Posts Tagged ‘support’

I read on the back of a car many years ago a bumper sticker that read “Question Reality!” Up until that time my life had been a mish mash of confusing circumstances, and it was a revelatory experience to take these two words deeply into my soul. I breathed deeply and felt as though I’d been given a sign that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

At this same time, the context of my life did not include any mechanisms, supports or guidance that would allow me to take on questioning reality as an overt practice. My parents raised me and my siblings as Catholic. It was a sin to question anything or anyone regarding the authority or truth of what was to be believed.

My context as a female in Middle America also didn’t allow me to ask questions that would potentially ruin my identity as a calm, submissive woman who could be wise but not too intelligent.

Going off to college gave me the opportunity to explore and witness realities lived by other people, however I continued to interpret these different ways of being based on what I still held as right, wrong, good and bad. At the same time, most of the preliminary courses in undergrad were taught by professors who also disallowed the questioning of the reality they were presenting.

Perhaps, all of these obstacles presented to me early in life provided opportunities to covertly practice the art of questioning reality. The value of that is that I wasn’t able to seek the wisdom of others to tell me what was real or true, so I had to do the research and experiment on myself. Today, in the field of research design, this form of study is called heuristic investigation. Here’s how Wikipedia defines Heuristic: “Greek: “Εὑρίσκω”, “find” or “discover”) refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery … This method includes using a “rule of thumb“, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense.

What do you do when the world is presenting you with a reality that isn’t connected to common sense? What most of us do is conform and contort ourselves as best we can into the context of reality that is in front of us, rarely questioning or using educated guesses, intuitive judgment or common sense.

As the paradigm shifts, we see the dissolving and dissolution of the foundation of our economic reality. What do you make of that? We see the premier leaders of our financial, religious and governments fail to maintain systems that are literally bankrupt in their principles and practices. How do you make sense of that?

In the world of business – the buying and selling of goods and services, questioning reality means dismantling the whole kit and kiboodle and re-inventing based on reality; but first you have to question reality!

A year ago, I choose to end the transformational coach training program. I had designed and facilitated this program for 10 years in the Bay Area, in California. My intuition had been guiding me towards this for years, but I was finally ready to make the leap. While discerning the common sense of this decision it seemed totally irrational and illogical. This program had been my bread and butter. I’d developed a reputation and people were flying in from all over the country to participate in this one year training. What would possess me to give all of that up? Logic and reason were not the major players in this process, and I could do nothing else but question reality. Over the course of this past year I questioned everything and hardly recognize the me that I’ve become. My anxiety is virtually gone; I’m far more calm and peaceful, I laugh far more often and the work I bring into the world is fulfilling. I love it!

A House of Cards

It’s becoming too obvious that there is a dismantling of reality as we’ve known it. And, you’ve heard me say this before, but I’m going to say it again: You are required to play the game. You, me and everyone else in the Western World have built this house of cards we call our reality. Generations of individuals over hundreds of years have brought us to the last cards of the deck. It has culminated into this wonderful masterpiece. And, now, it’s time to dismantle the house either with deliberate consciousness or with a deliberate whack from the proverbial two-by-four. (Don’t you love it when the cards go flying all over the place?)

What I’m wanting is for you to question how you are being in relation to this current reality you call your life and your work? What intentions are being served by your current use of what you consider to be common sense? What flies in the face of this current reality that you hope will go away if you ignore it long enough?

I don’t know if we’ll be saving the planet. I don’t know if we can change the foundations of the current structures that have us think that we are safe from vulnerability. Earthquakes, real and metaphorically have shaken the very ground of being of reality as we’ve known it. Fractures, cracks, fissures leave us dumbfounded with where to begin. Tsunamis, real and metaphorically have washed away the shelters, vehicles and the livelihoods we’d depended upon. What is the reality that exists once we realize that it’s all gone?

Nothing Matters and What if it Did?

