This week’s TRIPLE III TIME message is totally and simply all about highlighting The Power of Career Stories.  Everyone has a unique Career Story to tell.  Age doesn’t matter!  The Career Story told by a twelve-year-old to their aunt or grandmother has tremendous value with regard to their new understanding the challenges of a “soon-to-be” teenager in today’s world.  Likewise, the 70-plus year old with almost 50 years of customer service experience from both the public and private sectors, can explain “QUALITY” better than any textbook.

One of the most educationally impacting components of my college class instruction structure is the sharing of Career Stories by professionals I invite in each semester.  Whether it is a local business person, elected official, public servant, instructor colleague or maybe just a great friend; the learning value of each Career Story is priceless.

Sometimes listeners are drawn in by the passion of the speaker and the energetic words they use to convey the highs and lows of their life journey.  Other times a certain Career Story focuses on a specific vision that a person had at one time in their life but it was somehow denied due to personal circumstances.  Each Career Story always carries its own special personality and areas of continuous learning.

Bottomline:  Take some time to make a page of notes about YOUR CAREER STORY.  And if possible, hold a CAREER STORY time event in your workplace.  This area of professional sharing can have a positive workplace culture impact…and you will never know if you don’t give it a try.

If you look at my website, spend some time reading past blog messages and/or listen to a few Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS podcasts, you will realize a continuous theme that suggests there is:

“Always A Better Way!” (To Get It Done)

Now at first glance this belief statement appears innocent enough and hopefully encouraging, however if taken with a negative spirit…I appear to be proclaiming that no matter how well you complete a job or task you are accomplishing it will be “Never Good Enough”.

During the course of my career, I have been told that on occasion the drive to find “Always A Better Way!” to improve a service or project has prompted co-workers, organizational partners or colleagues to believe their ideas, support or work will never be sufficient in my view…no matter what.  And the negative side to this personal or professional belief is that it causes individuals to lose their motivation and creative energy to go above and beyond what is normally expected.

So given this “Always A Better Way! vs. Never Good Enough” analysis…what is the TRIPLE III TIME message I am really trying to deliver this week?

Because we are all people who work with people everyday…EVERYDAY, be sure to convey a progressive, positive “Always A Better Way!” SPIRIT as part of your operational style.  I believe individuals will honestly recognize a “Never Good Enough” negative message when they hear it.  However, the key will be in the quality, effective communications you use.  I think you know what I mean.

Never underestimate the impact conveying the right communication SPIRIT can make!

We are all sometimes…somewhere placed in a situation when we have to utilize our negotiating skills.  The issue or issues being negotiated may appear simplistic and easy to respond to…but often there are multiple “behind-the-scenes” challenges that only come to light as the discussions/debates of negotiating unfold.

So how do you identify and develop YOUR negotiating skills.  Do you obtain them from parents, bosses, teachers, colleagues….or mostly from experiences?  Yes, again there are helpful seminars on negotiating but have you ever sat down and considered the “art” of Negotiating With Confidence & Class and maybe a TOP 10 list of ideas that may help?!

Well just in case you haven’t given Negotiating With Confidence & Class much thought, this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message is just in time to offer a few helpful hints.

1. Minimize the number of major issues addressed at one setting.
2. Be sure you know what YOU want…but don’t show-up with a “decision-made” attitude.
3. Be sure everyone understands the issue the same way/completely/with common grounding.
4. Recognize and appreciate the negotiation responsibilities and skills of others in the session.
5. Listen with both ears and with both eyes.
6. Ask intelligent and respectful questions.
7. Try to NOT allow a “postponement trend” to evolve.
8. Negotiate options that enables everyone to “win” something.
9. Remember negotiated resolution actions must be thoughtful and doable.
10. Finally, never under-respect the importance on how the negotiated decisions impact the future of others.

Negotiating With Confidence & Class may require you to professionally “change chairs” to best understand the positions of others during discussions.  And if you do it well…I promise respect will follow.

“We had received a few letters, and generally they were positive, but they would say:  ‘It’s really too bad you use those foam peanuts.  Have you thought of using something else?’ or ‘I am really going to have to start looking for another source if you guys don’t stop using them.’  People wanted to continue to order products from us, and they liked our service, but they objected to us using the foam peanuts.  I figured if so many people had taken the time to write to us, then there must be many more people thinking along the same lines.  So we stopped using foam and started using a tissue made from 100 percent recycled magazines instead.”

– Patricia Gallup, PC Connection, Inc.

The purpose of sharing this quote regarding customer feedback from a quality company is to ask you the question about your customers:  Are You Listening?

Many times workers in companies and/or agencies who are responsible for collecting customer status or satisfaction information do not give this function the continuous improvement attention it deserves.  Although it is true that customers are not always thoughtful and complete in their responses to quality survey requests, you can never assume you won’t find that “gold nugget” suggestion somewhere…sometime!

This week’s TRIPLE III TIME message:  Are You Listening? is fully intended to force everyone to question themselves about their customer service follow-up process.  Do you do it just because you must…or in search of a good idea?  Do you really pay attention to the responses…or do you just check off who responded and how many?  Or is your customer follow-up process outdated and just an assignment…and thereby self-defeating in its purpose?

