Creating Your Life’s Blueprint – Part 1 – Dream’s List

We all have dreams, expectations and goals that we want to accomplish. You have dreams or deep seeded desires that fit into a long range of categories.

• Financial Accomplishment Dreams (Like a desired Net Worth)
• Activities Dreams (Like Skydiving)
• Travel Dreams (Like Backpacking through Europe)
• Things Dreams (Like a Mercedes S-500)
• Relationship Dreams (Like a Spouse that are passionate about and shares your values)
• Health Dreams (Like a desired body weight)

These dreams are not new to you, they are deep seeded desires that you have had in your subconscious for a long time. Writing a dreams list has a powerful effect on you if you really believe that you can obtain the dreams you write down on paper. I am going to write a series of articles in the next few weeks on the subject of the attainment of dreams and goals. There is a difference between the two. I will also describe how to set goals, and create an action plan for its attainment. These are all part of what we will call your life’s blueprint. Just like when I built my first house at age 19, I knew I needed a set of blueprints that guided me in how to build my home. You too need a blueprint for your life. If you don’t plan things they more than likely won’t happen.

I first learned the strategies for planning events in my life, when I read the book “Super Self” by the late Charles Givens. He discusses in detail how to plan your life and reach anything in your hearts desires by following specific actions. I took this to heart and made my own dreams list. A dreams list is different than goals. A goal is more specific with a set time for its achievement. We will discuss the goals and do a goal setting session in my upcoming articles.

From the book “Super Self” Charles says “Your dreams list is an outline of the major events, scenes, and experiences in the most successful and satisfying life you can imagine for yourself, unaffected by any current realities, family circumstances, level or lack wealth, past or present pressures, or your own current level of confidence or ability.” In other words you have permission to dream big and imagine a life that would be the perfect life for your dreams despite where you are now in your life. You become successful by clearly defining what you want.

One day I was feeling bad for myself because I felt like I was not as accomplished as I could be. I grabbed one of my old notebooks and started reading off some of my dreams from my list, that at the time I wrote them seemed like a distant shot. I was so surprised to see I had accomplished a fair percentage of my dreams list to include:

• I had traveled to England and Scotland and visited Stone Henge.
• I had a home with a pool in Las Vegas.
• I was driving a Mercedes (Although a C series)
• I had a successful Real Estate Practice.

Our brains being the goal striving mechanism that they are, I had subconsciously gravitated toward dreams that I had crystallized by putting on paper. Together we will compose a dreams list that will contain the following five categories:

• What would you like to have or own?
• What would you like to do or create?
• Where would you like to go or travel?
• What would you like to be or become?
• What would you like to contribute to others?

Take all the random desires out of your head and put them on paper to make it feel real. Do this without thinking of limits or reasons as to why you won’t achieve them. You can decide later on, if the reward is worth the risk or not on some of your dreams. For now think like a kid in a toy store and grab anything you want.

Here are steps to making the first part of your blueprint; the Dreams List

1. Get a notebook and a pen. Find a quiet place and eliminate all distractions.
2. Write on the Top of the page; “My Dreams List”
3. Write on the next line: “If I had unlimited time, talent, money, knowledge, self confidence, and support from my family, here is a list of everything I would have and do in my life.”
4. Start writing your dreams down without contemplating the probabilities. Use your imagination and feel the emotions as you write them down. Examples are:
a. Visit Machu Picchu
b. Own a home on a lake.
c. Own and operate a multi-million dollar business.
d. Run in a marathon.
5. Keep writing without any reservations and put whatever feels like something you like to do, be or have.
6. It is only a dreams list if what you write down gets you truly excited.

Once you have put your full thought and effort into creating a dreams list, you now have a document from which to start your journey. Some of the things you put on paper may seem outrageous, but that is ok. Everything you have ever done or accomplished in your life started once as a dream or idea in your head. For the same reason, these dreams are meant to inspire and capture your possibilities. You will feel great. Some of the things on your dreams list could be something that you will attain in 20 years and some are things that you work on immediately. We will discover in the next article “Designing Your Life’s Purpose”

Your Dream list will be a lifelong document that you carry around with you. If you believe in it, it can be so. You can ad dreams whenever they occur to you or you can eliminate some from your list as you see fit. Only eliminate a dream if you are no longer inspired by it. Your ideas and values change as you get older and some things might not be as important to you later on. This is okay. These are your dreams and they only belong to you.

