Beyond Goal Setting The 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary, Canada. I am a rabid downhill skier, so I was watching the televised events with great interest. Of particular interest to me was Pirmin Zurbriggen, 25, Switzerland’s brilliant all-around champion. The serene and religous young man was also a fierce competitor. Before the Olympics,…
As time goes on and we reflect On the things we’ve said and done; The places we’ve been, the people we’ve met And we think of all the fun. We realize the marks we leave in life Aren’t made of stone or steel But rather of the lives we’ve touched And how we make folks…
How do you grow your business? There are only two ways. In my work with over 1500 clients spread over nearly 20 years, the only two ways I’ve ever seen used to grow any business in any industry are these: Grow yourself and grow your people. All increases in productivity, innovation, profitability, strategic direction, superior…
Teamwork – 21 Questions In my book “TeamBuilt: Making Teamwork Work” I show managers and employees how to harness the power of teamwork. I recognize that teambuilding has been widely embraced by corporate America, but that different organizations have varying results depending on their approach to implementation. Regardless of your current situation, however, the most…
Sanborn on Teamwork The ______ of the Leader According to John Maxwell, “The speed of the leader is the speed of the team.” While that’s true, it is important to remember that the leader sets many agendas in addition to speed. Consider this phrase: The ______ of the leader is the ______ of the team.…
Manage the Customer’s Experience The Palm Desert Marriott is a beautiful resort near Palm Springs, California. This past March, I was at the resort to speak to the American Hardware Manufacturing Association. The night before my breakfast presentation, I dined in one of the resort’s fine restaurants, The Tuscany. While the food and ambiance were…
Have Some Fun Passengers on the 6:15 am flight from Denver to San Francisco are rarely at their perkiest. From experience, I know it can be a sleeping, uneventful flight. Of course it depends on which flight attendant is on the airplane intercom. As we approached San Francisco, we were treated to some more announcements…
10 Practices of Exceptional Service My research of and work with the very best service providers demonstrates that they all do a lot of things right. However, I’ve found that there are at least 10 practices that they have in common. They are the following: 1. Eliminate Irritants Customer service is as much what you…
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. – Jean-Jacques Rousseau Have you experienced a failed change lately? Been a part of a team or an organization that attempted something…
Creating Change If there’s one thing that’s constant in life, it’s that life is always changing. Just when you’ve reached your quarterly sales goal, your boss raises it for the next quarter. Just when you’ve got your job down to a science, restructuring places you in a new department. Just when you’ve learned the latest…