The Daily Saint

Humility, Confession & Customer Service

Today's guest post is from Margaret Benefiel of Executive Soul.

Photo by Striatic

At Landry's Bicycles in Boston, humility and confession drive customer service.
   
    At Landry's, vision plays a leading role in customer service. While that's not unusual in retail (every company wants to be the best in sales, and most want to be the best in customer service), Landry's adds another twist. What's different about Landry's is that hard-driving vision is coupled with confession and humility. "Dream is the engine, the fire. What is it that adds balance to that fire? It's confession and humility," explains CEO Tom Henry.
   
    Confession and humility form the foundation of the extensive training employees receive. Unusual for a seasonal retail business, Landry's commits year-round employment and training to its employees. During the low-revenue winter months, Landry's invests in employees through leadership training. Seventy percent of the training is comprised of hands-on activities: role plays, real-time interactions with other employees, and exercises designed to enable self-awareness.
   
    While assertiveness and vision contribute to a salesperson's success, the shadow side of those traits is often an inability to listen to others and an insensitivity to customer (or fellow employee) needs. The leadership training includes helping employees see their own and others' gifts, and helping them name the shadow side of those gifts. Through seeing the constellation of gifts on a team, employees come to value one another as essential to the whole. Employees also come to see the need for humility and confession, when they trip over the shadow side of their gifts and step on one another's toes.
   
    Humility and confession also come into play in customer interactions. Rather than adopt a defensive posture, Landry's employees learn to admit their mistakes and make them up to the customer. "We pay for our mistakes" is one of Landry's cardinal rules. At Landry's, admitting mistakes, learning from them and making amends has become a point of pride.
   
    Landry's leadership training grew out of hard-won learning. Several years ago, the executive team was tripping over the shadow side of their own gifts. They realized that they needed to model what a team could be at its best if they expected the best from other teams in the 75-employee retail company. A family business, Landry's experienced all the blessings and curses of working with one's own family. While working together went smoothly 90 percent of the time, the team found themselves plagued the other 10 percent of the time by repeated patterns of stepping on one another's toes.
   
    By adding another (non-family) member to the executive team and doing extensive self-awareness work, the team learned to value one another's gifts, see the shadow side of their own gifts, and practice confession and humility. For example, when Tom Henry arrived 10 minutes late to an important all-company meeting, the new, non-family member of the executive team called him on it. Tom practiced humility and confession by apologizing to the gathered meeting and committing to change his pattern.
   
    It took a full year of hard work, but by the end of the year, the executive team realized all the work had been worth the effort. Now, rather than stepping on one another's toes and building up resentments that sap energy and commitment, the team has learned to see others' toes sooner and thus step on them less frequently. More importantly, when someone does step on someone else's toes, confession follows quickly.
   
    Landry's has learned that humility and confession form the foundation of strong teams. As a result, relationships within the company are stronger, teams perform better, and customer service has improved.

   
    Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.

Are Parent-Teacher Conferences Productive?

Today's guest post is from Lisa Hendey from Productivity at Home.  For more of Lisa's tips on Learning and Professional Development click here.

The leaves changing colors on the trees in my backyard and the points on the “No. 2” pencils growing a bit dull are primary indicators that the time for annual parent teacher conferences at my child’s elementary school are drawing near.  I’ll be the first to admit that I am one of those parents who gets a bit anxious at the prospect of sitting down with my kids’ teachers.  It’s silly really, as both boys are excellent students and have relatively good conduct.  I’ve never had a “bad” parent teacher conference, so my nervousness is misplaced.

This year, I’ve decided to try to have a better, more productive attitude towards what is actually a tremendous educational opportunity. My oldest son is now in high school, where meetings with teachers happen very infrequently. The high school conference is usually not called to just sit and tell you how great your child is.  Our elementary school, on the other hand, affords parents this formal chance once a year to conference individually with each teacher. Tomorrow my husband and I will visit with the three women and one man who spend their time devoted to educating Adam and his classmates. 

