All posts by steve@kerrzone.com

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Listening to Others

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The Dilbert cartoon in today’s globe and mail started off ” The biggest risk to your happiness is listening to other people”.  The punch line, ” When they are not trying to make you work, they are complaining.

What a great topic for a blog post

Like famed the comic Seinfeld, Dilbert cartoons have a way of expressing everyday  behavior that makes you wonder about societies sanity.  The typical reaction is laughter.

Listening to others is in fact a key to success.   However,  the most critical skill in this regard is the ability to filter.  If all you hear are demands or complaints, little value is achieved.

On the other hand, in order to practice the personal value “everybody is important” you have to listen. This is key to understanding, collaberating and leveraging  the greatness within others (i.e., the value within everybody).

The truth in the cartoon

The cartoon highlighted for me a trueism.  Others frequently do either want get something from you or share a hardship for sympathy.  Simplistically stated, this is human nature.

Usually hidden within the demanding and whining  are important facts, pieces of information you can leverage to influence achievement.   Things you can use in a positive way.

To do this though, first you need to listen.  Next  interpret what you are hearing and finally formulate the information into action.  That is, goal focused action.  Bring the other party along for the ride and it’s a collaberation.

And this is a powerful way to get things done.  So on the surface listening does have it’s pitfalls,but in the long run it’s a tool strong leaders can’t afford not use.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

French Proverb

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I came across the following quote yesterday, attributed as a French proverb (i.e., a short expression of popular wisdom originating from French speaking countries)

“There are no miracles to the man who does not believe in them.”

I view miracles as “an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws.”   Often these have religious associations but that is not a mandatory attribute of miracles.

Dissecting the Quote

Typically proverbs state in simple easy to digest terms simple common sense principles.  In this case the point of the proverb is if you do not believe there is a valid explanation for an occurrence,  you are unable to accept that it occurred.

Miracles are typically positive.  For example if a person were unharmed after falling six stories we might say it was a miracle they were not dead (i.e., it is not readily apparent how they survived).

Given the outcomes are generally positive believing in miracles might not be a bad thing; However, having a valid explanation for an event, a root cause seems to me to be the more logical approach.

Interesting Circular Discussion

It is human nature to explain why things occurred.   When we don’t have a natural or scientific explanation readily at hand an easy way to handle this conundrum is to call it a miracle.

In and of itself labeling an event a miracle is in fact explaining the cause as miraculous (mysterious and unexplained).  This label becomes the explanation.

For me believing in miracles, or not is irrelevant.   More important is the ability to measure/document the occurrence (proof if you will).  If there is a metric proving the event occurred (e.g., a video of the six story fall with no damage) I can believe in it – even if I cannot explain it.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Who is right?

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Sometimes we interact with people who think like us.  Sometimes we  need to associate with people who don’t think like we do .  The former encounters are usually more friendly than the latter.

Just because someone does not think like you is neither good nor bad, wrong nor right. Understanding and embracing these differences within the context of your own thoughts and beliefs is a key attibute of effective leadership.

The Wolf Pack

A wolf pack is a simple way to illustrate the concept of thinking the same and thinking differently.  As a general rule wolfs travel in a pack with a clearly identified leader.

The wolves think alike.  Packs are safer and run better with a leader.  However, you have heard of the lone wolf.  This wolf does not think like the others.  Both the pack wolves and lone wolves can thrive and survive.

The group and individual approaches to wolf life are very different but neither is right or wrong.  Although the pack approach may lower some risks ( attack, food shortages) it can impinge on individuality which is embraced by the lone wolf.

All approaches have value

While I would be the first to admit I enjoy the company of those that think like me more than those that don’t (emotionally) on an intellectual level its clear associating with a more diverse range of thinkers is of real value – to me personally, to them and to society.

I might be going a bit overboard with this post but the point really is that opposing views are often neither right nor wrong but rather the result of opposing ways of thinking and there is nothing wrong with that.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Making Decisions

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I want explore the process of making decisions.  To start, and make sure we are all on the same page,  I am refering to a conclusion or recommendation reached after consideration.

