This was a quickie. Like I told some new designer friends: an istockphoto graphic and some typography and we’re done; here it is:

This is our typical graphics package: Bulletin cover & sermon notes (printed in house), generic background graphic for screens, keynote background, and web header. We need to start adding CD/DVD labels & case covers as well.

A little note on the bulletin cover – if we outsourced our printing, I would definitely have had full black coverage on the front and maybe even a galaxy, star system theme along with the graphic. Since we print in-house, I was trying to save on ink.

That’s all folks.

Chapter 2: The Science of Connection

In recent years, neuroscientists have discovered that positive human contact has a physiological effect on people… (pg. 9)

Other research establishes that connection improves mental and physical health… (pg. 10-11)

Layman’s terms: connection makes us feel good. Connection provides a sense of well-being, it minimizes stress, and it makes us more trusting.

We have deeply felt needs to be respected, to be recognized for our talents, to belong, to have autonomy or control over our work, to experience personal growth, and to do work that we feel has meaning and to do it in a way that we feel is ethical.

People want and need to be valued.

When people are shown respect in the workplace and their real talents and contributions are genuinely recognized, they become fired up. They put their hearts into their work.

People who over control us send the message that we are incompetent and that we are not trusted or respected.

Connection is enhanced when we experience personal growth… When we are in the right role and therefore more productive, people notice and affirm us. This also increases our sense of connection to the group. Finally we are motivated when we know our work is meaningful.

We need to remind people constantly how important what we are doing as an organization is. Celebrations, weekly updates of victories, stories, and opportunities to share “wins” should be the DNA of our meetings. We should hear what is happening in other departments, a win for them is a win for all of us.

So what? The findings of neuroscientists, psychiatrists, sociologists, and medical researchers support that a higher degree of connection improves our mental and physical performance. We ignore it at our peril.

This past week our School had the last faculty meeting of the year. Our new Superintendent and I were discussing the agenda of the meeting, and as we did we decided that we would spend the entire meeting just giving teachers kudos and giving them time to encourage one another. We had about ten teachers on the agenda to brag on. What happened was amazing. For the hour and a half that we met there was clapping, laughing, crying, and so much sharing that we had to actually stop people and move on.

I think this just goes to prove that people want and need to be valued – to hear that they are appreciated, making a difference, and growing in their roles.

I think the bottom line is this: Understand that there is a science to connection; an if then equation. If people feel connected, then they put their heart into their work and from that blossoms positivity, trust, innovation, etc.

Next: The Connection Culture (what does this look like?)

Is it a bugs eye? A dirty lens? A banana?

Click here for the answer, and be amazed!

When I first came to Rancho, I had this crazy idea of pulling our entire staff together to encourage them and remind them that we (church/school) are one team, with one vision and mission. I had just heard Dan Cathy speak at the Saddleback Worship Conference, and was blown away with his presentation; and, I remembered that Chick-fil-A had brought lunch to our VBS about a month earlier, so I called them up with two requests:

1. How does one go about getting Dan Cathy to speak at an event?
2. Would they be interested in feeding our staff?

Well, number two was easy for them as they just had to cook up 180 Chick-fil-A Sandwiches. Number one was a little bit harder – Dan Cathy lives in Georgia, so getting him out here was not that easy. However, Andrew (his son), works in Southern California and was available. He came and spoke and really made the day inspirational – talking about “Operational Excellence, 2nd Mile Service, and Emotional Connections”. We were so appreciative of Andrew and our local (Temecula) Chick-fil-A.

Below is a video (that I found on this post) that Chick-fil-A uses to train their employees. That’s all the introduction it needs:

Every Life Has A Story – Chick-fil-A from Dan T. Cathy on Vimeo.

Question: Do your employees see the value in making emotional connections with customers? Do you?

Over the past year my main job has been in customer service. I’m the Admissions & Family Relations Director at Rancho Christian Schools (I also am designing, brainstorming, and doing odds & ends for the church, but that’s another story). A huge part of my job has been and continues to be helping our parents (and sometimes staff) when they “hit walls” at our school. Maybe they can’t get the information they need, maybe they are in a conflict and need a mediator, maybe a staff member hasn’t been as courteous as we’d like them to be, maybe they have an idea and just need to be empowered, maybe we’ve just made a mistake and we need to own up to it.

So I thought I’d begin sharing some of what I’m learning when it comes to “Customer Service”. For those more churchie people, this would be framed around acting Christ-like (humbling yourself, walking the extra mile, washing feet, the one-anothers, etc). These are just some cool quotes that I found and thought I’d share, to inspire myself and anyone who’s reading:

From “Spreading His Gospel of Warm and Fuzzy“:

