the option and practice it daily 3. Follow email etiquette and policies at all times

10

Work-Life Balance 1. Develop written and specific personal goals 2. Put applicable personal items on your weekly plan 3. Prioritize “you”

 

Commitments

What’s the one thing you will start doing within the next 30 days to become more organized?

What’s the one thing you will stop doing within the next 30 days to become more organized?

 

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2014

Bruce Breier is an Organizational Consultant headquartered in La Jolla, California. Bruce began his consulting career in January 1978 and has many years under his belt as a facilitator, trainer, and consultant. He presents practical tips in the areas of time, paper-flow, information, project, and people management. The primary purpose of his programs is to assist busy people in leadership and management positions to become more successful by becoming more organized. Bruce has been a speaker for Vistage International since 1985 and has addressed hundreds of leaders and managers on this subject. You can reach Bruce at 858.551.8860 or bhbcs@msn.com.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training and operational productivity improvement.

To order the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code” please go to www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

What Do You And Your Team Expect From Each Other?

By Ellen Borowka, MA

What do you expect in your life? Do you find that you feel disappointed or angry, and you are not sure why? Well, you probably had an expectation that wasn’t fulfilled. Expectations play a big part in our lives. Our expectations determine whether we feel good or bad – happy or sad – content or angry – over what happens in daily life. They impact how we feel about our relationships, work, friends, and people we meet on the street, special days like holidays or birthdays and the world around us. Expectations set up the judge and jury on how we feel about our lives and ourselves. We give a great deal of power to our expectations! That is not to say that if we don’t bizpeople on blue worldget what we expect that we shouldn’t feel sad or mad. Yet, if we know more about our expectations and where they come from, then we can find ways to deal with them in a healthy manner. Then we can take our power back and have more choice in how we view and interact with our world.

The Source of Our Expectations

So, how do expectations work? Well, first we gather and accept our expectations from a variety of sources, starting from a very young age. We learn much of our expectations from our families, which can include what to expect of others and ourselves, how feelings should be expressed, and how problems should be handled. If we learned from our family that people could not be trusted, then that plays into our expectations of the world around us. Other expectations come from our religious beliefs (or those we have been brought up with); what we see in the media – television, movies, magazines, etc.; and what our society and culture holds as valuable and important. These factors all impact different aspects of our lives, like how we expect to raise our children or relate in our relationships. Or what we expect to do in our careers or believe of our limitations and responsibilities. An example of this is how media gives us definite and perhaps narrow views of gender, which influences what we expect from men and women.

The Struggle to Fulfill

The next step is how our expectations are met or not met, and we have many unhealthy ways to try to meet them. Many struggle to fulfill them by pushing or controlling situations to fit into the mold already created. We may use manipulation, persuasion, passive aggression or intimidation (with anger or tears) to fill our expectations. Or we might not do anything and allow ourselves to be disappointed so as to reinforce what we already believe about others or ourselves. When our expectations are not taken care of, then we feel those around us have failed us and that leads to anger and bitterness. We may feel used, abused and betrayed by others, which feeds into rage and distrust. Underneath the anger and betrayal is the feeling of not being loved and accepted by others and that really hurts. These feelings are made even stronger by memories of similar experiences from our past. Times when we had disappointments with our parents, siblings, friends, teachers and others. When we may have felt unloved or rejected by those around us. This can even drive us to set up expectations of others, to gain what we feel we didn’t receive as a child.

Types of Expectations

There are many different types of expectations that are based on looking to others for approval, respect, attention, and love; validation of our good self, qualities and success; to have bizman on mazecontrol or power in situations; to be taken care of by others and so on. If we didn’t receive this when growing up then that would impact our expectations of whether or not we might achieve these now. We may even unconsciously select or attract people to fill these types of expectations, who may not be able to do so. So, we sabotage ourselves and create failure from the very beginning. We may choose people that have similar issues to those from our past, like someone who has a similar temperament to our father or mother. So, we are recreating the past with all the old expectations in an effort to resolve old issues. These situations will keep coming up until we are ready to heal them. For example, many people seem to have, time after time – job after job, similar problems with their supervisors or co-workers. They need to trace the issues back to the original source, and work them out there before dealing with the present issues.

