The world should have more companies like this
Louisville Basketball Roster: 5 year old recovering from liver transplant and bi...: A 5-year-old fan of the video game 'Halo' who recently underwent a liver transplant got a wonderful surprise thanks to the combined ...
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Fish- A customer Service Lesson from Fish Sellers
I came across this book on display at a group team building activity in my former hotel. This Team Building company brings lots of different corporate groups to our hotel. This particular group was learning about providing Great Customer Service. The book looked like a children story book similar to the cover of "Who Moved my Cheese". It even had a boring cover with just the word "Fish" and a drawing of a fish on it. So I just passed it by. Yes I am guilty of Judging a Book by its Cover.
Then lately my present boss, highlighted of about Customer Service and how we can try to make the work more fun even for work that is boring and mundane. He highlighted about the Pike's Place Fish Market in Seattle, America that is famous. People go there not only to buy fish but also to see the antics of the staff there. He said that there is even a motivational book written about this place. I remembered this book and got it. Like most books in this lens, its a simple to understand and a fun read. The book shares with you how to boost your employee morale and thus increases your revenue.
Seattle- Monday Morning
The story starts with an introduction on how a First Guarantee Financial supervisor named Mary Jane Ramirez life changed after the death of her husband within a year of moving to Seattle. And how she reluctantly accepted a promotion to manager of the dreaded third floor. A department which is the joke of the other departments in the bank. A place that everyone wishes they didn't need to come in contact with. Some department managers say that the third floor is able to suck the life out of you. Working there she realized why people dreaded coming to third floor. It was due to staff doing everything slowly. She then pondered on how she can bring life to the third floor. She noticed that the job was boring, so she needs to make the job exciting. One day to avoid hearing negative comments about her new department during lunch breaks. She normally goes for lunch by the waterfront, but today she happens to take a turn towards the market. Here is where she finds the world different from what she knows. She finds the Famous Pike Place Fish Market. She is amazed at the energy of the people selling fish there. They seem to enjoy their work. In between the chaos she happens to chance upon Lonnie, one of the workers there. Lonnie offered to explain how she can use the Fish Market's strategy in her workplace. The very next day, during her lunch break she rushes to meet up with Lonnie. He explains that all jobs are boring. Then he goes on to say the first strategy that makes the Pike Place different from the other fish markets, the first strategy is as follow. The first strategy is "There is always a choice about the way you do your work even if there in not a choice about the work itself"
Choose Your Attitude
Lonnie shares with Mary Jane how he and his friends changed their attitude when they come to work everyday. Everybody thinks working in a dreary,wet and cold fish market can be a difficult job but Lonnie and his friends come to work with the right attitude. With this thought in her mind, Mary Jane went back to work and confronted her boss on what was commented by the big bosses in the meeting. Her boss then gave her a recording of the meeting. Mary Jane started to notice that by changing her attitude, she in turn changed her surroundings. Everything started to fall in place and she plan to bring this same attitude to work on Monday morning. She makes a note that she have to change her attitude first before she can change others. On Monday morning she calls for a meeting with her staff and highlighted the concerns of the VP and how he referred to the third floor as toxic energy dump. After her talk, she found out her staff wanted to change but they needed a push. She saw some improvement in their attitude.
Play
The second ingredient was what kids do best and we forget to do as we go older which was PLAY . Lonnie teaches that the fish market uses play in their daily work and with that they enjoy their daily job. The benefits of using play in our daily work life is productivity improves, there is a low turn over, teamwork and friendships. This I noticed in my present job, I am so afraid in failing or looking bad to my bosses. I didn't enjoy myself therefore I felt work was boring. Even in my home life, me and my other half used to be playful but lately we both became serious and had a lot of arguments. So now I changed my attitude and played more at work and at home.
Make Their Day
The third ingredient to great customer service was to include your customers in your play. This will give a lasting impression to your customer. People will always remember something unique that they have done. Include your customers but don't go overboard.
