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Its not the end of the world
So you might: Loose a client Fail at achieving something Not meet a deadline Not get promoted Not be as rich as you dreamt So what!? It’s not the end of the world. It’s part and parcel of work and life. Fear not, complain not and get on with it!!!
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How is work?
If I asked this question about your work, what would you say? I often ask people the questions “How is your work?” and “How is your work environment?” or something similar on those lines. Some would say “Great” or “Love it” or even “Inspiring and Motivating” Most would respond with “Work is okay” or “Pays the bills” or “Busy” or even “Boring”. Not too bad an optimistic person I am would translate those phrases. Same old descriptions of work and nothing to worry about. Then there are a few who would describe work as “Toxic” or “Hate it”. Now that description of work is very worrying and if you describe…
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Focus on your work.
As I learnt the art of business, there were lots of things that I heard I had to do to make my business a success. I had to dress smartly I needed to be a member of a particular institution I had to socialize with others The list was endless. All I can say now is: FOCUS ON YOUR WORK AND DO IT TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY AND YOU WILL BE FINE. THE REST IS JUST NOISE…
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Give your ideas a chance.
We believe in providing services to our clients that help them with something (peace of mind when their obligations are in order, increased profitability, better processes, etc). Needless to say that our success then depends on what we can do for our clients. Our minds are always looking for ideas and things that might help us help our clients. Every now and then an idea would pop out in our heads and we would give it a go. Result: Some ideas that we thought were great in our heads, don’t work in real world and some ideas we were not too sure about worked wonders in the real world. Our…
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Standout in the sea of sameness
Try scattering a few colourful toys around a toddler and then put a delicate item (mobile phone, remote control, reading glasses, etc) somewhere near by. I am no child psychologist but the chances are the toddler would not go for the toys but the other delicate item because in the sea of the sameness, (s)he sees something different. Same applies to the world of business. There is nothing wrong with being the same as every other business or product in your industry, but then don’t expect to have better results than them. In the sea of sameness, if you want to give your business or product the best possible outcome,…
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Keep business simple
Most people I interact with in the business environment (mostly clients and service providers) are of the view (and rightly so) that my view of the way their and all other businesses should be operating is too simplistic. Business is meant to be kept simple but we somehow just manage to complicate everything with over-thinking, over-analysing, over-regulating, over-documenting, over-reporting, etc. Basically going over the top with most things. Solving the business problems is not too hard if we just understand them right.
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What happens to customer service when we are pressed for time?
“We are not an information centre, why don’t they just Google it up” said an Australia Post employee as soon as the customer was out of the hearing zone. I was at a post office and while I was being served, a customer at the next counter had bought what she needed and just asked the attendant what direction a certain street was in the suburb. A colleague answered the question and the customer thanked them and went away. A bad day for the employee perhaps but that just brings to attention the bitter truth of “customer service”, everyone is so busy that to be able to do their job,…
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“WE” vs “THEM”
English wasn’t my 1st language and thinking about it wasn’t probably my 2nd or even 3rd language I spoke but the words we use in a business environment are so critical. Yesterday I had to call icare NSW because I had emailed them the change to my business name and email address over a month ago and they still sent an important email to my old email address. I explained what had happened and the friendly customer service person says “They are really behind with taking action on the emails they have received recently.” There was the word again “THEY”. I am calling icare NSW and its simple as that. If you…
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People not robots
Treat your team members as people not robots and see if it makes a difference in their attitude to work. People you know the ones who: Can have bad days here and there Have kids and may need time off here and there to look after them Get sick every now and then At times can get late because things dint go to plan in the morning or have to leave early at times to take care of some things in life Need to go on holidays away from work to get rejuvenated (without emails and calls) Might need to travel overseas or interstate for events they have no control…
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Giving more than 100%, giving your 120% or even 150% .
There is a lot of rubbish written and talked about giving more than 100%, giving your 120% or even 150% in a business, team and even sports environment. It might sound good to hear and even motivational to some, but the simple fact is if people are performing way higher than you expected or you want them to perform better than they currently are, it simply means they weren’t giving in their best yet, they were probably putting in their 70% or even 80%. Most of us are not able to extract even 100% from ourselves or from others, let alone this more than 100% rubbish.