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Category: People Matter (Page 8 of 9)

The most trusted of 2007…

1 February 2008 /

There I was waiting. Killing time, hanging around for my appointed time at the doctors. Having parked myself on a padded bench seat not much more comfortable than an old church pew I search for something to read.

I flick through a readers Digest (June 2007) and discover an article about the most trust New Zealanders and Brands.

Top Brand is Cadbury, which is interesting because unlike Whitakers they don’t make “good honest chocolate”. In the bottom slot at number 25 was Palmolive. A couple brands of interest to me are New Zealand Post at #14 (a number I am sure they would like to improve), and Farmers at #24 (which actually really surprises me given their history).

Anyway the #1 most trusted person in NZ in June 2007 was …#1 Sir Ed (No surprise). He rates above Sir Peter Snell (#4), Queen Elizabeth (#19), Sam Morgan (#30), Helen Clarke (#58 ironically the most trust politician), Matthew Ridge (#71).

Now of the 75 people who were on the list, who do you think is at number #75? None other than Bishop Brian Tamaki.

Yip.

Want to say more but wont.

Makes you think a little about what it is that make people trust you or your brand.

I think words like consistent, authentic, connected, reliable and considerate would come to most people’s minds.

These are words that normal kiwi’s don’t associate with politicians or Palmolive or Brian Tamaki.

I am sure they all think they are trustworthy its just people don’t believe them.

If people don't believe your message. They dont trust you.

Sir Edmund Hillary

13 January 2008 /

Sir Ed was a hero of mine and I don’t use that word lightly.

Obviously because he climbed Everest and was an amazing adventurer, and fiercely competitive.

Of course it was because of the work he did in Nepal, building schools, hospitals and medical centres.

But what made him a hero the most to me was his typical bloke authenticity. He had some really dark patches in his life and admitted them. He was open about how he lacked self confidence in his earlier years.

And finally he was a reminder that we can achieve our goals with a intense determination, team work, a bit of cunning and hard work.

Sir Ed is a man I have never met, but greatly admire. I shed a tear when I heard of his passing.

He will be missed by his family, country and the people he helped.

He was a true hero.

An Adventurer

Authentic.

Are you in the top 10% of performers?

1 September 2007 /

Michael Port wrote this recently.

Business Week polled 2,000 executives and middle managers with the intent of getting a picture of the future state of work. Overall the results were pretty positive. Although one result was shocking, sad, and funny all at the same time.  It turns out… "Over 90% of respondents believe they're in the top 10% of performers." Huh? Houston we have a problem. Apparently, 80% of these folks are kidding themselves.

It made me think about 2 things:

  1. How many of my team think they are in the top 10% of performers? I think it would be significantly more than 10%. They may be in the top 10% of the jobs they do, but not in the top 10% of the company.
  2. It also made me think of the "differentiation" process that Jack Welch used at GE. Reward the top 20% stunningly, look after and develop the middle 70% and remove the bottom 10%.

Food for thought and discussion I think.

People Matter

21 February 2007 /

“Is this Mr Nicol”, asked the telesales person who interrupted my life shortly after I arrived home tonight. I answered “Yep”, which was followed by a very ungenuine “How are you?” I know it was ungenuine because I never actually got the chance to answer before she launched into her sales talk.

She talked for a full 90 secs and all the time I just stood there thinking about how she doesn’t give a toss about me, or for that fact, if I am interested in her product. She just wants to get her job done. Nothing wrong with that most people would say.

I thought afterwards about how easy it is for our staff to do the same thing. To answer a call, handle the call, take the order, track the delivery or resolve the complaint. But they can do it, we can do it, without showing that we actually care. Peoplematter

I am passionate about building a company that “Lives People Matter”, which means I want my team to continually remember that they are dealing with a real live person. A person who deserves honesty and authenticity and time.

We do this by encourageing our team to LISTEN first, CLARIFY by asking questions, EMPATHISE by putting themselves in the person shoes, then and only then to RESOLVE the issue.

It is so easy to think that we hear our clients’ problem and jump straight to resolve. The result is the person, the real living person, doesn’t leave the conversation feeling like they matter.

