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This is one of those small
companies led by giants. Selected
Funeral and Life Insurance Company, nestled into the craggy limestone
cavities of Hot Springs,
Arkansas, has consistently
cared about its customers and staff.
Out of the past six years I have had the good fortune to be a
presenter at their annual seminar on four occasions. Over these years, this annual trip to Hot
Springs has given me more than clients; I have added
dear friends to my life. Thanks,
SFLIC, for giving me a model of a healthy work team doing worthy work.
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Here is the story…you
have heard it before.
You work with a
coworker who is not “engaged.” This
person does the bare minimum to stay employed, submits mediocre work after
the deadlines, complains about everything and everyone and gives you the
impression there has been a sinister, cosmic plan to make all of life a
living Hades for him/her.
If the coworker was
not bad enough, in walks your immediate boss who asks to speak to you in
private. When the door is closed,
your boss states, “I have concerns about the productivity and attitude of
your coworker and I would like to get some feedback from you.”
The dilemma of this
moment is how can you be honest without making this conversation an opportunity
for a personal vendetta or “payback”?
Come on, let’s be honest. If
you have been silently suffering with this insufferable person, an
opportunity to even up this score is very appealing.
I have two
suggestions.
First, ask your boss
the purpose of this conversation. If
the boss says, “Well, I just want to get some information from people who
work closest with this person,” I recommend you respond, “I will be happy
to give my observations about this person’s productivity if _____________
is in the room with us.”
You may have a fully
trusting, positive working relationship with your boss but unless the
coworker is in the room to hear what you actually said, distortion of your
words and intent will undoubtedly follow.
Think about the implications of this private conversation if this
coworker is not terminated and you have to sit across from each other for
the next 20 years!
Second, if the three
of you do sit down, keep your comments factual. If you begin to disgorge your emotional
menu like, “I am carrying _________ (your coworker) around here and I am
just sick and tired of pretending nothing is wrong. And ___________ (your boss) you know I am
right. It is all I can do to walk
through these doors every day.”
Projecting yourself to
be the victim will not do anything for your future with this
organization. The “poor me” syndrome
communicates a weak, victim image.
This is a difficult
dilemma but you will make it even worse if you consent to a clandestine
conversation with your boss which may result in an even more acidic
relationship with your coworker…who is reading “People” right now instead
of working.
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He has won the
Pulitzer Prize three times for his regular contributions to The New York Times. He has written four
previous books. He is regularly
interviewed on network and 24 hour cable news outlets. And, he is Thomas Friedman.
If there are any of
you who religiously read LeMonAide,
you will know about three years ago I recommended his
fourth book, The
World is Flat.
Friedman is an adept
researcher, observer and wordsmith whose thinking I want to recommend to
you in his latest book, Hot,
Flat and Crowded (ISBN:
13: 978-0-374-16685-4).
The subtitle of this
book will give you the essence of Friedman’s premise, “Why we need a green
revolution—and how it can renew America.”
The approach this
astute and well-researched author has taken is the capitalistic society we
regard so highly is exactly what we need to energize our move into a
non-carbon based future. If he was a
screaming environmentalist who resembled some displaced Woodstock
alumnus, I could understand foot-dragging on the way to the compost
pile. But, Friedman has done his
homework and makes intriguing arguments for leveraging the power of
capitalism to create a cleaner, healthier and wealthier future. This book is worthy of your time.
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New
Article for Free Download
There
are times in all our lives when we all need a little free advice. I have taken the liberty to offer you
some today in my latest article for a free download entitled, Skills to Find a Sea Anchor in the
Storms of Life.
If
you are getting tossed around right now by an uncertain workplace, a
relationship gone sour, a child you do not know anymore, more outgo than
income…well, you get the idea. I
have four initiatives you can take to slow the craziness down with a
maritime analogy…the sea anchor.
To obtain a copy of
the article, please go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the Downloadable Resources
option. After filling out a brief
form, you’ll see a list of articles currently available.
CD
Training Programs
I
have professionally produced seven 50-minute training programs. Here are three I think will be of special
help to you and your workplace during these challenging times in our
economy.
Skills
to Motivate the Stuck, Entitled Employee
Skills for Prioritizing
My Chaos
Skills to Find My Next
Big Idea (from my small brain)
To
order a copy of any of these CDs, go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the
Our Products option. You will see a
list of products currently available.
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You have dragged
yourself into your workplace or you are meeting with a client in a public
place. You “dragged” yourself
because you are not feeling well.
What do you do?
First, if you believe
you may infect other people, stay home!
There is one sure way to lose respect and business: make a colleague or customer sick.
Second, if you are
nursing a bad cold and have a runny nose, excuse yourself and heartedly
blow your nose. If you dab your
nostrils through the conversation, the faucet between your eyes will not
abate. Just do it right the first
time.
Third, if you are
running a temperature above 98.6 F, go home. There is some cause of an infection and
the longer you “stick it out,” the longer your recovery time. It is like the mechanic at your auto
dealership, “You can pay me now, or you can pay more later.”
Fourth, you will need
two immunizations for the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) and one shot for the
regular flu. This is the time to
call your physician to find out your eligibility for both of these preventative
measures. And, note this fall
appears to be the time when the Swine Flu will make its appearance in full
force. This can be a deadly disease.
Finally, obsessively
wash your hands. If you want to keep
working, your best prevention is personal hygiene. Soap and hot water throughout your work
day will keep infectious germs off your hands which can be spread to your
nose, lips or eyes.
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If
you cannot seem to get “anything done” before you leave work, try this.
The
problem is not that you are lazy or unfocused. Rather, this issue is you have 1.7
million things started but not completed.
The reason there are “half-baked” projects all over your “to do”
list is you find it convenient to be dissuaded by “crises.”