Great companies/organizations put stock in getting quality feedback from their customers.  Are you GREAT?

During this time of low supply of available, qualified new employee candidates, it has become more challenging to misfortunately retain your current workforce.  What do I mean by “misfortunately retain” in the previous sentence?  I mean that in many cases poor work habits, excess absenteeism and less than appropriate employee attitudes are silently overlooked in today’s workplace.  In a unique, unplanned, unforeseen way…employers have sometimes assumed a position that “a poor employee is better than no employee”!

How does this scenario apply to this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message”  YOUR Words Matter?

I believe that today it is critical for leaders and managers to be more direct and honest in their product development assignments and quality of service expectations.  “Sugar coating and softening” messages in these areas should make you question yourself…how much do YOUR WORDS MATTER!  Whether your directives, instructions and /or positive action words are delivered in written, online or in-person fashion; the need for simple, specific, timely expectations should be totally clear.  In addition, it may be more unfortunately appropriate during these employee supply-demand challenge times to also include verbiage on negative consequences for non-action.  Today including consequences information in personnel communications as a necessary standard will increase the likelihood the fact that YOUR Words Matter!

Is this an example of progressive professional discomfort…Yes.  Is it an easy personnel action…No.  If applied correctly and consistently will it make a positive personnel difference…Yes.

Are there other questions?

There is not a week that goes by that I am contacted by an organization that I work with…or one in need of help that talks about/requests some form of TEAMING training.  In most instances the requests come as the result of the addition of a number of new employees joining their workforce or the assignment of a new/different project that requires both individuals or groups to work more together.  Every team training opportunity is high value for them and for me…and the results are positive.  And yes I could go on and on about the critical need for a quality team environment, but for this TRIPLE III TIME moment I want to share some thoughts about TEAMING Beyond The Norm.

Think about the times when someone in your group randomly brings donuts for everyone.  Or the satisfaction you feel when you ask a co-worker: “How’s your dad doing as a result of his surgery?”…and they offer an enthusiastic response that confirms he is doing AOK!  Or the two-way camaraderie felt when you simply ask a company team member:  “How are you?”…because you know they had to deal with a difficult staff person issue a day earlier.

TEAMING Beyond The Norm is NOT about becoming part of a co-workers challenges/problems…but rather an action to confirm team building is something that is part of everyone…everyday!  Likewise it doesn’t have to be about a special circumstance or event, instead it can be about greater, more meaningful communication.  I guess in a way TEAMING Beyond The Norm has a “family” feel to it and even a community-building purpose.

Think hard about this TEAMING Beyond The Norm message…it has a lot of great life application areas.

When was the last time you offered a “Way To Go” message to your boss?  Think about it.  Did you ever tell your Board Chair that they handled a troublesome Board member with style, grace and professionalism?  Frontline staff, have you ever offered a statement of praise to your manager about their cool wording in a marketing piece or decision-making memorandum?

I believe in all employee-employer relationships…”Way To Go’s” – Should Go Both Ways!  But unfortunately it is a professional development action area that needs some work.  Too often employer/boss recognition comes to them for who they are in the organization…instead of what they do.  Just to give you an example, recently I asked my co-workers if they thought the latest fiscal status chart from the CFO was great…and did they tell him so?  Responses…not one out of ten sent him a note letting him know that his chart work was the best ever!

In all honesty I can report that during my career I did not do a good job in practicing the “Way To Go’s” – Should Go Both Ways principle.  Additionally I can’t think of a time when I really expected some of kind of “you really were beyond excellent in that Committee meeting” compliment during my leader days.  However my consultant role has helped me better see the high value of two-way “Way To Go’s” and the impact it has on building a supportive culture in the workplace.

Give it a try and let me know your return-on-“way to go”!

It is often ironic, interesting and maybe even scary when my choice for a TRIPLE III TIME message somehow connects directly to one of my current day business or personal situations.  However, when you consider topics regarding leadership, communication, professional development and innovation…which are my III discussion priorities…the “connections” make sense!  But I have to report that when I selected The Importance of Presence for this week’s message, it’s “connect-ability” factor to all aspects of my professional career…past, present and future…could not be more critical.

So let’s start this discussion by stressing the importance of physically attending meetings that you are part of.  Personally showing up at a special event/meeting hosted by a colleague, family member, business partner or friend just feels more necessary today more than ever before.  Likewise if you reverse the situation and ask what does The Importance of Presence mean to me as a professional when I am waiting at the door for those invited to attend?  I believe it means caring, interest, support, joint venture consideration, a future opportunity and without a doubt…a special form of respect and friendship.

Does this mean that I do not support virtual involvements?  Does this mean that I am too old-fashioned?  Or does this mean that I have not allowed myself to adjust to a non-face-to-face future?

Well, I think all who know me have a pretty good idea how I may or may not answer these questions.

Regardless, the goal of the TRIPLE III TIME message:  The Importance of Presence is to encourage everyone to go the extra face-to-face participation mile if you can.  Virtual attendance is an acceptable second choice but I believe your personal/in-person connection can and will always make a good…GREAT difference!