Your Life’s Blueprint – Part 2 Designing Your Purpose

Discovering and designing a purpose for yourself is probably the most important defining moment in your life. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be Mother Theresa or Nelson Mandela to have a purpose with your life. So many people are like robots that pick the safe route for themselves. We often let parents, spouses, and society determine for us what we will do for the rest of our lives. We feel unfulfilled and we don’t know why. It is because we are stifling a part of ourselves that we always knew wanted to be out. There are better singers than Beyonce who have never seen a stage. There are better artists than Van Gogh, who will never pick up a paint brush. There is a basketball player with more raw talent than Michael Jordan who will never reach the courts. Anyone who does not work toward their purpose on a consistent basis is robbing themselves and the world of the talents they have to give.

For a big part of my life, I thought goals and dreams were the guiding force for my life. I knew I wanted the businesses, the exotic vacations, the homes, the cars, and contributions but I did not have a foundation for which to work toward my goals. I read the book “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield when I was in a crossroads in my life. I learned that I needed to design a purpose for my life instead of shooting for a series of random goals. I was a Real Estate agent and making good money but I did not feel fulfilled. I sat down in front of my computer with a blank document and started to think of times in my life when I was the happiest and felt most fulfilled.

I remembered a time when I was training people in how to give good customer service and be good managers. I loved the connection I had with the people. I remember I had a great ability to make people laugh and understand the principles I was teaching.

I remembered about certain essays and short stories that I wrote that people told me they really liked. I remember the feeling I had when I was able to connect with people through my writings.

I remembered all the books I read and seminars I attended on personal development and how it made me feel. It was these feelings of that help me to put together my Life’s Purpose:

I am happily speaking, writing and creating new empowering ways to help transform businesses and people’s lives. I help others to be free of fear and repression.

I then went home and only worked on doing jobs that had to do with training and speaking. I joined the American Society for Training and Development and I met with other speakers and trainers. I now was clear on what my purpose had been all along. I began writing and sending my inspirational writings to friends and family and they enjoyed my message. I still had to keep a day job during this time and actually went through some major economic turmoil with the last real estate crisis. I let this turmoil and pain get me once again out of my life’s purpose and I went into survival mode.

When you don’t spend at least a part of your day working toward your purpose, you get back into the old trap of smothering and forgetting it. It wasn’t until a recent point in my life when I realized that I was on the right path once and I got off it just because I was not seeing immediate financial rewards for living by my purpose. I reread my purpose that had been sitting in my wallet for two years and I started writing again. Now I know that I will not stop until I am making a living doing my purpose. So despite distractions, jobs, and feelings, I work toward my purpose at some point every day. It feels great! I want everyone to have that feeling. There is a purpose out there that you were designed for. It is up to you to discover it. Do an exercise similar to the one I did in order to discover it.

•Find a quiet place. Breathe in and breathe out while clearing all the other thoughts in your head.

•Think back as far as your childhood and into the present. When did you feel the happiest and most fulfilled, what activity or job were you doing?

•Write down adjectives and verbs that describe what you were doing. (If you discover that you are already doing your purpose then you are ahead of crowd and keep doing it.)

•Write down a sentence in the present tense that describes you actually living by your purpose.

•Keep this small piece of paper with you where you go.

•You don’t have to quit your day job yet. Just find time to do it every day even if in some small way.

Perhaps you have a regular office job but you believe your purpose is helping children. So find a way to volunteer a few hours a week in an orphanage or a children’s hospital. Perhaps you feel your purpose is to start a business based on something you are passionate about. So find a way to start researching and creating steps to begin your business, even if it starts out very small. You get the point, right? You gain momentum by just doing it. The details will unfold as you move along on your purpose. It is easy to get distracted with life or let something get you down and into survival mode. Push through those feelings and continue to visualize the feeling you will have when you are truly making a living by doing what it is that your heart has always been telling you to do. Go and make the world a better place by living and acting on your desires.

Your Life’s Blueprint – Part 3 – Goal Setting For Success

Why are goals so important for achieving anything in your life? It gives you a clear picture of where you are going. When I want to navigate the complicated streets of downtown Seattle, I pull out the Global Positioning System on my phone. A sexy female voice tells me which way to turn until I get to the destination I am looking for. The GPS even gives me alternative routes and adjusts itself to the problems with traffic or road construction. A goal gives you a vision of where you want to be and your action plan tells you how you will get there.

