David Mooring

Faith. Fatherhood. Freedom.

Business

Do You Make Your Free Throws?

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It’s March. College basketball is everywhere. I’m not a big sports fan, but I really enjoy college basketball.

I’m always struck by the number of poor free throw shooters there are on most teams. Some shoot as low as 50-60%.

When games are often decided by less than 5 points, free throws can easily determine the winner.

And if that’s the case, I wonder why more players don’t do what’s necessary to excel at free throws.

Players know they’re going to have to shoot them in almost every game. They know exactly what the conditions will be – where they’ll stand, where the goal will be, what ball they’ll be using.

In other words, free throws are gimmies, they should be made 90% of the time. Games shouldn’t be lost because of missed free throws.

What’s your “free throw”?

How to Overcome Tardiness and Improve Your Life

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My last post, 10 Things Your Tardiness Says About You, provided a short list of things others may think of you when you’re late. Those statements ring true for me because I have been on both sides of the tardiness coin.

Yes, for most of my life I was “that guy”.

The guy who was always late – late to everything. Late to school, late to work, late to golf practice, late for dates.

It was so bad that my friends, when organizing events, would always give me a time 30 minutes to an hour before everyone else, just so they wouldn’t have to wait for me.

I could share some pretty embarrassing stories, but I think I’ll pass.

But that was then and this is now. Thanks in large part to my ever-punctual, beautiful wife (I love you, honey).

Obviously, I had to “want” to change, but she taught me the skills and methods I needed to change my habits and essentially, change my life.

Change my life? Absolutely.

If you are habitually late, you probably feel as though life is chaos, that you’re never in control or on top of the situation.

You feel like everything happens to you, and try as you may, your plans always go awry. It’s not for lack of desire, it’s for lack of knowledge and understanding.

Today, I’m on the receiving end of the I’m-going-to-be-late phone calls. I’m doing my best to offer the “benefit of the doubt”, but when it comes down to it, my job is to help people better themselves, and helping them overcome their chronic tardiness is one key to their success.

Making the change is not that complicated, but it does take time.

You won’t be able to change over night, but if you stick to the plan and celebrate the small accomplishments, you’ll soon find yourself frustrated with those people who are always late.

Because this is so critical to success in all areas of life, I’m going to take time to focus on each key element separately. My next few posts will outline some specific steps..

I will teach you how to overcome tardiness!

Let’s get started.

Continue to Part 1: Learn to Estimate Time Accurately

10 Things Your Tardiness Says About You

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Being punctual is critical no matter what your job.

Whether you’re a student or an executive, a sales rep or a job hunter, being late says more about you than you probably realize.

Because you may not be aware of the negative message you’re sending, I thought I should give you a list to consider:

  1. I didn’t get here on time, so I probably won’t finish your project on time
  2. I’m not able to manage my life, let alone the team you want me to lead
  3. Time isn’t important to my firm, the deadlines we set are just random dates
  4. I’m not prepared . . . ever
  5. I don’t know how to plan for worst case scenarios, this happens to me all the time
  6. I’m lazy
  7. This appointment just isn’t that important to me
  8. I am a prima donna, you really don’t want me to work here
  9. I stay up late partying, because that’s really what’s important
  10. I don’t respect you or your time

If it’s possible that when you’re late, this is what the other party is thinking, don’t you think you should do something about it?

I think so, and I’m going to help you!

Here are some posts I’ve written on how to overcome tardiness, stop being late, and get back in control of your life.

Good luck!

5 (More) Things I Learned At Enterprise Rent-A-Car That You Can Use Anywhere

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Yesterday I posted a list of five things I learned at Enterprise that would benefit you in any job or business. The following is a list of five more:

  1. Reward Employees Well – Expect 110% from your employees, but reward them for it. If they know they’re appreciated, you’ll see obvious results in their work ethic and productivity. Rewards don’t have to be monetary. In fact, in a down economy, it’s important to find ways to reward employees without increasing expenses (additional time off, more breaks, flexible hours, etc).
  2. Have Fun – Enterprise does a great job of creating a competitive but enjoyable atmosphere, even going so far as to hosting after hours events for several branches together. Encourage laughter and chatter. Get a foosball table, have someone bring in a Nintendo Wii, or host a night of bowling.
  3. Team Work – Find ways to reward the team, unit, or business (if small) as a whole. Set up challenging competitions or goals, and make sure to come up with a reward that your employees actually want. You may also need to ask around to make sure office politics, negative employees, or egos aren’t getting in the way of great team work.
  4. Share The Numbers – Don’t be afraid to let your employees in on some of the financial figures. If you’ve hired the right people, they want the whole business to succeed. Knowing how their work affects expenses or revenues may help them be proactive in affecting the bottom line without you having to ask.
  5. Give Opportunities To Advance And Excel – This is critical to keeping employees. No one wants to feel like they are trapped, and if they do, they’ll start looking for the nearest exit. Make sure there is a clear path for each employee to advance or gain rewards. But don’t stop there; you must make sure each employee is fully aware of their potential path and how they can reach their destination.

