Clintcast

Though the differences between products and services may seem obvious, in truth, in our everyday consumer culture, we are being trained to see the world in terms of products specifically. To this end, it becomes increasingly important to find ways to 'package' your services (as well as the outcomes of those services) into products that customers can examine, compare and build brand loyalty with.

We are being increasingly saturated with metrics throughout our daily lives, measuring hundreds of factors at every moment. This need to keep score, while good in intention, often becomes so overwhelming, we lose sight of the purpose of the metrics in the first place. Today, Clint discusses how team-based approaches can benefit from deciding on 2-3 important key metrics and setting goals around them to drive focus within an organization.

There is a tremendous difference between satisfying a customer and dazzling them. Despite any environmental factors/product features/etc that are initially impressive, the best way to dazzle ultimately comes down to our interactions with people! Clint shares his thoughts on how and why we need to hone our skills at delivering dazzling services and behaviors.

In a world where organizations are becoming increasingly specialized in an effort to remain competitive, there is great benefit to be found when partnerships can be forged to complement each other's niche specialties. This concept extends within an organization as well. Examine your job today to see who your potential partners can be to help you deliver better service.

While big successes are obviously great to have, it is highly important to celebrate the little successes too. We've found that the three best ways to celebrate the smaller victories focus around food, prizes and men in tights. Find out what Clint means by that!

As Clint has echoed repeatedly this past week, teams are a key factor to successfully tackling practically any task in an organization. To that end, Clint shares ideas on creating 10-12 member 'SuperTeams' which drive higher-level initiatives by coordinating and working with sub-teams throughout the organization.

In continuing Clint's principles regarding organizational processes, recruiting good co-workers is another critical function of business, and as such, it needs to be driven by the team, just like team-based targets and team-based selection of co-workers. It is vital to utilize a team approach in bringing in new strengths to your existing teams.

In the healthcare profession, there are processes that we continually strive to improve. That is great that we do this - it is, after all, expected that we strive to get better. How does your customer, however, perceive the 'outcomes' of your process improvements? That is far greater in importance to your success.

The world isn't fair. We all know this... and yet we still complain that things aren't fair when life doesn't go our way. How do we deal with this situation so it doesn't come to overrule life? Clint gives you his take.

Few things can be as destructive to an organization as "Family Secrets" - that tangled mass of rumors, half-truths, grapevines, gossip and such that leads in the opposite direction of team-based, whole-organization involvement and strategic action. Putting a stop to this waste of energy is a difficult yet critical task for every organization.

Effectively dealing with absences and tardiness issues requires a different approach than you may have used in the past. In continuing a theme throughout the week, utilizing a team approach can bring better outcomes when the absent/late worker is more closely tied to the direct effects of their behaviors on their co-workers.

Bringing on new co-workers is best done as a team effort, especially since the whole team will interact with the candidate once the he/she is hired, not just the hiring manager. To this end, it is critical to put in place the necessary skills and procedures to enable this important team function.

There is a fine art to strategic planning that will have a strong chance at success in aligning an organization's future direction and outcomes. That said, it is not magic to achieve if you understand how to drive team-based decisions and goals and can keep these in focus as an organization as a whole.

The first step in putting the customers of our work first and foremost is the personal adoption of a No Excuse Policy. What does this entail? Clint will fill you in on the details to this key skill which we each must master in our daily work.

The costs associated with recruiting and training new co-workers is commonly far greater than that spent on retaining the quality employers already in place. Today, Clint gives you pointers on how to keep great employees, and better still, set up a quality work environment that attracts quality employees in the first place.

Where are the enemies that hold you back from successes in your organization or even your own work? Clint shares thoughts on how to find these detractors and ways to root them out to boost your productivity and that of your bigger organization as well.

What does it truly mean to be in the "People" Business? A lot of industries and job types that we give special niche names to are in actuality simply all part of the "People" business. Learn how to see your work framed in this bigger picture and you will open up your bigger success possibilities.

Finding focus depends greatly upon the concept of "now". Learn to see the difference between the past, current and future versions of "now" and the impact each has on an organization in the grand scheme of things!

Finding balance is imperative to your personal and professional life. The daily question is how to do it. Today, Clint provides a technique he calls creating 50|50s that can help you with this lifelong dilemma.

These three powerful words can make a world of difference in your daily customer service efforts. Learn from Clint how you can step up your performance by adopting this simple strategy.