Determined to make the most out of this opportunity, I turned to a good friend for advice.  Kimberly Cochran is the Principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Clovis, California.  Kim spent several years in the classroom before transitioning into her administrative role, so she speaks from the perspective of both a teacher and a principal.  Equally as important, Kim is the mother of two sons, so she’s sat on the parent’s side of the desk at these meetings as well. In my book, Mrs. Cochran’s word is gold, so I was eager for her advice.

“My best advice...arrive with a smile on your face and a positive attitude,” shares Cochran. “If possible, email the teacher ahead of time if there are concerns you would like to talk about. Share the positive things that your child shares with you and remember that the teacher is there to work with you to help your child succeed. Thank the teacher for the time spent together and let him or her know you will continue to keep the lines of communication open.”

These are wise words from a seasoned educational professional. Along with Mrs. Cochran’s advice, other educators recommend the follow tips for participating in conferences with your children’s teachers:

• Plan ahead.  Make sure that you prioritize attendance at this meeting and that if at all possible both parents are present.  If work schedules present a problem, notify your child’s teachers as soon as possible and try to work out a scheduling compromise.
• Do your homework.  Many schools send home progress reports in advance of parent teacher conferences.  Study your child’s reports and look for trends, areas where your child may be struggling, or other concerns.  Make a written list of your questions and concerns.  As noted by Kimberly Cochran, bring special concerns to the teacher’s attention prior to the conference, giving the teacher sufficient time to prepare a response.
• Respect the teacher’s time.  Arrive promptly.  Remember that your child’s teacher will be meeting with multiple parents, so be cognizant of the teacher’s time limitations.  Should your concerns take longer than the time allotted, schedule a follow up conversation to address more lengthy situations.
• Determine an action plan.  With the teacher, prioritize the actions that need to be taken to ensure that your child is fully meeting his educational potential.  Talk with the teacher about how you can follow up to communicate about your child’s progress, whether by telephone, email or future conferences.  Leave the meeting knowing the next step to help your child meet his goals.
• Thank the teacher.  Teachers are underpaid and under appreciated for the diligent work they undertake in our society.  I plan to take time tomorrow at my meetings with Adam’s teachers to let them know how much we truly appreciate all they have done to help our child develop into a responsible young man.
• Follow up with your child.  Use your meeting with his teacher as a chance to pass along the good news on what he’s doing well.  Without attacking, discuss with him areas of needed improvement.  Work together to determine short and long term goals, setting a concrete appointment for follow up.  Share with your child how very proud you are of his accomplishments.  Underscore the value of education and the appreciation you have for both his effort and that of his teacher.

Parent teacher conferences are a unique opportunity for us to help our children succeed, both educationally and in character development. As such, it is well worth taking time to anticipate and plan for a conference that will be productive and rewarding.

Productivity @ Home: Scheduling Workout Times

Today's guest post is from Lisa Hendey of Productivity at Home.  Lisa posts once a month for The Daily Saint and is our expert when it comes to integrating productive principles in the home.

I am typically a morning workout person.  During the school year, my routine is to wake early, before my sons and husband.  I pray, work, and drink lots of decaf prior to waking up the rest of the house. After driving the kids to school, as many days per week as practicable, I meet a friend at the gym for an hour long workout.  The rest of the school day flies by filled with writing, web work, or other commitments.  After 2:30, I turn into driving Mom, homework helping Mom and cooking Mom.  I crash early most nights, preferring to be tucked in by no later than 10:30.  I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.

During the summer, the schedule falls to pieces.  People sleep until all hours of the day, my sons cook "second dinner" at 11:30 pm many nights, and my workout buddy is busy with her own summer craziness.  My fitness routine becomes a little dicey, and it doesn't help that our Fresno heat squashes my motivation to walk outside.  It becomes a little too easy to say, "I'll hit the gym tomorrow..." and skip a day (or four).

This has been happening far too often for the past two weeks.  One of the problems with not working out is that I tend to get a little "edgy" and things that don't normally stress me out start to drive me crazy.  This was happening on Wednesday, when I was in a "martyr" state of mind from all of the football practice inconvenience that's been going on in this week.  Around 9:00 pm I realized that I had, yet again, not fit in time to exercise during the day.  So instead of plopping on the couch, I tied on my walking shoes and hit the pavement.

