Jun 03 2017

FWD THIS to your elected representatives!

Dear elected representatives:

 

it’s NOT  “All or Nothing!”

 

 

Progress is measured in increments.

Increments require step-at-a-time management.

As a House or Senate representative, you are not making progress on The People’s Agenda because you are not serving the wants and needs of the people you were elected to represent. And even if you think you are, you’re not because you’re not genuinely working on behalf of those wants and needs. If you were, they would already have been satisfied.

But it’s not too late! Consider the following:

*** Studies of VOTE and NON-VOTE actions and non-actions suggest to many voters that the odds are you       

are preoccupied with your own personal agenda, your own individual needs and desires, and that you are blocking progress with a make-believe “All or Nothing” attitude.

 

*** Are you kidding yourself into thinking that delays and rejections of step-at-a-time changes will get you re-elected?

 

*** Are you pretending that every step toward progress requires you to necessarily avoid commitment to get started without unanimous finality?

 

*** Are you rejecting the wisdom of the Bible, and Einstein, and Thoreau, and other true genius’s who have reminded us that limited knowledge is all we ever have?

 

*** Are you relying on failed long-ago replaced 1970’s management strategies founded on consensus-seeking  — on safety in numbers– and holding out for something that everyone can at least agree with somewhat?

 

That kind of posturing, after all, offers protection of one’s hind quarters,

and serves as a platform for rallying the support that you as a politician are likely convinced will get you re-elected.

BUT IS THIS why you were elected  . . . to build yourself into a position you think will best facilitate getting RE-elected?

Seriously?

Truth is that you are far more likely to be re-elected by throwing your wholehearted self into solving the problems    . . . by supporting what the public wants instead of devoting yourself to seeking the spotlight for representing the positions you think will most likely return you to your cushy, high-paying, job.

Take a page from successful entrepreneurs.

Ever-armed with a burning desire to make their ideas work, entrepreneurs are NOT— as commonly (and incorrectly) believed– betting the farm!

Real entrepreneurs take only REASONABLE risks. They are agents of change, not of hot-dogging heroics.

Yet time-after-time, most of those in your shoes take only POLITICALLY-CALCULATED risks.

Politically-calculated risk-taking accomplishes nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Zero. Make the most of what you have . . . NOT of what’s not here.

 

Stop being afraid to step up

with just a piece of the puzzle

 . . . instead of standing around and holding out, waiting for others to find the missing pieces. Speak up with what you have because only pieces can create the whole solution. And if everyone else with just one piece is holding back, the puzzle will never be solved.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare is NOT an all-or nothing challenge . . . aren’t there many steps involved? So isn’t it a step-at-a-time process? Can’t you begin by taking a step in the right direction and returning to make it better as another worthy step comes to the surface?

That’s called: GET STARTED and PASS  S-O-M-E-THING that moves us forward, instead of stubbornly trying to grab hold of a tree (or a hand) as you continue to sink in quicksand!

Entrepreneurs don’t succeed by bursting onto the scene and being suddenly thrust into “Shark Tank” spot-lights. They do act quickly (but not recklessly) and they succeed by taking measured steps and building each on the one before it. They don’t worry about what competing businesses are doing; they just keep moving forward step at a time.

And entrepreneurs don’t hope, wish, analyze, or try. They act. They act now, today, this minute. They get the job of taking a step forward done, instead of just talking about it.

Success is FAR more likely achieved with solid stairways than with shaky stockpiling of all the issues until unanimous agreement can be reached on every detail . . . which is how quicksand originates.

 

 

Get started!

 

You can make a difference, piece at a time.

A favorite pastor of mine recently noted that “you can’t build a house in a hurricane!” Waiting for the perfect solution that everyone can agree to is allowing the storm to build and get worse.

First-aid ointment and a Band-Aid is a quick-fix when a cut is bleeding, but they do usually work as a temporary solution.

It’s really okay to take on healthcare and the tax package and the tighter immigration rules with step-at-a-time quick fixes instead of standing around with your thumb you know where until a comprehensive overhaul of each item can be perfected (which may never happen… and then, by the way, where do your reelection prospects stand?).

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hal@businessworks.US

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

“The price of freedom is

eternal vigilance!”

[Thomas Jefferson]

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May 05 2010

MANAGING TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES

“Is what I’m doing right

                      

this minute, leading me 

                                                

 to where I want to go?”

