Denise Brinkmeyer

Moving Big Rocks in 2012

I've lost some of the most important people in my life during the last two years.  It's made me keenly aware of how brief our lives are.  The moments of our lives are precious resources not to be wasted.

Standing in the kitchen before sunrise, your sleepy headed daughter stumbles her way in for a cup of coffee.  This is a moment. 

"Good morning.  How is my precious daughter today?" delivered with smile and a hug.  What a wonderful moment.

It's these wonderful moments that also tease us with fantasies about giving up "the rat race" and staying here in this moment forever.

But this role of mother is just one of my roles and I am committed to my responsibilities in the others as well.  If I can just learn to seize all of the moments of my day, in all of my roles what kind of impact could I make?

A few years ago, Alan and I read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and it changed our lives.  We were at a place with the business where we weren't surewe could ever have our weekends to spend with our families without suffering late nights playing catch up.  The business ran us and we had no control.

E-Myth changes our lives because it acknowledged this plight of the small business owner and suggested that there was a path to changing it.  Since that time we've made small strides in the business and even bigger strides in our health and happiness.  The book gave us hope and that is what we needed.

Now it is a few years later, and we still haven't achieved the level of confidence we want, but as I reflect on our achievements I wonder why.  We've had success, but once we achieve a goal, we set a new one and move on.  We don't take time to step back and look at what we've accomplished like we do on our home building projects.

In early November, I began changing the way I worked.  I started committing more time to my leadership role and focusing on big rocks.  If you're not familiar with the Stephen Covey concept, read this summary.  

I was worried that taking the time away from my operational responsibilities would have a devestating effect on the bottom line, but I felt I had no choice.  I have the best staff I have ever had, but the big rocks piling up kept them from being wildly successful individually.  If I don't take a leap of faith now, the big changes I want will never happen because these wonderful people will lose their motivation.  

In just eight weeks we've designed and implemented a performance and training plan that I've tried to get off the ground since 2006.  Yesterday, we announced the plan to the staff and have had very positive reviews.

Moving big rocks helps me to maximize those precious moments as a business owner, a wife, a mother, a daughter...

This year, I'm going to save my list of goals off to a special file instead of just deleting them from my planner as they are completed.   I'm going to sit around a roaring fire with our associates and toast each of our accomplishments in 2012.  I'm going to thank them for making it possible.  

Want to Increase Productivity? Kill the Distractions.

It's been 5 1/2 years since I locked the front door at JUMP and removed the expensive, antiquated phone system that gave the outside world a direct connection to our production staff.  I took a lot of criticism from a few customers and some friends who said it wasn't good customer service to take away that human connection to customers and potential customers.

I had decided to provide my business process improvement abilities to my own company.  We had been operating too long in the mode of "this is what you are supposed to do, we hear."

So to my naysayers I pointed out that the activity we were accomodating wasn't profitable business or potential business for the company. 

My analysis showed that the majority of telephone contacts fielded by a receptionist had to do with potential vendors who wanted to use my time to find out whether or not their product fit our needs even when I wasn't shopping for their products or services.  She also spent a great deal of her time helping people who mixed our address with another building.

We're not a walk in business.  Why did we need a receptionist?  If a customer was coming by, the project manager had an appointment and would great him at the door.

What about the phones?

Well, customers who contacted programmers directly were bypassing our analysts and project managers causing cost and schedule overruns.  Again, not profitable business.

However, the single most important reason for the changes was my concern for the staff's ability to focus on their work.  Every interruption costs well beyond the time the interruption took.  For example, a 10 minute interruption to a worker who is involved in problem solving or critical thinking tasks might cause up to an hour's impact on his productivity. 

The mental shift between the task and conversation also makes it convenient for the worker to further delay for fear of other interruptions or to check on new information.

So, let's say John is working through several procedures when he is called on the telephone at 11:00.  He answers the phone and engages in a 10 minute conversation about a work related topic that is not related to his current task.  At the end of the conversation, his momentum in his work is completely  gone.  He knows it will take him approximately 10 minutes to get back to where he was in his thought process and even then he may still be in the middle of the problem. 