People with faith (not faith as in religion but faith as in people who put complete trust in a higher power) have something that is the true foundation of reality. I have no doubt they have questioned the reality in front of them and decided that there is a reality that holds this one in the palm of its hands. They are able to hold the bigger picture and make choices based on this larger paradigm. These people usually share kindness, generosity and compassion effortlessly. Their values dictate choice-making based on spiritual principles instead of social and institutional mandates. They live in integrity and dignity and are accountable for their commitments. Some of these people are my clients and they are managers, CEO’s and COO’s of businesses and corporations around the world. I’m learning from them that to question reality infuses the world with an innovative, higher minded reality that, if nothing else will allow them to empower others to fearlessly question reality. This is how every invention and revelation has come about. Why stop now?

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Tagged as: active garage, Dr. Rosie Kuhn, guidance, love, philosophy, questioning reality, reality, Spirituality, Spirituality in Business, support

For sports fans this is an exciting time of the year with both the NBA and NHL finals taking place simultaneously.

There’s added excitement this year with the renewal of the classic Lakers and Celtics rivalry and the Chicago Blackhawks looking for their first Stanley Cup championship since 1961.

As in sports, companies and internal departments need to identify key performance metrics which translate to success in their industry.

Just as analysts review a company’s balance sheet and operational metrics, many fans and sports analysts refer to team and player statistics in order to support their predictions of who will win their respective league championship.   In the NBA finals, they’ll be citing each team’s shooting percentage from the free throw line and the field as a key performance indicator. In hockey, there are the obvious statistics of number of power play goals and goals against average.  But this year, analyst have cited the unusual statistic of Chicago’s offense scoring 11 goals with 10 different players as a key indicator of its success through game 3 of the championship series.   The implication is identifying the Stanley Cup series specific statistics over and above the commonly followed season statistics in order for either team to make adjustments to win the Cup.

Many organizations today do a terrific job at measuring their own teams’ statistics – take the airline industry for example: they measure the use of number of seat miles for which the company earned revenues.  What’s more difficult is identifying meaningful performance indicators at the departmental or individual level within an organization?  Effective identification and translation of organizational specifics makes an executive’s job easier when identifying and adjusting to trends, defending team budgets, identifying savings opportunities, and even negotiating contracts.  This is especially true within an IT organization.

One of my favorite Information technology metrics which typically does not appear on the company’s balance sheet or in the annual report but translates into effective IT performance are the metrics related to desktop or PC support. I like these metrics because Joe the worker at Company X probably does not care anything about IT metrics.  But Joe and his peers know who to call for problems with their PC’s.  You know – the “IT guy” who the department takes out to an appreciation lunch once or twice a year.  Keep Joe and his peers happy and that will translate to good scores for IT support.  Remotely identifying and correcting Joe’s PC problems at the help desk is almost always the most efficient and cost effective way to provide desktop support.  Therefore statistics such as average time to answer and mean time to repair (MTTR) are often cited as an accurate performance measurement of the desktop support unit.  These statistics have further downstream implications for identifying the desktop to technician ratios or the number of technicians required to be in the field when problems cannot be solved remotely or over the phone with an agent.  Organizations which typically resolve most incidents remotely with an agent do not need as many field technicians and therefore have high desktop to field technician ratio’s and are considered the most cost efficient.

But just as the Lakers, Celtics, Blackhawks and Flyers will be identifying opportunities and adjustments based upon shot percentages and other common game time metrics, an organization must know how to translate their metrics into performance-improving activities.  Although the Flyers have allowed goals by 10 different players after three games, they have been able to hold the Blackhawks top scorers this season to just one goal in the finals.  So in some respect, part of the Flyers game plan may be working in shutting down the opposing team’s top scorers and the high number of individual goals per Blackhawk player is a positive metric.

