We all have opportunities to be leaders…no matter what our title or role.  As the Director of Corporate Training for Chick-fil-A says…”we are just serving chicken.  Yet we have opportunities to influence lives”.

Consider attending this worthwhile event.  Live from Atlanta and streamed via simulcast all over the USA and Canada.

Make this day a day you intend to improve your serve!

http://www.chick-fil-aleadercast.com/

Over the last year, I have surrounded myself with great people. The team that is in Green Bay has kept the ball rolling and assured that our customers are taken care of on a regular basis. Sure, there has been regular contact with them and a stream of questions that needed attention but they have been phenomenal.

Do you have a team around you that can keep things rolling when you are working on the business? If you don’t, then I hate to tell you but you are your own limiting factor. Your company will never grow beyond what you personally can do. Develop a team of professionals that can take over some of your duties. This doesn’t mean that you just throw tasks at them. Take the time to help them understand why you would do things the way you do or why you make decisions the way you do. Once you have developed this in them, let them go. Let them do their job and trust that they will do it right. Continue to give them guidance when needed but let them do their job.

What are you doing to create the team of professionals? Tell us in the comment box below.

Even though I am having fun, the days can be long and one gets tired. On a late night flight from LA to Sacramento, I met Kayle. As we boarded the flight, she greeted us with unusual enthusiasm. Since I received a complementary bump to first class, I assumed it was the first class passengers that were receiving that greeting. I was wrong. I sat in seat 1B and watch Kayle greet every passenger the same – engaging them in cheery conversation and creating smiles in her wake. During the flight, I complimented her on her attitude and let her know it makes a long day and a late night flight a little nicer. She then used a line I have frequently used when she said “I figure if I am going to spend this much time doing this, I’m going to have fun while I do it.” I couldn’t agree more.

Do you have those people in your organization that seem to create smiles in their wake as they go through the day? This can go a long way in making your customers enjoy that customer experience with your company. Encourage it, coach it, even reward it.

Delta has a winner with Kayle and she will go places. I would love to have a dozen Kayle’s working in my office. That’s my goal. We have a few and it makes my day more enjoyable as well as the the moments our customers work with them.

Do you have a Kayle in your office? What do you do to reward them and keep them there? Tell us about it in the comment box below.

In your house or office, there is glass all around you. It can serve many purposes. The window in your office will let light in, let you see out and maybe allow you to take advantage of some solar gain but other than that, it really doesn’t do much. If we shape that glass differently and start to focus that light, everything changes, but even there, intentional, applied focus is required. In his book Rhinoceros Success, Scott Alexander says a magnifying glass will not start a fire until it remains in one spot continuously for a length of time. If it is continuously moved from spot to spot, nothing will get warmed up, much less start a fire. It’s only when you focus the light coming through it for a period that we can heat things up. Sunlight itself, the glass itself won’t do anything until we focus it.

Your actions in your business are the same. If you are jumping from one thing to the next, you will be very busy but will accomplish very little. Tasks that should be accomplished quickly will seem to take forever.

Certain personality styles will tend to have more difficulty with this concept than others. The stabilizers and analyticals will tend to apply the rule of focus where the charging dominators and the socializers will struggle with this one. If you fall into the latter category, make a special effort here. Start out by picking one thing today that you will focus on and bring it to conclusion. And I mean full conclusion. Completing the paperwork, processing it, filing the paperwork, getting it typed up, completed it from one end to the other. If you do this regularly, you will start to see the benefit that applied focus can provide you.

Do you struggle with focus as you go through your day? Tell us about it and what y9ou do about it in the comment box below.

A few months ago, Seth Godin’s blog post was very simple. I have had it written on my white board ever since.  It read:

The simplest customer service frustration question of all

We are at the time of year when we all make new resolutions and commitments. Are you really committed? Sure you go into it with determination and desire but do you have the commitment to stick to it throughout 2013?

I made some nice progress in 2012 and since the Tucson EMS, have made even greater strides. I am committed to regular blogging, journaling and more focus on my written goals throughout 2013. This will be a growth year for Grandy & Associates – not by force but because we are positioned right for it and it is time.

Questions for you..

What are you committed to this year? How is it different this year vs. the level of commitment you had last year?

Catch your team doing something right and let them know they are a rock star!

Nobody does it like Dave Ramsey. www.Entreleadership.com

Department (tactical) planning leads to increased profitability

You’ve taken time to put together a business plan. You’ve set your strategy. Now what? How do you make the strategy a reality in your everyday business life?

What is the difference between a highly successful company and one that is just an average performer? I believe that department (tactical) planning is the key. One of the fundamentals of the Stop Selling Vanilla Ice Cream process is department planning.  Department planning takes strategy to action. It is where the working “on” the business gets done.

