The Boss Benchmark

Jolt Challenge: The Self Intelligence Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:09:00 +0000

I have just read the most amazing book - and I have read A LOT of books over the last ten years. It is called Jolt Challenge - the self intelligence experience. As it turned out I knew one of the authors more than ten years ago so its a small world! Jolt is like every self growth/development/excellence book you've ever read cooked up in ONE book. The ideas in it are ESSENTIAL to anyone wanting an amazing life. They are the kinds of ideas you need to keep in the front of your mind constantly. I intend on adding it to my 'read constantly' pile - a pile which I just keep re-reading slowly to keep me on track. It is a NZ written book and gaining HUGE recognition internationally. Check out the endorsements here (brace yourself) http://www.joltchallenge.com/endorsements/ they've got Stephen Covey and Edward De Bono!!!! The full Jolt Challenge is actually a nine week program, I just read the book so don't know about the course, but imagine its even more incredible! Sorry for sounding so over the top excited about this book BUT it is one of those classics that you will keep forever. It will get you thinking about the right things, in the right way to achieve what ever it is you want in your life. It has soooo many key ideas condensed into this one book. Please please please get your hands on a copy - even if you just get it from the library I guarantee you will be out buying a copy before you are even a quarter through!

Learn more and download a sample of the book here http://www.joltchallenge.com/book/

Fresh air in your workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:09:00 +0000

We have just had our daughter baptised (shes now nearly 4mths old). The priest that did the baptism was the same one who married us. We adore this priest. He is young (mid forties) and understands todays world. He is a breath of fresh air to the Catholic church whose reputation is sometimes not that flash. He speaks in english, explains things well and is an all round awesome, normal bloke. I'm not implying other priests aren't normal - just not the way this one is! He is so easy to relate to and so funny. The sermon he gave at the baptism clearly illustrates this..... He and some other priests had met with a bunch of nuns for the first time and they were all staying at the same place (on retreat or something I think). It was his job to go off to the video shop to get some entertainment for the evening. He picked a movie by a famous Catholic novelist. He felt quite pleased with his (seeminly wise and thoughtful) choice. When it was time to put the DVD on he realised perhaps it wasnt the best choice.....given that the first forty minutes of the DVD was shot IN THE BEDROOM!!!! He said the akwardness in the room got even MORE akward! He went on to explain how the movie redeemed itself (it related to baptism). We were all laughing so hard - he is so human, and speaks so naturally which is a gift not all priests have. Our wonderful priest is going to overhaul the church (I'm sure of it!) as he is a breath of (overdue) fresh air. I'm sure he is the reason many people have grown in their faith after shying away due to the non-human-ness other priests can show. Anyway.... the reason I tell you all this is to get you thinking where and how your workplace needs fresh air. Are you chewing on an old message all the time? Do you need new blood that is positive, enthusiastic and LIFE CHANGING (or in this case business/workplace changing?).

Bring spring fever to your workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:06:00 +0000

I read a thing in the paper about how spring can make people go a bit loopy. People start to exercise more, decide to quit smoking or similar. Definitely works on me! I llllove this change of seasons, in spring I start to bounce off the walls – longer days, flowers that smell awesome and the promise of summer to come. How can this spring fever be transferred into workplaces? Well, as a boss you could spring clean yourself. Change behaviours/policys that aren’t working or are negative and freshen up the workplace in any way you can. Change the day core, bring in some flowers, do something to excite the team. Life has seasons and so too should workplaces if you want to keep the energy of the team up. Time to lose the ‘recession’ mindset and ‘sort your sh*t out’ for want of a more polite term! If there is stuff lying around everywhere in your workplace (tut tut) clear that out too (yes a spring clean – does wonders for the soul). ‘Stuff’ you don’t need drains the energy of the place and the people. Be ruthless and sell/throw/donate what you don’t need.

How are you bringing spring to yourself and to your workplace?