Using the same analogy, there may be reasons why an IT organization has metrics which are out of line with industry standards and those reasons need to be well understood to justify costs.  In the desktop support example cited above, a company may require higher PC to technician ratios due to Joe’s high availability requirements.  For example, our friend Joe is an order taker on a trading floor and does not have the time to call the help desk and work with an agent to solve problems with his PC while the markets are open.  The same dynamic is also seen in the healthcare industry within clinical environments, where nurses and doctors are focused on treating patients and do not have the bandwidth to diagnose problems accessing automated medical records from PC’s.  In these environments, it would obviously be acceptable to experience higher desktop to field support ratio’s to insure key functions within the company have highly available systems and support.  Understanding these dynamics is critical when performing organizational benchmarking activities and considering out source opportunities.  With regard to outsourcing, you’ll want to understand how a supplier is proposing to achieve savings.  Are they proposing to increase the number of PC’s a technician supports from 250 to 500 devices? If their model is predicated by resolving more calls remotely at the help desk you’ll want to closely examine the impact to your organization.  Having a deep understanding of your metrics will allow you to better negotiate support costs within your company and negotiate actionable savings strategies offered by department heads and suppliers.

The challenge is to drive meaningful measurements to all levels within your organization.  Ask your management chain to identify metrics which translate to their group’s success.  Then ask them why the metrics are meaningful and actionable and what needs to be done to improve the scores.  I would also suggest that if the measurements are not actionable then they are probably not the right performance indicators to be tracking.

For those deep thinkers out there, I hope these insights will not cause you to become distracted with thoughts of your company’s metrics while watching the NBA and NHL finals.

For those of you wondering, Blackhawks in six games with Kane becoming the scoring leader and Lakers in five by taking advantage of Celtic fouls and a higher free throw percentage.

Tagged as: active garage, ActiveGarage, blackhawks, Brian Superczynski, celtics, datacentertrust, flyers, Key Performance Indicators, lakers, NBA, NHL, outsourcing, stanley cup, support, technician

Another life lesson from my venture moving from the corporate world to self employment. So far a very liberating decision but filled with unexpected surprises. For the most part getting the business side set up and running has been relatively smooth, but personal finances have been a great challenge.

This has been made complicated by the fact that we are relocating to start the business, one of the drivers for making the change is to reduce the mortgage burden we have today by moving to a cheaper part of the country so that we did not overburden the business in its start up stages.

Having a solid credit score, 6 years of banking and mortgage history without any blemishes any yet when inquiring for a mortgage on a new house all the large banks would not even complete the application process because of being an entrepreneur  and self employed. Being self employed means the banks need 2 years worth of company trading records, P&L and Balance sheets. This requirement has been a result of the collapsed subprime market, but also driven by the fact that most banks want the option to sell the loans they originate to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two institutions, a little shy after the meltdown, have raised their criteria and this has flowed through the whole lending chain to the retail banks we approach for loans.

At first I found this very frustrating that I was being measured by the lowest common denominator, by someone sitting behind a computer asking yes/no questions until the computer told the operator to stop. Then I had a conversation with a good friend, he enlightened me to the reality of the current economic situation where so many people have lost their jobs and their only option has been to set themselves up as self employed businesses doing freelance work in their trade  – anyone can get a business incorporated and print business cards, but if they have not completed any regular business then they likely don’t have a secure business plan to lend against – thus the 2 years business record requirement.

During the application process, I began asking lots of questions and found this out about what it means to be self employed.

• If you are listed as the owner of an incorporated company or LLC
• If you have more than 15%  ownership you are self employed
• Even if you have a regular salary, the fact that you are self employed means that you bring into the equation an element of risk in your ability to service a loan, until you have 2 years of accounting records to share.

If are thinking of relocating and are starting a new business, try and arrange some of your financing before you begin the new operation – loan officers prefer steady track records to the unsubstantiated hype of a new entrepreneur.

Another option is to explore local banks that originate and hold the loans themselves. While the general application criterion is much the same these banks take a little broader assessment of your projected finances for a sacrifice in interest rate.

