Team Building
A little over a year ago, I did a presentation on “Effectively Dealing with Change” for a group of teachers from a school in Grass Valley. Within the opening minutes, as I was introducing the topic, a person asked the question: “Do you know something we don’t?” I suppose she really wanted to know if I was prepping them for some impending change.
Truthfully, I was there because of a common phenomenon that happens in schools and businesses around the globe: When people are presented with change, they automatically resist. New programs, initiatives, ideas, processes, and ways of thinking are often met with the answer, “No!.”
Within the 3 weeks after that presentation, schools closed due to COVID-19, their principal announced her retirement, and the superintendent took a job elsewhere.
Change stops for no one! But that doesn’t mean we can’t move forward successfully.
Some people (including many in my audience that day) view change as life altering doom. They liken change to a dream in which you are crossing a bridge high above a river valley and the bridge disappears, leaving you to fall into the valley below.
As you may well know, I see change a bit differently. I liken it to a river, alternating between straits and twists, calm and turbulent, peaceful and terrifying. But, no matter the condition of the river, it always moves toward its destination. It provides both continuity and change. Change doesn’t put the ground out from beneath us, unless we let it.
The coming year will bring change, both here at VLC and in our personal lives. How it affects us is largely based on how we view it. Will we choose to paddle through the rapids, or fall into a river canyon? I hope you will join me in paddling, sometimes slowly, and sometimes with great intensity, but paddling nonetheless.
Through change we can continually move forward.
What types of changes have challenged you the most?
Were they challenging because of the severity of the change or because of how you viewed the change?
Looking back from where you are now, were those changes positive?
Have a great week!
Chuck Ross
John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and DISC consultant
chuckross.net
Author: Change? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
530-277-6161
“They themselves are makers of themselves.” James Allen
Team Building
When people talk about life being like a roller coaster, they often mean that there are good times and bad times. But, like life, roller coasters also speed up and slow down.
And right now, we at VLC are moving fast…very fast. We have been fielding calls, creating work orders, completing work orders, and working extended hours. Helping our customers is a great motivator, but sometimes we get in our own way.
The old saying goes, “Haste makes waste.” At this point in time, I think this saying is appropriate to consider.
Last week, we dealt with a situation where we were so intent on getting credentials to a customer, that we missed a form that was required by the DMV. We were like teen drivers who are so excited to get somewhere that they forget to fill up the tank with gas. There we were, stuck on the side of the road.
Also last week, we began training two new hires. At one point, I was showing one of our hires (Kristin) a “shortcut” on the Mac, since she had only ever used a PC. I fumbled through the “shortcut” several times before actually making it work. By the time I got done, it wasn’t a shortcut at all! It took 3 times as long! Kristin just looked at me and said, “You just need to slow your roll.”
I have heard this phrase many times, but it is really making an impression on me at this point in time. We tend to create more work for ourselves, when we try to do things fast.
I believe slowing things down just a little will make us more efficient, not less. Taking the time to double check documents and signatures is an example. Taking the time to compose an email that is polite and easy to understand is another. Ultimately, we want to make sure we are honoring our customers and each other. Yes, this may take an extra few minutes, but it will make a huge positive difference for all involved.
Focus on doing it right, not fast. This roller coaster is in our control. Let’s slow it down. Let’s slow our roll.
What situations make you react quickly? Is this when you make mistakes?
What stops you from being able to slow things down and take a deep breath?
Moving forward, what can you say to yourself to remind you to slow your roll?
Have a great week team!
Chuck Ross
John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and DISC consultant
chuckross.net
Author: Change? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
530-277-6161
“They themselves are makers of themselves.” James Allen
Team Building
This past weekend was a busy one at the Ross household. Among several other projects, managing wood was on the schedule as usual. While filling up my trailer with split wood, I had an epiphany.
In my quest to help heat the house with wood, I had created an incredible amount of excess work for myself. They say that wood warms you twice: once when you cut it, and a second time when you burn it. I wish that were the case for me.
Last May, we cut down several pines. I donated much of the wood to the senior wood program, which meant loading huge pine rounds into my trailer and making no less than 10 trips to Grass Valley to drop it off. The rounds I kept got moved to the lower property for splitting. It made sense at the time, since I had unhindered access with my truck and trailer. The upper property has a spot that holds about 2 cords of wood, and I have a wood holder outside the front door that holds enough for about 2 weeks.
So I split the wood and stacked it on the lower property. When the upper stacks run out, I have to load up my trailer and take it to the upper property. When the wood runs low in my small rack, I have to refill it from the upper stacks. And, of course, I have to bring it in to the fireplace when I want to burn it.
To make it even more interesting, we have been in the middle of a construction project that relocated the woodpile several times and blocked my access, meaning that I had to fill my trailer with small wheel-barrow loads. I estimate that our wood has warmed me 7 or 8 times by the time I finally burn it.
The seed? Consider thinking through a process completely so that your effort isn’t wasted. Why do 7 or 8 steps when it could be 2?
The beginning for me is splitting, the end is burning. How many steps I create in between is up to me. If I had considered where the wood was, what our construction project would dictate, and where the wood needed to be in order to burn it, I could have saved myself a lot of time and a lot of excess work.
What do we do that needs to be audited for efficiency?
How many steps do we have that are in place for the anomalies? How would our process be affected if we removed those steps?
What individual habits do you have that take away from your efficiency?
Have a great week!
Chuck Ross
John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and DISC consultant
chuckross.net
Author: Change? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
530-277-6161
“They themselves are makers of themselves.” James Allen
Employee Spotlight
Patrice is this month’s VLC Rockstar! Patrice has been with VLC for over 12 years and has a consistent 0% error rate on IRP transactions, even in high volume months.
Here’s What Customers Say About Patrice
“Patrice is a wealth of knowledge here at VLC.
I have worked with her for 5.5 years and she is always willing to help answer difficult questions and consistently directs team members in the right direction to tackle challenging tasks”
-Michelle
Vehicle Licensing Consultants
A Virtual Projects, LLC Company
Fleet & Driver Compliance…Fleet Tracking Software
530-384-3884
Team Building, VLC
Many people function in terms of things they need to start doing.
- I need to start exercising.
- I need to start listening more closely.
- I need to start saving money.
For each action above, there is an underlying goal. Improving health, relationships, and financial security are noble goals indeed! But what is the reason for the desire to embrace these “starts?” Perhaps the reason is simple, one’s health, relationships, and financial well-being may all be suffering.
So I must ask the question: How did you get there?
In Chapter 7 of Good to Great, Jime Collins asks the question: Do you have a stop doing list? At first it seemed like a trivial question. But the more I considered it, the more it gained meaning.
We so often look to “starts” to improve, but we often overlook the actions that landed us in our current state. If your health or your relationships or your financial state is suffering, what actions got you there? Perhaps creating a stop doing list should be your first step.
And yes, this goes for your organization also. Great organizations not only follow through on important initiatives and processes, they also identify unimportant ones and simply stop.
Usually, I write a different seed for leaders and VLC, but I think this is crucial to our success. We are in the midst of evaluating many of our processes here at VLC. We have added zoom meetings to our consulting calls. We have added and will continue to add personnel. We are adding responsibilities to each consultant.
But we also must keep a close eye on things we can cut loose.
In becoming a better team member, what is one thing you should stop doing immediately?
In our organization, which weaknesses can be addressed by not doing something?
Which extraneous actions by either you or VLC do not move us toward being the best in our field?
Be well,
Chuck Ross
John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and DISC consultant
chuckross.net
Author: Change? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?
530-277-6161
“They themselves are makers of themselves.” James Allen
