The Sanford Berenberg Experience

502-533-9336

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Message of the Day - Improve Productivity With One Simple Action

Good Morning,

Welcome New Recipients!

Most of us are very busy and have learned to multi-task. We read emails and work spreadsheets; we’re on the phone and proofreading. We try to kill more than two birds with one stone and work to group as many other birds together that we can while not investing in bigger stones (stones = our time).

We notice those who do that when we go to talk to them. Their attention is not really on us. When answering us, first their eyes move from us to their computer monitor, to some work and then their words slow down, trail off or they start talking about something else entirely.

I find myself at the computer responding to emails, instant messages and trying to respond to people’s questions simultaneously. When I catch myself doing that, I try to focus attention on person talking to me. I look away from the computer. When that’s not enough, I turn my back on it. In some cases, this still is not enough. When pressed for time, working on an important task, I quickly turn around to check the monitor for a moment, and then there I am again, ignoring those in front of me. So, I have started stepping away from my computer entirely to focus on the conversation and listening to the person I am talking to.

Another solution is to ask the person to come back later or that we will seek them out when we have more time to truly listen to them. This sets the tone that what they want to say is important, but we do not have the time, now, to fully listen to them.

What happens when we don’t give those we talk to our full attention? We miss words, we misunderstand the message, and worse, we show those who are talking to us that both they and what they are trying to say are not as important as the other things you are focusing on. In their mind, what they have to say or ask is.

By listening exclusively to the person we are talking with, we actually hear what they are asking and can respond better with clearer and more complete thoughts. They feel more appreciated and that they can come to us for help, answers and even advice. Also, the conversation itself often will take less time because we are putting our full effort into it.

The bigger picture is when we focus on listening; we can more effectively address other’s questions and concerns. We build strong work relationships, improve morale and trust and increase overall productivity. Sure there has to be limits on interruptions at our work. When we know we will be ignored if we go to others, then we will often stop going to them for help entirely. What is the cost of that? (Think about the ‘if only they came to me’ or ‘I could have helped them’ situations in our past).

Listen and improve productivity.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Message of the Day - Lead Like Yourself

Good Morning,

Welcome New Recipients!

I am reminded of a time when I worked at a company where my manager wanted me to supervise her way. Her way was very confrontational. My style is supportive and collaborative. There was a team member who was performing poorly and I was advised to, for a lack of a better word, ‘dress him down’ about his continued issues. My manager watched me as I ‘tore this fellow a new one’. I felt horrible inside, yet my manager smiled with much approval. In that environment, I performed very poorly. Working and leading in a style nearly opposite to my own was very draining and demoralizing to me.

This is another example of playing to our strengths. When we get to work with our strengths, like when I was able to build up my Technical Support team using my supportive and collaborative style, we were able to succeed and create a great team. When we are forced to play to our weaknesses, then it is not surprising the results are not good. My time at that company above was blissfully, although painfully, short.

It is very important to lead in our own style, in our own way. Another common deception is leading in the way of great leaders. If we want to be a great manager and read books and articles, watch videos, etc. on such successful managers as Jack Welch, Colin Powell, Steve Jobs or Sam Walton, we may find that doing things their way is no more beneficial than what we have been doing up to this point. Often it can be worse.

Getting ideas from the best of the best is great, so long as we take those ideas and fit them into OUR leadership style. When we try to do something in a style or manner that is not our own, we set ourselves up for both short term and long term failure. In the short term, we confuse people with our different leadership styles and that can lead to others questioning our ability. In the long term we can lose ourselves by being something we are not.

The best method is to be ourselves and lead like ourselves. As we learn and grow, we can add bits and pieces that we learn from other leaders, like best practices, etc., and improve ourselves and OUR style in the process. Our leadership is a work of art and it is constantly being molded and refined as we learn and find new ways to add to our growing repertoire of knowledge and skills.

Lead like yourself!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Message of the Day - Communication and the Well-Oiled Machine

Good Morning,

Welcome new recipients!!

This past weekend, my family attended a regional cross country meet at a local park. Our eldest daughter competed. We watched the girls run first and then the boys. After the boys raced, the parents and friends of the runners from our school talked of going out for lunch around noon after the awards were announced. At 12:30, we were still standing around waiting. Ten minutes later someone told us that the awards would be announced at 12:30 (ten minutes earlier). We continued to ask questions, but people did not know. Slowly we heard different reasons of why it was taking so long. It passed 1:00 PM and we were still waiting. We were confused and frustrated. Finally, the awards were announced and a few of us ended up going to lunch.

Waiting an hour or so for the awards was a frustrating time. We did not know who to look to for answers and our Coach was as much in the dark as we were. We did not have expectations to guide us. The information we did receive was piecemeal. I am sure that the event went along as planned with a few hiccups which normally happen, but not so for those who were not in the know.

In the organizations we work in, communication is supposed to be more free-flowing between all people, but this is not always the case. Instead of proper communications, we hear rumors and get the piecemeal information from various sources. Since we don’t have any real expectations given to us we can get confused. Add to this, when our management is just in the dark as we are, we get just as frustrated as my family was this weekend. We wonder if they care about us or even know if we exist.

Many company executives keep information they consider to be ‘sensitive’ close to their chest. They do not share it until they absolutely have to, which can often be too late. We have heard the stories where employees found out news and changes from people outside their company first, rather than from inside. It makes us question the integrity and worse, the ability of the company leadership. Understandably some information cannot be shared internally prior to public announcements, but there are times that there are no internal announcements, except once the rest of the world know first.

Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, believed in sharing information freely with all of his employees and has been successful in building a retail empire. He felt the risk of sensitive information getting out was less important then empowering his employees with what is really going on.

When information is not shared freely, we get caught off guard. A well-oiled machine appears to fall apart right in front of us. We start wondering about the leadership’s motives, and then ability. We ask ‘who planned this?’ and ‘Don’t they have a clue?’ This leads to us becoming less engaged at work. Worse, after repeated conundrums we start moving one foot out of the door just in case our fears that the ship is really sinking.

Communication is the lubricant that keeps the business machine well oiled and running smoothly. Make sure everyone who needs to know it does, and in a timely manner. Otherwise we could continue to stand around wondering what is going on, with growing confusion and frustration.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Message of the Day - Becoming the Standard

Good Morning,

Welcome new recipients!!

In Marcus Buckingham’s book “First, Break All the Rules” (http://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-Rules-Differently/dp/0684852861) he talks about how Netscape, Adobe and Sun Microsystems gave out their programs for free. That is, the web browser, Adobe Reader and Java, the programming language. Why would a company give a project or service away for free?

On the outside it does not appear like a sound business decision. In reality, it is genius.

A company that shares with others what they do best, especially services, the company that is giving is becoming more widely known for their product or service. In fact, in many cases, this acceptance becomes the standard in the field. How many companies use PDF documents these days? The answer is millions. PDF is the standard for unalterable soft documentation.

So how can we become or create the standard? Most of us don’t have the money to invest in making or selling millions of copies or products or hours of service. The good news is that we don’t have to!

We can start by giving the best of ourselves to others.

We can do our best in anything that we do. Like my wife Karen’s meatloaf. All meatloaf is now compared to Karen’s, it is the standard. And for the record, all meatloaf is inferior to Karen’s. My best friend Howard is a chiropractor. All chiropractic adjustments I receive are compared to his, as he is my standard. My chiropractor in Louisville, Dr. Michael Baker, has matched this standard. Both Dr. Howard and Dr. Baker give their best, and that has become the standard that I based all chiropractic care against. I will not go to another Chiropractor who does not meet the standard I have come to expect. I just need to go see to Dr. Baker more often.

By doing what we do well, and sharing it with others, what we do can become the standard for others. These standards are then used as the basis of comparison by others. It does not matter what you do, just that you do it. It could be telling tales, cooking, preparing spreadsheets or PowerPoint slides, or coming up with strategic solutions. When we continue to do our best in what we do, the bar is set, often very high.

Strive to do well in whatever you do, and you can become the standard in the eyes of others. And others will want to learn from you, or use your services or get your help.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Message of the Day - Transferrable Skills

Good Morning,

Several weeks ago I told you about a team I worked with where most of the team members were promoted into management positions. Now I’ll share with you how.

First realize that these people are all exceptional. I see my role more like carving a stature, in that I cleared away the unnecessary debris to bring out their greatness. A greatness, by the way, that was already there, and is often in most people, waiting to come out. Yes, most people have this inner greatness.

I could not give these people management roles directly. What I did do was give them projects to manage and tasks to do which were not there job. I offloaded some of my basic functions to the team. This may sound like a lazy approach, and on some levels it is. It allowed me to spend more time helping the team directly.

The bigger picture was that I trusted them enough to have them do work which I was responsible for. I trusted in their abilities to complete projects and share the information they learned with the rest of the team (and I told them how I trusted them often). Every member of the team after they came up to speed from initially joining the team all was given something to do in addition to their normal daily functions. It was my goal to stretch them in their positions to help them become even better.

As they performed their work, we would have weekly or bi-weekly status meetings to see what challenges they were facing and what I could do to help them. Each and every one of them made me proud in how they took on their projects and worked hard to get them done correctly.

Each project entailed interaction with others in the company and in people in other companies. Each project had a timeline, and each project had a documentation piece which would be used by the rest of the company for training. Sometimes the team members asked for extra time for their projects, but mostly they did the work during their slow times during the day.

What happened was the team, the entire team, became leaders. They used their leadership skills on their projects and transferred that knowledge to helping the team and then helping other teams.

When the opportunity came for promotions, these guys were ready and prepared, having already learned and practiced doing basic leadership and management skills.

It’s not rocket science, but its sure a great way to show how valuable people can be and how much they can grow when you trust them and stretch them.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, November 3, 2008

Message of the Day - Your Opinion and You Matter

Good Morning,

Tomorrow is a day where your voice matters. It is a day where you can state your opinion and have your say with one simple action. No matter who wins, you still will have had your say and know that you participated. It is a day that you can say that you matter.

Voting is a powerful action, yet many decide not to take it.

There are many excuses, they do not like the candidates, they do not like the policies being suggested, or they are too busy, or have not registered, or add excuse here.

The society we live in is driven on the precept that our opinion matters and more importantly that we matter as individuals. When we vote, we share that opinion, and confirm to the world that we do matter.

When we choose not to vote, we give up that right. We become a coach potato in our own lives and that of the communities we live in.

When things happen that you do not like, if you have voted you can say that you did your part. If you chose not to vote, you give up your voice and say that others are more important than you because you let their opinion be heard when yours was not.

When you stifle your own opinion you make yourself a victim of the feelings and beliefs of others.

In the end, the outcome of these elections will change the country, state, county, town, etc., in some way or another, but will you be a silent victim or will you have empowered yourself and cast your ballot?

Ok, I am getting off my podium.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg