Too Much, Too Little or Just enough

Good Morning,

 

In helping others I often feel that I don’t do enough. That there is always more that I can and should do.  Like when I walk by a homeless person and I don’t have another cent on me.

 

Then there are those opportunities which come up to help others, some easy, some hard, some a one-time act, others a long-time commitment.

 

When I decide to help more, I often hear from others, those I love and trust, those who care about me, who say that I do too much and I should cut back.  That I should avoid burning out.

 

I could cut back, but I want to do more. I need to focus my efforts on fewer endeavors to do more and not spread myself thin, but there is so much need.

 

Too much, too little which is it?

 

I guess, in reality I am somewhere in the middle, doing more than others think I should be doing, but not quite enough to satisfy my desire to help others.  

 

I hunger to help more, but am tempered to keep a balance.

 

That is, I am in the right place for me.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

Working to our strengths

Good Morning,

 

My current read is “Rommel: Leadership Lessons from the Desert Fox” (http://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Leadership-Lessons-Desert-Generals/dp/B00ANYFOE0) by Charles Messenger. I had heard a lot about Rommel through the years, but never enough to satisfy my curiosity, so when I found this book, I added it to my library. It did a good job covering the Field Marshall’s career, personality and leadership style.

 

Rommel was exceptional in his area of expertise. He was a brilliant tactician, made fast and sound decisions, and could exploit any found weaknesses in his adversary.  He liked to lead from the front, seeing everything as it happened and changed gears on a dime. The more he could remain in the know, leading from the front, the more he would succeed, and the less his opponents could withstand his hard driving forces. He loved reconnaissance and gaining new information as it happened. He would never ask his men to do anything that he was not prepared to do himself, and often visited his troops, taking a mobile headquarters with him to allow him to be visible by the most of people possible (several times to his enemies as well).

 

Due to his successes, he was given higher and higher commands. Those which took him away from the front lines and away from the latest information (in times before cell phones, social media and Wi-Fi). When forced to work at higher and higher levels of command, he lost his polish and made less sound decisions.  His mindset was a military one, seeing everything through that lens. Moving to a political level leadership, he failed to embrace politics and often bucked heads with those he worked with.

 

He may not have recognized as he moved away from his strength’s his effectiveness also lessened.

 

Rommel’s example clearly shows the power of working to your strengths.

 

Are you working to your strengths in what you do in life, or do you find that you have moved away from that which you excel and are struggling?

 

Something to consider.

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

 

Are you more a Team Player than a 14 year old?

Good Morning,

 

Since teams have been the ‘in’ thing, everyone now is measured on how good a team player they are, either officially or unofficially. It’s come a long way from picking players to be on your kickball team. Criterions include: how long they get along with other team members, how they work toward the goals of the team and how little distractions and drama they cause along the way.  Each team player, though is usually still an individual with their own goals, agenda. The best balance the work with their team and their own work.

 

Being on multiple teams, as well as doing more with less, team participation can be reduced to sitting in on weekly update meetings, or if you are lucky, conference calls while sitting at your desk doing other work and sharing a few words for updates.  Personally I see this ‘teamwork’ becoming stale not nearly as productive as it once was, and then I saw an example of teamwork from one of my Boy Scouts (I am a Scoutmaster) which took teamwork to a new level.

 

We had annual elections coming up for the honor society of Scouting. The boys were given instructions on how to vote, and who was eligible. As is common with teenagers, not everyone heard all of the instructions. One fourteen year old, who, was himself eligible for the vote, thought he heard he could only vote for one of the people on the list.

 

Easy decision, right?

 

Wrong.  He agonized over who to vote for. Which of his fellow Scouts best represented the ideals of the honor society.  He pondered this and then made his one vote.

 

While I do not remember who he voted for, I do remember this, he did not consider himself. He knew he was eligible, but he also knew that he was not the best of the best, and focused on what was best for the troop.

 

I am happy to report that he did get enough votes from the other Scouts and he is going shortly to begin his participation in the honor society of Scouting, the Order of the Arrow.  In all the boys who are going, it is he, who I feel is most qualified, because he understood a key point in team work that many others have long since lost.

