An experiment – Please sing the Eagles ‘Hotel California’ from the first verse (you may get some ‘what the…?’ looks if people are nearby). I’ll get you started… “On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair…” How far did you get before the words became a tad ‘ad-lib’? Please continue the experiment and get some of your team to sing it. How was their version? Were the words, harmony, tempo the same as yours?

So how do you think it would sound if you all got together and tried singing it at the same time with different words / harmony / tempo? Not pleasant I’m guessing. The problem is, all you had to work with was a song title – albeit a very popular song title (for anyone over 35 that is).

Here are some other very popular ‘song titles’. Customer Service – Safe work practices –Good work environment. They are all very popular (i.e. we hear them frequently) however I bet you are dealing with the gap of these songs being ‘sung’ in often very different ways by different people. And what happens when customers experience varying levels of service, or not all the team contribute to a good work environment?

A more fitting word for these ‘song titles’ is Standards. And the key to getting greater consistency in the delivery of these Standards is to provide your team with more than just the title. Instead of just telling team members (new and existing) that they need to provide ‘great customer service’, give them sufficient detail / examples / coaching etc. so they begin to understand how this song is played here. Otherwise the only reference point they will have is how they were allowed to play it at their last workplace.

Our clients are very clever – they document all their Standards and then have their teams regularly review, challenge and improve them. And when these companies sing, it truly is music to their customer’s ears…

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal

Close the Gap

This month I was invited to speak at a state conference in the Kimberley. The topic was one of the most contentious facing virtually every employer, in particular those in regional and remote WA… ‘How to attract and retain the right people onto your bus’.

Those attending were delightful people, but they did not hold back with their beliefs of ‘There aren’t any good people out there!’ They were however quite open to my reply ‘Of course there’s good people out there! They are just on someone else’s bus…’ Their next concern was equally as common as their first – ‘But how do we attract them when the resource sector offers so much money?’

I had them complete a short survey where they each prioritised a list of 10 employee motivators. The list included money, security, work environment etc. and was taken from research that has been conducted repeatedly over the past 50 years.

The room was made up predominantly of management. And predominately they listed these as their top 4

1. Money
2. Job Security
3. Career advancement
4. Good conditions

However what the research shows and what my experiences reinforce, is that this is what employees want most

1. Appreciation
2. A feeling of ‘being in on things’
3. Sympathetic help with personal issues
4. Job security

(Money ranked 5^th) The question I posed to them was this – ‘Can you provide the 4 things employees want most and support that with a good income and opportunities for them to be paid what they are worth?’ (e.g. KPIs tied to bonuses) Overwhelmingly, they agreed.

If ‘colossal incomes’ is a battle you can’t win, why fight it? Particularly when you may not need to fight that battle to wind up with a win – for all concerned.

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal

Close the Gap

Why is it that most people can remember stories, anecdotes, fables and gossip – often from many years ago, but seem to quickly forget a crucial mission statement, or a detailed sermon about customer service from the owner of a business? As Dan and Chip Heath point out – it’s all to do with the message’s level of ‘stickiness’

In their book ‘Made to Stick’, the brothers Heath highlight and address one of the biggest frustrations I hear from business owners – “My team just don’t listen or remember what I tell them!” What the book confirms is when information is forgotten, it has more to do with how the message is delivered.

Repeatedly when we want our team to remember something significant (e.g. why customer service is important) we set about telling them in great passionate and logical detail, backed up by compelling statistics, the reasons why we should look after customers – However, unfortunately what your team may be hearing is something akin to the Peanuts cartoon series muffled trumpet sounds used by Charles Schulz to portray the voices of adults.

The authors of ‘Made to Stick’ highlight a formula that makes messages far stickier. They’ve fashioned it into a simple (albeit a bit cheesy) acronym – S.U.C.C.E.S. Simple. Unexpected. Concrete. Credible. Emotional. Story. Essentially they rightfully suggest that to make messages stick – you should use a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story instead of a longwinded, data-heavy, logical rant!

An example for the ‘why customer service is important’ conundrum might be to gather your team together and offer this succinct proposal – ‘The reason we all get out of bed and come to work is because of  our customers. They are the only reason we exist’ Then ask them for their viewpoints on that. It’s likely to be a very memorable discussion.

Yours in profitable and enjoyable Business

Jeff Austin
Actual to Ideal
Bunbury Business Development

A Gap is simply the difference between what you’re Actually getting and what you Ideally want. And although some gaps might be big and seem insurmountable – virtually all of them can be closed.

Unfortunately, just about all of them can be made bigger, if your gap closing approach isn’t quite right. Here are 5 common mistakes and 5 better approaches.

