Almost three years ago and during the time when so many businesses were hurting and struggling to stay alive our blog entitled “One Degree” began as follows:

The other day I read a quote from the past attributed to Sam Parker and Mac Anderson.  What struck me about it is the application and the value it adds to all of us today who are in the process of ‘righting’, rebuilding or just building our businesses to greater heights.  It reads …

At 211 degrees…water is hot.
At 212 degrees…it boils.
And with boiling water, comes steam.
And steam can power a locomotive.
And, it’s that one extra degree that makes all the difference.”

Of course, it had application then and what about today knowing that we are operating in a significantly better business environment? Ah … we can breathe easier. But wait! Breathing easier in this sense, while welcome, has its’ own potential and unnecessary cost.

 How about applying the ‘one extra degree’ to an overall business, department, team or just you today … now? As challenged as many were to devise creative ways to remain viable and needed in our job just a few years ago, today’s equivalent would be how to take advantage of every opportunity we can create to thrive and take our efforts to the extreme of their potential.

I read a blog written by Alex Fishleder entitled “4 Tips To Take Advantage Of An Economic Boom!” He identifies these ways to make the most of an economic UP-turn

• Increase Marketing and Sales Activity
  • Market at least as hard as you did when you were working to survive. The potential is so much better
• Embrace Technology
  • Adopt and utilize a marketing plan that uses the tools that you deem are the most impactful for your company rather than trying to use all that are and will come into existence.
• Deliver Stellar Customer Service
  • Every bit as critical in good time and more so. Your customer rules and let them know it.
• Sell to your current customers
  • In the drive to find new customers too often we let the good relationships of the past fade into oblivion when keeping them is the easier of two choices. Nurture all existing and past relationships and the new ones will come

 As a first step, you need to define what the ‘extra one degree’ would mean to you and the job you do. Knowing this and understanding that path, don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s a snap or it’s no big deal.  After all we’re talking about the ONE degree that takes us from ‘hot’ to ‘boiling’ and that, in turn, can make the difference between good and great … rip-roaring success or mediocrity.

Whenever a coaching client takes the step of cranking it up just one degree it has had the effect of opening a very wide door of possibility.  What might it do for your organization or for you as a member of the team?  It’s exciting exploration and can make a huge difference in the success you experience. No sweat as long as you wear warm weather clothing to withstand the boiling heat you’ll encounter!

Mike Dorman

Part and parcel of any business organization are the meetings that we all hold and/or attend during which we share and impart information deemed important to our day, week or business life in general.  This is a very normal occurrence regardless of there being 5 or 5000 people involved in the company.  I came across a video that does a very entertaining job of relating what today’s meetings are like.  I’m quite confident that you’ll easily relate to it and even smile … perhaps with tears in your eyes.  My guess is that many of us will see a reenactment of a situation that we have experienced too often.  Look for yourself  HERE.

Did you find yourself laughing or crying?  What you have just seen points to one of the top complaints we hear in moving from one organization to another … the gross waste of valuable time that takes place during the mandatory and often numerous meetings.  And the number one culprit accounting for this is the uninvited guests in the form of those mini-computer ‘gadgets  … call them the likes of cell phones, laptops, iPads, etc.

Rather than being respectful guests – did I say they were uninvited? – they tend to dominate in terms of taking attention of their ‘host’ from whatever is being discussed or presented to whatever email or text or call arrives.  And of course, in any form they too often command first priority.  Simply viewed, what this creates at any given time is a meeting that lacks 100% participation of attendees  pretty much 100% of the time.  Some of the potential costs to the organization both collectively and individually are these:

• The BIG one … rarely is every attendee focused on the moment and especially prevalent where there are several to many in attendance

• A lot of things need to be repeated because someone key to the discussion is attending to an email or text that is URGENT! (aren’t they all?)

• Meetings take much longer than the agenda content requires because of the waiting time involved with the revolving door of participation

Wasted time = lost productivity = lost $$$$ and how many companies can afford that?  One has to wonder when and how the same technology that brought with it conveniences to the workplace and those in it, took over and tends to rule the roost?  What would it take to take back control?  What would you rather be doing with the reclaimed time?  Would this be a good topic to bring up at your next meeting?  I bet yes and you’ll probably be joined by many other nodding heads in the process!

Mike Dorman

As we approached the end of 2012 the news was consumed with reporting the minute by minute drama associated with the fiscal cliff.  Were we going to fall over it with potentially devastating consequences?  Or were our leaders going to find the path that would avoid the fall?  I do know that while the political game was hot and heavy it caused some very real stress for those of us observing.  Happy New Year!  Really?  Oh well … we can all breathe … at least for a couple of months while the games continue.

All of this got me thinking about what’s going on within organizations.    The past few years have been all about challenge.  The hurting economy clearly imposed major damage and setbacks to organizations across all business types and industries.  Those that are still standing are encouraged by signs of recovery, aided by leaders acting on a desire to reclaim the driver’s seat of the organization.  So, although there has been teetering on the edge, the ground has begun to level out.  So much for the organization … but what about the individual people?

The people within the company have endured the shaky ride peering over a cliff.  This has been both personally threatening and VERY stressful.

• Actual positions have been threatened
• Job responsibilities have changed and frequently increased
• The threat to survival has shaken the security of income and the ability to provide for personal and family needs

In a similar way that Washington temporarily avoided a cliff fall and must continue to address and resolve other key issues that will steady the ground, so must an organization be sensitive to the individual traumatic experience of their most important resource – people.  Those organizations that take the time and effort to address this reality and realign the people behind the new realities of their business today will take a BIG step to truly returning to a steady and successful path for the business.  It takes relatively little time with huge and positive results.  Do you have questions about this?  Just ask.

Mike