If they don't feel like they matter, we are just like the telesales person who interrupts our dinner.

Saying things to wind people up.

18 January 2007 /

"I don't think you have thought through this" were his words after I had told him that we didn't need to discuss an issue and that we would handle it on the day.

He said it half heartedly, but he made a good point. He needed to talk about it. When I say "we'll discuss it on the day" it winds him up.

You see according to the styles of influence, cognitive scale, a high abstract person (like myself 99%) is always thinking and generally has thought about it and doesn't need to verbalise, whereas a mid-range cognitive person (my friend) needs to verblise it to make sure they have understood it and are clear on the plan.

Me basically telling him I have a plan leave it til the day is not what he needed to hear. Him telling me I hadn't thought about it was not what I wanted to hear. If it had gone on, we would have been frustrated with each other for no real reason.

The result – we talked and his views were the same as my thoughts – both happy.

How easy it is to miss these points sometimes!

One person makes all the difference!

8 November 2006 /

Just one person in any one company can make it or blow it. One person can sent you away feeling like the most important person in the world or make you feel like they don’t value your business.

Yesterday Alf & I were flying to Christchurch for the day. We had a heap to discuss prior to getting their so I left Hamilton on the 6am flight to Auckland to connect with the 6:50 flight to Christchurch. Alf was on this flight joining me in Auckland and I had preallocated a seat for him next to me, because we were checking-in in different cities.

My Hamilton flight always gets in after the Christchurch Flight is boarding and I am one of the last on the plane. I get onboard and some other guy is in the seat next to me! So texting Alf I find out he is in 17d. I explain to the cabin assistant Alf had been preallocated into the seat next to me, and could me be moved into the seat opposite. He said he will check with the Captain and while he is doing that some other guy comes from the back and sits in that seat.

Now the cabin assistant has a choice. Does he try to make something work, or just walk away. There are after all spare seats in row 2 behind me, and I’m sure one of them wouldn’t mind moving forward to row 1. He can help me or bug the snot out of me and do nothing.

He does nothing and says nothing further.

Alf and I missed out on really quality time together that we will never again enjoy 🙁 (secretly I think alf planned it to get some sleep) and we arrived in Christchurch less prepared than we should have.

Oh, the airline was Air NZ, not that this is a surprise because there is no other alternative for me out of Hamilton.

It all comes down to one person. How often does one person blow it in agoge and we don’t know or care? How often do I blow it?

Oh one last point. The guy sitting next to me heard all of this. He could have offered to move to the seat opposite (before the other guy came up), and been closer to the door, and had more leg room. Personally I would have offered to do that. But he said nothing and in a funny way I feel sorry for that guy.

Authentic Community

27 October 2006 /

Last Thursday after we got into the Fast 50, I took a few people from work out to dinner with me to celebrate. At the table was Hav who just has an immense passion for agóge; Rob jnr who has such a detail mind and who keeps so many things I hate doing on track; and Cherie who is simply one of the most bona fide people I have ever met. Anyway I am sitting in this restaurant with a funny look on my face, watching my friends and just soaking it in and totally overwhelmed. There was something about the moment. A sense that in spite of everything hard we have been through, we're going to make it. I know this sounds a little corny, but you know what I am saying. It was an ordinary moment in an ordinary setting that for me became infused with something bigger. With community. Inspiration. Hope.

In two weeks time I have to talk on authentic community and I was chatting to a friend of mine yesterday about what that means. Community literally means 'in common'. People who gather together with something in common. Authentic according to dictionary.com theoretically means "not false; genuine". To me it means more than that.

It means being Real.

Honest.

Vulnerable.

Loyal.

An authentic person doesn't wear 'masks' to make them appear to be different than they are. They are honest and real about their struggles and failures. They seek help and are vulnerable.

I asked my two team meetings recently "How are you going? Really? " and generally I received genuine. Real. Honest. Vulnerable answers.

I think this small business called agóge. This business with people from all over the world, with varying educations, from different religions and diverse upbringings is starting to become an authentic community. A community that could actually make a huge difference in peoples lives.

