Monday, March 31, 2008

Preparing Your Team To Succeed

In order to prepare your team to succeed. It is important that you have systems in place that are designed for simplicity's speed and efficiency. Your team is only going to be as good as the coach and therefore it's very important that your staff understands the office systems and why they're in place.

It's important to design systems in your office as if you were going to open up five more offices. Everything must feel touch and taste the same way. Your staff should be able to go from one office to another and the systems in each office should already be in place so there is no need for further training.

It's important for you analyze your systems and ask yourself the following questions:

1: Can my staff members go to any of my satellite offices and function without having to be trained?

If your answer is yes then your systems can be duplicated.

2: Does my staff understand what the weekly monthly and yearly goals are for our practice and do I cover that in our weekly staff meetings?

If your answer to this is No your team will be unprepared to assist you in achieving your goals.

It was once said "No plan is a plan to fail". In order to prepare your team to succeed it is imperative that you have systems in place that will assist your staff in helping you to reach your goals and they have to understand what those goals are.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker who works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, Audio Programs and learning programs contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@drrickgoodman.com (www.drrickgoodman.com)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Check Back Your Key to Delegation Success

In order to grow your business, you're going to have to trust that your staff members are capable of getting the job's done that you assign to them. That means you're going to have to do something that may be uncomfortable for some of you and easy for others. You’re going to have to delegate tasks in order to grow your business. After all, you're only one person, you can't do it all. And what you are going to find is that some of your staff members can do certain jobs even better than you can. It's more important than ever before that we utilize certain tools that will increase the odds of success when were delegating tasks to our team.

One of the best delegation techniques I've ever come across is one that I call: Check Back!

Now check back is not check up. After all, if you're checking up on a staff member the first thought that comes into their mind is that you don't trust them. You could be the best worker on the planet and if somebody is standing behind you’re back watching you do your job you're going to make mistakes. So we use a technique called Check Back and here's how it works:

Step One: Assign a team member, a task to do and ask them the question, when can I Check Back with you? The ball is now in their court they have to give you a time when they are going to have the task completed and a commitment to getting it done. Now get out of the way!

Step Two: You Must Check Back! If you assign a task to a staff member and don't follow up at the assigned time you're sending a message that you don't care. The next time you assign a task to that team member they will drag their feet and be more likely to sabotage the process.

Step Three: If you have Checked Back with that employee and they've completed the task let them know how much you appreciate it. If they have not completed the task then you want to ask the key question and the question goes like this: you asked your children to go upstairs and clean up their room, you go upstairs and an hour later and the room is not cleaned up, what is the first question that you asked your child?

Why? And the answer better not be Because.

When we assign tasks to our employees, we expect them to complete the tasks especially if they've made a commitment. Now if they don't like the task they are doing that's okay, we expect them to see it through to the end. The next time a similar task comes up; we explain to them that they really don't have to do it. However we explain to them the consequences and then it's their choice.

The use of Check Back is a fabulous technique that allows your team to accomplish tasks that you assign to them which ultimately strengthens the team and its individual members both personally and professionally. It has been my experience that when I get out of the way good things happen!

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker who works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, Audio Programs and learning programs contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@drrickgoodman.com (www.drrickgoodman.com)

leadership, rickgoodman,advantagelegalseminars,delegation

Friday, March 14, 2008

Attitude Is The Difference

In order to achieve all your hopes and dreams and create the life that you want to enjoy you must possess a positive attitude, it will make all the difference in the world.

In 1988 I was sitting at a seminar listening to a speaker talk about the power of affirmations and how it had changed his life. He was a doctor who had been in practice for 15 years, I had heard a great deal about him, he had a one of the most successful practices in town. However, this was just one side of the story I was about to hear the whole truth.

The doctor spoke about his first five years in business, when no patients were coming in the door and he was struggling just to survive. He was close to bankruptcy when he learned about the power of affirmations and its positive effect on your outcome. I asked him how often he did these affirmations and he told me that he was repeating positive affirmations three times a day for the last 10 years.

I knew he was a pretty successful doctor, or at least what I thought was success at the time. I knew he had a big practice, a brand-new house and his new Porsche was parked right outside the hotel.

That night I went home to reflect on, all I had just heard. I was reading a book called Successful Achievement by Sydney N. Bremer Ph.D. He described the story of Dr. Orison Swett Marden the founder of Success Magazine http://www.successmagazine.com/. Right in the middle of the page I noticed a quote, little did I know that I would read this simple affirmation and write a blog about it 20 years later.

It said "Constant affirmation increases courage and courage is the backbone of confidence. Furthermore, when a person gets in a tight place and says ‘I must,’ ‘I can,’ ‘I will,’ he not only reinforces his courage and strengthens his confidence but also weakens the opposite qualities."

This simple affirmation is one of the most powerful techniques that you can use to help you to form a positive can-do attitude.

Say this affirmation three times a day for the next 30 days and watch your attitude soar!

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker and President of S.T.A.Consulting, Inc. He works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s Keynote Presentations, Consulting Programs and Training programs contact (888) 267-6097 or Rick@drrickgoodman.com (http://www.drrickgoodman.com/)

Monday, March 03, 2008

Customer Service Excellence Barbecue Style

Living in St. Louis for 15 years taught me many lessons about about grilling food, eating barbecued food and purchasing barbecue grills. In fact, in my life I think I've spent thousands of dollars on the purchase of barbecue grills alone. I have bought charbroil grills, small hibachi grills and just about any type of barbecue grill you can imagine. Some of them have been expensive, but most have been pretty cheap.So when I moved to Florida I couldn't really decide what type of grill I would get, so I decided instead of spending a lot of money I would buy an inexpensive grill.

I must've changed burners and assorted parts on those inexpensive grills every year. At one point it seemed as if I was just purchasing a new barbecue grill every year. So two years ago, I decided to stop the madness and spend a lot of money on a Ducane stainless steel barbecue grill. Ducane was formerly owned by a chinese company and was recently bought by Weber the people who make the Weber kettle http://www.weber.com/.

This grill has all the bells and whistles you could want on a grill including a rotisserie, side burner and a number of other features. I was in barbecue heaven! I invited guests over every weekend just so I could show off my new stainless steel masterpiece and watch them chow down on some St. Louis barbecue. Since I live so close to the beach down in South Florida the elements have had an effect on my new grill causing the burners to rust out after only a year.

When I contacted Weber their response was No Problem! And they immediately sent me five new burners, although only one was rusted out, this was in 2006. Well justa few weeks ago, I noticed that the burners on the grill were not working properly again. So I took the grill apart to look at the burners and grill plate. They too had started to rust from the elements, most likely the salt in the air.

I once again contacted Weber and they not only sent me new burners again, they also sent an individual to replace the inside of the grill. For all intensive purposes I now had a brand new grill .I had never quite experienced customer service at this level, from a barbecue company.

So I began to think, there is definitely a lesson in this story that I can share with others and here it is...

If we all reacted as quickly to meet our customers needs as the Weber Grill Company our business would grow overnight by word of mouth alone from satisfied customers just like myself.

So the next time you looking for a barbecue grill think of Weber http://www.weber.com/ a company that truly stands by their product.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker who works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, Audio Programs and learning programs contact (888) 267-6098 or mailto:Rick@drrickgoodman.com (http://www.drrickgoodman.com/)