Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 31JAN11

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: leadership

If control is held too closely at the top of an organization or team, there is a lack of trust undermining effective collaboration. It takes more than simply delegating tasks—trust must also be delegated.

Teams need to be allowed to make mistakes. If people are allowed to make mistakes, the quality of the deliberation and decision-making increases as people gain confidence that they truly are making decisions that will be acted upon.

If people feel as though the decisions made in the course of collaborating aren’t likely to stick, they feel that there’s not much point to the collaboration and it weakens future collaborative efforts.

Trust is a critical component of leadership and collaboration—understanding this will help you thrive.

Thought for the week:

“Trust is the foundation for people to be more forthcoming. I believe and have empirical evidence that meeting a person where they are, listening deeply, responding to their questions, fears and doubts, without judgment, rapidly builds trust and allows us to go deeper quickly.” – Bill Corbett, Corbett Business Consulting

Note: I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

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Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 24JAN11

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: business execution

I had the privilege of playing Taps at a full honors military funeral at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, this past week. The cemetery performs 16 funeral services each day–each family is allotted just 30 minutes.

Normally, Taps concludes a ceremony. But, at this cemetery, Taps is played about 5 minutes after service starts. After Taps concluded, the American flag was folded and given to the family and, then, the service really got underway.

The standard protocol (funeral service, flag folding, flag presentation, Taps) is modified so the honor guard can get on to the next family’s ceremony. While the process employed is efficient, it felt dishonoring to change the sequence for the sake of expediency and efficiency.

Efficiency should never undermine the integrity of a process.

Thought for the week:

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby

Note: I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

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Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 17JAN11

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: configurable products and services

Companies with highly configurable products and services need to combine the superiority of their offerings with operational excellence, seamlessly connecting customers to the enterprise. You will know you’re there when the hand-offs from organization to organization resemble the efficiency of an aircraft carrier flight deck.

If your company continually experiences pain associated with configuring, pricing or quoting, there is a misalignment between what your customers and your company needs and what you have. Correcting this misalignment will help your company thrive.

Thought for the week:

“You never know when a helping hand will change another person’s entire life.”  – Zig Ziglar

Note: I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Southwest Airlines Inducted into Business Execution Hall of Fame

U.S.-operated airlines often get a bad rap for horrible customer service and for treating customers with indifference.  Southwest Airlines is committed to the customer and creating an experience that makes its customers want to come back for more.  Southwest’s staff is outstanding and very customer-centric.

I want to share an exceptional story about what happened to one passenger recently:

Grandparents of dying Colorado toddler thank Southwest Airlines for delaying plane

By Kyle Glazier
Denver Post

Updated: 01/15/2011 11:16:01 PM PST

The grandparents of a 2-year-old Colorado boy who died Jan. 6 after allegedly being thrown across the room by his mother’s boyfriend are thanking Southwest Airlines for holding a plane so the boy’s grandfather could hurry home to see his grandson before the boy died.

Nancy Dickinson told travel and airline blogger Christopher Elliott, that her husband Mark Dickinson was on a business trip in California when the couple received word that their grandson, Caden Rogers, had suffered devastating injuries….

Dickinson told Elliott that her husband had to fly from Los Angeles to Tucson, Ariz. before returning to Denver, and that he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport two hours early only to be caught in a long security line.

“Every step of the way, he’s on the verge of tears and trying to get assistance from both TSA and Southwest employees to get to his plane on time,” Nancy Dickinson said. “According to him, everyone he talked to couldn’t have cared less.”

Dickinson called Southwest to explain the situation, and said her husband ran to the gate in his stocking feet to find the plane’s captain waiting for him at the jetway. She said the pilot said he was sorry about their grandson and wouldn’t let the 11:50 flight depart until Mark Dickinson ultimately arrived at 12:02.

“They can’t go anywhere without me, and I’m not going anywhere without you,” she said the pilot told her husband.

Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines said Friday the company is proud of the pilot, but have not released his name pending his approval.

“We empower our employees to make decisions on behalf of our customers,” McInnis said. “While we can’t wait for every late customer we knew he had an extreme family emergency and the pilot specifically decided to wait.”

Caden Rogers died the next day, Aurora Police said.

Contact Kyle Glazier at 303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com

While I deplore the inhumanity that cost Caden Rogers his life, I applaud an unknown Southwest Airlines pilot who simply “did the right thing.”  He didn’t ask permission, he did the right thing.

For this and everything else that Southwest Airlines does right, I enter Southwest Airlines in Gardner & Associates Consulting’s Business Execution Hall of Fame.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.om

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 10JAN11

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus:  Tragedy in Tuscon

This week, my thoughts and prayers are for those who are recovering from their injuries or murdered in Tuscon, Arizona, at the constituent event held by U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

• For those killed, I pray they are thriving where they are now.

• For those recovering, I pray they will soon be able to enjoy a wonderful life and thrive again.

• For those traumatized by the event, I hope they will be able to move on and thrive as well.

• For the first responders and civilians who acted so heroically at the scene and the hospital, thank you for your valiant assistance.

Freedom does not come without a price. Like it or not, what happened in Tuscon yesterday is the price we pay for freedoms guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Constitutional freedoms won’t be and shouldn’t be taken away. We don’t take away freedoms for the actions of deranged individuals.

Note: If you’d like to comment, please do so below or send me an email at dgardner (at) gardnerandassoc.com.

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God Its Monday” 03JAN11

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus:  business execution

The movie “127 Hours” is a true story about outdoor adventurer Aron Ralston saving himself after a boulder crashes onto his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Since no one knew where he was, Aron faces certain death unless he can extricate himself from this seemingly impossible situation.

To live, Aron must amputate his trapped arm, climb a 65-foot wall and then hike 8 miles before he is rescued.  Thankfully, he succeeded.

We are often trapped by situations that prevent us from moving forward unless and until we let go of what has been holding us back.

What do you need to let go of so you can thrive?

Thought for the week:

“Imagine what your life would be like if your bad habits were their productive counterparts.” –Jack Canfield

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.