Revolutionary? Far from it!  Lots of people walk at night, but I'm not one of them.  Surprisingly, I discovered that I loved walking at that time of night.  The streets were silent, the heat was absent, and the sky was filled with stars.  I am such a creature of habit in so many ways - shaking up a few of my routines is a great thing.  The night walk has inspired me to look at my schedule with a little less rigidity and to be more open to using my waking hours more creatively.

Home-work for Today:

• Thinking about walking or running at night?  Read this helpful article on Walking Safely at Night.
• Rethink your fitness routine - does your schedule need a little "shaking up"?  Do you need to recommit to exercise?  Just do it!

In the DVD Player:

• A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners

Reading Room Resources:
Blog posts from this week related to Health and Fitness

• Healthy Foods You Aren't Eating
• Graph Your Weight with the Google 15
• The Secret of More Energy
• Make a Workstation Out of a Treadmill

Weekly LifeHack Post Sparks Controversy

My weekly article on LifeHack deals with some practical tips for ending the summer with style.  The comments generated have been the most diverse of any article that I've posted.  You can jump in on the conversation here.

At the heart of the back and forth has been one reader's perspective- that life tips should not include suggestions to be spiritual on a daily basis.  Readers of TDS know that it's perfectly "normal" to be meditative in the midst of a busy schedule.  Hazard zet forward!

GTD Cafe: The Calendar as Hard Landscape

Today's guest post is from Stephen Smith from Hidden Dragon Biz Blog.

Your calendar or organizer is one of the three pillars of Getting Things Done. Along with your In-box and Tickler File, your calendar is where things really happen. In older forms of time management the calendar was considered to be the central tool of tracking your activities, generally assigning priority codes or creating an artificial schedule of how you should execute your day. In the GTD methodology the calendar is limited in its use:

1. Time-specific Actions
2. Time-specific Information
3. Appointments

That is all. It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Old habits die hard, they say, and after years of training in making "daily to-do" lists, it can be difficult to refrain from writing a list of actions that you would like to do on a certain day.

 

"You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the hard edges of your day's commitments, which should be noticeable at a glance when you're on the run...those that you absolutely have to get done on that day."

 

~David Allen, Getting Things Done

Your Time-specific Actions are those things that must get done on a specific day, or at a particular time. A conference call, for example, or a package to be shipped.

Time-specific Information is a category of reference material that you do not need all the time, like directions to a restaurant or an agenda for a meeting.

Appointments, of course, are those entries that indicate you are meeting someone else at a time-specific location.

Everything else that we used to write down in our planners (or punch into our PDAs) goes into a Context-specific list of Next Actions. Now there is nothing to say that you cannot keep these lists in the same notebook or computer file, but when you look at today's field in your calendar you should only see the places that you have to be and the things that must get done.
Over the years I have used a variety of calendaring systems: Franklin-Covey, Daytimer, and a Palm Pilot. Each system has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you will need to find the right system for your needs. If you have some time and motivation, D*I*Y*Planner has some terrific templates for creating your own custom system.

I would appreciate hearing about your system, or tools. Leave a comment below, and I leave you with this quote for the road:

 

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

Resources for the Road

GTD and Google Calendar

How to Make a GTD System for about $20

Stephen Smith on GTD Gear

Daily Challenge

Pick a planner and use it consistently for 3 weeks.  If it's not working for you, make a change.  If you're already happy with your planner, how can you use it better?

The Secret to Effective Planning

Today’s guest post is from Philip D. Piercy as 
part of the Organized Executive series. 
Philip is the Assistant Principal for Academics 
at Archbishop Curley High School in 
Baltimore, MD and reads The Daily Saint at least a 
few times per day. (ppiercy@archbishopcurley.org) 

There is never enough time to do all that I want to do and have it done right. This is a sentiment that I hear repeated quite often by busy executives and administrators. This type of comment led me to consider how I am able to juggle all of the different responsibilities I have. I thought about all of the literature, workshops, conferences, and professionals out there who have myriad ways of helping me get and stay organized. Upon reflection, however, it is something of my own design that works best for me. I utilize a 3-pronged preparation plan that doesn’t take long to employ, yet, is invaluable to me.  Over my next three postings on The Daily Saint I will share with you each piece of the plan which includes daily, weekly, and 1-3 week planning.  I hope that these simple suggestions will work well for you.