Be Present
The last ingredient is to be present. This is an important ingredient that I am trying to teach my managers. A manager have to be present in the restaurant. He have to be seen talking and showing concern about the food and beverages served. I learnt this technique from a manager in my former place. There we had a very slow kitchen, where food normally comes out after 1 hour. What most people do is to normally hide in the kitchen. So naturally we received a lot of complains. But what one new manager did was to go from table to table talking and assuring the customer the food will be out. He made sure the food came out fast and hot. He keeps telling the staff if the food is served steaming hot, then the customer will know that the kitchen is slow. If its served cold then the customer will think we were slow in pickup
Fish! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
Amazon.comThen lately my present boss, highlighted of about Customer Service and how we can try to make the work more fun even for work that is boring and mundane. He highlighted about the Pike's Place Fish Market in Seattle, America that is famous. People go there not only to buy fish but also to see the antics of the staff there. He said that there is even a motivational book written about this place. I remembered this book and got it. Like most books in this lens, its a simple to understand and a fun read. The book shares with you how to boost your employee morale and thus increases your revenue.
Seattle- Monday Morning
The story starts with an introduction on how a First Guarantee Financial supervisor named Mary Jane Ramirez life changed after the death of her husband within a year of moving to Seattle. And how she reluctantly accepted a promotion to manager of the dreaded third floor. A department which is the joke of the other departments in the bank. A place that everyone wishes they didn't need to come in contact with. Some department managers say that the third floor is able to suck the life out of you. Working there she realized why people dreaded coming to third floor. It was due to staff doing everything slowly. She then pondered on how she can bring life to the third floor. She noticed that the job was boring, so she needs to make the job exciting. One day to avoid hearing negative comments about her new department during lunch breaks. She normally goes for lunch by the waterfront, but today she happens to take a turn towards the market. Here is where she finds the world different from what she knows. She finds the Famous Pike Place Fish Market. She is amazed at the energy of the people selling fish there. They seem to enjoy their work. In between the chaos she happens to chance upon Lonnie, one of the workers there. Lonnie offered to explain how she can use the Fish Market's strategy in her workplace. The very next day, during her lunch break she rushes to meet up with Lonnie. He explains that all jobs are boring. Then he goes on to say the first strategy that makes the Pike Place different from the other fish markets, the first strategy is as follow. The first strategy is "There is always a choice about the way you do your work even if there in not a choice about the work itself"
Choose Your Attitude
Lonnie shares with Mary Jane how he and his friends changed their attitude when they come to work everyday. Everybody thinks working in a dreary,wet and cold fish market can be a difficult job but Lonnie and his friends come to work with the right attitude. With this thought in her mind, Mary Jane went back to work and confronted her boss on what was commented by the big bosses in the meeting. Her boss then gave her a recording of the meeting. Mary Jane started to notice that by changing her attitude, she in turn changed her surroundings. Everything started to fall in place and she plan to bring this same attitude to work on Monday morning. She makes a note that she have to change her attitude first before she can change others. On Monday morning she calls for a meeting with her staff and highlighted the concerns of the VP and how he referred to the third floor as toxic energy dump. After her talk, she found out her staff wanted to change but they needed a push. She saw some improvement in their attitude.
Play
The second ingredient was what kids do best and we forget to do as we go older which was PLAY . Lonnie teaches that the fish market uses play in their daily work and with that they enjoy their daily job. The benefits of using play in our daily work life is productivity improves, there is a low turn over, teamwork and friendships. This I noticed in my present job, I am so afraid in failing or looking bad to my bosses. I didn't enjoy myself therefore I felt work was boring. Even in my home life, me and my other half used to be playful but lately we both became serious and had a lot of arguments. So now I changed my attitude and played more at work and at home.
Make Their Day
The third ingredient to great customer service was to include your customers in your play. This will give a lasting impression to your customer. People will always remember something unique that they have done. Include your customers but don't go overboard.
