Michael’s Insights

Think Out of The Box. It’s Amazing What You Can Accomplish with an Inquisitive Mind

Think Out of The Box. It’s Amazing What You Can Accomplish with an Inquisitive Mind

How easily we accept what we’ve been told. I can’t tell you how often I have heard an employee and then their managers and say things like:

“We’ve always done it that way. Why change things now?”

“If we try doing it differently, we’d have to retrain everyone.” “That would be hard!”

“That’s just the way it is around here. Things never change.”

“We tried to solve that problem a bunch of times, but have basically given up”

“The process is just too complicated to change.”

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When Is The Best Time To Start Your Family Business Succession Planning?

When Is The Best Time To Start Your Family Business Succession Planning?

2 GenerationsWhen is the best time to hand over the reigns? Perhaps its not something you like to think about. That is natural enough. However, when it comes to family business succession planning, the earlier the better. Grooming future leadership is a process that takes time and preparation.

“It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations.” – Christine Gregoire

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A Lesson from Seahawks’ Coach Pete Carroll on How to Refocus Your Team

A Lesson from Seahawks’ Coach Pete Carroll on How to Refocus Your Team

Athletes can be a difficult crowd to keep focused. I have used this executive coaching technique used by Seahwaks Coach “Pete Carroll” to good effect. Coaches use any number of techniques or methods to help keep their teams or individuals on track doing what they have to do in order to succeed. Imagine the following situations which are just a tiny slice of all the situations that arise on a day to day basis…

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How Employee Frustration Can Thwart Your Business Plans

How Employee Frustration Can Thwart Your Business Plans

Most leaders are familiar with the challenge of engaging uninspired employees. We talk about how to get our employees excited about work again and boost their productivity. Less frequently discussed is the problem of employees coming to work completely motivated, but lacking the resources they need to fully perform. As seen in the model for Managing Complex Change, this leaves employees in a state of frustration.

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Why Customer Service Training Will Empower Your Team to Build A Great Experience

Why Customer Service Training Will Empower Your Team to Build A Great Experience

How valuable is a satisfied customer? If customer service training could help you and your team win over one happy customer after the next, what would that be worth to your business?

Several years ago, a television news show put the renowned Nordstrom customer service to the test. With a hidden camera, an actor posing as a shopper attempted to return a piece of clothing to the Seattle-based retailer despite the fact that he bought it elsewhere. This “customer” promised the salesperson that while in the store he would spend lots of money, but he simply wanted to return the shirt as well. Would Nordstrom allow this?

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