Planning 1-3weeks out

Begin by spending a few minutes each week looking ahead 1-3 weeks out. Although I keep a calendar of events, activities, and meetings that covers several months, in my experience, to plan tasks and projects in any great detail beyond this point is time wasted. Consider the following steps as you begin planning:

 

• Look at your calendar and/or agenda books. Establish what is fixed (i.e. meeting with the boss) and what may be negotiable. Use this information to help plan benchmarks and deadlines
• Determine what projects and tasks must be worked on and/or completed in the next 1-3 weeks
• Break larger projects and tasks into parts; determine benchmarks and/or deadlines for each part
• Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize…What can wait until week 3? Week 2? What needs to be worked on next week?
• Create separate lists of tasks for each of the next 3 weeks.

The more you utilize this type of planning the more comfortable you will feel with it. Soon it will become second nature and the time spent preparing will decrease. Also, once you have the first three weeks planned out, each subsequent week will be mostly refining the work you have already done. The benefits of planning ahead 1-3 weeks can be enormous and include:

Gaining perspective (“10,000 foot view) instead of just dealing with what is right in front of you

• Allowing you to deal with relevant and meaningful work based on intentional prioritization
• Helping you to avoid last minute rush jobs that are more likely to have mistakes and create much more stress for you and your colleagues
• Giving time to catch mistakes and make revisions before being finalized
• Allowing you to deal better with unexpected issues that inevitably arise

People will often ask me how I find time to do such preparation. I ask them, how can anyone work effectively without making the time to do it? You must make the time; planning your activities, tasks, and projects must become a priority. The time you spend planning will come back to you tenfold. I am convinced preparing this way will help you focus, deal with unexpected problems, and, ultimately, save you time. In the coming weeks as we discuss and you implement weekly and daily planning you will save even more time and your productivity and effectiveness will increase as well.

Good luck and God bless! I look forward to sharing more with you next month.

Phil

Resources for the Road

Be Cool.  Be Organized.

One Simple Question About Productivity

What Does it Mean to be a "Workplace Saint"?

Keep it Simple: Goal Setting

 

10 Steps for Becoming a Great Public Speaker

Today’s guest post is provided by Allan F. Wright as part of the Podium 101 series, detailing the ins and outs of effective public speaking. Allan has recently published his 2nd book and provides over 90 talks per year.  For more information, visit www.allanwright.org 

I’ve read surveys where fear of speaking in public is right up there with fear of death, cancer and spiders! Like most things in life, a little preparation and planning can go a long way to alleviate these fears for the public speaking novice and for those who are regularly speaking in public, I’ve found a few simple guidelines can help me structure and deliver the talk I’ve been asked to present.

• When choosing a topic make sure it’s one that you have some level of knowledge and expertise. This will increase your confidence and comfort level when speaking as well as      alleviate any fear.

 

• Be clear about your expectations from the beginning. Be sure to confirm with the person who hired you about your role as speaker. Are you there to inspire, to educate, to give information on a new product, to witness to your experience or to give encouragement to a crowd? Knowing your expectations will focus the presentation and allow you to be on the same page with the person who hired you.

 

• Know your audience and their expectation. Are you speaking to executives, to high school students, to people who are experts in the field? Knowing your audience will again allow you to focus your talk and provide direction for where you want to take them.

 

• Never apologize when you begin a talk. Hearing a speaker say, ‘I’m really not prepared’ or ‘forgive me because I lost my notes’ sets you up for failure. Imagine an athlete stepping up to the plate or free throw line and turning to the crowd and say, ‘I’m sorry, I really don’t think I’ll do well this at bat…’ Be positive! Expect to hit it out of the park.

 

• Connecting with your audience is key to any effective communication.      The best way to begin is with eye contact and a smile. (Unless it’s a tragic event of course) The way you approach the podium and ‘carry yourself’ often communicates confidence and authority. People want to listen; they are there to receive what you have to give them.