You have written down your dreams. You have discovered a purpose for yourself. Now it is time to set your short term goals (Usually within 1 year in length) A majority of your short term goals should be focused and aimed toward achieving your purpose. You can also add to your goals list; financial goals, relationship goals, career goals, achievement goals, health goals and things goals. We will discuss the importance of setting goals and then setting a course in the way we achieve them.

Maxwell Maltz’s book Psycho-Cybernetics gives us a clear picture of how goals work with our brain. Dr. Maltz’s states that the brain is a servo-mechanism much like the computer system on a guided missile. A guided missile is launched in search of the target and although the target may move, the guided missile can adjust the course and still make it to the final target exploding on impact. When you set and commit to goals your subconscious works toward them in mysterious ways. I always used goal setting throughout my life. I would write down my goals in my notebook and could really feel the feeling as if I had already accomplished these goals. It is a powerful exercise and one that you will get to your target once you have defined what your target is.

If you are unfamiliar to setting goals or you have fallen down on goal setting before, it is important that you take small steps at first and feel small victories. For example before you can lose 20 pounds you need to lose 10 pounds. Set the goal of losing ten pounds first, then after you have achieved the 10 pound goal, set another goal for losing 20 pounds. The feeling you get when you reach the 10 pound goal will make you propel forward into wanting to go to the next step. Dave Ramsey, in his book “The Total Money Makeover”, speaks of taking “baby steps” towards your financial goals like saving a $1,000 for an emergency fund, before you go on to larger goals like debt elimination. It is the same concept for any goal you want to achieve.

A goal is different from a dream because a goal is measurable in the result and has a time at which it is achieved. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds by February 10th. You will have lost the 10 pounds on that date or you will have not lost the 10 pounds. That is why your goals have to be realistic for you to achieve them or you will never work toward them. I cannot say “I will have one million dollars in my bank account on March 15th” when I don’t even have an income. Your goal has to be believable to you in order for you to get excited about it and stick to it. Remember, small steps towards smaller victories leads to winning bigger battles.

Let’s outline the basics of goal setting:

• Keeping your purpose and your dreams in mind, start with a blank notebook or WORD document.
• Write 5 sections on this document: Financial, Career, Health, Achievement, and Things (You don’t have to do all the sections for this first year, just the ones that you know you have to really improve in order to move forward in your life.)
• Write down two goals for each section keeping in mind the time frame of 1 year from today’s date.
• The goal should be written in the present tense and with a positive affirmation. (I am energized and excited now that I weigh 165 pounds on March 5, 2010.)
• Close your eyes and visualize the final outcome as you have achieved this goal.
• If there are some immediate steps you can do toward working on that goal right away, do it. (Like, going for a run, joining a gym, or emptying your refrigerator of fattening foods.)
• Keep your top ten, 1 year goals with you in your purse or wallet.
• Read and visualize your goals at least twice a day.

Remember that your goal must be measurable. You cannot say a goal like “I want to buy a home.” This goal does not specify a time frame nor does it specify a measurable result. The above statement is merely stating a desire. If you do follow the steps above and then work to set an action plan for their achievement (To be discussed in the Next Article) then you will see results. You will find that your mind is finding ways to work on your goals even while you are sleeping. It is important that your time frames and measurable achievement is believable to you. You cannot trick yourself into being an overnight millionaire. You have to work toward your goals with daily steps and cannot jump from step A to step Z. Also don’t beat yourself up if you fall short of your goal. If on March 5, 2010 you weigh 166 pounds instead of 165, you did great! It is time to set the next goal. I truly believe that all people would be happy and fulfilled if they were to stretch themselves toward achieving goals. I want everyone to try doing at least one goal immediately. You will feel great when you achieve it and you will be addicted to setting more and loftier goals. The only limitation you have is in your head.

Take a Load off and Let Go of Guilt

We as humans are complicated creatures. Many of us are not able to move forward in our careers, relationships and life’s because we are dragged down with guilt. The truth is being that we are human beings and not perfect beings, we have all made mistakes. Some of our mistakes were intentional and some of our mistakes are just a consequence of us doing what we thought was right at the time. Maybe we sometimes feel guilty for something that happened that we had no control over. We probably all have one major moment in our lives that we cringe when we think about how we behaved. Unless you are a sociopath you will feel guilty for what you have done at least once. Carrying guilt is like walking around with a 200 pound backpack all the time. You feel dragged down and are always unable to truly enjoy the present moment and actually move on in your life. Maybe we sometimes feel guilty for something that happened that we had no control over.

