Business Growth Newsletter #189: Unique peoples, Layoffs, Sink talk
GREG’S RIGHT FIT NEWSLETTER #189
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.
In this issue:
– Techniques for FIT
– Being Human
– Random Stuff
Techniques for FIT
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- One thought to ponder: what are you really being paid for? Are the talking heads on TV paid to be accurate? No, they’re paid to be entertaining. Know what your value is.
- Nature versus nurture has been settled say science people. It’s both. It’s neither. Humans are complicated. So why pigeonhole your people with personality tests?
- Data, speaking of managing your people, is best used to inform, not drive decisions. The exception would be a closed system where data isn’t infinite, like poker, but that’s not your people. Strive to be data informed when managing them.
- Each time tension builds, it’s natural to relieve it. When it comes to corrective action though, let the tension build a bit longer before letting it go. In discomfort some life lessons are learned. Watching people sink teaches them to swim. Don’t let them drown, but it’ll be ok if their eyes bulge a bit.
Being Human – Productivity loss accelerators
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“Things change.”
It’s hard to squeeze your way to growth. I don’t know what details go into U.S. Steel’s decision to cut hundreds of jobs, but whenever I hear about layoffs I think of the graphic above.
Anytime an employee goes, you lose more than just their individual production. You lose their cubicle mate to the left thinking “Why wasn’t it me?” You lose the cubicle mate to the right who keeps their head down and takes no chances. Plus you lose the talented teammate who thinks, “I wonder what’s out there for me?” and starts reaching out. Rough stuff.
Of course, just knowing this lets you take preventative action and make contingent plans. What has happened, will happen.
Be ready.
Random Stuff
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“Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio, is like being nowhere at all …” – John Denver
Traveling cross country means I got to sample some of our nation’s finest public restrooms along the I-80 corridor. Since my daughter and I were on a tight schedule, we’re trying to cram as many hours into the first day as possible. I’m starting to fade a bit as we approach Toledo, OH so we pull into the nearest Pilot or Sapp Brothers or something like that to refuel, grab a drink, and stretch the legs. We’re not the only ones with this idea because even at this late hour, the place is bumping.
After using the facilities, I walk over to a long row of sinks to wash up before heading back to the van. It’s crowded but a couple of the sinks at the end are open. I wave my hand back and forth under the motion sensor to the get the water going while simultaneously pumping the soap dispenser located just to the right of the faucet. Nothing comes out. I lean over to the second one and the same thing happens, three pumps, nothing. I can see soap in the recently vacated third sink, but when I get there nothing happens.
I mutter a curse and look up in the mirror, making eye contact with a man drying his mitts. He motions his head a little to the side and that’s when I notice the giant wall mounted soap dispensers at eye level. One of them inches from my head. I smile at him, shrug my shoulders and get busy cleaning.
My daughter and I emerge from the restrooms at the same time, she trying to stifle a hug yawn.
“I’m calling it. Let’s stop for the night,” I say.
That’s how we ended up staying a week last Saturday night in Toledo.
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