I love Sinatra. I listen to him when I run; my car radio button is glued to Seriously Sinatra; I watch his old TV appearances and reruns of his Vegas shows. I don't care if he is Johnny Fontaine in the Godfather, I love this guy.
Here's the surprise, though. My favorite song of his isn't Fly Me To The Moon or Make It One For My Baby or any other of his hits. It's Here's To the Band.
Why?
Here's the surprise, though. My favorite song of his isn't Fly Me To The Moon or Make It One For My Baby or any other of his hits. It's Here's To the Band.
Why?
Because he acknowledges, he praises, he gives credit to his support team, the group that delivers his music. He's very clear about this when he belts out: "Here's to the band. I wouldn't have made it without them."
There's more than just a tune and lyrics here. There's a message:
It's not just about the CEO, the Executive Staff, the Management Team.
It's not just about the owners, the VPs and presidents.
It's not just about CFOs, the development staff, and the sales staff.
It's also about the clerks, the receptionists, the admin staff, the data processors, the entry level people.
It's about the band. Often the key to our businesses' reputations are the front-line employees. They are the men and women who first greet our customers when they walk in the door, deliver the messages accurately when we return to the office, plug in the correct data to our spreadsheets.
Chicago...New York...South Of The Border
Wow! Can my man Frank sing about these places.
And do those places host Conferences for all the various impressive titles of the folks running these companies, corporations, businesses, and agencies? Yes indeedy. But not for the front-line employees.
I'm waiting for the CEO at a Fortune 500 Company to post this:
There's more than just a tune and lyrics here. There's a message:
It's not just about the CEO, the Executive Staff, the Management Team.
It's not just about the owners, the VPs and presidents.
It's not just about CFOs, the development staff, and the sales staff.
It's also about the clerks, the receptionists, the admin staff, the data processors, the entry level people.
It's about the band. Often the key to our businesses' reputations are the front-line employees. They are the men and women who first greet our customers when they walk in the door, deliver the messages accurately when we return to the office, plug in the correct data to our spreadsheets.
Chicago...New York...South Of The Border
Wow! Can my man Frank sing about these places.
And do those places host Conferences for all the various impressive titles of the folks running these companies, corporations, businesses, and agencies? Yes indeedy. But not for the front-line employees.
I'm waiting for the CEO at a Fortune 500 Company to post this:
ATTENTION SECRETARIES, RECEPTIONISTS AND CASHIERS
3 DAY CONFERENCE IN ORLANDO...ALL EXPENSES PAID.
LEARN HOW TO BE THE BEST AT WHAT YOU DO
And if you saw this posted, you'd say, no way...it's witchcraft.
This all works out just fine for me, though, because those conferences that will never be help me to keep my Coaching business quite active. I coach the admin, clerical, and entry level staffs of these companies on how to be better at these jobs of theirs, on how to get noticed. We work on phone skills: warmth, graciousness, politeness. We work on face to face skills: body language, tonality, vocabulary. We work on understanding, communicating and being enthusiastic about the mission of the corporation or agency they work for.
We're the band, fine tuning skills, keeping in sync with each other, orchestrating individually to bring it all together for the Chairman of the Board.
It Was A Very Good Year
You see, I have little doubt that it starts at the bottom, not the top. It starts with the front-line. They get the first call, the first complaint, the first question...hardly ever, the first compliment. They set the tone. They give the first impression, and sometimes the only impression. They can contribute very positively to that end of year statement or report. They can validate my core belief that all people are far greater than the job they do.
How High Can You Jump?
Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump and hit the top of the cardboard box repeatedly. Eventually they continue to jump, but not high enough to hit the top. (They ain't dumb.) When the lid is removed they continue to jump. But they will not jump out of the box. They won't because they can't. Why? Because they have conditioned themselves to jump so high and no higher. That's all they can do.
Many times people do the same thing. They become restricted, unmotivated, and never reach their potential, thinking they are doing all they can do. Complacency can be a career killer.
I gotta start coaching fleas.
Except, they'd get under my skin.
The Mission
A passerby stopped by a bunch of construction workers on the job site. As he walked around the construction he randomly asked 3 of them what they were building.
The first said he was laying bricks.
The second one said he was building a retaining wall.
The third one said he was building a cathedral where people will come to pray.
I can almost hear him saying to himself...I did it my way.
This all works out just fine for me, though, because those conferences that will never be help me to keep my Coaching business quite active. I coach the admin, clerical, and entry level staffs of these companies on how to be better at these jobs of theirs, on how to get noticed. We work on phone skills: warmth, graciousness, politeness. We work on face to face skills: body language, tonality, vocabulary. We work on understanding, communicating and being enthusiastic about the mission of the corporation or agency they work for.
We're the band, fine tuning skills, keeping in sync with each other, orchestrating individually to bring it all together for the Chairman of the Board.
It Was A Very Good Year
You see, I have little doubt that it starts at the bottom, not the top. It starts with the front-line. They get the first call, the first complaint, the first question...hardly ever, the first compliment. They set the tone. They give the first impression, and sometimes the only impression. They can contribute very positively to that end of year statement or report. They can validate my core belief that all people are far greater than the job they do.
How High Can You Jump?
Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump and hit the top of the cardboard box repeatedly. Eventually they continue to jump, but not high enough to hit the top. (They ain't dumb.) When the lid is removed they continue to jump. But they will not jump out of the box. They won't because they can't. Why? Because they have conditioned themselves to jump so high and no higher. That's all they can do.
Many times people do the same thing. They become restricted, unmotivated, and never reach their potential, thinking they are doing all they can do. Complacency can be a career killer.
I gotta start coaching fleas.
Except, they'd get under my skin.
The Mission
A passerby stopped by a bunch of construction workers on the job site. As he walked around the construction he randomly asked 3 of them what they were building.
The first said he was laying bricks.
The second one said he was building a retaining wall.
The third one said he was building a cathedral where people will come to pray.
I can almost hear him saying to himself...I did it my way.
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