I believe decision making (outside of the emotional decisions) can be a relatively simple process centered around 3 simple considerations.

Decision Analysis

For routine decisions like should I eat now, is it time for bed, time to exercise, and so, on the considerations usually involve feelings – am I hungry, am I tired, and so on.

For more complex decisions, generally those that go beyond should I do this or should I do that, the best place to start is by defining the key attributes that will inflence the decision.

Generic Considerations

Risk – what are the bad things that could happen, how likely are they to occur and if one does happen how impactful will it be.  The focus of this consideration should be to identify the things with a medium to likely potential of occurring and a medium to high impact if they do.

Then the question is, what decision integrates best with the identified risks (that is mitigating or even removing risks)

Benefit – This is all about motivation.  The conclusion or recommendation arising from the decision basically represents  analysis of the benefit.  This generally is the basic tenament of whether to do a thing or not.  If there is a benefit, do it and if not don’t. (and of course all places in between).

Effort –  Simply put, what will it take to achieve the result of the conclusion or recommendation.  Weighing the benefit, risk and effort results ultimately drive to the best decision.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Highs, Lows and everything in-between

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Ten years ago my wife and I became empty nesters.   This was not an abrupt change, we obviously saw it coming.  We prepared for it somewhat and adapted after it happened.

Last May, as a result of the Fort MacMurray Alberta wild fire our daughter, son and law and grand duaghter came and stayed with us for a while.

Our son in law returned to their home a while ago but our daughter has remained a little longer until things are a bit more back to normal in the hometown, probably soon.

Ups and Downs

In a quiet moment recently I was thinking about the events of the last 6 weeks, and then broader to over the last ten years and it occured to me how my life has had a lot of impactful moments in that   time (since I was born for that matter).

It occurred to me how these events – high moments (thrilling, exciting, envigorating), in-between times (relaxing, comtemplative, dull) and lows (depressing, frightening, shocking) – have made my life great.

Everything matters and the mix of different types of events (some good, some bad) is a key contributor to the overall pleasure I have derived to date.

Seeking Experience

Within the context of my personal values and goals all experiences are welcomed. Truly they are what makes life great.

The caveat about personal values is important to delineate the experiences I am not interested in participating in (e.g., murder, theft) although I may be touched by them.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The pessimistic defense

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Part of the definition of a pessimist is one who sees the worst aspect of things.  Over the last 50 or so years of my life, from young adulthood to now, I have only encountered a handful of consistently pessimistic folks.

I have always been puzzled by how grounded these people are.  Intuitively, I would expect them to be persistently unhappy and depressed.  Think about the Eeyore character from the Winnie the Pooh books.

My observation of these purist pessimists is just the opposite.

Its a defense

A collegue of mine displays this constant pessimism.  Every comment is derisive and nothing is ever viewed in a positive light.  Something is wrong with everything.

It recently dawned on me this attitude is defensive.  It works as a teflon shield.  There is nothing to be invested in nor any reason to assume accountability; everything is so screwed up anyway.

While my own personal value system would make it difficult for me to adopt this approach I have come to see how  well it really works.  In fact, by questioning everything and leading the way for dissension you actually become a leader of sorts.

Not a way I personally would choose to stand out or be recognized I have come to admire the effectiveness of this approach.  I do note though it does require an organizational culture with a fairly high level of tolerance to be effective.

Which has led me to conclude one of the key reasons I don’ t run into too many folks, with this consistently pessimistic attitude,  is because most organizational environments don’t tolerate the approach and weed the individuals out.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

A sense of urgency

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Regular readers are aware that occasionally I report on interesting discussions I have with my U of A colleagues. Today’s topic arises from one of those discussions.

Whatever the oranization, regardless of type (e.g.,  a corporate, government, education  or charity , etc) the members behavior is shaped by the culture.

The culture is shaped by the leadership, although this is significantly influenced by those within the organization and to a lesser extent external factors can contribute to the culture (e.g., regulatory requirements, society’s interest as a whole and so on)

Sense of Urgency

For the context of our discussion the phrase sense of urgency simply refers to  setting of a clear understanding of what the organization is   trying to achieve and most importantly, supporting a culture where pursuing this achievement and attaining it in the shortest possible time is paramount.