How ONE staff member can save your bacon

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:00 +0000

I had a courier parcel of mine end up at my neighbours place. They kindly brought it over. The next month when this item arrived again it was taken to my other neighbours place. They kindly brought it over. Our street number is very clearly stated - I don't see how the courier driver could get it wrong TWICE! It's not rocket science! The item is also worth about $300 so is 'signature required'. Both times it was taken to the wrong addresses no signature was sought. It was left on its lonesome at the door. I emailed the courier company asking what the rules are about 'sig required' packages and if it goes astray would they replace the item. I also told them it had been delivered to two different wrong places WITHOUT a signature. I waited two weeks and nothing. I emailed again, still nothing. I called - they said they'd find the email and respond. Finally I got an email from a lady at the company. She said she'd look into it (didn't answer my questions yet). I waited and nothing. I emailed her 3x asking her to attend to the email. I then emailed the customer feedback email address to complain about this staff members lack of follow up. I waited a week and still nothing. I found another contact in my citys office - forwarded her the whole chain of emails which showed how many times I'd made contact to no avail. Within two hours she had answered all my questions, apoligized, and sent two lots of feedback to separate departments. I had previously been so so annoyed at this (what I was calling stupid) company, but with by finding one staff member with a brain I was happy again. I was amazed at how many things can go wrong, how many different avenues and contact attempts can be unsuccessful, yet with one awesome person a customer can be made happy again - within two hours. Nothing like a staff member who actually gets things done. How many like this do you have?

Book Review: How To Keep Your Cool If You Lose Your Job

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:41:00 +0000

I finished "How To Keep Your Cool If You Lose Your Job" by Kathryn Jackson really quickly as I found it hard to put down. It is a book full of lots of tips, info, insight and advice AND it is also a workbook. As you read it you do the exercises and come out the other end with new direction, enthusiasm and clarity about your future work. It has lots of great real life stories from people that have been made redundant - how they felt, what they had to deal with and how they made it into an amazing opportunity. Many said they are glad they got made redundant as it totally changed their life for the better. As a career coach, Kathryn knows all the right questions to ask and these are included in tonnes of exercises in the book. This book very very clearly answers the "what next" those made redundant often feel. It includes everything you could, should and can do to ensure you end up in a role you adore. Kathryn outlines everything relevant in todays job market - including the recession (she even highlights which industries always survive during such a time). She talks about 'self talk' - keeping your head and being positive as redundancy can be really tough on your self esteem, family and lifestyle. There are also heaps of CV and interview tips. I really liked the exercise that gets you to look at the personal qualities a job requires then gets you to list your 'evidence' of having this quality. It will give any job applicant huge confidence. I'd say this book is a must read for people that have been made redundant, people in jobs they dont like, people that have no idea what they want for their career and of course other career coaches. You can buy it here http://www.homebizbuzz.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=530 or at Paper Plus.

Redundancy: 'How To Keep Your Cool If You Lose Your Job'

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:22:00 +0000

I am lucky in my work to be surrounded by some absolute geniuses....and lovely ones at that. A friend of mine, Kathryn Jackson has just had her first book published. It is for people that are being/have been made redundant and its called "How To Keep Your Cool If You Lose Your Job" (more details here http://www.careerbalance.co.nz/Books/How-To-Keep-Your-Cool-If-You-Lose-Your-Job/flypage-ask.tpl.html ). She has had some awesome reviews and tonnes of media coverage (I turned the TV on the other day to see her on the screen on 'Good Morning'). Highly recommend it for people that are thinking 'what next?' in their career. Watch out for my offical 'review' one day soon :)

Has your workplace got cancer?

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:27:00 +0000

The workplace can be a place of friendship, support, fun and laughter. I was thinking recently about fun things that used to happen when I worked in a bank. We would:
*play cricket after work
*do a Starbucks run to get away for a bit and come back with our huge venti lattes with almond biscotti (turned into an expensive habit!)
*take turns at bringing in lollies we could all scoff (I would deliver some to our mates upstairs)
*go to the big department store sale in our lunch break and rummage through quality discounted lingerie looking for bargains
*send the email jokes around or play practical jokes on each other
*we organized a game of ‘Where’s Wally’ using this huge poster that was part of some training thing. I drew the wee cardboard ‘Where’s Wally’ and he was awesome! The funniest part of this game was the arguing "your cheating" "no I'm not" "stop peeking"!!

