February 2, 2024
Just to clarify
“Why can’t people just do things the way I want them done?” is a cry of frustration. Not at the … Read More “Just to clarify”
Category: Improve Process
January 25, 2024
Exceptional service
I’m a fan of the 80/20 rule when it comes to documenting processes in a Customer Experience Score. Trying to … Read More “Exceptional service”
December 1, 2023
A business is what a business does – part 2
What a business does, is what it needs to do to fulfill its the primary activity of making and keeping … Read More “A business is what a business does – part 2”
November 28, 2023
Client feedback
Feedback isn’t just for your team. For example, the people at Zoe have really thought about how to use feedback … Read More “Client feedback”
November 21, 2023
Bringing all that we are to the workplace
That’s the title of an event that dropped into my inbox this morning. It got me thinking. We are human … Read More “Bringing all that we are to the workplace “
September 11, 2023
What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The Monster’s view.
I am not a monster.
I’m a gap.
The gap between what you, Founder, have in your mind’s eye, and what you Team, have in yours.
Between you, you fill that gap with a monster. With your assumptions and presumptions, your takings for granted and second-guessings of motivation.
You make everyone owls when they want to be flowers.
You make everyone Hydes when they want to be Jekylls.
You make fog where there should be clarity and purpose.
You make mediocrity where there should be excellence.
You make a straitjacket where there should be a springboard.
You build a pin-factory where there should be an orchestra.
You make noise where there should be be music.
You focus on me when you should be focusing on the people and the world, you serve.
You, Founder, you, Team, between you, you make me a monster.
But you can unmake me.
All you have to do is share with each other.
Founder, share your system for making and keeping promises with the team. Team, share your ideas for doing it better with the Founder.
Everyone, share the work of doing it. Not just the concrete tasks, but the emotional labour, the feelings. Not just the technicalities, but the customer experience, the bit that wows..
Make everyone a Boss, and watch your floor become a springboard, owned by everyone. With enough give to support different people, enough resistance to help them really take off. Watch that pin-factory morph into an orchestra, delivering customer-delighting performances that have people coming back for more.
That thing you all call ‘The Boss’.
It’s not a monster.
It’s just a gap.
When you close it, ‘the Boss’ will disappear.
And everyone will be free.
Discipline makes Daring possible.
September 8, 2023
What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The team’s view.
‘The Boss’ is a monster.
It makes us Hyde when we want to be Jekyll.
It makes us owls when we want to be flowers.
It makes us angry and resentful when we want to please.
It makes us defensive when we want to improve.
It makes us sullen when we want to co-operate.
It makes us passive when we want to be proactive.
It makes us jobsworth’s when we want to take responsibility.
It makes us dot i’s and cross t’s when we want to be making a dent in the world. A dent that matters.
We can’t ignore ‘The Boss’. We spend all day watching it, second-guessing how it feels, how it will react, covering our backs by passing jobs up. It feels like we care more about ‘The Boss’ than we do about our clients.
It’s everything we hate about being employees – the workflows, the time-sheets, the endless check-ins, the inability to fix things we know are wrong, never getting to see the big picture – everything that gets in the way of doing a great job. Everything that stops us focussing on what really matters – the client.
No wonder we can’t wait to get away of an evening.
‘The Boss’ is a monster.
We know exactly who it is. And we don’t care who knows it.
It’s not a monster.
It’s just a gap.
When you close it, ‘The Boss’ will disappear.
And everyone will be free.
Discipline makes Daring possible.
September 4, 2023
4 rules for conservation
This weekend’s lesson from “Braiding Sweetgrass” was a lovely one for me.
4 rules for conservation:
- “Only take what you need.”
- “Never from the first you see (it might be the last one).”
- “Never take more than half.”
- “Only take what is given.”
That last one is the kicker. Sometimes the universe knows what you really need better than you, and tells you so. If you have to wrest what you think you need from the earth, break branches to pull it from the tree, if it feels like dragging blood out of a stone, whoever you’re asking isn’t ready to give themselves yet.
The only thing to do in that case, is to think about what you need, not what you want. Better still, think about what that being you’re asking to give really needs.
Then come back and try again.
Discipline makes Daring possible
September 1, 2023
Lynchpin – from the other side
Being a lynchpin in someone else’s business is a good career strategy.
If you are the someone else whose business it is, you might want to think about whether it’s a good business strategy.
A Customer Experience Score isn’t just for capturing your expertise, although that’s where it usually starts.
It can get you up from over that barrel too, by capturing others’ expertise.
Then you can make everyone a lynchpin in your business for the right reason.
Because of what they do, and how, rather than what they know.
Discipline makes Daring possible.
August 29, 2023
3 books for a bank holiday weekend
I made the most of this Bank Holiday weekend, and got some reading in:
Left to right: “The Paradox of Debt” by Richard Vague; “10 times is easier than 2 times” by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy and “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I haven’t finished this one yet, it needs a slow, meditative read.
They are 3 very different books, all highly recommended, and despite very different content, all share a common theme:
When you watch the wrong things, the wrong things happen.
And the right things to watch have been there all along.
Discipline makes Daring possible.