(Time to read this Blog is about 4 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“There’s no point in being the best, if you’re also the best kept secret. First, do the work to become the clear and compelling ‘wise choice’ for your target customers. Then, communicate your compelling value story in everything you do.”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
What are you doing to identify and mentor your successor? Internally mentored and promoted managers and CEO’s typically outperform the parachuted in ‘saviors’. So, what are you doing to identify and mentor your replacement? - Fun Fact: Half of Home Depot’s sales are to Contractors. This is the result of years of developing special programs, systems, processes, dedicated team members and special ‘Appreciation Events’ specifically for Contractors.
So, what are you doing to create customized compelling value for, and to build special relationships with your most important customers?
- If you love irony…on Thursday, April 30, Travel & Leisure magazine announced the results of a recent Survey in which low-priced carrier, Spirit Airlines, was named America’s #1 airline because they had the lowest rate of flight cancellations, flight delays, mishandled luggage and denied boardings…and they offered the best pricing for budget flyers.
Then, just two days later, on Saturday, May 2nd, Spirit Airlines declared bankruptcy and immediately shut down all operations. They ran out of money to keep operating. Apparently, it’s not good enough to provide a great customer experience. You must also have a business model and operational efficiency that generate a profit! Go figure!
- Rogers Communications is offering buyouts to half of its staff. Canada’s largest Media, Communications & Entertainment company is offering voluntary departure packages to half of its 25,000 employees as it looks to pay down its mounting debt load.
AI Update: According to Bloomberg News, nearly half of the Data Centers planned in the U.S. for 2026 are facing delays or cancellations, representing a significant bottleneck in the AI infrastructure boom. There are 3 main causes:- There’s a critical shortage of electrical equipment, specifically transformers, switchgear and batteries, which are needed to equip these facilities. For example, the lead time for large power transformers has stretched to as long as 5 years.
- The lack of electrical power in many communities to support the huge demands from these Data Centres.
- Many communities are pushing back against plans to build huge energy-sucking and farmland destroying Data Centres in their area.
This suggests that the speed of AI expansion will be limited more by these 3 factors than the availability of faster chips, new software, or market demand.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
Elevate your Team from ‘informed’ to ‘committed’!
Are your staff in the dark, engaged or fully committed? In many businesses, one of the biggest employee complaints is about the lack of communication. “Nobody tells us what’s going on around here!” I hear it all the time. We all talk about the importance of communication. Some of us even brag about how good we are at it. But, shouldn’t we go beyond ‘communication’ to create true employee engagement and commitment?
Sadly, in many businesses, ‘communication’ is a one-way street. It’s the process of telling employees what management has decided to do and then asking, or telling, the Team to ‘get with the program’. On the other hand, engagement and commitment start with involving your Team in creating clarity about 6 things:
- The extraordinary value and customer experiences that we commit to deliver and how we’ll market and communicate that promise in everything we do, in a way that clearly differentiates us from our competitors and makes us famous. ‘Famous’ is good!
- What we, as a business, commit to become (our Vision) in the next 3 to 5 years.
- A strategy and a Plan detailing how we’ll get to that extraordinary future (our Mission).
- The healthy and sustainable bottom line we commit to generate. If there’s no bottom line, there’s no business. Many employees think that making a profit is, somehow, a bad thing. They need to be disabused of this foolish notion that they probably picked up in our socialist school system. Don’t get me started on that one!
- How we commit to behave along the way. Our values, ethics and standards.
- How their specific job is important in making all of that happen.
Involve your Team in these important conversations. They know stuff…and they hate it when you don’t ask. When you don’t ask for their ideas, they assume that you don’t care …and if you don’t care, why should they? By asking and listening you’ll get more and better ideas, you’ll honour them, reduce turnover, improve commitment and find out who ‘gets it’ and, therefore, who might be promotable.
Back in the pre-Covid days, I flew over 100 times a year speaking and Biz Coaching around the world. Whenever I’d see an airline doing something customer ‘un-friendly’ or just plain stupid, I’d ask the front-line staff, “Why do you do that? It doesn’t make sense.” The reply was always the same. “We know it’s wrong and we keep telling them (head office)…but they won’t listen!” In that kind of environment, the best people leave in frustration and the mediocre people stay and take ‘I don’t give a damn pills’. How many people are taking ‘I don’t give a damn pills’ just to survive in your business?
According to Gallup Research, in North America…
- 31% of employees are fully engaged,
- 52% are not engaged,
- 17% are actively disengaged.
In Europe, the numbers are much worse with 90% of employees being ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’. By the way, ‘actively disengaged’ refers to unhappy employees who act out in various ways to undermine the organization and the performance of others. Get rid of them! Do it legally…but get rid of them.
Always explain ‘why’. The simplest way to move your Team from blind compliance to engagement, commitment and creativity is to always explain ‘why’. Whenever you’re assigning a project, discussing a policy, coaching team members on a particular, or trying to improve some part of the business, always tell them ‘why’ we’re doing this. Explain to them the ‘desired outcome’ that you’re looking for and why it’s important. It might take a little longer, but the results will be significantly better.
When we don’t explain the business reason (the ‘why’) for doing things a certain way, many of our staff will simply assume that we’re insisting on high standards of performance, appearance, efficiency and behaviour because we’re old and mean and cranky. They’ll resent us and resist us.
When you communicate ‘to’ your people by just telling them to ‘do it’, they’re informed and the best you can hope for is ‘blind compliance’. But, when you truly involve them, listen to them and respect them, they’re much more engaged and committed! And, here’s the magic; a few of your brighter folks will say something wonderful like, “Oh, if that’s the outcome we’re looking for, I have a few thoughts on how we might do it even better.” Now, we have creativity and passion!
So, will you shoot for ‘better informed’ employees…or will you go for creating a ‘more engaged, more committed and more creative’ Team? It’s your choice.
That’s it for this week…
Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!
Donald Cooper
Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability. He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.