In short, persuing the goal with urgency.  The organizations sense of urgency is primarily set by the leadership.  At the very least leadership sets the baseline.

So what?

There are plenty of metrics arising from studies of sucessful organizations ( based on performance to their goals) demonstrating the significant contribution of a sense of urgency.

The stronger the sense of urgency the better the customer service, qaulity of product and overall cost effectiveness.  The truth of this is intuitive to a large degree but the literature and studies on the topic continually demostrate this to be true.

So get to it, there is no better time than now.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Customer Service Ruminations

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A couple of days ago I posted about my thoughts on the mechanical reliability of BMW and the service provided by the Bavarian BMW dealership.

As promised here is an overview of how it ended.  I follow that by some simple advise to service providers on how to avoid this kind of fiasco.

My Bavarian BMW story ends

On Friday morning my service advisor called me and advised the second part had arrived but the shop foreman could not spare anyone to do the repair work until Wednesday.

He advised the foreman suggested they find a loaner car for me, but alas he had none.  I hung up and stewed for a couple of hours.

Later on Friday (around 3:30) I wrote the advisor an email, with a copy to the service manager, letting him know what I thought about the service I was receiving.

I also shared the link to my earlier post and advised I had also posted to Yelp, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter as well.

To My Surprise

I got a call at 4:30 on Friday letting me know they had found a mechanic, fixed the car, it was road tested and ready to go.  I picked it up Saturday morning.

I got a quote on an Audi TT this morning and a trade-in estimate for my BMW.

A short customer service primer (for Bavarian BMW and any other interested parties)

The majority of customers are friendly, flexible and supportive.  We understand issues arise and problems occur, it’s okay.

The majority of upset customers are the product of the service providers behavior, not the circumstances (everyone knows shit happens)

Key principles for service providers to follow:

-keep the customer fully informed (call them, don’t expect them to call you).  Tell them everything, both good and bad upfront  and clearly.

-don’t assume how your customer is feeling – ask.  Be empathetic with their position. (That does not mean accept and agree to everything it means make sure you understand how they feel)

-make every reasonable concession (be flexible) and if you cannot accommodate, explain clearly why.   Don’t just stonewall.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leading from behind

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I have posted before about the values of leading from behind.  This is not a new concept nor my own.  It is however captivativing to me because it really exemplifies the value “everyone is important”

Some credit  Nelson Mandela with popularizing the idea.  Many others  (Indian leader Ghandi for example) have practiced and espoused the concept so I personally don’t accrue excessive credit to Mandela.

On the whole public figures that are clear proponents of this concept get my admiration.  Additionally,  each has had great success in seeing their strategies both implemented and sustained.

Managing outside of organizational heirarchy

Leading from below; that is a someone in a lower level of an organizational heirarchy, using their leadership skills to influence, guide and assist those with great organizational power.

Kudos to those defined leaders within the organization for not only embracing this type of behavior but encouraging it.  Managing upwards is a key behavior in collaberative organizations.

Lest you get concerned I am not recommending anarchy.  Structure is needed.  Balancing is a key element required to avoid anarchy. In fact leveraging leadership skills (i.e., expecting leadership skills) from all is a defining attribute of high performing organizations.

Managing Upwards

A common failing of this model is when a leadership void exists in the higher levels of an organization.  This then becomes more an abdication of accountability by the appointed leaders.  To some degree it often leads to endemic frustration throughout a unit.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Bavarian BMW does it again

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Today’s post is a bit of a rant.  Also a warning about BMW’s and Edmonton’s Bavarian BMW in particular.  You may find it interesting if just for a chuckle.   I can only laugh it is so sad.

I will note I have owned 9 vehicles in the last forty years and none have had as many problems as the BMW .

Warning long rant coming

I purchased a BMW 335i four years ago.  It was brand new delivered from the factory in Bavaria with just 15 kilometers logged when I picked it up.

It was delivered  six weeks later than the promised delivery date – four months from the purchase date.