But now it's 11:10 and John's lunch break is at 11:45.  So he's looking at less than 25 minutes of quality output before leaving for lunch.  John may be hesitant to shift his attention back to the task for fear of how the inadequate amount of time may affect the quality of his work.  He may be tempted to catch up on email messages and spend the next 25 minutes in tasks that are not nearly as important for the satisfaction of achieving something during that time.

And all of this happened for the convenience of the person on the other end of the phone.  The information may have been important or even urgent to the other person, but for John it was a productivity killer.

It's funny that we respect a person working as a chef more than a person whose job requires thinking.  We would never dream of interrupting the chef in the middle of cooking the meal for fear of ruining the outcome.

I saw an article this morning on information-management.com which pointed to the increasing problem of information overload.  The article, "Interface - Information Overload: None Are Immune" inspired me to consider whether or not I was effectively managing information overload.

While technology can help us manage a lot of things, we have to make decisions about our own processes for managing the information and putting "first things first."

5 1/2 years later I can report that the changes I made did increase our productivity and quality several times over.

While I certainly like to accomodate and please as many people as possible (yes I am high blue), I never regret focusing on the wildly important, even if that means I have to tell someone "no", or "not right now".

Lessons We Can Learn from Border's Demise

Yesterday, I opened an email from Borders Books.

"A Fond Farewell, Thank You for Shopping at Borders."

Empathetically, I felt Mike Edwards, the CEO of Borders, sincere disappointment.  I felt genuine sadness for him.

The sinking of the great ship.  Goodbye, farewell.

As a great lover of books myself, I thought about my own experience with Borders Books.  In recent years I rarely frequented Borders for the reasons that most likely led to the demise of the company.

• I never believed I'd get the best discount from Borders
• I often found they did not have the book I wanted in stock
• I never became a customer online

I remember several years ago comparing Barnes & Noble's reward program with Borders.  I didn't really understand how Borders worked.  I would get coupons in my email which meant printing them and remembering to take them with me.  The 10% at B&N is easier to understand and calculate my savings, so B&N ususally had me when I needed the instant gratification of getting books today.

Speaking of instant gratification, I have visited both B&N and Borders in search of a book that had to be purchased online.  When I did buy online, I used B&N or Amazon.  Today, I satisfy the urgency with a Kindle download.  Amazon can thank Borders for the leg up on that one.  B&N has probably lost my online business for good.

I believe it was Border's failure to adapt that killed the company.  Not that it was incapable, but it was too busy enjoying it's success to see the warning signs.  When it did, it was too late.

It makes me think of the overlooked ice warning:

" In lat 42N to 41.25N long 49W to long 50.30W saw much heavy pack ice and great number of large icebergs also field ice. Weather good, clear."

I think the CEO of a company is the "captain of the ship" in most ways.  If you spend too much time enjoying your success, who is steering the ship?  

Information is moving at lightning speed, we can't afford to stop listening to all of the signals and warnings of what lies ahead. 

Adapt or die. 

That sounds terrible and ominous, but it has to be someone's job.  As the CEO, it's yours.

Informed Business or Intelligent Business

Just back from a business intelligence summit this week, I've been pondering the protestations of some business owners I know when the topic of BI solutions comes up.  The most common responses I hear are:

1. We already have a great set of reports that I get on my Blackberry every day.

or

2. BI solutions are for multi-million dollar companies.

I have learned that if I hear either reaction, I am likely better off just smiling and changing the subject; although, I can't help wanting to change the world for these business owners by educating them just a little.

There is a difference between information and intelligence.  I can't say that the owner who gets reports daily on his Blackberry doesn't mine his data looking for answers to questions, but many times it is the case.

To best understand the difference between information and intelligence I think we should consider whether we as business owners are trying to change the bottom line or the top line.