Managing Expectations

Now, how do we handle our expectations? First, it helps to be aware of what you expect, and disappointment is your first clue that an expectation was unfulfilled. Ask yourself what did you expect? What were you looking for in this situation or this person? You might need to dig around some to get to the primary issue. For example, if I hoped for a birthday card from a friend and it didn’t come, then I would think of what I expected from my friend. What did I want and need from that person? The bottomline is I wanted to know that I was appreciated and accepted by my friend. Now, this is really important if I didn’t feel appreciated or accepted by someone in my past then I would have to deal with that first.

Evaluating Expectations

Next, it is important to evaluate whether or not your expectation was reasonable and realistic. Many times we have expectations that are not reasonable or realistic, but that doesn’t mean that we are “bad” or demanding. It just means that we hope for things that, perhaps, we didn’t get at some time in our life. Occasionally, I find myself expecting my husband to know something I want or need without him being informed of my desires. What I am doing is wanting him to read my mind, which might be connected to my past where I didn’t always feel emotionally attended to. Acting on unreasonable or unrealistic expectations can cause intense disappointment and conflict with others. When evaluating your expectations, be honest with yourself – is your expectation reasonable and realistic? For example, expecting yourself to never get angry or sad is pretty unrealistic. Lastly, be clear what you expect with others. You must be able to express your expectations and not assume that others would or should know what you want. It’s difficult to get your expectations filled if you can’t communicate them to others.

Influencing Factors

An exercise to help you explore your expectations is looking at various factors that impact them. For team members, you might want to consider what you are looking for, and what do you need/want from them. How do you expect to handle conflict and communication with them? Who has control and power in this relationship? Who makes decisions and what is expected around that? How are feelings and thoughts shared? How much trust do you have in your team member? How much do you rely on each other? How do you define forgiveness and how does that affect your work relationship? What experiences, beliefs and values are impacting your expectations with them? How do you approach problems and situations with your team member – as a team or independently and what does that do to your expectations?

Self-Expectations

We have many, many expectations that we place upon ourselves, which should also be explored. What do you expect of yourself? Do you expect yourself to be a certain way? Do you expect yourself to be perfect, good and controlled? Do you judge and criticize yourself when you can’t be that way? Do you feel you should be taking care of others – perhaps filling bizwoman under magnifyglasstheir needs and desires before your own? Do you need to be in control and what do you expect of others? How do you handle conflict and why? Is it ok for you to be wrong or not know something? Do you believe that feelings must be handled in a certain way, like never losing one’s temper? Where did all these expectations come from and why? When we can understand our expectations and where they come from, then we can begin to select those we wish to keep and begin to resolve those that hold us back. We begin to gain more control and feel more satisfied with our lives. Expectations can bring hope, excitement and profitability to our team and into the entire organization. We just need to be sure that we are directing, not following, them in our lives.

Final Thoughts

According to Dana Borowka, CEO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC (www.lighthouseconsulting.com) and author of Cracking the Personality Code, hiring the right people is key to future growth. If you would like additional information on hiring, please click here to see an article on this subject.

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2014

Ellen Borowka, MA, Senior Analyst of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC and her organization constantly remain focused on their mission statement – “To bring effective insight to your organization”. They do this through the use of in-depth work style assessments to raise the hiring bar so companies select the right people to reduce hiring and management errors. They also have a full service consulting division that provides domestic and international interpersonal coaching, executive onboarding, leadership training, global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training, operational productivity improvement, 360s and employee surveys as well as a variety of workshops. Ellen has over 15 years of data analysis and business consulting experience and is the co-author of the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code”. To order the books, please visit www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training and operational productivity improvement.

The Key To Using Performance Incentives

By Marc Emmer

[dropcaps type=”circle” color=”” background=””]T[/dropcaps]he “Great Recession” was unlike any other downturn within our experience. Its effects were deep and sudden; many organizations have felt as if they had fallen off a cliff.

wavy people on a roadOne key lesson of the downturn and the giant sucking sound that followed was that businesses must be prepared for the ebbs and flows of demand, and must minimize fixed costs. Pre-recession, many companies faced rising labor costs as a result of spiraling workers compensation insurance and health care rates.

Many entrepreneurial companies utilize informal, subjective incentive plans with very high proportion of cash compensation paid out in salaries. The result is that labor costs are somewhat fixed and not married to revenue or demand. The only way for companies to cut their labor expense (when they are fixed) is to lay off workers.

While almost every Fortune 500 company employs some sort of pay-for-performance system, adoption is slower in entrepreneurial environments. Thus pay-for-performance is emerging as an important opportunity for small and mid-market companies seeking to control their profitability.