Guilt is not a bad thing. It is actually something that helps to guide our actions. Guilt might make us do something different the next time we are confronted with the same situation, or it might take us many times of being stupid to finally get it. Hopefully you do learn from something.The truth is as long as you are trying to survive and succeed in this world, you will make mistakes. That is what free will is about, right? Since you realize you feel guilt about something in your life, you must now learn to move on if you want to be able to create joy and success in your life.

Think about one of the major incidents in your life that you did something that you feel extremely guilty about. I am not talking about a minor thing, I am talking about a giant boo-boo. It must be something that you think about sometimes before you go to sleep. It is something that creeps into your brain when you are at work or doing a leisure activity. Let’s use an example of: “You felt like you were not there as a parent as much as you thought you should have been.” Most parents feel some kind of guilt for something that they did not do right. Your parents feel guilt for something that happened to you and their parents have guilt for something they did. Being a parent is a learning process in which unfortunately does not come with an instructional manual, so mistakes will be made. This one example of a common guilt problem, you have your own.

I have an exercise for you to try if the guilt of your past is so strong that it paralyzes you.

1.If the person that you did something to is still living, write them a letter. Sincerely apologizing for what you have done. Don’t make excuses for your actions. Don’t say they had fault to. You apologize for your part in the actions. Let your sincerity come out. ( It is hard to do. That is why so many people hold on to so much guilt and have to spend years paying a psychologist or counselor to hear them out. They are not speaking to the right person. They need to speak to the person they have the guilt about.)
2.If the person that you did something to, is not living anymore. Then write a letter apologizing for what you did. Read it aloud and then rip it to shreds.
3.Look at yourself in the mirror and say “I forgive you for ****” (This may seem dumb but has what you tried worked yet?)
4.Realize that you are where you are. The past is gone. You can make it right in the future by helping someone else.
5.Go make a positive difference in somebody else’s life in order to make up for your error.

A great example of someone trying to transform his guilt is the movie “Seven Pounds” in which the character played by Will Smith tries to make right a major tragedy that he caused. He finds a way to positively affect many people’s lives in order to attempt to make up for his stupid judgment. This is probably the most powerful way to get rid of guilt. Even if you are not directly in contact with the person that you may have caused harm to, you are making a positive out of negative which leaves some room in your heart to feel good.

You have the power to shed the heavy backpack and get back in the race. Your power is in the present not in the past. You have the ability to right a wrong and you have the ability to forgive yourself even if others don’t. Confront it head on and then move past it. You deserve this for your life and the people around you deserve it as well. Go do this and live happy and free.

FEAR WILL MAKE YOU ITS BITCH IF YOU LET IT

     Why do so many people not really go after what they want in their life?  The answer is: FEAR. Fear will make you its bitch if you let it. It will pimp smack you into oblivion. Fear will always keep you wondering, what if? We have all heard Shakespeare; “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”  To state that simply is to say, if you don’t do what you are afraid of doing then you will relive over and over again in your mind with torturous regret.  You will beat yourself up, because you never took the steps toward doing what you know in your gut will make you happy.  So many people take the safe route in their lives, so as to avoid any unpleasant experiences.  Ironically the truly unpleasant experience is living your life with regret.  Some examples of how this shows up in life are:

• You did not apply to college for fear of rejection.
• You did not ask the girl out because she might not like you.
• You took the safe career path in Accounting instead of following your passion for music.
• You did not ask that millionaire for advice because he might laugh at you.
• You did not showcase your talent at the talent show because they might make fun of you.
• You did not divorce that man who makes you miserable for fear of the unknown.
• You did not start that business because you were afraid it would fail.

     This fear shows up in so many areas of our life, and yet we often don’t even realize that we are experiencing fear. We come up with an idea for that business or that career, and we talk ourselves out of it. We don’t realize it is fear at the time, we think we are being practical or analytical.  That is B.S.  The truth is, it is fear in our brain telling us that we will fail.  Why would our brain, who is suppose to be our bodies partner do this to us?  Your brain is actually trying to protect you. If you see a bear on a trail that you think might eat you, your body goes into protection or flight mode. You will run faster than you ever thought possible if you were actually chased by that bear.  (Unfortunately not fast enough to out run a bear.)  The brain does the same thing to you in a situation that you might think is scary.  Your brain wants to protect you, but you have to learn when this is happening and understand it. If there is something you really want, and you still haven’t gone after it, then you have to face your fear and do the task that you know in your heart you should do.