On the other side, also during this time there was also:
*Two diagnosis’s of breast cancer
*A suicide
*Marriage splits
*Relationship problems
*Addiction problems
*Huge trouble conceiving a child

So while the first list looks as though no work ever got done (!) the truth was we were spending time together living life as best we could to keep positive, have fun and make sure everyone was smiling regardless of everything going on. It’s great for people to get ‘mental space’ at work if they are having trouble at home, or just have something they need to take their minds off. While there may be personality clashes and other ‘difficulties’ in workplaces, when something like cancer hits, it’s amazing how people can pull together to support each other and the other politics no longer matter. Workplaces can become family, and can be a ‘refuge’ from the sometimes harsh reality of the world. Let’s not take for granted the support our workmates can give us. Let’s also remember to notice how much other stuff is going on in workmates lives. Actually doing work is important but so is the fun and the support – we are human before we are anything else.

7 questions you need to answer about your businesses compliments

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

1. What does your business do to actively seek compliments?
2. Do you have a compliment box for your customers in store?
3. Do you also have such a button on your website?
4. Do you reply to customers and ask more questions/clarify what they mean (if necessary) once they’ve given you a compliment?
5. Do you then use the compliment on your website/in your shop/in your communications?
6. Are you regularly telling your database and fans about compliments in your newsletters?
7. Are you sharing your fan mail with the team – putting it somewhere they’ll see it often?

I once came across a business that had boxes full of (unsolicited) mail. They were all thank you’s and compliments about their service and products. They had probably about 3000 such letters. Unfortunately this business never actually did anything with these words. They read them, thought they were nice, then put them in the box – without even showing the team. At the time they were struggling to pay the bills and really needed more business. If they had of utilised this huge resource a lot earlier, they could have had lots more business without the down patch.

Don’t let thank you’s pass your business by – seek them, clarify them, publicise them and use them as the basis of your marketing. If you aren’t getting any it may not be because no one likes your product or service, but because you never asked. Get asking and use the results.

10 questions to ask during exit interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

1. What has working here taught you? (professionally/personally/about life and work?)
2. What things/issues/problems are you thrilled to be leaving behind?
3. If you were the boss here what would you change?
4. How do you see morale amongst the team? Do people like working here?
5. What has been the best thing that has happened to you in your time here?
6. What has been the worst thing that has happened to you in your time here?
7. How would you describe your immediate manager?
8. How would you describe the senior management team?
9. How would you describe the workplace culture here?
10. If a close friend asked you to describe your time here, what would you say?

10 (not so normal) questions to ask new staff

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

1. What things do you like to do to ensure you have fun at work?
2. Can you give an example of a time you have felt most connected to your team mates?
3. Can you tell me about the best boss you’ve ever had and what made them so?
4. What good stuff have you heard about working here?
5. What bad stuff have you heard about working here?
6. What crazy things can you do that you could teach the team (Juggle? Do headstands? Swear in French?)
7. How do you love to be thanked for extra hard work? (Bottle of wine? Lotto ticket? Chocolates? Boss shouting coffee?)
8. If you are having a flat/tired/off day at work, what do you do to get yourself on track? How can I help?
9. What is your bliss? (Mountain biking? Holidaying somewhere exotic? Reading? Sitting in your fave café?)
10. Who do you most admire and why?

Why you should eat lollypops at work

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I often wonder a lot of weird ...I mean interesting things. Like why do you never see an adult eating a lollypop? Or a priest? Or a man in a suit? Don’t they like lollies?