If you are on a calendar year planning process you should be working on your department plans right now so you can complete your annual budget by the end of the year.

Department planning can also be called tactical planning. It is a plan developed annually by each department manager and his or her group. Four key components of a basic department plan include action plans, measurements, education and training plan for department employees and the budget requests to implement the plan. Each action plan is developed to achieve an organizational objective, and must have an owner and a prioritized completion date. Because accountability is so important, all action plans should be reviewed at least monthly. Ask the question: “Are we getting done what we said we would?”

Why do I emphasize the importance of developing and executing department plans? There are several reasons:

• Department planning drives the execution of the strategic plan through all levels of the organization.

• Department plans turn strategy into actions.

• Department plans increase the number of people working “on” the business versus “in” the business. Creating a new process, is working “on” the business. Implementing and using that new process, is working “in” the business. Most organizations use about 90 to 95-percent of their time working “in” the business, and they could greatly improve the performance of their organization if they could find a better balance between the two.

• Department plans prioritize our activities and tie our daily work to our overall strategy.

• Department plans result in company-wide involvement, buy-in and accountability.

As each department completes its action plans working “on” the business, the success of the organization accelerates. As that happens, we also increase the competitive advantage/differentiation over our competition. We get more business and get paid more for it. In other words, as we keep getting better and better at what we do it drives increases in sales and profitability, despite the economic climate.

Implementing the department planning process into an organization takes a lot of work and discipline. Just get started and your organization will get better at it each year. We have seen that the most successful and profitable companies we work with have become experts at department planning.  All the templates to create your department plans are available at www.stopsellingvanillaicecream.com.
Remember, Those Who Plan – PROFIT! ®

Thanks Steve – Well put!

What are you doing to plan for 2013? Tell us about it in the comment box below.

“A Pilot’s Daughter”

Greetings, TPS Nation! Today, we’re sharing a special tribute in honor of Veteran’s Day. We felt compelled to step a bit outside of the paralegal realm for a day to share a very personal, heartfelt post in honor of those who serve.

When I was eleven years old, I used to walk down the streets of Stuttgart, Germany on an American army base, holding my father’s hand. Nearly all of my childhood memories invoke a clear mental image in my mind of my father wearing that olive green flight suit bearing his name, embossed and stitched in black letters on that nametag proudly affixed to the front of it, along with all of those other patches lining the arms, my favorite of which were the small, black bars that lined the top of his sleeve. I candidly admit that at the time, I didn’t understand what it meant to have a pilot as a father. I didn’t really understand what it would mean in life to be a pilot’s daughter.

I didn’t fully understand the significance of his chosen profession or its role in helping to assure freedom for the rest of us. I didn’t realize that wearing that uniform meant that he could, at any time, be called into war if there ever was one, because there hadn’t been one for so long, the thought never crept into my mind. All I knew is my dad flew helicopters, and I was his daughter.

I wasn’t really aware of the tremendous respect that existed between my father and any military member he saluted when they passed us by on that sidewalk, and he quickly dropped my hand to offer a proper salute.

I didn’t realize what it truly meant on the rare occasions when I overheard my father mention that he had done two separate tours in a war torn place called Vietnam. As a Cobra pilot, he strapped himself into two-man gunships and flew them into the horizon, often into hot zones, to rain fire down upon the fields where it was needed, providing relief and much needed cover and support for those walking hell on earth among the rice patty fields and green backdrop of a place called ‘nam.

As my father walked along side me throughout my childhood, I didn’t realize that he had an emotional scar etched deeply upon his heart from losing his best friend, a fellow pilot, shortly after that young pilot, “Mac’s” 21^st birthday. It turns out the celebration was just a few nights before Mac’s gunship was shot out of the sky. I never saw that scar hiding beneath daddy’s smile. I didn’t realize. It never showed.

Walking down that sidewalk at the age of eleven, I had no clue that my father had previously been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in battle. To me he was just “daddy.” It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I had the opportunity to read the following words in an e-mail from my aunt:

“For heroism while participating in aerial flight evidenced by voluntary actions above and beyond the call of duty: Warrant Officer Paye distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions in aerial flight, while acting as an aircraft commander of a Cobra gunship scrambled to aid two besieged outposts and an ambushed supply convoy, in the Republic of Vietnam. Warrant Officer Paye arrived on station and found he could only obtain 500 feet of altitude because of low cloud cover. Despite this handicap he decided to engage the enemy positions. As he began his attack he immediately came under intense automatic weapons fire from numerous locations. Warrant Officer Paye continued his attack until all of the enemy positions had been silenced. His heroic actions were in keeping with the highest military traditions and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”

I didn’t know how lucky I was to have a father who returned from war, to meet his future wife and start a family, so I could one day hold his hand and walk down that sidewalk all those years later. My father had returned, but so many others hadn’t. I didn’t realize what so many others had lost – a chance at life, a family, happiness, opportunity, and a chance to walk around smiling, with a small scar etched upon their hearts, living life.

