SUCCESS
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, April 14, 2008
Could Diamonds be a Company’s Best Friend?
Have you ever been distracted by the sight of a small rainbow, out of the corner of your eye, flitting across a wall nearby? The process of refraction through a prism of glass turns an invisible beam of light into a brilliant spectrum of multiple colours. It’s fantastic!
Some businesses are like that – they are able to tap into the invisible brilliance in the potential of their employees, and create fantastic results. I call them “diamond-class” businesses. They have an organisation culture, a leadership team and support systems to allow their people to truly shine.
So, do these companies start off this way? The answer is “sometimes”! Many of them, however, have had to work their way up to shining like diamonds. As is the case with most substantial things in life, it takes some effort and determination, but the results are worth it!
So, how do you get maximum results from your team and your business? The key is to access all areas of their abilities, attributes and attitudes; to encourage them to be fully present every day so that they can access all of their potential; to cut and polish all facets of their talents. In other words, become a “diamond-class” company!
There are numerous things you can do to become a “diamond” and access all areas of potential in your business. Three key elements, which will help you access all areas and which should be your initial focus, are:
➢ Awareness
➢ Applause
➢ Action
To explore the “clear glass” and “prism class” business definitions, as well as more detail on the 3A approach, to help you polish your business to a diamond-sheen, download this month’s free e-book – “Diamonds are a Company’s Best Friend” at www.helenmac.com/diamonds.html
Until next time, stay juicy!
Helen ☺
Some businesses are like that – they are able to tap into the invisible brilliance in the potential of their employees, and create fantastic results. I call them “diamond-class” businesses. They have an organisation culture, a leadership team and support systems to allow their people to truly shine.
So, do these companies start off this way? The answer is “sometimes”! Many of them, however, have had to work their way up to shining like diamonds. As is the case with most substantial things in life, it takes some effort and determination, but the results are worth it!
So, how do you get maximum results from your team and your business? The key is to access all areas of their abilities, attributes and attitudes; to encourage them to be fully present every day so that they can access all of their potential; to cut and polish all facets of their talents. In other words, become a “diamond-class” company!
There are numerous things you can do to become a “diamond” and access all areas of potential in your business. Three key elements, which will help you access all areas and which should be your initial focus, are:
➢ Awareness
➢ Applause
➢ Action
To explore the “clear glass” and “prism class” business definitions, as well as more detail on the 3A approach, to help you polish your business to a diamond-sheen, download this month’s free e-book – “Diamonds are a Company’s Best Friend” at www.helenmac.com/diamonds.html
Until next time, stay juicy!
Helen ☺
Workplace Fun hits the Headlines!
Those of you who know me well would recognise that I have been preaching the business benefits of creating fun in the workplace for many moons. A recent edition of “Inc” magazine (www.inc.com) is dedicated to this idea, so I thought I’d share some of their thoughts (and some of my own!) on how to make a smile your success switch at work.
Whether you are a solo-preneur, an individual contributor, a manager or a business owner, the power of the positive applies to you. The creation of a positive workplace, or even better a “fun” one, has been proven to boost every business measure – productivity; creativity; sales; customer service; staff retention; morale; and of course, the bottom line – profit!
One of the key elements in creating a “juiced up” business culture is to manage the energy levels of the people in your business (even if that’s only you!). By my definition, that means animation, enthusiasm and vitality. It’s important to remember that not everyone shows their energy in the same way. They don’t have to be leaping out of their skins or laughing hysterically to prove that they’re feeling energised. At the same time, someone who is dragging themselves around, looking like they just lost their last dollar, is likely to need a boost.
So, what are some of the solutions? Well, based on the Juiced Up Principles, and remembering that different situations require different solutions, possibilities include:
• Activities that encourage employees to get to know each other
• Theme lunches with food to share and related activities
• Charity fundraisers using group activities
Some bonus hints from the Inc Magazine articles include:
• Spring clean your office with prizes for the weirdest ‘find’
• Create your own in-house training video, based on happenings in your business, and using your staff as the actors.
If you’d like to assess the juice levels in your organization, take advantage of the free Juice Audit I have developed and have available for you at http://www.helenmac.com/content/images/stories/jub%20audit.pdf - if you have any questions about it, feel free to make contact.
Until next time, have fun and stay juicy!
Helen ☺
Whether you are a solo-preneur, an individual contributor, a manager or a business owner, the power of the positive applies to you. The creation of a positive workplace, or even better a “fun” one, has been proven to boost every business measure – productivity; creativity; sales; customer service; staff retention; morale; and of course, the bottom line – profit!
One of the key elements in creating a “juiced up” business culture is to manage the energy levels of the people in your business (even if that’s only you!). By my definition, that means animation, enthusiasm and vitality. It’s important to remember that not everyone shows their energy in the same way. They don’t have to be leaping out of their skins or laughing hysterically to prove that they’re feeling energised. At the same time, someone who is dragging themselves around, looking like they just lost their last dollar, is likely to need a boost.