I bet you know exactly what I mean – if you picture a well dressed business man walking through the CBD eating a lollypop I bet you would definitely notice him. You would be thinking “gosh look, that man is eating a lollypop”. It’s not that weird you know!

I saw a bizarre ...I mean interesting thing recently. It was a high school teacher on a skateboard. It was his lunch break and he was skateboarding to his home nearby for lunch. He looked every bit the sensible 30 something teacher, with glasses and some very good fashion sense (great shirt and tie). He stood out a mile off though, because he was riding a skateboard – not something I remember any of my teachers doing. I bet the students think he is awesome.

Sometimes in life we get too sensible. Somewhere along the line we unconsciously decide that it is not appropriate for adults to eat lollypops or ride skateboards. So we stop doing such things. The workplace is the same – sometimes it can have every inch of fun sucked out of it. That is why I love the below blog entry about eating ice creams at work.

http://www.bizzia.com/slackermanager/little-things-big-impact/

What similar fun things could you do to bring lollypops and skateboards into your workplace and keep them there?

Show your customer complaints off!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Like this Richard Branson story, don’t be shy about letting your customer’s complaints be seen or heard about. They are not something that should be hidden or dealt with quietly. When I received a complaint about my book The Boss Benchmark not being a "proper book" I shared it with my database and blog readers. I have nothing to hide and wanted to tell them what was happening in the world of my book. Sharing meant I got to hear people’s thoughts on what a "proper book" really is, receive support and openly discuss the positives and negatives of my book. I was actually thrilled to receive the complaint as sometimes it can be hard to get honest feedback out of people! Some people would rather say nothing that risk offending someone.

When you share your complaints you also get to share how you remedied the situation – which is what really counts. I offered my unhappy reader a refund... but they couldn’t part with the book (they must have connected with the content!). If that isn’t a powerful testimony of my books content then I don’t know what is!

Hearing about customer complaints makes me personally trust brands more (unless of course they run from it, deny it or get all defensive). I love seeing a human, imperfect side to business. Also, being accountable to customers is a very important part of being in business. When I see complaints that are not hidden or swept under the carpet I think “hmm how cool of that business for handling that the way they have” and I want to shop with them more. The opposite is true of course. If they handle it badly, I can’t run fast enough away – it’s not the complaint that is important but its resolution.

Being in business is about letting customers get to know your business. Letting them see what is happening in your world. By sharing my complaint with my database my readers saw more of me and many emailed to say they adored the honesty. They see I’m human and not hiding anything.

What life is like for the workplace ‘junior’

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:05:00 +0000

I was a 'junior' once. It was in a hair salon (back in the days when I thought I wanted to work in the beauty industry) and I was 16. I have terrible memories of being treated like absolute crap just because I was the ‘junior’. For some reason that title magically took away any human right I had to respect. It mean I had to put myself ‘below’ everyone else and know I was ‘less than’ them. It meant I was unimportant, available to be walked over and any needs I had were disregarded.

Some of the real workplace stories in my book The Boss Benchmark are mine from this period:
*I was not welcome to attend the team meeting. I had to stay away from the staff room during this time as I was of such little importance, my attendance was of no consequence. I was also unwelcome because the meeting gave the staff a chance to talk about me. One time the boss came out afterwards and gave me a big telling off about something that was absolutely untrue which had been brought up in the meeting. I of course (head bowed low) was not allowed to talk, correct my boss or state my case.
*Another staff member gave me the silent treatment for a full 6 days. At the time she was 33 and I was 16, hindsight now shows me how silly this woman is – but at the time I thought it must have been due to me/my fault/how the workforce is. I was so new to the working world and it was quite upsetting that someone that much older was treating me that way.
*The business was in a real slump so 80% of the day the hair stylists just sat around (3 full timers). Though I was never ever allowed to sit – that privilege was only for them. One day I got the job of dusting a million products on these huge metal shelves (sounds reasonable). I did a magnificent job. Though the next day when there was nothing to do again, a hair stylist assigned me the same task to redo. It was ‘busy work’ not required work, just so I never became equal and received the privilege of 'sitting'.