In many cases controlling the bottom line comes from monitoring traditional key performance indicators for our industry or area of operations.  This is where we rely on canned reports.  The questions are already known, already predefined...the industry standard controls for the business process.  That's why they are canned reports.  If that's all the business is gleaning from it's data, then there is no business intelligence initiative at work.  Information.  Monitoring.

Webster's Dictionary defines intelligence as a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)

Intelligence helps us apply knowledge and manipulate our business operations or climate dealing with new situations.

If we believe that innovation not only leads to success but also involves change, then how can we learn or understand about new situations if we don't have the ability to ask questions of the data?

If all we have are the same canned reports that came with our software package, then how can we understand the results of the innovation that didn't come in the box?

If we're trying to improve top line performance, then we are designing the questions as we go.  Each new answer usually prompts more questions.  What is the root cause?  What will happen if we...?  Intelligence.  Learning.

Without ad hoc query tools, answering such questions can be an expensive laborious effort which may kill growth initiatives.

Today there are tools for businesses at every stage that assist with business intelligence at the right cost and mix for the current stage of the organization.  In my opinion they are critical tools for businesses that want to grow. 

For those that don't, (and I know some of you really don't) then being informed should be good enough.

 

Internet Marketing: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  It's 2011, and I can't believe I'm STILL talking about business owner expectations from their website efforts.

You can give a man binoculars, but you can't make him see.

Those of you who know me, how many times have you heard me say that websites require ownership by marketing with technical input for quality?

Add SEO objectives to the mix and you might have an impossible situation on your hands:

1. The SEO consultant who is sprinkling content across the Internet to create links pointing to your website (to increase your traffic and positioning)

can't get it done because

2. The small business owner still doesn't understand that only some content should be on the company's website so he insists that all new content appear on the website

demands 

3. That I.T. liaison speak to the SEO consultant about the problem.  The I.T. liaison speaks I.T. but the problem is a MARKETING problem.  The I.T. liaison has no authority in marketing.  He has a directive.

Websites contain marketing content like your printed brochure might.  If you use a billboard to advertise your location, are you going to put the billboard graphics on your brochure??  That's what you're saying when you insist that all content be added to the website.

Now, look at your analytics console and tell me how many times a website visitor (potential new customer) clicked that customer newsletter link that the business owner INSISTED was important.

Answer: 0

Small Business Should Thank Mom for Lessons in Success

My mom didn't go to college, yet she taught me important lessons that have helped me successfully operate a few small businesses.

My mother has operated her own successful family daycare for more than a few decades (sorry if I'm telling your age, Mom).  The families she serves love her, and she almost always has a waiting list because of the loving care she provides. 

No one taught Mom how to be successful.  She figured it out herself.  Even though she didn't go to college, she educated herself with every resource she could find when she needed to learn something new.

Lesson one: Life long learning is essential.  If your mother is like mine, then she read to you from as early as you can remember.  She taught you the importance of reading so that you could pursue knowledge and learning your entire life.

Small businesses that have staying power do so because the business owner is able to adapt and grow his business through continual learning.   It doesn't require a college education to pursue and acquire knowledge.  It takes a love of learning.  Thanks, Mom.

Speaking more about my mother's business...  It's a daycare.  Ugghhh!  Childcare is one of the most thankless jobs that I can think of.  There are so few people who do it exceptionally well, but my mother does.  In fact, she LOVES it.

Lesson Two: Do what you love

If you don't love what you do, ultimately your job will take its toll on your life.  I don't mean that at every point in your life you have to be in love with your job or your daily tasks.  (Who loves changing diapers??)    You should know, however, what path your are on and be passionate about where it is leading.  I don't know a successful small business owner who isn't.

There are plenty of transitional jobs we will take through the years.  For several years my mother sold children's shoes.  But ultimately we should pursue our passions.  While our fathers may have said "Suck it up!", our mother was the one interested in our happiness.

Bill Cosby said moms get better presents than dads.

