The Fools of April

Surviving April Fools
April 1st has come and gone and maybe you had some fun with April Fool's jokes. I like to read The Onion and the April 1st issue is usually very good. But jokes and rumors can be very damaging in the work environment. Here are some tips to keep you out of the rumor limelight.

-Avoid gossip, listening or passing.
-Seek to cultivate office and business relationships that are positive. Being polite means just that - treating others like we want to be treated.
-Check your demeanor. The way we dress, hold our body, and our facial expressions all say a lot. This doesn't mean we need to have no reactions, just make sure they match our intent.
-Get to know others; what makes them tick and what ticks them off.
-Be observant and use what we learn to maximize our relationships with others
-Be social but aware of social events. What we say at the baseball game to colleagues will get back to the office.
-Check your temper. Being professional and diplomatic may take practice, but in the end it will serve us well. There is a difference between being angry and losing our temper!

Working with others will mean that feathers get ruffled, feelings get hurt and people will be disappointed. Accepting that this will happen may help all of us keep April Fools day as the only day we behave foolishly.

Second Quarter Tips
The Truth is Out There
Rumors can be devastating, often just annoying. My inbox sometimes gets overloaded with email petitions; virus alerts and scares about lost children. Some have been very convincing but before I forward any, I always check out the rumor mill at http://www.snopes.com/  by typing in some keywords. This reference site for urban legends is a well-researched non-profit business. So the next time you get one of those guilt-loaded emails - check it out first!

Changing Employees-Change Passwords
When employees change, it is a good time to change passwords on computers and files. Best idea-change all the passwords, not just the exiting employee's. Doing this as a habit will maintain integrity of current and past employees while protecting critical data and information.

Time is all we have
Two percent of America's gross domestic product - about $97 billion - is "frittered away" by workers tinkering with their computers, messing around with typefaces, and endlessly polishing charts, graphs and other things. Focus on what is important and minimize tasks that are time-wasters. Find an oasis of sanity through common sense efficiencies.

Blooming Business

Is your business blooming like the trees outside?

Several years ago I met a banker who was also a weekend fruit farmer. We talked mostly about his orchard which comprised of antique apples and pears. He had a few places that bought his apples wholesale, but mostly he sold out early to a steady loyal group of customers. He saw this orchard as part of his retirement plan - the part that will keep him physically active and social.

We also talked about getting things done in the orchard. Starting in early February, he would begin the process of pruning his fruit trees. Each evening as the days got longer and he arrived home from his banking career, he would spend more and more time outside pruning and trimming. Before he knew it, spring would be filling his orchard with the beauty and scent of future customers. He also expressed how the spring trimming of branches had a trimming effect on his body, too, and prepared him for the heavy work of harvest.

Trees, and especially fruit trees really mirror many parts of the business and the diligence to the plan of getting a good crop yielding a good profit. You have to feed, nurture and prune a business to get the best results and the feeding, nurturing and pruning extends to all areas - employees, customers, vendors and the plan. Ignoring pruning over feeding will lead to beautiful blossoms - lots of blossoms - but if the blooms all were to set fruit the fruit may be smaller and the branches would break impacting customer satisfaction and demand.

With spring finally here, what in your business will need pruning to make the rest of 2011 fruitful? If you have a nagging feeling that your business needs to do some pruning, give me a call and let's get a plan in place.

Saving Time and Daylight Saving Time

Saving Time
Planning - having a plan - timeline - scheduling - following the schedule. All these terms get us thinking about getting things done AND on time! Sometimes saving time means slowing down.

I've known forever that rushing around leads to mistakes that will take more time to correct than the time spent doing it correctly in the first place and Coach John Wooden said it best "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?".

This weekend while driving home from upstate New York on Interstate 90 between Albany and Buffalo, the weather went from rain, to slush, to sleet to fog and settled into snow. The temperature dropped from 50°F to 27°F so the road became slick, very slick. For over an hour, I drove 50 miles per hour or less and saw my GPS adding minutes to my ETA (expected time of arrival). About a dozen cars were seen in ditches, mediums strips, pointing the wrong direction and one even off in farm field. I realized that by taking the time now and driving slowly, I was saving not only future time, but dollars and possible injury. I'm guessing, but I do think a turn into the ditch would have added at least 3 hours to the trip IF the car was still drivable.

In the end, I arrived home only a half hour later than I'd originally planned, but in one piece.

During the course of our busy work weeks, we often don't plan for the unexpected and smash our schedules into the impossible situation of too much to do and too little time leading to hurry-up and get it done.

Being realistic with our time and abilities can lead to happier customers. Why? Because if we realistically plan for "our own slick roads" we can knowingly estimate projects more accurately, schedule catch-up time and feel less stressed as we complete projects on our own schedule and not on the traffic of the rush-rush world.

Take some time this week to wedge in some breathing room in your calendar.

Copyright 2011 Linda Fayerweather MBA EA

http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528
linda@changinglanes.biz
Consider working with a coach or a MasterMind Team to make 2011 the year of your dreams!

Daylight Saving Time

Spring Forward on March 13
The current Daylight Saving Time law was passed in the United States in 2007. Daylight Saving Time (DST) now follows the following schedule:

• DST begins on the second Sunday in March each year; and
• DST ends first Sunday in November each year.

Officially, the law requires businesses and timekeeping institutions to change clocks at 2:00 a.m. when DST changes occur. But you can change your clocks at a more convenient time (i.e. at bedtime the night before, or when you wake the following morning.) Just remember that when you wake up, businesses and schools will have changed their clocks and you will need to adjust your schedule accordingly.

Although most places in the United States observe daylight saving time, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not.

If you live in the U.S. where DST is observed, set your clocks ahead by one hour when DST begins, and back one hour when DST ends.

No-No Employees

The No-No Employee

If you have an employee that is always saying "No, that won't work", realize there is value in pessimism. Pessimists tend to make safer choices than their optimistic counterparts. Let's face it:

Optimists see the opportunity in every difficulty.
Pessimists see the difficulty in every opportunity.

Paying attention to nay-sayers can lead to a healthy dose of skepticism. Questioning can lead to insight. Take time to ask "Why do you think this will not work?" "Why will we fail on this approach?". The downside that many feel with a nay-sayer is that they don't have solutions - just problems.

Using the Lean approach of "5 Whys" will help you drill down to the real obstacles the nay-sayer sees. After adjusting expectations, your biggest challenge will be to help this nay-sayer person understand that he must either help "row the boat or be thrown overboard" and this is usually easier if the pessimist is heard and his opinions validated.

Copyright 2011 Linda Fayerweather MBA EA
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528
linda@changinglanes.biz
Consider working with a coach or a MasterMind Team to make 2011 the year of your dreams!


Boomers Age - Part 2
Women Baby Boomers constitute 37% of those online. And let us not forget that Women in general make 80% of household buying decisions.

In order not to offend this particular pool of customers, make sure you don't use words like "senior," "older women," "silver surfers or silver anything," and particularly "grandma, grandmother, grandparents, grannies." Boomer gals are "happy to lipo, pull, tighten or do just about anything to avoid being asked "Would you like the senior discount?" A recent AARP commercial has been built on the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" One guy wants to rehab houses, a woman wants to run a marathon and another wants to start a band.

The tag: "AARP believes you're never done growing." Whether or not you agree that Boomers ranging in age from 50-65 need to act their age is a moot point. Your takeaway should be "What do I need to do to better serve this market?"

Copyright 2011 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
419.855.3399
Celebrating 10 years of delivering results for our clients.
www.rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com
http://www.marketinginabox.biz/