 

• Making an outline is vital even if  you never look at it during your presentation. If you do get sidetracked it can bring you back to topic and if you make one beforehand it will likely get ingrained in your mind.

 

• Be careful adding personal stories because while they can be helpful most novices can get into them quickly but have difficulty getting out of them. What was supposed to be a 30 second example of ‘life experience’ quickly becomes an 8 minute rant which no one but the speaker cares about. If the personal experience doesn’t directly relate then cut it out.

 

• Don’t be afraid to use an object lesson to get across a point. Let’s face it; people may forget what you say but using dramatic action, holding up an object which gets your point across,      is rarely forgotten. (I once heard a presentation about the power of the tongue to hurt or heal. The woman held up a 7 pound Cow tongue as an example of one of the most dangerous weapons! I still remember it today.)

 

• If necessary or desired, allow some time for personal reflection questions or leave      them with a challenge. Without a moderator, Q&A periods often get sidetracked, become gripe sessions or audience members with agendas take over. Again, once the audience gets sidetracked it’s difficult to bring them back.

 

• Have an ending and watch your time. I consider it disrespectful if a speaker goes over the allotted time frame. Leave them wanting more not less.      Have you ever been to a presentation that you thought was too short? Most likely it’s the other way around.

 

These simple, yet significant points can make or break a presentation. A good friend reminds me that, ‘the brain can only absorb what the butt can endure,’ so try to leave your audience wanting more and not wishing you had ended fifteen minutes earlier.

Resources for the Road

Toastmasters: 10 Tips for Public Speaking

Lifehacker: Tips for Public Speaking

5 Essential Presentation Tips

A Key To Happiness: Figuring Out How to Keep Your Resolutions

Today's post is from special guest Gretchen Rubin, host of The Happiness Project.  If you haven't stopped by her blog, you'll find yourself immersed in simple-profound points about how to maximize happiness in everyday life.  I highly recommend it!

A Key To Happiness: Figuring Out How to Keep Your Resolutions

Before I started my Happiness Project, I -- like everyone -- had repeatedly made resolutions to make positive changes in my life.

Since I started the Happiness Project, I’ve managed to do a better sticking to these resolutions. Recently I asked myself—why? What was different? Two reasons: accountability and salience.

ACCOUNTABILITY is a key aspect to sticking to a resolution. You must have a way to record your goals, your successes, and your failures. I make a big chart each month, modeled on the virtue chart Benjamin Franklin describes in his Autobiography, on which I score myself each day.

Many readers have asked to see my scoring charts, so I’m prettifying them now, and will make them available soon for anyone who’d like to see a model. Obviously everyone’s resolutions will be very different, but seeing my charts might help spur ideas.

SALIENCE is another key aspect to sticking to a resolution. I found that the more quickly and readily a resolution pops into my mind at an appropriate point, the easier it is to keep that resolution. And the way to keep an idea uppermost in mind is through repetition.

I re-read my Twelve Commandments (see left-hand column) every day. I have sticky notes around the house to remind me of my resolutions. Scoring myself on my chart requires me to review every resolution, every day.

As a result, I hear a little Jiminy-Cricket voice in my head whispering “Let it go,” “Show up,” “There is only love,” “Remember the evening tidy-up,” "Sing in the morning," and all the rest as I go through my day. Of course, I often ignore that little voice, but at least I hear it more clearly than I did before.

Just last night, I discovered a new mechanism to be reminded of my resolutions. It’s a fantastic website called Hassle Me. This site allows you to arrange to be hassled at certain times – so, for example, as a trial I arranged to be hassled every two days with a message, “No fake food.” It can remind you to go to the gym, to call your grandmother, to pay bills, whatever you want, however often you want.

I think I’m going to send myself fifty hassle-me’s. More salience!

*
I found an interesting site, Wise Bread. It's about "living large on a small budget," and I like the sensibility. One of my happiness themes is the relationship between money and happiness, which I think is more complictated than people claim. This site is about living frugally, but with a fun and adventurous spirit -- not cramped penny-pinching. Plus I learned the history of the "baby carrot."