I am very keen to hear any other stories people have about ‘being the junior’. I’d love to know if and in what ways this kind of treatment still goes on. I know some industries are worse than others are in this regard. I don’t see why being the apprentice is a license to be disrespectful and treat people as though they don’t matter as much. I had nothing against the cruddy, boring and grubby jobs I had to do – I wasn’t scared of the work, I just hated being treated as if I was worthless. It was my age and inexperience in the workforce that meant I knew no better way to deal with it or get myself heard. Being young is also not an excuse for bosses or co-workers to treat you as less. Entering the workforce can be a scary time (especially when the workplace you are in is absolutely dysfunctional). What is your two cents on this subject?

LOOK EVERYWHERE for “better boss” inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

You can learn how to be a better boss from all kinds of life experiences. You don’t just learn it on the job, managing staff. If you are a cyclist you are bound to see parallels and lessons you can use as a boss while on a weekend ride. If you do lots of baking perhaps you can find parallels in that which will make you a better boss. Listening to your kids and the questions they ask can sometimes bring huge ‘aha’ moments. If you keep your eyes open, you will find better boss inspiration everywhere….
* TV shows
* French fries and soap
* High school teachers
* Things your kids say
* Traffic courtesy or rudeness
* Ads on TV
* Weather

In what unlikely circumstance have you found better boss inspiration?

Is ‘shut door’ the new 'open door' policy?

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Having a shut door policy means your staff have limited access to you. How could this be a good thing after all the talk of how ‘open door’ is the way to go? The answer is to make it work you have to give staff more authority. This means you can afford to have that door closed. Giving staff more authority can be hugely transformational and positive for a business. At the Ritz Carlton (one of the world’s most amazing hotel chains) each staff member has authority to spend $2000 without any form of manager approval to fix a problem for a customer. This policy has allowed the hotel chain to become world renowned as the place to stay – they have millions and millions of fans. In any other business such decisions would often have to go through many levels of managerial approval – taking longer and being a pain.

Some businesses fear giving staff too much (or any) authority. They don’t see just how much that fear is holding them back. An over the top approach of requiring manager’s approval can make exceptional customer service difficult, frustrate your staff and take up your time (the book “The one minute manager meets the monkey” is great for freeing up managers time).

*What fears are holding you back from giving staff more authority?
*How can you address these fears?
*In what areas could you let staff have more authority?
*What effect will that have on you, your team, customers and service?

What ‘x factor’ do you need in your staff

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I read somewhere about the differences in nurses that had 'the x factor' and those that didn’t. It turned out the difference was a very simple one. X factor nurses had empathy. The study discovered that an ‘average nurse’ would say "this won't hurt a bit" when they gave an injection. An x factor nurse on the other hand, would say something like "this will hurt a little bit, but I'll be as gentle as I can". Patients reported feeling less pain while receiving the needle from the nurse that admitted it may hurt a bit and more pain from the one that said it wouldn’t hurt at all. So it seems empathy can make a nurse an ‘x factor’ one.

*What does ‘x factor’ look like in your industry or workplace?
*What qualities do you need your staff to have to achieve x factor?

Share your answers (and the nurse story) with your team and let them brainstorm their ideas on it. Come up with a list and examples of what x factor in your business and industry looks like and work out how you can all put it into practice.

Fabulous 'ground rules' for meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Further to the blog entry about effective meetings, check out what Kelly from http://www.humansatwork.com/ has added to that about 'ground rules' in meetings. It covers things like noise and privacy, communication, decision making and team work.

This blog entry really gives managers some great things to think about - especially if they've been overlooked in the past. Implimenting Kellys tips could totally overhaul your team and how they work together.

Read it here: http://www.humansatwork.com/more-on-ground-rules/

Fantastic rules for effective meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Check out the below link from Bob Suttons awesome blog (http://bobsutton.typepad.com/) about Kelly from http://www.humansatwork.com/ - she shares some awesome tips about running effective meetings.