With all credit to dads' interest in helping us get through tough times, Mom had her own method.  She taught us how to turn lemons to lemonade.  She taught us how to take a basket of scraps and turn it into a quilt.  Mom can make something where there is seemingly nothing to work with.

Operating a daycare home isn't a lucrative operation, yet my mother produces video slideshows on DVD each year for her families.  It is a precious gift to the families and it costs little more than her time and creativity to do it.  Yes, my brother Scott helps her out when she gets beyond her technical abilities, but that's really my point.

Lesson Three: See the value in your resources and use creativity to leverage them

Small businesses operating during a tough economy leverage their other resources when financial resources aren't available.  We leverage our time and skills to do for ourselves what we might outsource in other years.  We educate ourselves and see value in resources that might otherwise be overlooked.  Thank you, Mom.

So obviously I'm a big fan of my mother.  She would tell you that I love to give her a hard time.  (It's true.  I can't help teasing her.)  I am grateful for the lessons she taught me and continues to teach me about the kind of person I want to be.

I know I'm not alone in thinking I owe a lot to my mother for helping my business grow.

 

 

 

PlanPlus for Outlook: A Great Tool for Personal Planning and Organization

Like a lot of people I know, this time of year makes me look back at the year's accomplishments and measure the effectiveness of my resolve to improve myself.  Personal productivity resolutions are always on my list, but I've achieved several of my goals thanks to a tool from Franklin Covey that makes electronic planning better.

I've been using PlanPlus for a couple of years now, and I finally feel like its part of my daily routine.  I thought I'd share my review so that my friends and family wanting to "go paperless" in 2011 could put away their paper planners with confidence.

A little side note about being "paperless"...  A couple of years ago I resolved to stop taking meeting notes on paper because my schedule is so busy that by the time I was able to recreate the notes electronically, much of the context of the meeting was lost.  It was a struggle at first, but today I'm fairly consistent in capturing meeting notes on my pda or my laptop.

The Franklin Covey PlanPlus tool is a big part of my success. 

My pda notes sync to Outlook notes.  Within Outlook, I am able to move content into tasks and calendar items using the PP tool.  The main planning screen allows you to drag emails into tasks and calendar items using drag and drop.

You can organize tasks into projects and track the progress of the project.  The utility will even create a progress report for you.  My only criticism of the report is that the tasks themselves don't show on the report, just the overall completion and timeframes.

The tool includes the same planning tools you'd see in your paper Franklin Covey planner: weekly goals, mission, compass, and coaching.

Version 5 of the tool had some bugs that would cause Outlook to crash.  I'm now on Version 6 which rarely has a problem.  According to the website, Version 7 is out with a couple of new features.

The price is $99.95 for a first time installation or $49.95 for the upgrade. There is a free trial, too.  I thought it was very affordable considering that I was paying about 1/3 of that each year for a paper planner a few years ago. 

If you're a fan of Franklin Covey, AND you want to be paperless, you'll like this tool.  You'll find it online at www.store.franklinplanner.com/store/  Select Software and PlanPlus for Outlook 7.0.

 

Emailing Smiles

Recently, a misunderstanding caused by the limitations of email reminded me why I prefer instant messaging with my staff and friends.

If you agree that 97% of communication is nonverbal and that nonverbal communication includes "tone" then its easy to understand why there are books and courses about effective email writing.

Instant messaging and social networks allow me to be more informal.  I can use "smiley faces" to reflect my facial expressions and give nonverbal feedback of approval or rejection of an idea or message.  That's as close as I can come to mimicking a face to face conversation.

Afterall, I absolutely enjoy most people I encounter on a day to day basis.  If we were to communicate face to face, I would greet each of them with a smile.

Yet, with business communication we are encouraged to be professional and concise in our emails which often creates a "cold" tone.    For business acquaintances that I don't know very well, I am not as concerned because we don't really try to read each other's tone.  With customers and associates, however, there is a relationship and a familiarity that causes us to seek tone in the message in an effort to fully understand the message.