A
“crisis” in your workday is something you simply have to do and must drop
everything to get it done. So, you
started your workday on a project which has been at the top of your “to do”
worksheet for the last three weeks.
You are encouraged with the progress you are making when your cell
phone rings, your boss’ head pops into your workplace or a desperate e-mail
makes a command performance appearance on the stage of your professional
life. You drop everything, including
the long-delayed project, to get the 911 siren call answered.
So,
how do you handle this? You have to
respond to emergencies. The problem,
as I have observed in my own professional life and those of my clients, is
we do not go back to the original project.
We passively wait for or even invent the next crisis. Therefore, at the end of the day, we
cannot look at one completed project and mutter on our commute back home,
“I didn’t get a thing done today.”
Here
is the solution.
Start
the project and respond to the crisis.
Then, immediately, go right back to the project and keep working on
it until it is finished.
You
are saying, “Cal,
hello, there will be another crisis.”
And I agree. Just keep
working on the project and take every crisis but do not sit around waiting
for the next one to develop.
If
you can look back over eight or ten hours of work and see the completion of
at least one major accomplishment, work will become rewarding.
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I
have five, tried and proven, methods for making a trip on a regional jet
(50 to 70 passenger capacity) bearable.
First,
when you make the reservation, I strongly recommend you ask for a window
seat. If you choose the aisle, be
prepared to have elbow or shoulder surgery following your trip. This plane is so small you cannot help
but be battered the entire trip by either a refreshment cart or fellow
passengers on their way to and from the world’s smallest restroom.
Second,
use the restroom at the airport before you embark. I have never used one of these minuscule
relief closets and have made it my life’s goal to go to my grave
maintaining this record.
Third,
bring a book, magazine or some electronic recorder for music, movies or
audio books. If you think you will
get out your laptop and do a little work, you undoubtedly also firmly
believe in the Tooth Fairy. I gave
up trying to produce work on my laptop (which is only three pounds in
weight) on regional jets.
Fourth,
lower the armrest between you and your seat mate. Granted, the two of you will “touch” in a
variety of ways on this trip, but having the armrest in the down position
just establishes a personal privacy zone.
Finally,
unless you are pressed for time, allow everyone to get off this flying
torture chamber before you unwind your body and walk erect out the
door. I just find when we land,
everyone who is mildly claustrophobic will act out frantic bodily moves to
get out and through the door.
Welcome
to the growing unfriendly skies.
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You
may have missed this, but you can now “listen” to the enrichment ideas I
have for you through MP3 downloadable files. Specifically, here are the five
titles I presently have out there on my web site. These are free for you to listen to or
place on some electronic recording device (iPod Touch, iPhone, Blackberry,
etc.).
“Annual
Performance Review”
“Mouth to Mouth
Resuscitation for Dead Meetings”
“The Myth about Getting
Even”
“It Won’t
Happen…Overnight”
“The Good News in All
the Bad News”
To
listen to any of these MP3 files, go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the
Downloadable Resources option. After
filling out a brief form, you can choose the Podcasts option and see the
list of currently available downloadable files.
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There
is something called “physicality” in selling.
If
you have a written proposal, a tangible product or printed brochure you are
bringing to a sales conversation with a perspective customer, watch the way
you physically handle these items.
Specifically,
when you hold an item which means something to you, and you want it to be
important to your potential customer, do the following: (1) keep the item out of sight until you
are ready to insert its importance in your conversation, (2) physically
hold the item, not in front of you, but to one side, (3) hold the item
close to you, not at a distance, and (4) when you talk about the item, look
at it.
Those
suggestions may seem insignificant, but how you physically relate to what
you are selling is just as important as what you “say” about your product.
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The dates
below represent Dr. LeMon's work with individual
companies/organizations. If you would like a personal conversation with
Dr. LeMon if he is in your geographic area, please send an e-mail with that
request at least two weeks prior to his appearance.
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August 28-September
10, 2009
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Western Europe
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September 13, 2009
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Blue Springs,
Missouri
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September 14-15,
2009
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Houston, Texas
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September 16, 2009
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Branson, Missouri
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September 17-18,
2009
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Houston, Texas
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September 21, 2009
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Richmond, Kentucky
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September 22, 2009
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Madison, Alabama
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September 23-24,
2009
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Houston, Texas
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September 25, 2009
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Springfield,
Missouri
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September 29-30 2009
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Houston, Texas
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In
this month’s section on excellent writing skills, I will provide the content for responding to a
letter or e-mail of complaint. Have
you recently received one of these?
First,
never respond out of emotion. If
your “affect” (feeling) dominates your “cognition” (brain), be prepared for
the reader to “mirror” you. Your
customer can “read between the lines” just like you. If you are angry, frustrated or disgusted
when you pen this response, the person at the other end will mimic your
emotional tone and the two of you will have a shouting match through
written communication.
Second,
identify the “trigger event” that precipitated the complaint. It is important for you to “feel” what
the customer felt. You cannot do
that unless you completely understand the situation.
Therefore,
you may want to begin the letter with a genuine statement like, “Your
letter caused me (us) to reevaluate the quality of our product. It is obvious you have had a
disappointing experience with our company.”
Third,
state what you can do to satisfy the customer without using the word
“policy.” Customers do not want to
hear about your policy. They do want
to hear you have understood the customer complaint and what you plan to do
about it.
The
next paragraph, therefore could read, “Here is what I can offer to
compensate for ….”
Finally,
reinforce the customer connection with a concluding statement like this,
“Please contact me at the above address or call at (phone number) if I can
be of further help to you. We are in
business to surprise our customers with service. Please let me know if we have fulfilled
this pledge to you.”
Yes,
there are some customers you will never satisfy. You will never know if this is the case
unless you write a competent, respectful response to a complaint letter.
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