The only thing I'd add to it, if you want a really effective meeting, is to ensure the room is freezing cold and there are no chairs. Some businesses use this tatic and they get all their work done in record time and have more time to do what is really important rather than sitting in meetings talking about it.

http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/kelley-eskridges-wise-advice-on-running-meetings.html

Silverware, tattoos and your bosses shoes: how and why you should read between the lines

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Here is a random blog entry of a few great stories I want to share (and a joke at the end).

Good and bad ways to start a word-of-mouth frenzy:
http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2009/04/crazy-about-clean-why-did-you-get.html

What your bosses shoes can teach you: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/interesting-shoes.html

Signs you should hide the good silverware:
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-enron-code-of-ethics-something-every-boss-should-read.html

And now for a leadership joke…

“There are four keys to leadership:
1. Confidence
2. A folder
3. A pencil with a rubber on the end
4 The ability to say "ok guys" after a single hand clap”

The effect beauty has on hiring staff

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Check out the below great blog post about 'Hiring and Promoting Good-Looking People' by the magnificent James Adonis (www.jamesadonis.com) who is a leading expert on employee engagement and the author of ‘Employee Enragement: Why people hate working for you’.

Even if we don't think we are being swayed by someones good looks, it seems at some 'science-y' level we can't help it. Feel free to share your thoughts, stories or questions about this in the comments below :)

http://www.dynamicbusiness.com/articles/articles-blogs/hiring-and-promoting-good-looking-people3470.html

8 ways the workplace has changed

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:00:00 +0000

1. There seems to be an increased interest in career breaks as no one knows when they'll retire anymore.

2. Workers are having career ‘turning points’ at ages like 25, 40, 50 or 65.

3. Values driven work (i.e. with charities) is being mixed in to their career portfolio.

4. The demands of top talent are:

- to be treated like a member not an employee
- to have values lived not laminated
- that there is direction beyond the top end of a learning curve
- that the employer brand promises are fulfilled

5. There is a lot of talk about the differences between the generations. Some people believe that it is a case of a new ‘career mindset’ rather than it being a generation thing. The argument is that people of all ages have worked in companies that don’t understand them. The new career mindset involves a belief that the past generations paid too high a price for success. Lots of workers these days, regardless of generation are trying to work smarter not harder.

6. Years ago people were quite passive about career planning. They would trust their employer to manage their career and just work hard keeping their head down. They would take opportunities as they presented themselves without a real plan. When such people get made redundant, it is often the first time they've had to think about what they love and what they want in a career.

7. Job sculpting is important. People need to change their thinking from 'I hate my job' into 'this is how I want my job to be' – then get fixing it.

8. Bosses need to focus on different things. Rather than watching people who leave, bosses should watch high performers who are still motivated after a long time, if they start to lose motivation, bosses should focus on fixing whatever changed.

Read my first serious complaint about The Boss Benchmark

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:10:00 +0000

I received my first serious complaint about my book. The reader was not happy with it at all.

“I have received your book but am disappointed as it is pretty obvious that it is a colour copy with a spiral bind and not a book as you have advertised and or what any buyer would expect. The colour is also of a very poor quality and hard to read and the spiral bind is tight and very difficult to turn the pages. I hope you have a proper book to replace the one I have.”

My response was this:

“I am sorry that you feel disappointed with my book and that you think it is not a real or proper one. It is spiral bound so it is an easy tool for bosses to use, refer back to often and work through gradually. In the copies I have the pages turn with ease on the large 20mm spiral. I am happy to refund your purchase price, minus postage if you send the book back to me as I don’t have any other versions or copies to send to you – they are all spiral bound.”

She decided not to take me up on my offer (maybe that means the content isn’t half bad?)

“I have decided to keep the book since you don't have a "book" version for exchange.”

I don’t have any problems with the print or colour quality – in fact I thought it was great. There was of course (in my first edition only) the problem with the font in the true story sections being really hard to read (naughty design oversight on my part), but that was changed significantly for the second edition which she received.