 

It is not:

 

What do I get out of it?

What’s the least I can do and still be a good team player?

How long do I have to do this for?

 

It is:

 

What is best for the team, and what I can do to help make that happen?

Making a sacrifice for the good the team and its goals.

 

 

A great example from a 14 year old.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

 

Preconceived and Limited

Good Morning,

 

First impressions are strong and often hard to shake. Even when they later turn out to be wrong.  Additionally, we often have expectations of what things should be and formulate preconceived notions.  Both of which do us no good when they are basically illusions, which often happens as people and situations change, but our opinions don’t.

 

This video is a funny example of a preconceived notion at work.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAbKV6lmvDM

 

A challenge we face is that we cannot NOT have first impressions and we cannot NOT formulate opinions about our experiences with others.  

 

What we CAN do is change our opinion as the evidence of the person or situation changes. What we need to do is be open to when they do.

 

When we allow for our impressions to change; a not so nice people turn out to be some of the warmest hearted people, or the cheapest person is truly a generous person, etc., we remove the limiting beliefs that can put walls up between ourselves and what is truly going out in the world around us.

 

I would not have the best friend I have if I did not allow my first impressions to change. My first experience with him was he was cold, mechanical and opinionated. Not a good start to a friendship.

 

Over time, I saw that he is one of the most caring and loving people I have ever met, a wonderful Dad and great husband, not to mention the best Chiropractor. What I saw as cold was his defense against those he did not trust. What I saw as mechanical was the process of learning what he did not know, absorbing it and making it his own (instead of blowing things off, he tries to understand them). What I saw as opinionated, well that is still the same, but because I changed my impression, I have a brother who is a Jonathan to me.

 

When you see people or things which are not what you originally thought, give them a second chance, but keep your guard up as you do. There are some not so loving people out there.  Test the new perceptions.

 

At the same time, don’t close off the wall to everyone just because they were a ‘Marine’ and you like warm and fuzzy people. Stereotypes are NOT always your friend.

 

Let go of your preconceived notions when it makes sense to.

 

Maybe you too could be friends with Chuck Norris (see the video).

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

A free ticket to the amusement park

Good Morning,

 

Advertising and marketing has changed greatly over the years, although one thing remains constant, the offer to provide something; a fun time, better performance, improved efficiency, promotion. Something.

 

With the onslaught of marketing messages barraged at us through all sorts of means (advertise here) it appears organizations need to broadcast louder, brighter and give even bigger discounts to get their messages across.

 

An ad for 10% off everything in a bookstore will make me smile. One for 40% off will make me check my calendar. One for an even bigger discount could have me making plans on the spot. We do the same things in business and other organizations, that is use enticements to get people to do their jobs.

 

Many companies even build in programs behind these enticements. Some companies give monetary awards for 100% attendance, creating the incentive to come to work more. Others give bonuses for performance. Great enticements open the door for great performance.  People want to do more.

 

I know of one company which has something like ‘build your own bonus.’ The more employees performed the higher their bonus. You can imagine the performance of the staff after the first bonus checks were cut.

 

One huge challenge, though, is making it hard if not impossible to achieve what is offered.  Like the free car prize at a golf course for a hole-in-one on a Par 5 hole. Not impossible, but there are likely to be few cars given away.

 

A free ticket to the amusement park sounds great, unless the park is closed, or is unsafe, or too many tickets were given and lines to rides take hours to go through, or is simply a boring park.

 

This is not just for organizations, it is for us, everyday people, too.

 

How often do we haggle, barter or beg for help with housework or other tasks?

 

If we walk the dogs, someone will make dessert. And when we come back from walking the dogs, there is no dessert.  The person is still doing what they were doing before. The enticement becomes worse than worthless, credibility is lost. We feel duped.

 

Some people never forget when something does not get delivered as promised. Others are more forgiving, for a while anyway.

 

There are companies and restaurants who will never see certain customers or patrons again due to enticements failing to provide.

 

The key is to deliver what is promised, and work to remove roadblocks to the incentives or face losing credibility.

 

It is important as parents, as friends, as employers and organizations.

 

Something to think about.

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

Every Cloud...