"Is she unhappy with me?" "Is she approving?"

If I were to walk into that person's office and deliver the same message, in every case my facial expression would connect the dots, complete the message.  Usually, I'm smiling.  I enjoy people even when we aren't in agreement.

My struggle (and the point of this post) is whether or not it is acceptable to send smiley faces in the body of a business email.  I don't have the same problem with hand written letters or notes because the occassion usually implies tone or requires that it be stated formally.

In email, however, you can't simply replace ":)" with words.

"You make me smile" - ugg too much familiarity and potentially misleading

"I'm laughing right now at the thought of..."  too much to type or to remember to tack on

"I'm so happy to know you and have the chance to interact with you" - I'd rather just smile

So, I'm asking the business communicate to forgive me. 

Please consider this post as an apology to those who might be offended by informality in a business communication.  I've convinced myself that I may need to express my tone with a smiley face from time to time.  I promise that I'll try to keep it limited to ":)" but please excuse the occassional "LOL" that may slip in every now and again.

If You Adopt Someone Else's System are You Innovating?

I don't think so.

With every project I take on, every organization I meet, I am more and more convinced that organizations who put forth the effort to understand not only what they want to achieve but how to get there from here are the ones worth watching.

If we agree that successful organizations are innovative, then I hope we can agree that our inspirations can come from watching others succeed.  Yet extreme blind following is dangerous.

A few years ago I put a system in place for a start up program with an existing customer of mine.  We agreed that the highest objective was capturing very detailed data about the interactions between the workers and their customers.  I advised that the system must be designed to allow the workers to input data as close to the point of interaction as possible (the process flow includes minute by minute use of the system).  I knew that if the workers did not complete the input at every point of interaction (as opposed to coming back and entering it later) they would be overwhelmed with the volume of work and that the quality of the data would suffer from lack of memory and interest in accuracy.

To my dismay, my customer hired an outside consultant from another state who had been running a similar program.  What worried me was that the consultant's objective was not the same as the objective my customer and I had agreed upon.  Her program used a very scaled down system and didn't match my customer's absolute and passionate need for predictive analytics and business intelligence.  They weren't starting from the same place.  Even though some of the goals overlapped they didn't share the same objectives. 

The consultant told the workers and supervisors in the program that it was offensive to type on the computer in the presence of the customer.  And so they designed the work flow around this other system

What a surprise, the workers spent the next few years complaining about how much "data entry" work they were doing.  In the process they adopted, data doesn't matter, people do.

The electronic and people systems were at odds.

Fast forward to today. 

Today the program is installing tablets and kiosks for quick entry of data at the point of capture.  When the management pushed back on the workers and supervisors due to the lack of quality data in the system, the workers started quitting their jobs stating that it was just too much work to recount the interaction historically.

They are returning to the original plan.

Extra cost, frustrated staff, frustrated management... all because they abandoned their own innovation to adopt someone else's system.

Is Innovation at Odds with Standardization?

In theory, the concept of innovation (thinking outside the box) conflicts with the concept of standardization (doing something to standard or norm).  I find it interesting that some organizations don't handle the two movements in their organization very well.  One or the other will find itself disenfranchised for such a time as management has no use for them until the need arises and the roles reverse.  You go from "zero to hero" because you are the one with the answer.

The dysfunctional organization:

"We need a new product to serve market X", says management.  "We'll get right on it!" says the  Innovation camp who detail a wonderful product designed to make the market drool.

"This new product can't be produced using the current process." says a junior Innovation member.

"That is not our problem," says a senior Innovation member

Operations begin and product rolls off the line.  60% of the initial production is returned.

"This isn't working," says management.  "We can't control the product quality."

"That's because all of the standards have become obsolete with this new product.  Don't worry, we'll define some new ones."  says the Standards camp.

The moral of the story is that Innovation must drive but Standardization must orchestrate the process to carefully control the outcome.  In a healthy organization they communicate and collaborate.