TGIM!

I’m reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Dennis Kimbro, Napoleon Hill and wanted to share this quote with you.

“Carnegie had learned from his observation of men that those who are slow to make up their minds are equally as slow to carry out their decisions.”

Andrew Carnegie led the explosion of steel in America in the late 19th century.  In his last 18 years of his life he donated over 90% of his wealth… over 13.5 billion dollars in 2015 dollars.

Carnegie often challenged his team to make good and quick decisions.  He kept a timer on his desk and gave people a limited amount of time to decide.

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Team, once we have all the facts and data in front of us, it’s time to make a decision.  I am certain Carnegie was a driver like myself.  This probably led him to this style of decision making.  You analytical folks probably just passed out.  Hang in there…

But really, once we have communicated it to everyone for their feedback, gathered the raw data, and slept and prayed on it for a night…. it’s time to act.

In the act of doing, often we can adjust. READY, FIRE, AIM.   The problem is often our great ideas get sucked up in DOUBT, FEAR, ENVY, JEALOUSY AND MORE.

Hey, you know what, why do I have to do this, it will be a lot of work?  Someone else should step up once.

But what if it fails?

It’s just too much for me to take on right now.

These are all things that have went through my head often.   And still do.  We must quiet this voice.

Team, I encourage you to go for it.   Both personally and professionally.  God’s got your back.  And really what do you have to lose?

– Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our mission is to be a supplier of other’s happpiness.  I hope this little post did just that.

TGIM!

Team… how often we want to be on a great team, yet we don’t focus on what it means TO BE  a great teammate.

Often it is so simple but yet so vital.

Do you know everyone’s name you work with?

Honestly?  You know everyone that you work with, their name?

It’s so vitally important to know just that: their name.  Why?

If we don’t know someone’s name they are not a person to you, they are an object.  Often an object is a piece of frustration, something in your way from doing your job better.   An object you can’t help and more importantly to you: they can’t help you either.

Think about it, if you don’t know their name…

Can you help them?

Can they help you?

Can you make a difference in their life?

If you have a conflict situation how will you bring it up to them?  You won’t.   You will have to go to their leader or someone you DO KNOW and they will talk to them and then they will talk to that leader since they probably don’t know your name either, and a bad game of telephone gets played.

Think about it terms of our core values.

Hard to #communicate openly with someone if you don’t know there name…

Hare to have a #winning attitude towards them…

Impossible to help them be #accountable…

#Communication?  You don’t know their name… that conversation is going to be pretty cold.

How can you #develop them or how can they help you if you are nameless to each other…

#Have fun with someone you don’t know?….that doesn’t sound like fun…

A team works with each other.  We improve and struggle with each other.  A nameless face, an object of what WE need to get done is only a blunt tool.  A person you know, locked arm in arm down the journey of life, is a one heck of a sharp weapon.

Just imagine if we all took the time to know everyone’s name that we work with.  What a difference that would make.  And it’s so easy.

How do you introduce yourself to someone you’ve worked with along time and you “should” know their name?  Pretty easy actually.  99% chance they don’t know your name either.  (Trust me, we aren’t as important to “them” as we think we are.)

Try something like this:  “Hey, you’ve been here awhile, I’m Joel I write that blog you probably don’t read, what’s your name again?”

Easy.  And you just changed the world.  Together.

Lastly…

A family, a company—both are organizations of people. That’s what we know and live by at Drexel.   Remember we won’t know who we work and live with—until we know their name.

– Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our mission is to be a supplier of other’s happpiness.  I hope this little post did just that.

TGIM!

Guest author Steve Herriges, originally sent via email, Monday 5/4/15.

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Yesterday morning I was out on the ice-age trail walking my dog and I came up on a farm field and the farmer was out there with a skid-loader tediously working his way along the edge of the large field pushing branches and debris away from the field edge, further into the woods.

My first thought was wow, this farmer has a ton of things to do, the weather is perfect, and here he is messing around trying to gain a foot or two of additional room around the perimeter of this large field. I know this guy farms on his own and doesn’t have time to waste. He could easily be sitting in his tractor pulling the planter as close to the edge of the woods as he can – and probably never know the difference. And he would save himself a lot of time. And that is true – at least for this year.

But every year the weeds and brush will creep in a foot or two farther, and before you know it 10 years down the road he would have lost an acre or two around the perimeter of this field. Props to him for taking the time to clean the edges.

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So, surely by now you can see where this is going. As I was walking and had time to think, I thought “Boy – that concept could really relate to what we do.” Or any profession for that matter. We all have branches on the periphery of our core work that should be cleaned up, but how often are we taking the time to do it? We keep pushing forward on the obvious, and often times easier, tasks that define 80% of our primary role. As we leave those branches lay around the edges, we begin to sacrifice productivity.

Or personally, are there edges you need to cut, conversations that need to be had, bad habits that are forming quickly?  Do you find yourself disgusted and worrying more than you enjoy the ride?

Without the discipline that this farmer had, these affects continue to accumulate over time until one day you say, what happened?

You’ve chased and chased.  Your anxiety spread.  Now you are overwhelmed…because those edges never got cut.

I ask that you not forget to take the time to do these less desirable tasks that drift to the side of your desk or in your head.

They may vary for all of us. What is on your edge?

I have some goal related details that I have been putting off I will focus on that. Others may have sku descriptions that are not quite right, price book pages that need to be updated, showroom space that needs to be labeled better, a report that needs more attention, too much dirt on the floor of your truck, that nagging service engine light that you ignore for now, that pile of files on the back corner of your desk that will get filed “when you have time,” or those very important follow-up calls. This is how we will get to ZONE 4.  This is how we supply happiness; how we get better!

Have a great week!

– Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Since 1985, our business success has come from building others UP.

TGIM!

Happy Monday!

Handling a tough situation distinguishes the average from the elite.

But how do you do it?

The first thing is to handle your emotions.  See this link on emotional bandwidth where we covered that.

Learn to handle the HEAT.  Learn more about an UPSET customer here.

Now to really break it down, we created a step by step guide we want you to use going forward.  This can be used in almost any “sticky” situation.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION:

Stage 1 Initiation

Handling this situation poorly can affect your reputation.  Your reputation is like a tree.  It takes years to grow, but can be taken down with a swing of an ax!

Be honest, be transparent, and as blunt as possible.

Make yourself available- Chain of critical communication- face to face- phone- email- text.

Give them a commitment for a resolution deadline.

Must have a concise answer on how to resolve.  No wiggle room!

Stage 2 Emotion

H E A T   Hear Them Out — Empathize — Ask Questions — Take responsibility.

HEAR THEM OUT!  Let them say everything they need to.  No interrupting.  Let them DUMP!

Help the customer cope.  Statements like, “That would be a difficult situation.”

Refuse to be emotional about it.  This is business… JUST THE FACTS!

Let them express their wants and needs.  “How do you feel we can resolved the issue””

Stage 3 Escalation

Team Member — Coach/Store Leader — Joel.   Escalate as far as needed and quickly!

Avoid a large burden and the stress placed on one individual.

Poise and calmness are contagious from the top down.

Store Leader involvement, they have the ability to enhance the situation and our experts in this with past history of similar situations.

Ownership decision-  used where this is a large $ value or relationship value at stake or when it involves future business.
In this business, FIRES WILL HAPPEN.  Let’s be prepared when they do.

Turn every fire into an opportunity to WOW our customers and make them HAPPIER.

– Joel Fleischman.  Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply.  (drexelteam).   You can follow him on twitter:  @JoelmFleischman.   Our purpose since 1985 is to be a supplier of other people’s happiness.