I continue to talk with a number of small business owners who still think that if they just hunker down and just hang on a little longer that the economy will return to normal.

That is not going to happen.

As Thomas Friedman says in his book “The World is Flat,” the transition that the US is going through will be painful for many large and small businesses. The key is to take advantage of this transition and rethink your business so that it is positioned to take advantage of this changing economy. But, that will require changing the way they do things, and that is uncomfortable. Read More »

Of all the techniques available to people who work with others, building rapport is perhaps the most powerful. It can transform impossible situations into ones with potential and can allow you to connect instead of being like ships that pass in the night.

Here are 7 rapport-building techniques: Read More »

Have you ever considered the idea of letting your employ­ees take charge of doing a job the way the way they think it should be done?

Let them put their creative talents to work. Most people use only a fraction of their potential brain power. Why not give your employees a chance to use more of theirs?

Avoid the philosophy, “We’ve done it this way for years, so why change a good thing?” That’s “dead end” thinking and often leads to frustration and complacency. Read More »

Some of your employees, although they know what is expected of them and how to perform, simply do not do it consistently. A vivid example of the above is the typical behavior of cashiers in self-service gas stations.

These employees sit behind a bullet-proof window and think that their job is to simply take the customer’s money. They often do this while simultane­ously talking on the phone, chewing gum, or chatting with a fellow employee. That type of behavior is definitely not service-oriented. Read More »

To grow your small business, you must find and employ ‘A List Players” – employees and potential business partners who perform at the top of their game, not just some of the time, but every time.

You can’t get to the top with a mediocre team!

With my agency, whenever we had an opportunity to hire an ‘A Player’ versus a ‘B Player,’ we found the  ’A Player’ would deliver ten times the results than the ‘B Player.’ And even though they often demanded a premium in compensation, they were more productive, responsible, and effective in their performance. Read More »

If, like me, you train regularly, you’ll know how easy it is to put your foot in it.

I was reminded of this training truth recently when I read the obituary of one of the UK’s finest support comedians, John Junkin.

Junkin had been a schoolmaster before treading the boards. The story goes that one day while taking a class of particularly uninspired fourth formers, Junkin had spotted a boy at the back of the room chewing gum. Read More »

I was doing a brain storming session with a client recently and an issue they were having with the inaccuracy of their website was identified. Several office managers complained that no one was asking for their input, and as a result, the organization had a website that was improperly informing their customers about new services that were being provided.

Good public relations begins at home. Happy staff equals happy customers. Meaningful and regular staff meetings can be a very powerful tool in helping your company meet the needs and expectations of your customers. As situa­tions come up, mini-meetings and brain-storming sessions that quickly solve problems can also be used very effectively. Read More »

I read two different newspaper stories the other day. One suggested that, if you are a manager, you’re probably working longer and harder than ever before. The other suggested that only a small percentage of us do a job that we really love.

Which makes me think that, as suggested by Henry David Thoreau, there are a lot of people out there – including managers who manage others – who are “leading lives of quiet desperation” and will “go to their graves with their song still in them”. Read More »