        Fear is F.E.A.R.  False experiences appearing real. You visualize yourself failing at the thing you want to do, so you retreat. The desire to fulfill that part of your heart and soul will always be there, but each time you think about it as a reality you will find a way to see yourself failing.  When you see yourself failing, pain will set in and you will instinctively work very hard to avoid pain.  

        What are some reasons people are fearful?  A. You failed before. B. Someone else failed at something and told you about it. C. You read or heard some statistic about how the likelihood of accomplishing what you want is nearly impossible. D. Someone told you that you were not capable of doing it and you believed them. E. You just can’t visualize a successful outcome.  There are many reasons you fear these things. Some of these reasons go back to your childhood and spawn from something in your adulthood. When I was 19, I put together the resources, planning, my 12 hours a day of labor, and people in order to build two houses. I was not fearful because I had no other experience to tell me I could not do it. I worked everyday very hard at it, and eventually watched this house come together as I once had visualized it.  When the second house was completed there were some delays in the final stage of it and I ran out of funds and the house was foreclosed on because it did not sell right away.  I considered that to be a big failure.  I did not try to do any house projects after this and most of the subsequent business ideas I had were never carried out, because I had experienced a considerably big failure. From then on, I foresaw my business ideas not going as planned, like my big house project.  It took me seven years to actually venture on my own again and trust that things would be different. 

        For whatever reason you are not chasing your dream, you have to ask yourself why? I mean really ask why? Not because of the kids, the economy, or what your mother told you when you were four years old. It is because you are telling yourself you can’t do it. You are shaking in your boots at the thought of trying it. The fear might help you to analyze something you had not thought of at first, but once you realize what is happening you have to move past it. The way to move past the fear is to visualize and feel the feeling you will get when you actually do accomplish what you dreamed of. Think about the feeling you will have because you are actually living your dream instead of dreaming your life away.  Then take steps toward the thing you fear. Praise yourself for little victories in your path.  You will soon realize that what you feared is maybe not so difficult and very rewarding. 

        Another way to move toward your dream and past the fear is to realize that working toward your goals will not make you worse of, even if you don’t get it exactly the way you want it.  If you are afraid of asking that girl out because she might reject you, you will have not lost anything by trying. The only person that can make you feel stupid is you.  Even if the girl says no, you are still no better or worse than before you asked.  The same is true in that business, career change, film project, book, or travel that you wanted to do.  Life is short to not live the way you think you ought to live. This does not mean if you have kids that you will abandon them at a Wal-Mart tomorrow and go chase your dream of being a Vegas Showgirl.  You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow in order to start your business and then starve for months.  Don’t be stupid! Be smart; think about a realistic and harmonious path to your goals.  You have to understand where you are now and figure out how to get where you want to get. 

         Realize that you deserve what you want. That anyone the fear you feel is self imposed and not always real, and that you can visualize and work toward what you really want.  Think about this amazing time in history. If Barack Obama had let the fear rule him in his choice to run for President, then he would not be the one to be sworn in on the 20^th of January, 2009.  If he feared that he would not make it because of his age, color, beliefs, funny name or lack of experience; history would be extremely different at this time. Ask yourself what history you can make for yourself in your lifetime and make fear your bitch.

YOUR EMPLOYEES GIVE BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE? DON’T FIRE THEM YET. LOOK WITHIN YOURSELF!

In today’s competitive marketplace extending excellent customer service is essential to the survival of any business. I hope by now most of us understand the importance of taking care of the customer and exceeding their expectations.  If some of you are like me, you spent your leisure time reading books like “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, or “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters. I read these books and took them as gospel because they offer sound principles for creating a vision of what excellent customer service should look like.  I truly believe that these books and a selection of others really help us to delve into the principles for taking care of the people and maintain our customer’s loyalty.

          We have great examples of companies that live by the customer loyalty principle by constantly trying to be on the cutting edge of services and products. Such companies that come to mind are Starbucks, Nordstrom, Pike Place Fish Market, The Four Seasons, and Apple. These are companies who set the mark for creative and enlightened organizations that are always finding ways to make the customer say “wow”.  Consumer brag to others about the services they receive at these customer centered organizations and therefore create a word of mouth buzz that creates exponential growth and success.