5 Things I Learned At Enterprise Rent-A-Car That You Can Use Anywhere

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I worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car for three years, one year full-time, two years part-time while going to grad school. I’ll be the first to admit that there are great things about Enterprise, and not-so-great things about Enterprise. It has a great reputation among some business schools, and a poor reputation among some former employees. But, as with any job I’ve held, I prefer to glean what I can, learn from it, and apply it to the next job. The following is a list of 5 things I learned from my stint there that you can apply to any job or business:

  1. Dress Well – Most industries no longer require formal business attire anymore. But that doesn’t mean you should come to work looking like you’re headed to breakfast on Saturday morning. Dressing well is a sign of respect towards those with whom you interact. If you interact with lawyers and bankers – wear a suit, marketing professionals or mid-level management – business casual, a team of programmers – well, at least wear clothes that are clean and odor-free.
  2. Smile, A Lot – This is pretty simple. Smiling is contagious, and it puts people in a better mood. You’ll leave a better impression and have a better chance at closing the deal.
  3. Don’t Take It Personally – Nothing is more important when you’re involved in customer service than remembering that 99% of the time, it’s not about you. Do your best to figure out what the primary issue is, then go a step further and take their side. Literally talk and act as if you’re making it your job to solve their problem. They will no longer see you as the enemy but as a champion for their cause and things will be much easier on you.
  4. It’s OK To Sweat – Enterprise employee’s wear dress clothes, yet spend hours each day washing cars. Whether it’s 100 degrees or there’s snow on the ground, the cars get washed. What’s more, Enterprise managers start off at the bottom, washing cars like everyone else. Don’t be afraid to get dirty or break a sweat from time to time. You’ll be surprised at how far that goes with your employees. It’s also good for the soul.
  5. Great Customer Service Is Critical – This seems like a no-brainer, but if you don’t make your customers happy, you will cease to have customers. Enterprise focuses heavily on customer service, going so far as to making the customer satisfaction score of each branch part of the criteria for bonuses, rewards, raises, or promotions. Make Great Customer Service a priority at your job and it will surely pay off.

Managing Employee Mistakes: Ask Questions First

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For an employee, nothing is more frustrating than to be criticized by your manager for something about which he or she has very little info. Whether it’s a judgement call with a bad outcome, human error, or suspected wrong doing, it’s important to have all the facts before taking any corrective measure. After all, if you’re not aware of the whole situation, not only could your corrective measure fail, it could make the situation worse. Furthermore, it could destroy trust, prohibiting that employee from taking necessary risks to grow and mature.

I like to think through situations with the idea that everyone has their own set of data surrounding the matter, and each of those data sets is limited. In order to properly manage a situation, you must make your data set as complete as possible. You’ll need to combine the information you have with that of the employee, and in some cases, third parties (clients or other coworkers). Once you have all the possible data, you’ll be much closer to understanding the issue at hand, what caused it, and how to proceed in finding a resolution.

Occasionally I’ll get complaint emails from clients about a particular circumstance or team member. For those rare instances when that email is particularly bad, it’s difficult to stay composed long enough to find out all the necessary information. But I’ve learned that I can rarely solve the problem, or prevent it’s recurrence, by jumping in to the situation with the limited info I obtained from the client email. There have been times when the client was misinformed, unaware of the whole situation, ignorant of what was happening, or just plain wrong. What could be worse than criticizing an employee for something that never even occurred?

Other times I’ve uncovered situations where the employee wasn’t trained to properly handle a situation, was given inaccurate information, or simply lacked the necessary tools for the job. Criticism in such situations will do nothing but kill morale and undermine everything you’re trying to accomplish.

Finally, there are always circumstance where the employee made the wrong decision, failed to check their work, or exhibited poor work ethic. Ignoring these issues or treating the wrong problem does very little to help your employees grow and mature.

So the next time an issue arises, refrain from letting your first words be critical, and instead do your best to build a complete data set by asking questions. Then you can confidently move forward knowing that you are building trust, bettering your employees, and making the best decision.