Customers complain. It’s a fact of business life. Sometimes they have a valid complaint, but often they’re just cranky, having a bad day, or upset because they can’t find what they’re looking for. Whatever has set them off, they are likely to take it out on an employee. But if… Read More »What Customer Complaints May Really Mean
“Bring your team together with these team shirts.” The commercial showed groups of happy, smiling people, all wearing the same shirts with the company logo. The narrator explained that teams would be more productive when they wore the same clothes because they would feel more like a real team. Nice… Read More »Clothes Don’t Make the Team
That’s a saying I learned back in my days in the old Strategic Air Command (SAC). It reflected a culture that existed at one time in the military: the no news is good news style of leadership. In reality, most of the leaders I worked for back then didn’t really… Read More »Absence of Punishment is a Reward in Itself
I was speaking to a friend recently and the subject turned to innovation. He was working with a client who was concerned that there was no longer an innovative spirit in his company. It reminded me of a conversation I had recently had with a client who wasn’t sure how… Read More »Innovate or Die
A basic tenet of a military organization is the ability to pack up and move out quickly. Being proficient at that skill requires planning and practice. Although I’ve been involved in many such efforts, both as rehearsals and as real deployments, one example has always stuck in my mind. It… Read More »It’s Okay to Have Fun – In Fact it’s Necessary
He was a new supervisor and he seemed frustrated as we spoke. “Why do I have to ask people to do things? Shouldn’t I be able to just tell them to do it?” The short answer is, “Yes, you can tell them and they should respond.” But is that the… Read More »The Magic and Power of Please and Thank You
The door opened and the doctor rushed into the exam room with my chart in his hand. Without looking at me he quickly said, “I’m going to tell you what’s wrong and what we need to do, then I’ll take a look at your records and examine you.” He hurriedly… Read More »A Story of Two Doctors
Command and control (the beast) is not a popular form of leadership these days. Most of the time the method is unnecessary and a sign of a weak and insecure leader who knows no other way to be effective. The most effective leaders find some version of servant leadership (beauty)… Read More »Beauty and the Beast: Servant Leadership vs. Command and Control
Coach. Say the word and different pictures come to mind. Some might think of a favorite sports coach while others conjure images (good or bad) of their drill instructor, or perhaps a favorite teacher. Regardless of the situation, we find that coaches are individuals who provide assistance to someone to… Read More »9 Ways to Create the Perfect Coaching Relationship