So, what are some of the solutions? Well, based on the Juiced Up Principles, and remembering that different situations require different solutions, possibilities include:
• Activities that encourage employees to get to know each other
• Theme lunches with food to share and related activities
• Charity fundraisers using group activities
Some bonus hints from the Inc Magazine articles include:
• Spring clean your office with prizes for the weirdest ‘find’
• Create your own in-house training video, based on happenings in your business, and using your staff as the actors.
If you’d like to assess the juice levels in your organization, take advantage of the free Juice Audit I have developed and have available for you at http://www.helenmac.com/content/images/stories/jub%20audit.pdf - if you have any questions about it, feel free to make contact.
Until next time, have fun and stay juicy!
Helen ☺
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Getting Perspective
End of the first quarter of the year...thinking about how fast the first three months have flown. Is it just me, or are there lots of things still on your 'to do' list that you thought you would have done and dusted by now?
So, one of the things I was planning to do was more blogging and I decided that I'd start today. I'm also going to put my monthly e-zine content in here, regularly, starting with the month's.
To help keep my sense of panic in perspective, I just visited this really juiced up site - http://www.miniature-earth.com/ - it made me realise that anything I am worrying about is pretty insignificant...
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
Helen Mac CSP
Expert in Creating "Juiced Up!" lives & businesses
So, one of the things I was planning to do was more blogging and I decided that I'd start today. I'm also going to put my monthly e-zine content in here, regularly, starting with the month's.
To help keep my sense of panic in perspective, I just visited this really juiced up site - http://www.miniature-earth.com/ - it made me realise that anything I am worrying about is pretty insignificant...
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
Helen Mac CSP
Expert in Creating "Juiced Up!" lives & businesses
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Getting "Souped Up"
I loved this story on the new CEO of Campbell Soup working on making his workers happier! Seemed somehow an appropriate story for a cold, wet, windy Melbourne day where soup would be great on the menu!
Douglas Conant, chief executive of Campbell Soup, has spent the past seven years figuring out how to make his employees happy. He arrived in January 2001 to revive the fortunes of a legendary, 140-year-old corporate icon that had lost its way. Soup sales were stagnant and the stock was in a two-year slump when Conant's predecessor Dale Morrison abruptly quit in early 2000, prompting former chief David Johnson to come back temporarily from retirement while the Camden company searched for a new leader.
When he brought Gallup in to survey his top 350 executives, "I couldn't even get them to fill out the questionnaire, which was anonymous. They were concerned that I'd know who they were." And when Gallup finally did get the survey done, "They told me it was the worst level of employee engagement they had ever seen."
Here's some of what Conant says he had to do, to fix that situation...
CONANT: I think you have to lead from in front on this. We had inherited a situation where we had a group of employees that were not actively engaged in what we were trying to do and the first hour of the first day I met with the employees, I said "our commitment to them was that we were going to tangibly demonstrate that we were going to be valuing their personal agendas, and hope that in time we would inspire them to value . . . the plans that we had for Campbell. And we have worked hard to demonstrate in a tangible way that we value what they're doing and over time we have lifted the engagement from what was one of the poorest levels of engagement that the Gallup organization who measures this for us had ever seen to one of the best; and it's just by consistently demonstrating that we value the people.
CONANT: A low engagement score says you have lost connections with the employees and you can't be a high-performance company without a high-performance orientation and level of engagement with your employees so it says you're in trouble . . . and we were clearly in trouble . . . and our employees know that we are going to do anything and everything we can to advance their situation and trust that they will do anything they can to help us improve our performance in the marketplace. And it's worked very well. We have gone, as I've said, from poor engagement to top quartile engagement. We have got a spring in the step around here that is absolutely unmistakable when you walk the halls, and it is a totally different place. We're starting to look like winners again!
CONANT: The key is you've got to do what you say you're going to do; so you have to walk that talk. And we have declared ourselves . . . we have something we call the Campbell Promise: Campbell valuing people . . . hopefully, inspiring people to value Campbell. We have a lofty mission. We have a set of core values; but we hold ourselves accountable to living those values and walking that talk and the employees can tell within a nano-second whether you're genuine about this or not.
So, what would your employees say about your company? Are they inspired to be their best? If not, what are you doing about it?
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
Douglas Conant, chief executive of Campbell Soup, has spent the past seven years figuring out how to make his employees happy. He arrived in January 2001 to revive the fortunes of a legendary, 140-year-old corporate icon that had lost its way. Soup sales were stagnant and the stock was in a two-year slump when Conant's predecessor Dale Morrison abruptly quit in early 2000, prompting former chief David Johnson to come back temporarily from retirement while the Camden company searched for a new leader.
When he brought Gallup in to survey his top 350 executives, "I couldn't even get them to fill out the questionnaire, which was anonymous. They were concerned that I'd know who they were." And when Gallup finally did get the survey done, "They told me it was the worst level of employee engagement they had ever seen."
Here's some of what Conant says he had to do, to fix that situation...
CONANT: I think you have to lead from in front on this. We had inherited a situation where we had a group of employees that were not actively engaged in what we were trying to do and the first hour of the first day I met with the employees, I said "our commitment to them was that we were going to tangibly demonstrate that we were going to be valuing their personal agendas, and hope that in time we would inspire them to value . . . the plans that we had for Campbell. And we have worked hard to demonstrate in a tangible way that we value what they're doing and over time we have lifted the engagement from what was one of the poorest levels of engagement that the Gallup organization who measures this for us had ever seen to one of the best; and it's just by consistently demonstrating that we value the people.