 

I kept this sign above my desk for many years. It helped keep me focused. It prompted staff and visitors to think twice about how we were using time. It’s hard to justify much water cooler chit-chat while appointments, online research and paperwork pace around your workspace awaiting your return.

Running a business is a balancing act to begin with. The mercilessly ticking clock demands even more. Business owners and managers are only as effective as their ability to manage and productively use time.

Mail carriers sort, doctors triage, retailers catalog, military personnel classify, librarians alphabetize, and the rest of us stumble through –organizing, arranging and categorizing– as a preamble to prioritizing.

The process of taking what you have and organizing it, combining appropriate interests along the way, then ultimately determining the rank order of importance is a lifeline to action! It sets leaders up to attack the first most important task first, and the second most important task second, and so forth. All good, logical, rational thinking here.

Unfortunately, unless you’re an accountant, life is not logical and rational. Stuff inevitably happens that pushes all the logic out the tenth floor window. If you’re not prepared for such uproars, you’ll get dragged out with it. And ten floors is not enough time to open your chute, but enough free-fall to play smash-face.

If your past solution approach has traditionally been to start listening to your LED watch and –as if it was a doomed rabbit– giving it violent hound dog shakes with a startled look on your face, you may want to consider some alternative that involves a booster shot of proactive planning.

Motivational guru Brian Tracy tells us that for “every minute spent in planning saves ten minutes in execution.”

Planning is only a waste of time if you choose for it to be and fail to follow the path you cut out, or fail to adjust it to best fit the circumstances.

One major key to planning and time management success is to always have a contingency arrangement thought out. Why? Because you can almost bet there will be interruptions, and often unexpected emergencies. Just as fire drills have often been credited with saving lives, contingency plans often save businesses.

  In other words, stay tuned in to what’s happening in real time, but always be prepared to be sidetracked. Thoreau once talked about being “forever on the alert.” Not bad advice all these many years later.

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931.854.0474    Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Mar 03 2009

CREATING A POSITIVE CLIMATE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

No, you don’t need to move

                                                                                 

  your business    

                                                   

to the Caribbean!

                                                                                      
(aaaah, but it might be nice to try for awhile, eh?)
                                                                                                   

Here’s a 6-Point Approach to creating a more positive climate for your business that comes partly from The Management Analysis Center and partly from my firsthand experience. it works:

1.  BUILD KNOWLEDGE. Know the capabilities of your staff as well as their weaknesses. With the understanding that Heraclitus the Greek philosopher said over 2500 years ago that “the only thing that’s permanent is change,” and that Thoreau once said “all we ever have is limited knowledge,” use what you know to determine (or update) the fundamental goals of your business.

GOAL CRITERIA REMINDER: A goal must have all four of the following criteria, or it is merely a “wishlist,” and not a goal. It must be 1) Realistic, 2) Specific, 3) Flexible, and 4) Have a deadline or due date.

2.  DEVELOP A SHARED VISION OF YOUR BUSINESS GOALS. Let employees participate in the process. Tell them the problems. Listen to their ideas. Take notes. Encourage others to take notes.

3.  DETERMINE WHAT SPECIFIC CHANGES SHOULD BE MADE. Should changes be made in job descriptions or physical layout to improve working conditions?

4.  SET THE EXAMPLE. As an owner/operator or manager, you are a role model whether you like it or not. People pay attention to everything you say and do. You will not be fostering teamwork if you rule by threats and intimidation. Praise in public; criticize in private. Act, talk, and think consistent with the goals you establish.

5.  REASSESS YOUR OWN FUNCTION to make it consistent with the changes you are making. If, for example, you want to establish better communications, you may need to establish a more open door policy, listen more, and listen more attentively! To get more good work from people, seek out and reward the things people do right, and try to overlook those they do wrong. (Remember that small, frequent, one-time-expense rewards motivate best and cost less than permanent ongoing pay raises with accompanying tax and benefit increases)

6.  DEVELOP NEW METHODS AND SYSTEMS for enhancing a more positive climate, such as instituting weekly status review meetings (with set time periods, a clear agenda circulated ahead of time and follow-up report focused only on decisions made and who will do what by when) to evaluate progress, or a reward system for improved performance.

In an optimum positive climate, people know exactly what it is that is expected of them and where they fit in. Everyone shares the same goals. They know how they can be effective and what kinds of behavior will be rewarded.    halalpiar

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