It humbles me.

Ok, I admit it, I was wrong!

13 October 2006 /

I have always understood that we are all made unique, entirely individual and wonderfully complex. But the implication of these thoughts often escapes me in action.

I think the problem is that I have never really, honestly believed that we are hard wired differently. A lot of the people that work for me that are smarter than me, had more significant and influential experiences than me, and have far more knowledge than me. Because they are genuinely more intellectual than I am, I struggle heaps when they don't see the big picture, or when they hear what I say and then do things completely differently.

I posted the other day about the styles of influence course I attended. As I have reflected on it, and spent time with the CBC guys and Vinney and Don, I have come to understand that I can be critical and biased when talking to people.

I think that we all have unspoken expectations of people, and then get frustrated when people fail to meet those expectations. We start thinking that they are intentionally doing this to bug us, and then our attitude towards them changes. When our attitude changes, our ability to influence the person positively dramatically reduces.

When all this happens who has the problem us, or the other person?

Me or you?

I have been humbled completely as I have considered some of these lessons.

Styles of Influence

11 October 2006 /

It is incredible to consider that in the last 2 days I have learnt more about myself and how I interact with other people, than I have probably done in the last 2 -3 years. On Sunday evening I had Vinney from idynamx staying with us from the US. He is a very astute and intelligent guy and it was fascinating to talk with him about Style of Influence and the implications into our lives.

On Monday I attended a one day course run by idynamx where we compared our personal styles of influence with other people I work with outside of agóge. To say that I found the day just intelligently stimulating and personally challenging, would be to dramatically underestimate its impact on my think.

Below is a summary of my unique design. I am, according to the Styles Of Influence, test a Creative Designer.

Creative designers want to get a job done and get it done fast. They influence others in a positive way through this use of clear thinking and a strong personality. Creative designers can influence in a negative way through intimidation or forcefulness. Generally creative designers are individualists who enjoy a great deal of variety. These people enjoy thinking up new ideas and helping to get other people to implement them. At times, they can be hard to get along with and seem like a bully or overly dominant. When a task is in full swing, these people may want to "bolt" before the project has been completed. They work best in an environment that gives room to be creative and yet one that has a certain measure of accountability.

Fly by Wire

5 October 2006 /

A320airnzBoarding your plane and taking a seat next to an Air NZ pilot wouldn't excite most of you, but it was one of the most interesting flights I have taken. I sat next to Trevor an Airbus A320 captain and pilot trainer as he was being repositioned back to Auckland.

Trevor has been flying for 40 years and you can tell straight away he is an experienced and safe flyer. In his 40 years flying he has never had a major incident, never had an engine failure, nor forced landing. This is as much a testament to aircraft maintenance as it is to his attitude and skill.

A320cockpitOnce we established that I was on my way to my PPL (so knew an incredible amount about flying), we talked Navaids, GPS, airports, handling of 737 vs A320, maintenance, CRM (Crew Resource Management), industry changes, ATPL training, the airworks accident last year, sims and pilot attitudes and leadership.

Interesting Facts

  • Wellington Airport was not closed on Wednesday. Trevor landed his Airbus, it's just the ground crew couldn't work in the wind.
  • Dunedin Airport is the hardest (=riskiest) airport in the country to land a jet in.
  • Airbus A320's self trim (Makes them heaps easier to fly)
  • At FL30 (30,000ft) and engine failure in a 737 required an immediate and positive from the pilot to stop it going over on it's back. An A320 will re trim, and put the plan into a descent.
  • Wherever possible they take off with reduced thrust to save the engine life. In the A320 they take off with the cabin pressurization off, which again saves engine life.
  • Great pilots come as a result of great attitudes.

Disjointed implications

  • The media never give you the whole story.
  • I'd rather fly in a A320 (or a next generation 737)
  • If reduced thrust take-offs improve engine life, then to what other areas or things could this principal apply?
  • Being great at anything, sport, flying, spirituality or leadership is all about ATTITUDE.

Trevor said he was going to email me a funny clip about CRM. If he does I will post it here.

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