Month: December 2019

leadership dot #2755: have a ball

December 31, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Tonight, at precisely 11:59pm Eastern Time, the famous New Year’s Eve ball will drop from One Times Square with millions watching. It will be the 91^st time for the ceremony and serves as a revered bridge between the old and new year.

The ball contains 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles and 32,256 LED lights to create its magic. The crystals come in varying shapes, including this year’s addition of a pineapple shape to represent the Gift of Goodwill. Other crystals represent the Gift of Harmony, Gift of Serenity, Gift of Kindness, Gift of Fortitude and Gift of Imagination. You can learn more in a fascinating fact sheet here.

Just as the ball remains on display all year, goodwill, harmony, serenity, kindness, fortitude and imagination should represent more than crystals on the New Year’s Eve ball. Make them your mantra to live by in the coming decade.

leadership dot #2754: just looking

December 30, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

It’s a delicate balance for salespersons to know whether you wish to have their help or be left alone to do your shopping. Cosmetics company Sephora has devised a simple yet effective way for customers to communicate their preferences. By offering two different colored baskets, it eliminates the guesswork and makes for a happier environment for both the shopper and salesperson.

Can you adopt this model for a decision point in your organization? Use one color form for those who want assistance and another for those who are confident in their ability to complete it on their own. Create two lines for check-in to distinguish newcomers from those who have already heard the instructions. Give people stickers as they enter the dealership to indicate that they are “just looking.”

Providing a simple solution to this vexing question can make the experience much more pleasant for all who are involved.

leadership dot #2753: onslaught

December 29, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

As I walked into the grocery store, I was bombarded with an overload of signs. Hot deals, price declines, low prices, and sales! It reminded me of the quote from Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

In a store that is not known for its bargain pricing, the onslaught of signs was neither believable nor appealing, rather it was akin a paragraph in which the author utilizes an exclamation point for every sentence.

Sale! and Wow! should both be used with scarcity, not abundance.

leadership dot #2752: not applicable

December 28, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A restaurant promoted their new app with table-top signs, banners, and messages on their packaging. I frequent the establishment and went to sign up…only I was unable to do so. Come to find out, it was three days before the new app was available.

The next time I was there, I tried to sign up again but still could not, so I asked for help. This resulted in three managers taking my phone for the entire length of my meal and only then learning that the cards they had been handing out with the instructions were for the old app and did not work for this iteration. (I did get a free meal for the frustration!)

Don’t let your organization fall victim to such unnecessary sloppiness. Dial the phone numbers before you publish them. Test the links for any websites you promote. And if you go all out to promote a new app, please wait until it’s actually available and then download it yourself first. Not all your customers will have the persistence to try it over and over again.

leadership dot #2751: right-sized

December 27, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Have you noticed the change in packaging that Amazon and other retailers have adopted? Instead of boxes coming stuffed full of Styrofoam peanuts or bags of air, many boxes now are delivered with just the product inside or smaller packaging is used.

I noticed this when I had two packages on opposite ends of the spectrum. One contained three items, all squished around a piece of cardboard to cover them. I literally could put my hand inside the package without opening it. Great for the environment, but bad for the third item in the wrap that was squished upon arrival. Another box contained one bottle of cologne – and could have contained about 20 more of them in the same container. I am amazed that it arrived in one piece after loosely shifting around the box with no protection.

As more and more business is conducted through online shopping, I applaud retailers for trying to minimize the environmental impact of the delivery of all these goods. And I suggest that they have not yet found the right answer to what is too much packaging and what is too little.

May your organization adopt similar practices of environmental consciousness and experimentation – continually trying new things that help you be better, but not yet where you need to be.

leadership dot #2750: ratings

December 26, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I understand the intent of the Motion Picture Rating System, but sometimes I can’t figure out how they come up with the ratings they do. In addition to labeling a film G, PG, etc., the rating system now indicates a rationale for why the rating was given. My favorite: Ford v Ferrari – the movie about race cars, received a PG-13 in part because of “fast driving!!”

The rating system is done by a board of parents – not movie executives – who are employed by the Classification and Rating Administration to reflect “what they believe would be the majority view of their fellow parents in rating a film.” The descriptors are designed to help parents know what type of content gave the film a non-G rating, including language, smoking, sex, “extended sequences of intense fantasy”, violence, “frightening images”, and, apparently, fast driving.