          As managers you have probably tried to instill certain campaigns or slogans at your company. You made sure your employees understood and practiced the following procedures:

·         Greeting the guest with a smile and a salutation.

·         Looking for the “moment of truth”, the opportunity to make an impression on your customer with each interaction.

·         Soliciting feedback from the guest or customer.

·         Employee empowerment.

·         Taking care of the “internal customer” (teamwork)

The list goes on, but in our organizations I am sure we have all dealt with the above initiatives at one time or another.  If your organization is a progressive one, then many of the above initiatives are common practice and part of the expected norm.  By the way, have you ever walked into one of the national video store franchises?  You walk through the familiar doors in search of the newest “Rambo” movie on the way you plan to drop off your last rental – “P.S. – I love You” (My wife’s idea). As you walk in the door, you are hit with “hello” from two or three employees.  Rather than be impressed by their great service you are actually annoyed by their forced salutation. They are not sincere and it shows. Some executive at that company decided long ago that all of the video store employees will greet the guest as they walk in the door.  Forget about greeting me from across the room as I walk in the door. Instead, try not to ignore me the rest of the time I am in the store. Say “Hello” to me when we are face to face or passing in the aisles. Give me an opinion about a movie that I should see or ask me if I found everything ok. The point is that when something seems scripted or forced then it is not going to work on the customer, instead it will cheapen the customer experience. “Do you want to supersize that?”

              Ok! We all know the importance of customer loyalty because it costs less to get a customer to come back then to create a new one. We all know that the customer is king because they pay our bills and paychecks. We all know that our employees have to be friendly and have good attitudes or the customers won’t come back. We all know that an unsatisfied customer will tell far more people than a happy customer.  So how do we make our employees follow these initiatives and constantly work toward improving their services? It is easy. You be good leaders and managers. Huh?  “No, it’s the employees fault.” “It’s hard to find good people now.”  I say B.S. (Bogus Sandwich).

To the people that truly know; the philosophy of customer loyalty and constant improvement were studied, researched and taught by an American statistician. Dr. Edwards Deming is the man who helped industry leaders in post-World War II Japan rebuild and become the dominant force for quality and innovation in the world. That’s right! The father of the modern Japanese industry is an American. His teachings have been carried out by such companies as Sony, Fuji, Toyota, Honda and a multitude of others. In fact every year Japan still honors the most innovative or successful company with the Deming Award. Deming’s teachings were so simple yet they are still some of the most powerful management philosophies today which Deming referred to as “profound knowledge”. Some of the points from his 14 point list from his book “Out of the Crisis” are:

·         Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs. (1)

·         Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs (5)

·         Institute training on the job (6)

·         Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of an overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers (7)

·         Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. (8)

·         Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service. (9)

·         Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. (10)

·         Remove barriers that rob the hourly paid worker of his right to pride in workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. (12)

·         Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement  (13)

·         Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.  (14)

As you can see, the father of quality and improvement says that quality begins in the boardroom with the leaders and managers. This especially counts for service companies as well.  Leaders, owners, and manager make the rules and the procedures. They can create the empowerment in the employee or tie their hands and have them afraid to make a decision. They are the ones that decide how much should be spent on training and what objectives are important. The owners are the ones that decide if they are going to share part of the profits with the employee and make them feel like part of the company. The leaders and owners are the ones that decide how they are going to treat the employees on their interactions. Are they going to set goals and work toward helping the employee to achieve the goal or are they going to leave them alone and just dump all over them when the employee does something wrong.  The leaders decide if an employees or customer’s idea will be implemented or not. So you can keep blaming the line employee for the bad customer service or you can take a deep look at the root cause of it all, leadership and owners.

We want our people to treat our customers with warmth and respect. How do we treat our people? We want our people to constantly improve their work standards and output. Do we provide the on-going training and listen to their feedback?  We want our people to be able to serve the customer to the fullest without making them wait and go through hoops. Are they afraid to try anything without your approval because they know if they screw up you will be all over them? Look at yourself and see.

Your store, restaurant, factory or office is like an engine. Then you the leader are the ignition switch. Your people are the spark plugs, pistons and other moving parts of the engine. If the spark (behavior) you provide is weak or surges then the engine will sputter. If you don’t provide oil (training, goals, feedback, and support), then the engine will quickly burn and the engine will seize up. The parts of the engine all have their function but without the spark the engine will never run. Now go take a look at yourself, your other managers and the system itself. Can you improve something to ignite maximum performance from your employees? Always.