Good Morning,

 

Folks know the saying ‘Every cloud has its silver lining’.

 

Have you ever looked for the silver lining in the clouds? When I was a kid, I would actually look for something silver-ish in the clouds and sometimes even saw the areas the sun reflected off the clouds making it appear like silver.

 

Clouds, being signs of those negative things we don’t look forward do. Like storm clouds on the horizon, a foreboding tough times ahead.

 

Bad things happen in life, and yes, there are often good things to be found when we look for them.

 

Like looking for the silver lining.

 

The key is two-fold.

 

First is to look.

 

How often do we go about our days assuming the worst, that, nothing good can come from something. Sure there are times when the good will not show up for days, weeks, etc., but it certainly will not show up if it is never looked for.

 

The second is to allow there to be good.

 

When we expect to see the bad, we are often not disappointed. Looking for the negative is easy, it’s looking for the good that can be tough.  We say, ‘nothing good can come from this’. We shut the door, and have often decided prior to even looking.  

 

Often we may have to wait a bit, but we should look back again, and give the good a chance to grow.

 

It is not easy, but better than constant gloom of the clouds.

 

Every cloud has a silver lining, every bad thing in the world has something good that can come from it, if we both look for it with even a small expectation that it can be there.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

A little levity for a stressful work life

Good Morning,

 

It’s been a busy year, apologies for all the silence on the Sanford Berenberg Experience front. While I have not been writing as much, I have been learning, reading and absorbing experience after experience this past year making it one of the most interesting I have had in many years.  Work has become more intense, which is an increasingly common facet of our ‘do more with less’ environment.

 

In finding ways to combat the increased stress, we have tried many programs and activities. Those that take a lot of time to set up and maintain can easily fall to the wayside, so finding those activities which take little time investment, yet provide some benefit are the gems we look for.

 

At my office we announce our different statistics on a daily basis to all the staff so they can see how well they did, or in some cases, didn’t do.  Statistics, though, are by their very nature, boring.  Having an Average Speed of Answer or ASA (the average amount of time it takes for someone to answer a phone call) of 22 Seconds when your goal is under 30 Seconds is a great performance, but 22 and 30 are kind of boring in and of themselves.  Even a 5 second ASA, with its thrilling accomplishment will soon fade into the performance hall of records next to Davy Jones’ locker (not the one from Pirates of the Caribbean movie).

 

So we decide to lighten up the mood a bit with some of our statistics. One in particular is customer satisfaction or CSat. We love our CSat statistic. There are few things in the workplace more rewarding then a customer sharing with you how much they appreciated our efforts. Sadly those compliments are often few and far between.

 

One way we found to increase the number of responses is to regularly promote the surveys after each call.  Yeah, it can be tedious to have each call end with an offer for a survey, but it does work. Yet, that too can grow very boring. So to combat that, I make the daily report full of humor. We choose a sport each month to promote the daily statistics and try to announce the top performers’ accomplishments in a way befitting the sport. We have already used March Madness, the NBA Finals, the Masters, and even the Iditarod (you know the sled race started after Balto, the dog, saved those sick kids in Nome, Alaska).

 

This month, we chose (okay, I chose) a new exciting sport, Extreme Ironing.

 

 

I am not sure what the performance metrics are for Extreme Ironing, like touchdowns, strikes, or baskets, but hey it’s fun.  Who knows what will be the sport for next month. Maybe you all could suggest one.

 

Another fun thing we do to help keep our folks engaged is sharing some fun facts about some of our leaders.

 

Any by fun fact, I am saying ‘tall tale’. Something over the top, delivered in a deadpan manner. Something like ‘Sanford reads so many books that he has been known to complete a few volumes simply by stepping into a local bookstore.’  Or ‘Fred the supervisor is so physically fit, he has been getting calls from the World’s Strongest Man competition for fitness ideas to help improve their athletes.’

 

Sure it is goofy, and sure not everyone is going to get it. There is, though a growing number of people who look forward to seeing those little quips of humor each day.  They enjoy the sports references, or at least the fun pictures.

 

Anyway, a little levity can help us get through the day, especially a stressful day.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

 

Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336