Common approach and Common result

1. Spend large parts of your day putting out spot fires. Usually fixes symptoms, not causes
2. Send underperforming team members off on a training course or a ‘Gee-em up’ session. If the problem is systemic, training can make the problem bigger
3. Talk about problems in meetings – Talk about problems in meetings – Talk about… (you get the picture) No one takes action so you just do it yourself
4. Use a carrot and/or stick approach to motivate people to lift their game. Rewards & punishment achieve the same result – short term compliance
5. When standards are not being reached, ignore it because it seems too hard. You give people permission to continue

A Better approach for a Better result

1. Use a process (e.g. ‘5 whys’) that unearths the root cause and apply the right fix. Close the gap permanently
2. Look for gaps in your systems and your communications before trying to ‘fix’ people. You close the gap for current and future team members
3. Ask better questions – “What didn’t go well last week?” “What needs to be done better?” Get team members to implement their solutions
4. Be a referent leader who demonstrates integrity, consistency, fairness, openness. Develop lasting motivation that comes from within people (intrinsic)
5. Document and discuss (audit) company standards often. Close gaps regularly by being hard on problems – not on people

This short space doesn’t allow the opportunity to provide great detail on ‘how’ to go about the above approaches. However rest assured that it is all achievable. I spent the first 8 1/2 years of my business life completely in that left column. And if I can make the change, there’s hope for everyone!

Yours in profitable and enjoyable Business

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal
Bunbury Business Development

To get any benefit whatsoever from this month’s article, please watch the following video clip first – otherwise this artcile will make no sense (or less sense than normal)

So before reading any further, please watch this 2 minute video – Go on. Stop reading… You’re still reading!

OK. So how many changes did you see on the first viewing? Did you come anywhere close to seeing the 21 things that changed? Initially I (like many others) saw nil!

Why is that? What does the video demonstrate? There are several key messages here that tie into some of the gaps you may be experiencing with team members / customers / suppliers

• It’s easy to miss something you are not looking for
• Just because you don’t see it happening , doesn’t mean it isn’t happening
• The way you see something isn’t an exclusive viewpoint – it’s just your view point.

An example would be an argument about the colour of the detective’s coat. If you said it was grey and I said it was tan, who’d be right? Yes, both of us, but both would likely be very passionate and steadfast about our truth.

And as we’ve discussed in the past, there is frequently more than one truth. Our individual truths are based on the lens we look through. The conditioning we’ve had. Past experiences and the assimilation that creates. These points may help

• Consider that a person’s different truth might actually be right
• Lead with questions. Ask for other’s viewpoints
• Understanding someone’s truth doesn’t obligate you to agree with their truth
• Any if you find that people just don’t listen to you, could it be because you’re not listening to them!

The video reinforces the case for open-mindedness. And given that ‘differing truths’ is the catalyst for most conflict, it appears to be a case worth considering

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin
Actual to Ideal
Bunbury

Here are a couple of options for things you could do right now. Please choose your preference.

1. Confront someone about something that you are quite certain will turn into an uncomfortable discussion
2. Anything else

For those that chose option 1, you can stop reading. The rest of you please stay with me. It’s no secret that the majority of us would rather do almost anything that initiate conflict. And one of the sure fire ways to get emotions running hot is to confront someone about money…right?

So is it fair to assume that it is generally confronting for your team members to talk to you about their pay rates – that is until they are almost at breaking point. They might bail you up and blurt out something like “I can’t cope with this rate of pay. My friends earn much more than me. If I can’t get a rise I have to look for another job because I work hard and I heard that Julie in accounts earns more ….”

So what’s the simplest way to avoid confrontational conversations?

Have them frequently so they are not topics of conflict. Talk about pay rates (formally) at least every 6 months. Make it a safe and regular discussion. Try asking team members this simple question – “Do you feel you are being paid what you are worth?” (The key word there is ‘worth’) There are no dangerous answers to that question.

To remove virtually all conflict out of pay discussions you simply to need to install ‘proof’. That is, provide your team members with processes that give them the proof that they are, or equally are not, worth more. And if they have proof they’re worth more, pay them with a smile on your face because you will have won 5 fold. If the proof shows they’re not, help them put a plan into place to prove otherwise.

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal
Business Coach

After 2 ½ weeks holidaying in our North West I come back with memories that will likely last as long as I do. These recent memories will travel down my hippocampus and will be stored in my prefrontal cortex (yes, I looked it up!) and will be recalled upon whenever the appropriate trigger is fired.

Similarly, we all have entrenched memories of our experiences dealing with business. I’m confident that you can easily recall a particularly bad or unpleasant experience as a consumer. Equally, or perhaps with a little more effort, you can remember an exceptionally good or enjoyable one.  These good and bad experiences often start from the first point of contact and spiral upwards or downwards from there.

The key is that ‘normal’ is rarely memorable. Giving customers an OK, average, and satisfactory experience is a safe way of avoiding being filed in the bad experience brain folder, but equally you will not wind up in the folder of great experiences customers will tell others about.

And because there is so much ‘normal’ going on out there, you don’t have to go to extremes to be different and memorable. From a different greeting – e.g. “Hi, thanks for coming in. How can I help you today?” Through to sending a note and small gift a week after a purchase thanking the customer for their business. It costs very little to be different and memorable and I have proof that the payback is worth it.

And yes, I know customers can make things difficult at times. Just yesterday I received the greeting I love to hate of, “Are you right?” and being the professional smartarse I am, I responded with “No, but my doctor told me that the pills would help”. And the experience went downhill from there.

Cheers!

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal
Close the Gap

In late 2006 I was asked to coach a large an outbound sales team who were experiencing a four month slump in sales revenue.

To get to the potential causes, I asked them ‘What are the reasons when you do hit your sales targets?’ On the whiteboard I noted the answers they enthusiastically called out… ‘We follow up leads’. ‘We ask good questions’. ‘We serve our existing clients well’. ‘We use our sales time well’…

I then asked the reasons behind when they missed their sales targets over this 4 month period, and these were their responses. ‘The market is flat’. ‘The promotions department are not running any good specials’. ‘The election has got people spooked’ ‘There’s been supply issues’…

Looking at the two lists, I clarified, ‘So, when things are going really well, that’s your fault right?’ The word ‘fault’ threw them a bit, but they agreed that yes it was. I then asked, ‘And when things are going pear shaped that’s not your fault…right?’

An uncomfortable silence engulfed the team as they looked at the conflicting lists. To their credit, they soon understood when I broke the silence by saying ‘Guys, you can’t have it both ways. Responsibility isn’t a part time job!’

If you or your team are patting yourselves on the back when things are going great (as you ought to), but there is collective finger pointing when things go sour, please consider this. A business that instils a culture of ‘accepting responsibility’ when things are good and bad means they have the power to replicate the good and the power to fix the bad – because both are their fault. A business whose people do not accept responsibility (or do it part time), render themselves Powerless!

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin
Actual to Ideal
Bunbury Business Coach

You don’t need to read a business improvement article to know that the quality of your relationships (business or otherwise) will depend on the quality of your communication. (But please keep reading anyway!)

So we know that communication is important – and I’m confident that you had some formal training in communication – right?

Reading? – You bet. Writing? – For sure. Speaking – Very likely. Listening – –what? Perhaps not?

Of all the communication processes that build trust and in-turn quality relationships, isn’t ‘listening’ the most influential one? Can you recall the last time someone did not listen to you? How did you feel? Did it frustrate you that they just wouldn’t take time to understand?

And there is the crucial difference between listening (or hearing) and active listening – or ‘Listening to understand’. The truth is, when we are in conversation with someone we are generally listening to respond – that is, thinking about what we are going to say next (my ex-wives will attest that I was great at that!)

Like all communications, listening is a skill and like all skills, it can be dramatically improved upon – if you want to improve it! And active listening does not have a down side. Depending on the discussion, you will likely;

• gain a deeper understanding of needs
• allow the other person to unload and thereby relax somewhat
• appreciate why someone feels the way they do
• get a new/broader insight into something
• learn something
• build rapport and trust (we all crave to be understood)

And if you need more reason to improve your active listening – ‘understanding’ someone does not compel you to agree with them – but you will understand and therefore give yourself the greatest opportunity to respond effectively and accurately.

So next time someone is annoyed with you, go ahead and give them a damn good listening to!

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal
Bunbury Business Coach

A while back I was meeting with the team of about 20 from an industrial company and I asked them how they knew when they were doing a good job? They replied, “When the boss is not kicking us in the arse!” Thankfully that ‘boss’ has grown and the team now has some more measureable performance benchmarks in place.

This month’s article is the 50^th since the Bunbury Chamber first asked me to contribute a little over 4 years ago. Although unlikely to make it onto the list of gazetted national holidays, I felt it was worth acknowledging.

We often overlook these small milestones due to a lack of measurement. For example, had I not numbered each article in my records, this mini milestone would have come and gone with no recognition at all.

‘If you can measure it, you can improve it’. Further to that, ‘if you do measure it, you’ll know when you have achieved it’ And there are a multitude of ways that you can set simple measurements (Key Performance Indicators) for any area of business. Here are a few examples

• Sales departments –Revenue and GP % targets
• Customer Service People – Customer Satisfaction benchmarks (results gleaned from a concise survey)
• Manufacturers  – Lost time to injury (LTI) or rework benchmarks
• Specialists who bill by the hour – Billable hours (productivity) and efficiency benchmarks
• Manual labourers -  Punctuality or peer satisfaction benchmarks

And when you are setting KPIs/benchmarks be sure they meet these 3 criterion

1. They are relatively easy to measure
2. Those aiming for the goal have a strong influence on reaching it (i.e. it’s not out of their control)
3. The attainment of the goal benefits business, team and ideally, the customer

Why do they have ‘goals’ in sport? Without them, you’d have nothing to aim for.

Yours in prosperity and fun

Jeff Austin

Actual to Ideal -

Close the Gap

Bunbury Business Coach