Be Present
The last ingredient is to be present. This is an important ingredient that I am trying to teach my managers. A manager have to be present in the restaurant. He have to be seen talking and showing concern about the food and beverages served. I learnt this technique from a manager in my former place. There we had a very slow kitchen, where food normally comes out after 1 hour. What most people do is to normally hide in the kitchen. So naturally we received a lot of complains. But what one new manager did was to go from table to table talking and assuring the customer the food will be out. He made sure the food came out fast and hot. He keeps telling the staff if the food is served steaming hot, then the customer will know that the kitchen is slow. If its served cold then the customer will think we were slow in pickup
Sunday, August 25, 2013
A great inspirational video for a great Sunday
A grea inspirational speaker and story
Nick Vujicic - Attitude is Altitude.com / Life Without Limbs.org
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Sun Tzu - The Use of The Office Gossip
Most people will say that its not honest to use spies in what we do. But I don't agree with this statement. Spies if used with integrity and honestly can be a great asset to an establishment. With spies you can know why the competitors is getting more business or what they are doing differently. Maybe their product or sales team is better, so then you can improve your product or team with this piece of info. That is why Sun Tzu has dedicated a chapter on the use of spies. Below is one of the verse "Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men." Verse 6 Chapter 13. THE USE OF SPIES Even the office gossip is useful. The office gossip is what Sun Tzu refers to as "Doomed Spies". "It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy." Verse 23 Chapter 13. THE USE OF SPIES If you find out that you have a staff who likes to divulge information on what's going on, be close to him. Listen to what he is talking but don't add anything, just listen. Investigate the info and act upon it discreetly so as not to show who the informant is. Also becareful if the office gossip talks about others to you, he can talk about you to other people.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
From the words of Sun Tzu-
How the Boss or Owner can bring down a Company
12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:-- 13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army. 14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier's minds. 15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers. Chapter III. ATTACK BY STRATAGEM verse 12 -15
What this verses means is that the boss or CEO should leave the running of the operations to the managers that is closer to the operations. This is because these people know how bad or good the situation is. They know whether they can win or lose. If the CEO insists of his orders being followed without knowing the outcome than his company might fail. One example is when I was working as a waiter in a hotel that has just been taken over by an international chain. The Group General Manager insisted that we serve the local dishes in woks. We tried to explain to him that the local taboo is that its bad manners to eat from the wok. He didn't want to listen. The result of this came in the form of bad publicity and lose of business from the local community due to the fact that they didn't want to eat from the wok and that the hotel was not sensitive to the local culture. In some companies, there are times when the bosses or owners insist on put personnel even though the person is not experienced. This will then make the experienced staff there feel very frustrated working for a boss that doesn't know their job.
Sun Tzu has verse for that to. 33. If there disturbance in the camp, the general's authority is weak. If the banners and flags are shifted about, sedition is afoot. If the officers are angry, it means that the men are weary. Chapter IX. THE ARMY ON THE MARCH verse 33
12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:-- 13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army. 14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier's minds. 15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers. Chapter III. ATTACK BY STRATAGEM verse 12 -15
What this verses means is that the boss or CEO should leave the running of the operations to the managers that is closer to the operations. This is because these people know how bad or good the situation is. They know whether they can win or lose. If the CEO insists of his orders being followed without knowing the outcome than his company might fail. One example is when I was working as a waiter in a hotel that has just been taken over by an international chain. The Group General Manager insisted that we serve the local dishes in woks. We tried to explain to him that the local taboo is that its bad manners to eat from the wok. He didn't want to listen. The result of this came in the form of bad publicity and lose of business from the local community due to the fact that they didn't want to eat from the wok and that the hotel was not sensitive to the local culture. In some companies, there are times when the bosses or owners insist on put personnel even though the person is not experienced. This will then make the experienced staff there feel very frustrated working for a boss that doesn't know their job.
Sun Tzu has verse for that to. 33. If there disturbance in the camp, the general's authority is weak. If the banners and flags are shifted about, sedition is afoot. If the officers are angry, it means that the men are weary. Chapter IX. THE ARMY ON THE MARCH verse 33
Monday, July 1, 2013
The Art of Wars teaches Virtues of a Good Leader
The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, discipline and courage. CHAPTER 1. LAYING PLANS Verse 9
From the above verse you will see the five characteristics that are required by Sun Tzu in order to be a good general. Let's see how this is relevant to our daily life.
Wisdom
So what does wisdom mean to us managers? What this translates to is that managers must have the knowledge on how to run his/her operations. He doesn't need to know everything but he must be able to make wise decision quick and correctly most of the time. He must be able to learn from mistakes if he has made a wrong decision. He also must be able to create strategies and take advantage of rising opportunity and avoid unnecessary dangers. That is why I recommend to those college students that are coming out to the working life, to work as lower ranking personnel first for a few years, learn the ropes then only go for the management position that they studied for. By this way the staff won't be able to cheat you where work is concerned.