I was excited to get this feedback. I take my own advice and don’t “avoid the yuck” – yuck is transformational and super powerful. If you thought The Boss Benchmark absolutely sucked then I want to hear all about it – in detail! That’s gold! Often readers are very shy about coming forward and you hear nothing. The majority of feedback I’ve had I’ve had to squeeze out of people! It’s also hard to know if the feedback you do get is how the person really feels as they may think it’s a waste of time and money but not want to say so. Everyone takes on info so differently and everyone finds such different info useful – so there are probably tonnes of people who read my book and thought it was a waste of time – every person doesn’t click with every tool and that’s fine. The other factor is when ordering online, you don’t get to hold the book like you would in a bookstore. So you just have to trust that whatever content/solutions/information the book promo text promises is in there and will help you.

It seems the definition of a book is very subjective. According to this customer, The Boss Benchmark is not a book because:
* It is printed in colour
* It has a spiral bind

I kinda know what she means. I’ve been given something someone referred to as a “book they’ve written”. It didn’t have an ISBN, wasn’t available in libraries, it measured about 5cms by 7cms, only had about 150 words and weighted about as much as a sneeze. I remember thinking “that’s not a book!” – HOWEVER it sold in the likes of Whitcoulls – so maybe that was enough for the person to consider it a book.

With self publishing becoming easier and a lot more common, every man and his dog are writing a book. I can name about 15 people in my close network that are doing or have done so. Each of these people will have their own interpretation of what a book is and how they will present theirs.

Anyway, I’m full of energy and excitement now. It’s exciting to hear brutal honesty! I am pondering whether or not my website should say “this book is spiral bound” (or something similar) as until now I hadn’t realised I needed to. Any thoughts on this very welcome. I still believe my book is a "proper one" even thought it doesnt weight 3 kilos and have a cover so hard it could stop a bullet.

Companies need to change how they listen to customers

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:00:00 +0000

HSBC learnt a new way to listen to their customers when they tried to bring in overdraft fees on previously free student accounts. They set the new rules then told everyone it affected. HSBC thought that was that – task complete. They didn’t take into account though the power of social media. All the students started a group on Facebook which got thousands of members. The campaign was called "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off!" Long story short, HSBC decided to reinstate the free overdraft. The term “power to the people” springs to mind (yay!). I’ve been awaiting a huge surge in consumer power for years and it seems social media is our means to have it.

It also seems that HSBC didn’t reverse their decision because customers were unhappy. The reversed it because they were unhappy AND coordinated – that is where the power lay. If they weren’t coordinated, HSBC would easily have been able to ignore them and the media would never have known about the overdraft fees. Good on HSBC for addressing the Facebook group, as many companies have in the past been silly enough to ignore social media storms, remain quiet and hope it goes away (FYI it doesn’t – and the company ends up looking ridiculous). Cases like this are further proof of how the business world is changing. Companies now have to listen in totally different ways as consumers now ‘speak’ to them in totally different ways.

There are benefits for the company too (social media doesn’t make you powerless). You can now reach your customers using these new platforms and become closer to them than ever before. Even better, you can reach your non customers and see why they choose someone else. Companies now have a huge and reliable source of information and interaction. Make sure you use it rather than just be a victim of it.

Who is 'man enough' to overhaul NZ's health system?

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:00:00 +0000

The healthcare industry in New Zealand is far from perfect. It’s a bit of a sore spot for lots of different groups – medical professionals who have to tolerate terrible working conditions, patients that have been on waiting lists forever and families that have lost loved ones due to very tragic oversights by staff. There is also a lot of issues around being short staffed – particularly nurses.

Many health workers are scared to speak up about issues in case they lose their job. I know of a pregnant nurse who asked her patient if they would mind if she sat down in their room (after checking them over) to eat her apple as if she didn’t do it there, she wouldn’t be able to at all (for some reason in this hospital they were working with no breaks – not so easy when pregnant, hungry, tired and on your feet all day). The patient of course said yes and sympathised.