CONANT: A low engagement score says you have lost connections with the employees and you can't be a high-performance company without a high-performance orientation and level of engagement with your employees so it says you're in trouble . . . and we were clearly in trouble . . . and our employees know that we are going to do anything and everything we can to advance their situation and trust that they will do anything they can to help us improve our performance in the marketplace. And it's worked very well. We have gone, as I've said, from poor engagement to top quartile engagement. We have got a spring in the step around here that is absolutely unmistakable when you walk the halls, and it is a totally different place. We're starting to look like winners again!
CONANT: The key is you've got to do what you say you're going to do; so you have to walk that talk. And we have declared ourselves . . . we have something we call the Campbell Promise: Campbell valuing people . . . hopefully, inspiring people to value Campbell. We have a lofty mission. We have a set of core values; but we hold ourselves accountable to living those values and walking that talk and the employees can tell within a nano-second whether you're genuine about this or not.
So, what would your employees say about your company? Are they inspired to be their best? If not, what are you doing about it?
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Juiced Up Service!
Just back from a trip to Adelaide where I ran a two day Service Training for an automotive client. Interesting to notice some of the service experiences that you have while training others in improving their service delivery!
We had lunch, on both days, at the cafe attached to the hotel in which the training was being held.
On the first day, we arrived at the appointed time, were presented with menus, orders were taken and we chatted while the food was prepared. As the trainer, I was a little concerned that this process might take a long time, and affect our afternoon starting tme.
I was pleasantly surprised that the meals were prepared and delivered quickly and (mostly) accurately. The food was delicious and a happy mealtime was had by all. As we left, I asked the cafe manager whether it would make their lives easier if we pre-ordered the meals in the morning on day two. She agreed, so I took menus with me.
The group ordered as they arrived at the venue and I delivered the list before morning tea, confirming our arrival time with the staff.
When we arrived at the cafe, at the appointed time, we waited for the pre-ordered meals. And waited. And waited. Finally the first few arrived ten minutes later...with cold fries. Five minutes later another couple of meals...with more cold fries. Then most of the rest of the meals (more cold fries) and three unordered chicken parmigianas. Eventually, after about 20 minutes, the final two meals (salads!!) arrived - sadly, one of them was mine. Both were supposed to be chicken caesar - both arrived without chicken. So much for pre-ordering!
The message for me, and for my participants, was clear. Inconsistency and not delivering on promises really affected our experience. I'm glad that they all got such a clear re-inforcement of some of the important keys to providing juiced up service. I'm not keen on visiting that particular cafe again!
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
We had lunch, on both days, at the cafe attached to the hotel in which the training was being held.
On the first day, we arrived at the appointed time, were presented with menus, orders were taken and we chatted while the food was prepared. As the trainer, I was a little concerned that this process might take a long time, and affect our afternoon starting tme.
I was pleasantly surprised that the meals were prepared and delivered quickly and (mostly) accurately. The food was delicious and a happy mealtime was had by all. As we left, I asked the cafe manager whether it would make their lives easier if we pre-ordered the meals in the morning on day two. She agreed, so I took menus with me.
The group ordered as they arrived at the venue and I delivered the list before morning tea, confirming our arrival time with the staff.
When we arrived at the cafe, at the appointed time, we waited for the pre-ordered meals. And waited. And waited. Finally the first few arrived ten minutes later...with cold fries. Five minutes later another couple of meals...with more cold fries. Then most of the rest of the meals (more cold fries) and three unordered chicken parmigianas. Eventually, after about 20 minutes, the final two meals (salads!!) arrived - sadly, one of them was mine. Both were supposed to be chicken caesar - both arrived without chicken. So much for pre-ordering!
The message for me, and for my participants, was clear. Inconsistency and not delivering on promises really affected our experience. I'm glad that they all got such a clear re-inforcement of some of the important keys to providing juiced up service. I'm not keen on visiting that particular cafe again!
Stay juicy!
Helen :)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Welcome!
I'm excited! Juiced Up!, you might even say!
This blog is designed to be a capturing point...for my thoughts on how to live a 'Juiced Up! Life' as well as how to run a 'Juiced Up! Business', as well as for articles, tips and hints that I pick up that I think will add 'juice' to your every day experience. I hope you'll visit often, or even request notification of new posts, so you can 'stay juicy' with me!
I welcome your responses and your ideas on how you stay energised and aligned in business and in life.
Stay Juicy!
Cheers, Helen :)
This blog is designed to be a capturing point...for my thoughts on how to live a 'Juiced Up! Life' as well as how to run a 'Juiced Up! Business', as well as for articles, tips and hints that I pick up that I think will add 'juice' to your every day experience. I hope you'll visit often, or even request notification of new posts, so you can 'stay juicy' with me!
I welcome your responses and your ideas on how you stay energised and aligned in business and in life.
Stay Juicy!
Cheers, Helen :)
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