With any type of rating system, the results are inherently subjective. Almost every movie has something that someone too young could find scary or objectionable. Even Frozen received a PG for “mild action and rude humor” and that was far less intense than some of the classics like Bambi.

The bottom line is to take context into account with any rating system. It’s hard to develop hard and fast rules that apply across a wide spectrum of content and reflect different values. What movie is appropriate for your kids, what restaurant is “the best”, what college ranks highest on your list – all are subjective decisions. Utilize ratings to inform you, but not to decide for you. Fast driving in a race car movie is a very good thing.

leadership dot #2749: priceless

December 25, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A real estate firm in Baltimore surprised its employees by handing out a total of $10 million in bonuses as a tribute to the holiday and celebration for achieving a company-wide goal it set in 2005. The 198 employees received checks ranging from $100 to $270,000 based on longevity with the firm, with an average gift of $50,000! I’m sure it made for quite a memorable holiday.

Even if your year-end bonus was slightly smaller this year, I hope that you have a holiday filled with the same amount of joy that these employees must have felt. As the Grinch reminds us, Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Today, celebrate all the good in your world that doesn’t have a price tag.

Happy Christmas!

Thanks, Emily!

leadership dot #2748: reindeer

December 24, 2019December 23, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The local credit union put a twist on the usual “visit from Santa” by hosting a live reindeer to celebrate Christmas. His handler, Mrs. Claus, wouldn’t let me pet the reindeer but she did share some Reindeer Facts that could impress the guests at your holiday gathering:

Reindeer hair is hollow, and the warm air is trapped inside each hair. Their coat is soft, dense, warm and waterproof.
Reindeer differ from other deer in that both males and females have antlers.
Reindeer antlers are a soft, rubbery, mass of blood and marrow covered with soft furred skin called velvet. Toward the end of August, the blood stops flowing and the bone begins to harden.
Reindeer have broad hooves, designed for walking in snow and ice.
Reindeer can pull up to twice their own weight, making them an ideal animal for pulling a sleigh.

The entire time of the visit, Mrs. Claus remained in character and spoke as if the reindeer next to her would be flying Santa around tonight. Who knows!!

Two takeaways from my encounter with this famous animal: 1) Santa is seemingly everywhere so kudos to the credit union for doing something different, and 2) If you do an event, bonus points for doing it right. Not only did they have the reindeer, but Mrs. Claus had a beautiful costume, cards with reindeer facts, cookies and candy canes, etc. It was a celebration.

I hope you’ve been on the Nice List and the reindeer finds you tonight!

Source: www.2josFarm.com

leadership dot #2747: autograph

December 23, 2019December 22, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I received an early present that was an autographed CD – and I love it. Of course, the music is good but having that Sharpie-scroll from the artist makes it extra special. I treasure my autographed books, too, and this gift caused me to lament the loss of autographs and cover art that has been supplanted by Kindles and streaming and all forms of digitization.

I wonder if selfies have become the new autograph. Now, instead of a signature, people take pictures with the “famous person” as I have done with presidential candidates coming through town. It’s nice, but not the same.

As you move to new technologies and update your operations, think about how you can preserve some of the aspects that made things special. Autographs may be old school but they’re still endearing to some.

leadership dot #2746: occasionally

December 22, 2019December 21, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

At a basketball game, I was fortunate enough to sit next to Sophie, a gorgeous black lab. Sophie is a service-dog-in-training and was at the game to help her become socialized and accustomed to loud noises.

What intrigued me about Sophie is that the family who brought her is fostering her – just for this weekend. It’s part of the socialization process to have the dogs spend time with different people in new environments. This family has this weekend with this dog, then another weekend with another dog, etc.

So often we think of commitments as all or nothing but there really are many more options in between. Maybe you aren’t in a position to own a dog or foster it for extended periods, but could you socialize one for a few weekends? The same is true in most other settings: you can volunteer for one night at the soup kitchen without having to sign up for every week; you could make calls one time for your candidate without volunteering to canvass nightly, or you can help with one event without committing to the committee.

The next time you do nothing because you can’t do everything, think of Sophie and say yes to one part.