There has long been controversy in the media about all the downfalls of our medical care. Many mistakes have been made with patients, there have been plenty of worker strikes (the little fellows are paid peanuts and receive no pay rise (“there is no money”), while hotshot top doctors get a gazillion percent pay rise (“how much would you like?”). Our healthcare has been under scrutiny for years, yet no boss, no newly elected board member nor the government has been able to overhaul it and fix any of its problems in all that time. Our waiting lists are out of control – people are living hellish existences waiting forever for surgery that keeps getting delayed (some 15 year old drunk and drugged up driver needed urgent surgery after he crashed and killed 5 others) there goes a weeks worth of other waiting list surgeries (maybe we should redefine ‘emergency’ and 'priority'?).

At our last election I wanted a guy whose son died as a result of severe medical neglect to be voted in – as I knew he would make a huge difference and shake it up. Sadly he didn’t get the seat. I am amazed and guttered that still no one has been able to seriously overhaul our health system. Our rest homes seem to be falling short of expectations too – there are many cases of neglect, short staffing and mistreatment within them.

I feel sorry for those workers that are stuck in the middle of these badly managed industries. They must feel helpless, trapped and just bloody frustrated. It seems there is a real vibe of old fashioned hierarchy within them also – not cool at all. But what can we do! **sigh** It seems all we can do is sit back and wait for a real change agent boss within these industries to grow a brain, wake up and start creating amazing workplaces, amazing service and incredible culture. It seems no amount of media coverage or new leadership within has been capable of doing that thus far. Where are all the dynamic (preferably non-blind) leaders hiding!?

A lesson that high school can teach bosses

noreply@blogger.com (Allison O'Neill) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:21:00 +0000

I had a teacher in high school called Mrs Usher. She was really cool – I had a lot of respect for her, I think everyone (even the bratty students in my class) did. Here is why. She treated us like humans first and students second. She gave us respect, so we gave it back – when she spoke we were all ears. My ‘turning point’ with Mrs Usher (when I saw how fab she was) was when she gave us a huge break between classes (always welcome!). She taught our third form class two sessions in a row – English in one classroom then music in another across the way straight after. One day she arrived quite a few minutes after the music lesson was supposed to start. She fluffed with her books for a while at the front and wrote some stuff on the board while we continued (probably very meaningful) teenage conversations. Eventually she started the class and said “now I know Tuesday morning is a funny morning because we see each other two classes in a row. I don’t want you to get sick of me and I don’t want to get sick of you – so that’s why I’m a bit late, I thought we could take a few minutes break before we start music”. I remember being really impressed with her. Some teachers are so by the book – boring and rigid. Any other teacher would have probably stormed into the room told us off for being so loud and set straight to work. I loved the fact that Mrs Usher recognised that it was a good idea for us to have a break from her and her to have a break from us. It was cool to see a teacher who knew it was quality not quantity that was important in the lesson – so she wasn’t afraid to lose a few minutes. Every week on Tuesday morning we enjoyed a few extra minutes of chatter, getting a drink, loo visits and probably very important reapplying of lip-gloss. When she started the lesson we were totally focused and ready to go. We all hated it when she got sick and had a few months off – relief teachers were always on time… and normally boring and rigid! We sincerely missed her, cared about her and were thrilled when she came back.

It’s the same with bosses – it’s amazing how something so minor as seeing the need for something (like a few extra minutes) can change everything – focus, commitment and respect. Treating people as people – recognising their human needs first, rather than seeing them just as employees can be the most powerful thing you do for your workplace. We knew Mrs Usher respected us and our needs – that to us was priceless. She also showed her human side by stating she didn't want to get sick of us either! That honesty was awesome - many teachers wouldn't be so open. I’m not sure if she realised how much of a big favour she did herself that day – such a simple way to gain instant respect!

In what areas are you being a boring and rigid teacher instead of a cool one like Mrs Usher?