I didn’t realize when I used to play with all of the zippers which intricately lined my father’s green flight suit, that one day my own little boy would be the one tugging at those same zippers that lined his arms. For starters, I never realized I would have a son, much less a father who would still proudly be pulling himself into that same beautiful, olive green flight suit at the ripe age of sixty-something (all these years later) to help bring light and life to others by becoming involved with a very special veteran’s group called American Huey 369.

I never realized I would have the opportunity to watch him fly a Huey helicopter for the first time since Vietnam. Neither did he. Smiling proudly as he landed at the “moving wall” in our own hometown of Indianapolis, as a grown man, still wearing that same olive green flight suit. I didn’t realize that tears would flood my eyes and stream down my face, tears of pride, reliving a small piece of my childhood, as I watched him and the crew step off of that chopper, striding toward us, holding their helmets beside them and beaming with pride, as my husband, son, and I looked on. It seems I had forgotten…I was a pilot’s daughter. I had forgotten what that flight suit looked like. I had forgotten how well my father wore it, with pride.

I didn’t realize that one day, I would sit in the same stands of Lambeau Field, where daddy once sat through “The Ice Bowl” in his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, all those years ago with his brothers, just attempting to stay warm and avoid frostbite while watching the Packers play a game that would make history. I never knew I would watch him gallantly live a dream, as he flew the whirling blades of that Huey up and over the top of a packed stadium during a flyover of LZ Lambo as a tribute to all of his brothers in arms – those living, and gone, but never forgotten. There I sat – a pilot’s daughter.

I didn’t realize that I would one day have an opportunity to sit inside that same Huey, as my dad flew it. Like something out of a movie, we buzzed along cornfields, as the air whipped back wildly back against our faces, flapping our clothing, and tugging at our hearts, because for a brief moment, we felt what it would be like to be on that Huey in Vietnam. I never realized what it must have felt like for him and others to strap themselves into gunships and Hueys, not knowing if they’d ever land it again. I didn’t realize “fly boys” are a proud and rare breed who would tempt fate any day of the week when called to fly; any time, any place, to help anyone.

I didn’t realize that I would get to watch my dad deeply impact the lives of veterans and their family members just by being there, supporting them, talking with them, telling stories, laughing and crying with them, and often flying over the graves of fallen military brothers to pay them tribute, in many ways helping to heal the small, invisible scars left upon the hearts of those remaining, which lay dormant and undetected, hiding behind their smiles. I didn’t realize how proud I would be to look into my dad’s face, as I walked down the sidewalk a grown woman, to realize that so easily, fate could have turned out a different way. Yet, here I sit, typing these words…a pilot’s daughter.

I am a pilot’s daughter.

I didn’t realize what that meant. Today I do.

Proudly ,
A Pilot’s Daughter

To all veterans and those who serve – We salute you.

Good Morning All –

Day 4 of no electric at home, adjusting to a different way of life. The electric company is in the area. They are working on my street and I noticed their license plate – Louisiana. So my husband and I talked with Pete for about 20 minutes. They have 13 trucks, 25 guys, all from Louisiana, helping to restore power to my little township. They left their homes and family two days before the hurricane hit to head to our area. Pete is married with 2 small children, as like a lot of the other guys on the crew. Pete says he does this to help repay the kindness of others that came to his towns aid after Katrina hit his area. This is his life for the next month. They are living in a Holiday Inn about an hour from my area. They get up and a continental breakfast is available to them. They all receive a box lunch for the day and then head out for the hour ride to our area. Work for 12 hours, then head back to the Holiday Inn, were they have a buffet dinner awaiting them. Before bed he will syke with his family. I know that I don’t have it as bad as some others, whose house is gone or under water and sand, but if you ask my son his life is turned upside down without his electronics. Because of the kindness of Pete and the other 24 guys, I will have electric one of these days.

His story just got to me and I had to share it with you. And if any member in Louisiana knows Pete and sees him in a bar, please buy him a beer for me and tell him I said Thank You!

Tina

Tina Hedrick
Ray A Shaffer, Inc.
852 Limerick Road
Schwenksville, PA 19473
(610)287-7831
QSC Member
PHCC Member

Well said Tina.  Our continued prayers go out to not only you and everyone else affected by this store but also the workers who traveled from around the country to help restore some sense of normalcy.