Tagged as: active garage, business, Entrepreneurship, financing, Guy Ralfe, loans, mortgage, personal finance, support

Whenever you try something new and share your idea with others, you get met with such diverse responses. How people respond affects how you see the world too.

Go through a day where you come across three people who spend all their time telling you why you will fail and you quickly start to question your judgment. On the other hand discuss the same idea with three optimists and you suddenly think you are setting your sights too low.

What we must always be aware of is that when you tell someone your idea or ambition their response is always from their point of view. Their point of view appears to be driven by two factors:

1. Knowledge of the topic or business area
2. Support – driven by the persons mood, personality, ambition combination

Having reflected on this over the last few weeks I have come up with Guy’s Magic People Quadrant.

Guy’s Magic People Quadrant

Neatly illustrated in the picture there are four quadrants; Partner, Decoy, Fairy, Onion determined by the intersection of the above two factors of Knowledge and Support.

Partner – These are the individuals you need to isolate and partner with for longer term success. These individuals have a keen understanding of the business or topic to be able to advise, mentor and facilitate your success not just provide you with support. These individuals are interested and inquiring into your plans and able to guide rather than just bestow good wishes. They care.
Decoy – These are the individuals you have to watch out for. While they share the same knowledge as the partner group, their moods, personality and ambitions prevent them for providing you support, unless it is for their gain. These individuals (or groups) appear as inquisitive as partners do but are extremely selfish and you are viewed as purely a pawn to achieve their ambitions. They can come across as supportive but will soon show up in conflict with their words through their actions. BEWARE!

Fairy – This group have little to no knowledge of the topic, however from what you tell them they formulate an image based on how they see what you are doing. Your ambition appears to them as grandiose and enviable. For them they cannot see themselves making a similar choice or action, for this they are in awe and wish you every success, and believe that you will have success. These people would help you if they could. In reality this is the fairy godmother talking to you – yes you do feel good but you are no better off when you wake up.

Onion – The next best way to describe this group is disinterested or self important. These people are so selfish that the notion of you having an ambition brings tears to their eyes. Having the conversation with these types is like talking to a black hole – it sucks the life out of you. Keep clear!

One thing to know is that there is a lot of gray between the obvious extremities that I describe above, but if you are going to discuss your ambitions with others be mindful of the individual behind the spoken words before you respond to them. Reputations are earned and past actions are a fairly good indication of future. There is no short cut to gaining Knowledge, but gaining it from people who care is about as good as it gets.

Seek out Partners in all that you strive for in your careers, and bump into the odd Fairy just to keep your spirits up. Good luck!

Tagged as: active garage, business, care, growth, Guy Ralfe, help, knowledge, leaders, mentors, sharing, support

Now that I have officially started my journey as a business owner and entrepreneur, but still in the honey moon phase I can share some stark realities about starting a new venture.

Most importantly it takes guts and lots of support. At the age of 38 with a wife and two young children to support, I am leaving a secure and stable employment to relocate half way across America, to the mid-west, to start a new company in one of the worst economic environments the world has known. Making this decision consumed a lot of thinking time and with this uncertain background, produced by the media, conventional thinking does not leave you in a sane place.

I have been looking for this opportunity to begin a new business for over 6 years now, I still do not have enough guts of my own to start this – and this is why I say you need lots of support. To give you an indication of the support I am using to get this off the ground:

Business Partner – I have a business partner that already has a very successful business in the same vertical that can provide operational expertise and contacts within the industry to minimize the lead generation and prospecting phase of starting out.
The partner approach allows for the lowering and distribution of start-up overheads, much like  an Incubation start-up.
Laws, expectations, codes of conduct, processes that can take so much time to learn and often expensive when starting out, can be circumvented.

Financial – contrary to what you may think about business, it does not all center around the business plan, it centers around the execution. You can make all the sales in the world but if you cannot cash-flow the operation then you can never think about being profitable.

Most companies will need capital to start. I have  acquired a reasonable amount of assets, which are valuable to me but they are not all seen equally valuable to my financiers. Start to think about what instruments you can use for financing before you want to begin your business.