Sincerity
The Importance of the Lower Rankin Personnel
Sincerity means that the manager must 'walk the talk'. He must show that he means business, he must lead by example. This will then create trust with his team members. As it has been shown throughout history, once a general has the trust of his army. He will then be able to unite his army against their enemies. This rule applies to managers as well. If a manager could not or do not reward for a job well done, it is unlikely that his team member would put in their best since they feel that they are not appreciated. Same thing for punishment, if certain rules are set out but team members who flout it are not punished, it would create chaos in the company's organization and structure.
Benevolence
Benevolence is understanding, accommodating and loves for his team members. On how to take care of his army, Sun Tzu mentions it in Chapter 10. But one must remember that too much pampering will spoil the army, making them too comfortable, thus making them feel that they cannot be replaced. Therefore they can hold us for ransom. What is happening to the workforce nowadays is a fine example. They want more and more and if their request is not met they will go on strike. That is why the next virtue is important to balance the outcome.
Discipline
Discipline is needed to balance the characteristic of benevolence. With discipline one must also be fair. Ensure that all your staff is given the same discipline standards and there is no favoritism. This will then show the staff you mean business. You, yourself must have great self-discipline, to set a good example to your army, gaining trust in the process as well.
Courage
Courage as most of us may know is what great leaders have. He must be able to face dangers with his army. What would his army think of him if he is the first one to flee away from danger, leaving his army to face it instead? In life, the manager should be able to face any situation that comes. He shouldn't let his team handle the situation while he hides away in his office. That's where the first virtue comes in Wisdom. He should take responsibility for the mistakes that are made under his department because at the end of the day, he is responsible for what is going on in the department. He should have the courage to make unfavorable or unpopular decisions. If the manager lacks courage in making difficult decision, he would be leading his company to a 'slow death'. Because most of the time these unfavorable decisions can cause huge damage that is accumulated in the long run.
From the above verse you will see the five characteristics that are required by Sun Tzu in order to be a good general. Let's see how this is relevant to our daily life.
Wisdom
So what does wisdom mean to us managers? What this translates to is that managers must have the knowledge on how to run his/her operations. He doesn't need to know everything but he must be able to make wise decision quick and correctly most of the time. He must be able to learn from mistakes if he has made a wrong decision. He also must be able to create strategies and take advantage of rising opportunity and avoid unnecessary dangers. That is why I recommend to those college students that are coming out to the working life, to work as lower ranking personnel first for a few years, learn the ropes then only go for the management position that they studied for. By this way the staff won't be able to cheat you where work is concerned.
Sincerity
The Importance of the Lower Rankin Personnel
Sincerity means that the manager must 'walk the talk'. He must show that he means business, he must lead by example. This will then create trust with his team members. As it has been shown throughout history, once a general has the trust of his army. He will then be able to unite his army against their enemies. This rule applies to managers as well. If a manager could not or do not reward for a job well done, it is unlikely that his team member would put in their best since they feel that they are not appreciated. Same thing for punishment, if certain rules are set out but team members who flout it are not punished, it would create chaos in the company's organization and structure.
Benevolence
Benevolence is understanding, accommodating and loves for his team members. On how to take care of his army, Sun Tzu mentions it in Chapter 10. But one must remember that too much pampering will spoil the army, making them too comfortable, thus making them feel that they cannot be replaced. Therefore they can hold us for ransom. What is happening to the workforce nowadays is a fine example. They want more and more and if their request is not met they will go on strike. That is why the next virtue is important to balance the outcome.
Discipline
Discipline is needed to balance the characteristic of benevolence. With discipline one must also be fair. Ensure that all your staff is given the same discipline standards and there is no favoritism. This will then show the staff you mean business. You, yourself must have great self-discipline, to set a good example to your army, gaining trust in the process as well.
Courage
Courage as most of us may know is what great leaders have. He must be able to face dangers with his army. What would his army think of him if he is the first one to flee away from danger, leaving his army to face it instead? In life, the manager should be able to face any situation that comes. He shouldn't let his team handle the situation while he hides away in his office. That's where the first virtue comes in Wisdom. He should take responsibility for the mistakes that are made under his department because at the end of the day, he is responsible for what is going on in the department. He should have the courage to make unfavorable or unpopular decisions. If the manager lacks courage in making difficult decision, he would be leading his company to a 'slow death'. Because most of the time these unfavorable decisions can cause huge damage that is accumulated in the long run.
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