Maxim # 9 – Never Stop Growing
The unique Leroy “Satchel” Paige was quoted in a June 1953 article in Collier’s magazine entitled, “How to Stay Young”: “Don’t look back, something may be gaining on you.” What a great idea for business today.
Competition is everywhere and growing.
It’s been said that if you’re standing still, you’re losing ground. External pressure on our business comes in many forms: offshore manufacturers, big box brick-and-mortar stores like Costco and Walmart, and online giants like Amazon. Consumer trends can shift in a heartbeat. How do we deal with it all?
In Maxim 3.1 Communicate to be understood, I poke at the cliché “think outside the box.” As much as I dislike cliches in general, this one has application for this topic. What does it really mean? In a sentence, you’ve got to be better than your competition. ‘Go the extra mile’ has its roots in Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. It means to do the unexpected, surprise people by doing more than the minimum, more than you’re paid to do. Zig Ziglar has a poignant quote, “there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” And one from Napoleon Hill, “You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.”
This book is about customer service
in general and I’ve already covered many of the things we can do to edge out our competitors. Rather than rehash them, I want to talk about our own personal growth and the impact it will have on our businesses.
If things never changed, we wouldn’t have to either. Everything would always be as it always was. Yeah, in our dreams. So, where do we start? The universal first step in problem solving is to identify the problem. Until we recognize that we even have a problem, we’ll languish in the mire of mediocrity, and…something may be gaining on us.
All work and no play are said to make Jack a dull boy. It likely will make him single too. Family is the most important security blanket and safety zone we have as a retreat from the rigors of our business life. Permit another Zigism, “People who have good relationships at home are more effective in the marketplace.”
To be truly successful,
at least three life elements must be balanced. We all have a spiritual side, a family side, and a business side. You know that in construction, a triangular shape offers the most strength and support. That’s why you’ll find it in bridges and all kinds of other structures. Our strength comes from our “triangle” of balance. The equilateral triangle is the strongest of all. When our three components are in balance, our lives run smoother, our outlook is brighter, our performance is at its peak, and we can cope with whatever comes our way.
Before I move on, are you onboard with me so far? I hope so because I’ve lived in the swamp of self-pity more than I like to admit. My wife and I buried two of our children, a 1-year-old daughter and a 27-year-old son. I also spent nearly three years recovering from a motorcycle accident that wasn’t my fault. I don’t tell you these things to evoke sympathy, but to tell you that when your life is in balance, you can weather just about anything. Thanks to my wife, Linda, and our faith in God, we’ve survived more things together than I would have thought possible.
Enough digression. Can we all agree that we could use growth in one or more of our three main areas? I have written another book quite different from this genre. It’s a book primarily to men, 400 pages of character building. I’m not promoting it here or suggesting you go out and buy it. I only reference it to let you know I’ve studied human nature for years and discovered that regardless of where we were raised, we all want basically the same things out of life. Some a little more, some less.
There are some immutable laws
that affect all of us. First is the law of sowing and reaping. If you want apricots, you have to plant an apricot tree. It’s the law. If you want to have business success, you have to plant the things that grow a business. What are they?
It starts with offering something somebody needs. Please forgive the simplicity, but remember Lombardi, “this is a football.” Second, and as important as the first, is you must find people who don’t just want to earn a paycheck. I know that’s important, but a paycheck is a byproduct, a reward for doing something well. And what is that something? We’ve been discussing it throughout this book. SERVE CUSTOMERS.
Is it really that simple? Yes and no.
Yes: find a need and serve it to a customer. No: obviously, there are many steps to each of these, any one of which can thwart your plan, cost more than anticipated, delay beyond acceptable limits, and ultimately cost you your customer.
May I suggest that as the boss/manager/owner, your attitude, your demeanor, your temperament all directly impact your team. Review the maxims and consider your team your “customers.” The golden rule here is golden. Treat your team like you expect to be treated by others.
A few paragraphs ago I mentioned character. This is where the rubber hits the road when it comes to your leadership style. You have a style and whether you recognize it or not, your team will. And they will respond and go all out for you if your style is one of inclusion and respect. Max de Pree has an appropriate quote: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
Over the years, I’ve had many bosses.
Some were great, many, not so much. What made the difference? The good ones never put themselves above the team. They never take credit for an idea, an accomplishment that originated with the team. Credit where credit is due. Why aren’t more bosses like that? I believe it’s because they feel insecure or even threatened by sharing the glory. They may have reached or neared their Peter Principle.
As management, we cannot rest on our laurels.
Permit one last Ziglar quote: “The only way to coast is downhill.” If we want our team to grow and prosper (spoiler alert: that’s the only way we grow and prosper), we must keep improving ourself. We can’t teach or expect from others what we don’t know or what we’re not willing to give. Warning: It takes humility to really make this work. Remember, we’re not in competition with the members of our team. We’re the coach, the cheerleader, sometimes the referee.
Having said all that, we still have to demand excellence from our team. I have a friend who managed a Taco Bell restaurant. One of his favorite sayings, as he meandered through the restaurant observing his team, if they weren’t busy and just sorta standing around like young people do at times, “If you can lean, you can clean.” In other words, the people you want on your team don’t really need to be told what to do. They will have an owner/manager mentality. You want them. But one of your jobs as a good manager is to grow them out of their current job. Yes, it’s more work for you, but it’s the right thing to do for them.
Set the example for personal growth.
Have a plan. Work it. Meet a goal then move the goalposts. Do it again and keep doing it. In addition to the satisfaction of doing the right thing just because it’s right, you’ll be recognized as the star you are and you’ll be on the move upward before you know it.
Maxim ‘minder # 9 – Plant what you need to grow what you want.