 

Cultural Differences in the Hispanic workplace

North Americans in the workforce are distinctly known for being direct and to the point.  It often is perceived by the Hispanic culture that the North American in general is rude and uncaring. In a leadership role, it is essential that the leader treats each of his workers as an individual first and foremost. This means using such courtesies as acknowledging everyone in the room. It took many years for me to get used to greeting everyone in an office with a handshake and a good morning as I entered into the Latino work environment. The standard North American entrance is to walk into a room and go directly to the person that you need to speak to, ignoring all the others and then walking out.  For purposes of time it may not be realistic to shake everyone’s hand in a larger office environment. Acknowledging the person with eye contact and a greeting will suffice.  Greeting everyone at once in a large room is also acceptable. The same goes when leaving a room. Don’t just leave without saying “goodbye”, “talk to you later” or the acceptable follow up. You are showing everyone that you don’t care by leaving a room without dismissing yourself.  It is extremely rude to walk up to two people who are together and only speak to one person in the group without acknowledging the other person. Don’t face one person and give your back to other person either. You are basically telling that person that they are not important and are insignificant. At a later time when you need to speak to the second person in the group they are going to remember how they were dismissed.  Don’t walk away while leaving the other person talking, that is incredibly disrespectful especially to the Hispanic.             Eye contact is important when speaking to your Hispanic employee or co-worker.  Due to diversity in educational and socioeconomic backgrounds from the Latin American countries, some will feel it is disrespectful to look their superior in the eyes. As a general rule, though it is the accepted norm to speak with the person and use eye contact to make sure they are following you.   Hispanics as well as any culture do not like to be spoken to in a demeaning manner. Everyone wants to be treated as a person as someone who matters for the organization. That person will do more than is expected of him, if he believes that their superior generally cares about their well being. Since the Hispanic is extremely family centered it is a good measure to find out about their family, where they came from, and what their kids are doing. You will not meet a more hospitable culture as long as they perceive that they are receiving respect.            Don’t assume every Hispanic is from Mexico. There are so many countries in Central and South America that makes up the Hispanic culture. It is often joked about or assumed that every person who speaks Spanish is from Mexico. Mainly because Mexico is our neighbor and there are a larger percentage of Mexicans in the United States.  Nothing is more offensive to a person from El Salvador to be called a Mexican and vice versa.  Learn where they are from. Everyone is proud of where they came from, their roots and their culture. Don’t mix everyone in one category. It is like telling someone from Canada that they are the United States or someone from the United States that they are Norwegian. There are differences of culture in every country in Latin America and even differences within those countries.  In fact, sometimes there is strife or rousing that occurs between different mixes of Latin American co-workers. Make sure that everyone treats all with equal respect and their country of origin is not used as a reason to be harassed.  As a manager, it is not your job or duty to know everything about your co-worker’s country and culture, but you’ll find that most Hispanics love to talk about their countries because they miss their family and traditions.            When someone hands you keys in your hand, you use the keys and then return the keys by throwing them back or sliding them along the desk, you have been offensive. You are showing that person that you do not respect them enough to give them the keys or object into their hands.  The same goes for money, papers or any object that you were handed. “That is how an animal is treated”, is often the thought when items are thrown back at the recipient.            North Americans often joke about mothers and wives and think it is funny. In the Hispanic culture any perceived insult of someone’s family member could spark a confrontation. One time in an office setting my wife was told by the owner that “your Mother doesn’t work here”. For the North American that means that everyone must pick up after themselves. My wife understood what the owner meant, but the fact that he used her mother into the conversation, she was immediately offended and ready to fight. She tried to take it in the context it was given but still did not appreciate the comment. Hispanics will not tolerate disrespect toward their family members. The worker himself might tolerate joking, or verbal harassing, but the instance you include their family member in the conversation be prepared.            You may think that as a manager, you have to work with many cultures and why should you have to specifically cater to the Hispanic culture.  All of the above mentioned items are actually common courtesies that everyone deserves. Courtesy and politeness has often gone out the window in lieu of time and efficiency. The truth is that it doesn’t take that much more time to treat someone with respect or ask about their well-being. You will find that the results you get from all of your workers will be tremendous. A worker will do more for someone that they care about than someone who is just their superior.  We ask our workers to treat our guests and customers with respect and caring, so we must also treat our employees as our customer.  Mutual respect will be reciprocal to the customer who ultimately determines the profitability of any organization.