The blue tooth microphone for hands free cell phone use was deffective right out of the box and even though the salesperson delivering the car tried to demo it to me, so knew it was broken, he sent me on my way anyhow.

I got home and booked a service appointment so 1 week into this cars life, a service call.

But it gets worse, during the mike repair they discovered the car had not been properly prepped for delivery and a shipping lock was not removed .  This led to a part breaking.

So week two and car is back in the shop to fix a part broken due to faulty dealer prep, which I paid for.

Three months later I had a flat tire and on having it fixed (at Bavarian BMW) found out I had summer tires even though I had written confirmation from the original salesman the car was delivered with all season tires. (something you really do need in Edmonton)

I resolved the tire fiasco myself with no help from Bavaria BMW

In year two came the first maintenance .  I booked an appointment with Bavarian BMW via email and had copies of the confirmation.  The service advisor told me he had no record of the appointment but took the car anyway,  He was very rude though and kept the car all day for a one hour oil change.

In January of year three the battery warning light came on.  I drove the car for 6 months without difficulty and then took it to Edmonton BMW (the other dealer in Edmonton).  The service was exceptional.  The problem was a faulty sensor, as I expected since the battery worked fine.

For my next maintenance I went back to Bavaria, booking by email again.  This time all went as expected and the maintenance was done in an hour.

I booked the latest maintenance with Bavaria BMW on May 24th via email, for aJune11th appointment.

On May 31st the car started to display warning lights intermittently. I called Bavarian BMW and was advised to not worry about it and just let the service advisor know at my June11th appointment.  I did note it was a Saturday appointment so I knew they did not normally do diagnostics.  She said “no problem , they would hold it over if needed”

On Saturday June11th, although the advisor was clearly was unhappy about my extra problem he agreed to try and have it looked at, although the car would probably  be held over to Monday.

I kind of expected this, so not a big issue.

What he didn’t tell me was because my problem was an unplanned inconvenience for him I would not get standard level of attention (more like best effort)

So on Monday I called the service advisor after not hearing from him.  I was advised he had left me a voice mail on Saturday that my car needed a part and would not be fixed until Wednesday. ( mysteriously there was no voice mail)

After not hearing anything by mid-day Wednesday I called and my advisor clearly had forgotten about me, but did investigate and get back to me that the part was in and work progressing.  This is the best effort part.

Three hours later he called and said they were having unexpected problems and they would need to hold the car until Thursday.  He would call me mid-day with an update.

After not getting any call, I phoned to check the status at 1:15. Obviously the advisor had forgotten me again, but he said he would investigate and call me back.

Getting no call back by three I called but he was not available and I left a voice mail.  With no call by 3:30 I called again, although my advisor was unavailable I asked for any advisor or the service manager.

After speaking to another advisor I finally got my original advisor again.  They need another part and they are trying to expedite it for Friday arrival or maybe Monday.

I noted my dissatisfaction at being ignored and was told I was an extra so he really did not have time for me .

This is the best effort surprise – I wish I had been told up front.  My question is “why didn’t you tell me that on Saturday so I could have chosen to go somewhere else – and get normal service, versus best effort, if I so desired”

I should note all this work is under warranty so BMW accepts responsibility and accountability, reasonsble service should go along with that.

Most interesting to me is the fact nothing was offered to ease my pain (like a service loaner) other then a chance to pick up my broken car and use it till the part arrived.  (After already leaving it in the shop 5 business days that does not make a lot of sense.)  Also all I am going to do when I get it back is trade it in for a reliable car so I just want it fixed.

Of course I am not really surprised as given all the poor service I have had form Bavarian BMW I have had little more than insincere apologies backed by excuses.

Remember, problems occur, it is how you respond to them the dictates your level of customer sevice.

To my loyal readers

I hope you enjoyed this long rant.  If your interest is peaked as to how it ends, it is my intent to let you all know.

Will the advisor call me this time or will I need to call him again? Will the car be fixed in my lifetime?

And of course the real question is how fast can I get rid of this BMW piece of mechanical junk and buy a well built car – Audi here I come.