• “You do not have to be the very best in your business to be people’s favorite,” Ms. Salgado explained. “It’s all about how you make people feel.”
• Mr. Meyer, who serves up labels and analogies as readily as foie gras, calls his approach the Virtuous Cycle of Enlightened Hospitality: Employees focus first on pleasing one another — creating a warm-and-fuzzy energy that fuels the staff as it tends to patrons, the community, suppliers and, ultimately, a company’s backers. Meyer restaurants offer employees a variety of rewards, from bonuses to birthday cakes; employees, in turn, have discretion to give customers free extras.
• Mr. Meyer always looks to hire what he calls “51 percenters” — people whose job skills are 51 percent emotional and 49 percent technical. Managers can teach technical skills, the theory goes, but cannot recalibrate someone’s emotional makeup.
• “Skunking,” for instance, refers to “spraying contagious, negative energy into the workplace.” But because skunks spray when they are frightened, as Ms. Salgado explained, co-workers are encouraged to make a “charitable assumption” — Meyer-speak for the benefit of the doubt — and approach the fragrant employee with respect, trust and perhaps an offer of help and support.
• The “jazz level” refers to how excited one is to be at work, while A.B.C.D. means “always be connecting dots” — collecting clues about what a customer wants. “In hospitality,” Mr. Meyer has written, “one size fits one!”
• “It has now become almost impossible to distinguish your business based on innovation or execution for more than about two seconds,” he said. “In this next economy, if you want to distinguish yourself as being the best and being the favorite business within your category, the only thing left is the hospitality experience.”
• “Ten or 15 years ago, we were the only place to get a Mac fixed, and now there are lots of choices,” Mr. Lerner said. “It’s not enough to do a perfect repair if the customer feels you were grumpy or you kept them waiting too long.”
• Lakythia Ferby, who directs the center, said she created a staff-appreciation program in which co-workers take note of each others’ high performance and nominate them — using a form headed, “Kudos, you were caught doing good!” — for a reward of a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

From “Compete for Customers, not Against Them“ (a novel concept!):

• Have you ever sensed an adversarial, “us vs. them” mentality from employees of service organizations?
• Always compete for customers, not against them. You’ve probably heard the saying: “You never win an argument with a customer.” It’s true. Even if you have signage to point to or a policy to support you, if you’ve offended a customer then you lose—maybe a little or maybe a lot.
• The next time that you draw a line in the sand between you and your customers, consider inviting them to cross the line. That way, you can be on the same side.
• PS – Check out the authors blog and follow him on Twitter.

There’s some powerful concepts in those articles. We’re working through some of these very issues so the questions on my mind are:

• In what ways do we find ourselves competing AGAINST customers? Let’s stop doing those things.
• In what ways can we compete FOR customers? Let’s start doing those things.
• How can we create that “warm and fuzzy” environment in our staff; what are some practical things that other organizations do to accomplish this?
• What are the best ways to confront staff (and help them realize) who struggle with being “grumpy” or “skunking” people?

When I got there with Macy, she immediately headed out to the dance floor, cast and all. I texted Jen, that she’s just like her mom – dancing with all her friends (just like Jen always does). I got a text back from Jen saying that “Miles is just like you, he loves the previews”. I laughed out loud – I DO love the previews, almost as much as the movie!

It’s so important for us to spend times like tonight with our kids, letting them know how much we love them, how important they are to us. Kudos to RCS for hosting this dance – I’ll be looking forward to it for years to come with Macy. And I’m blessed to have a wife that loves being a mom – she’s such a good mom!

PS – Jen didn’t like Shrek and doesn’t recommend it.

I’m a sucker or space pictures. I just think it’s amazing, incredible that thousands and thousands of miles away this little spacecraft is out there, all by itself, sending us these pictures.

Check out this nice collection of Saturn & moons from the Cassino Equinox Mission.

Follow JPL on Twitter.

Follow Cassini on Twitter.

Follow some astronauts on Twitter tweeting pics from the ISS, here and here.

Read up on the Cassini Equinox Mision here.

Let’s see if this works. If you’re watching LOST tonight on the West Coast, let’s chat it up!

Last weekend I took Miles hiking for the second time with Don and Andrew up in Idyllwild. It was, as Don put it, the “perfect day” for a hike. Don is a pastor at Rancho Community, a mentor, and collaborator. I’ve learned a ton from him over the past year and relish the time that we can spend together. We’ve talked a lot about being fathers, raising sons, and being purposeful in that job. So this trip was more about spending time with them, loving them, watching them have fun, challenging them to make it all the way up and down – the adventure. It’s something hopefully they will remember, more importantly they will remember that they did this with their dads.

We’re not trying to program parenting or fatherhood – we’ve just decided to try and live life more together, to naturally allow our boys to experience these times together, with the hope that we can set them on a course for becoming men, and the hope that we can encourage each other to be great dads.

I’m sure there’s more articulate ways to say all that, but that’s all I got.

As we headed up, one of the “rules” we gave the boys was “don’t get wet”. This winter was crazy for southern California and there’s still snow at 7-8,000 feet. So we knew there would be water. Of course, at the first creek crossing, Miles slipped and fell in. He was fine – a good lesson for us all, that we are all capable of falling, but the true measure of a man is that he get’s up, dry’s himself off and forges ahead, which is exactly what Miles did.

When we got to the top, Don broke out his cooking gear, made the boys some hot chocolate, and made us some espresso. We spent what seemed like a couple hours talking about life & ministry as the boys ran all over Saddle Junction. It was amazing how they just ran all over, spying, exploring, throwing snowballs – they just got to be boys.

We’re looking forward to our next trip, maybe an over-nighter, who knows. What matters is that there’s still adventure and we’ll have it with our boys.