What type of assets do you hold? –  as that affects the ratio by which banks will offer/secure lines of credit.
What is your credit score? – what can you do to minimize the impact on your credit score leading up to opening your business.

What do you need to execute your operations – transport, utilities, insurance, offices, systems, subscriptions? They all send bills regularly and all expect payment regularly.

Industry Knowledge Partners – if you are like me and are wanting to start in a field in which you are not an expert, you will need knowledge experts that can guide you through the rapids in your journey. Look to building relationships with people such as:

Suppliers

Competitors

Lawyers/ Regulatory Bodies

Accountants

Customers (though customers do prefer to deal with experts so use this avenue selectively)

Personal Support – we all have our moments when we think we are the Lone Ranger and we can do it all on our own. As I have written about before, consider the impact one decision may have on other aspects of your life.

One such aspect is your family and close friends. This opportunity wasn’t an option until it became an opportunity for my family too – and I thank them for their support.

So yes it has still taken all the guts I have to make this exciting start, my sanity could be questionable and it sure was not due to conventional thinking that I was able to choose this – it is only possible to rationalize and make this choice because of the support and help that is in place.

Tagged as: active garage, Business Management, business planning, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, financing, Guy Ralfe, startup, success, support, www.activegarage.com

Welcome to the ninth post in this 12-part series on QUALITY, titled #QUALITYtweet – 12 Ideas to Build a Quality Culture.

Here are the first eight posts, in case you would like to go back and take a look:

1. Quality #1: Quality is a long term differentiator
2. Quality #2: Cure Precedes Prevention
3. Quality #3: Great People + Good Processes = Great Quality
4. Quality #4: Simplifying Processes
5. Quality #5: Customers are your “Quality Partners”
6. Quality #6: Knowing what needs improvement
7. Quality #7: Productivity and Quality
8. Quality #8: Best Practices are Contextual

#QUALITYtweet How NOT to deliver total quality:

Focus on quality of product without focusing on

quality of relationship and communication

In an increasingly service oriented business environment, what you sell is not just a product but an experience. People may forget explicit details like specifications or price, but never forget the experience they had when they bought the product.

Experience extended to end-customers largely depends on attitude, values and behaviors of each individual who interacts with a customer. One of the most important challenges is to keep this group of people aligned to organization’s quality system and values.

Communication is the backbone of organization’s success in marketplace. Effective internal and external communication within an organization ensures that:

• Your employees understand your value system
• They understand what is expected out of them
• They are motivated to walk an extra mile to deliver excellent service
• Your customers know your value system
• You build trust-based relationship with your people and customers with consistent communication
• Manage expectations with your people and customers.

How can you motivate your teams to deliver excellent customer experiences through simple communication processes? Here are a few ideas to consider:

Train:

Training your internal team can be your biggest tool for clearly explaining the process of communication and how important it is for the business. Consistently train your people on value systems, leadership, quality management, effective communication, what works in customer management, what not, expectations management and cultural aspects of client’s location. Clients also need training on how best they can use your products. Companies organize client workshops to educate them about different aspects of product/service. Train consistently to streamline communication.

Support:

Once your people are trained, you need to support them in doing right things. Supporting can be a simple act of being there with your people when they talk to customers. Help them improve and share feedback on how are they doing. Some companies may see this activity as an “overhead” but it is an “investment” in your people.

Monitor:

Once you have confidence that your people will be able to do the right communication, monitor them. Take periodic feedback from them. Communicate consistently to ensure that they are motivated enough to continue doing it.

Delivering consistently superior experience to your customers (via quality of products and communication) results in a long-term relationship based on trust. In business, as in life, relationships are crucial. Quality of your relationships is as important as quality of your products, or perhaps, even more.

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Tagged as: attitude, behaviors, business, client, Communication, customer, end customer, experience, marketplace, monitor, motivate, price, product, quality, service, specifications, support, train, Trust, values