The efficacy of pay-for-performance from a motivation standpoint has been subject to vigorous debate. Yet the broader implication for companies is undeniable: pay-for-performance allows an organization to align its organizational priorities and financial performance, with the compensation it pays to its employees.

Within my experience, there are three things best-in-class companies do well:

•  They have a clear vision of the future (strategy)
•  They convert the strategy into operational terms
•  They bring their employees along for the ride

An effective scorecarding system can be the conduit between strategy and creating a management system that drives the individual performance of employees. Only once the success factors within a company and the resulting scorecard measures are identified, can an effective pay for performance system be employed.

Pay-for-performance is highly controversial and making changes to compensation systems tend to be hotly debated. I always say pay-for-performance is a lot like capitalism, it is imperfect, but it is still the best system I know. Clearly, financial incentives work best when married with other forms of motivation (such as positive reinforcement). Incentives will only change behavior when they provide an adequate proportion of compensation (20% or more). Companies that are very good at performance management use incentives as part of a performance cycle where goals are set with employees (based on the underlying strategy), and their performance is managed through the course of the year (or whatever cycle is used). Incentives are only the culmination of much discussion about how an employee increases his or her productivity and skill sets.

Pay-for-performance can take on many forms. Within our firm, we advocate for a multi-bucketed design of such plans as follows:man catching money from a tree

Bucket 1 – The financial performance of the organization
Bucket 2 – Scorecard results (numbers shared by a department or across functional departments)
Bucket 3 – Individual contributions from the employee

Organizations utilize different buckets and weighting based on a number of variables, but financial results are often heavily weighted (as high as 50%). The bucketed approach provides a balanced solution to the most compelling problems with incentive plans.

When companies pay subjective bonuses, they create an entitlement, and expose themselves to legal liability (discrimination, wage and hour, etc.). Subjective bonuses often generate two undesirable outcomes. In some cases a company performs well but individual employees do not. When equal bonuses are handed out to employees, bonuses can reinforce poor performance. The reverse is also true. When an employee performs well and their company does not, if they receive no bonus, they are de-incented. Thus the bucketed system provides the most equitable of outcomes; most strong performers will earn some bonus when business is good and a lessor pay out when business is poor.

To launch a pay-for-performance plan requires effort and timing. Most companies establish a bonus pool to be distributed only after some minimum level of profit is realized. If an organization has historically paid out subjective bonuses, the roll out of a plan causes some distress. There are always employees who will fight the use of incentives. As a general rule, good performers like performance measurement, and poor performers do not. Deploying such a system requires significant managerial courage and discipline.

man climbing moneyAs rolling back salaries is implausible, one approach is to freeze salaries in a given year and incrementally increase the richness of a bonus pool until it reaches a level of contribution that is meaningful (this could take 3-5 years if you are starting from scratch). Over time, an organization can shift from a lack of accountability to one in which goal setting is expected, and the incentive plan is part of the DNA of the company. It is strongly recommended that companies adopt a scorecard first, and gain momentum around measurement before moving to pay-for-performance. When employees become aware that their contributions will be measured through numbers, they can become highly territorial about which numbers are used, which can defeat the process.

There has never been a better time to deploy a scorecard and pay-for-performance system. As employees have had to absorb pay cuts and lay offs, they have a greater sensitivity to the requirement that their organizations sustain a profit. Leveraging labor efficiently and marrying it to corporate performance has become a strategic imperative.

Finally, a thought from Dana Borowka, CEO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC (www.lighthouseconsulting.com) and author of Cracking the Personality Code, that hiring the right people is key to future growth. If you would like additional information on raising the hiring bar, please click here to see an article on this subject:

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2014

Resources on this topic: Intended Consequences by Marc Emmer, The Compensation Handbook by Lance Berger

Marc Emmer is a speaker, author and consultant, recognized throughout North America as an expert in strategic planning and performance improvement. Marc is President of Optimize Inc. a management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning. Marc can be reached at 661-296-2568 or at marc@optimizeinc.net.

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA 90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, 360s, workshops, and executive & employee coaching. Other areas of expertise: Executive on boarding for success, leadership training for the 21st century, exploring global options for expanding your business, sales and customer service training and operational productivity improvement.

To order the books, “Cracking the Personality Code” and “Cracking the Business Code” please go to www.lighthouseconsulting.com.