costs Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Dennis E. Gilbert

31
Jan 19
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Workplace Change and Remembering the People

Tags : change costs people technology workplace

Has your workplace decided to shift direction, pivot, or use new technology? Have you changed machines, relocated, upsized, or downsized? Have you been bought by another entity? Never forget that workplace change involves people.

Since I officially entered the workspace at the age of seventeen, I’ve been around more than a few decades. I’ve seen a thing or two.

As we grow and expand our knowledge and businesses, especially with more technology, one constant remains, people.

How does workplace change impact people? How do the people affect the process or outcomes? Sadly, these two questions are often forgotten or taken for granted.

Change and People

Imagine you give Tiger Woods a brand-new set of golf clubs. These clubs are the most advanced clubs ever made. They feature the latest in technology, they are efficient, effective, and they are smart. They are also very expensive.

You hand them to Tiger and send him out on the course. A course he knows well and has played many times. Weather conditions are perfect. Will Tiger’s score improve?

Likely, not at first. He has never used these clubs before, they are different, he’ll need to learn more about them, get a feel, and adjust his style and approach.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand this practical example of the outcome of change.

Why then do so many businesses, so many engineers, CEO’s, and other really smart people expect something different with workplace change?

Workplace Change

If you sense that I’m about to jump on the soapbox for a minute, you’re correct. I have witnessed too many business fatalities.

Smart people who have calculated everything about their new equipment or technology. Floor space, power, cost of ownership, and the specifications for throughput or output. They’ve done it all.

Except for one thing. How their people will navigate this change.

Sound silly? It is. I’m begging you. Stop the madness.

Have a plan for how you’ll integrate your change with the people. How they’ll know what to do, when, how far, how high, and how long. Plan for the costs and especially for the time.

You probably wouldn’t tackle heart surgery without a surgeon.

Hire experts who can help you with your people.

-DEG

Need some help with people? Contact me.

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

07
May 18
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Care More and You Will Spend Less

Tags : caring costs customer experience service

Is customer service at an all-time low? Many people suggest that it might be. Does spending less pay off with more? Do the businesses that care more have the biggest advantage of all?

People are wondering what happened to customer service. The well-known restaurant chain, the shopping mall, and the pharmacy, what happened to the customer experience?

Keep Costs Low

Many businesses connect caring with costs. Perhaps not always consciously, but they still do it.

Why train our youngest workers in customer service, they’ll be gone at the end of the season.

It takes an extra full-time employee to monitor the rest rooms, the landscaping, and the outside trash containers.

Only one checkout line is necessary. Customers can wait when we get busy.

Call us back in a couple of hours, we’ll give you and update.

Sorry, we did nothing. We needed more information before we could process your order.

The customer experience is a simple one. Do more, give more, and care more than what is expected.

Measuring the Experience

Sometimes the trick is analyzing what is expected. Expectations are not driven by the front-line supervisor, the storeowner, or the even the marketing committee. While all three may have a hand in it, ultimately the customer decides.

When the high cost franchise restaurant cannot survive while the mom and pop diner consistently is consistently packed, or when the local shopping mall closes, and when the medical office cannot understand why patients are so angry. Perhaps they need to consider how much they really care.

Better yet, start with caring, it may be too late when everyone has already starting leaving.

Care More

It really isn’t that hard to grasp. If the population of those you serve are citing the chronic problems with customer service, your opportunity is to care more, not less.

The best businesses avoid correlating expenses with the bottom line. They correlate expenses with growth which leads to a better bottom line.

When cutting costs to improve cash flow is the only thing you’ll do to improve your position. Your position will lack service. Your culture will be focused on spend less and earn more, instead of care more and spend less.

The biggest advantage is the one waiting on you to make a difference for human interaction. Dollar for dollar customer onboarding, retention, and lifetime value will be more effective when you care more.

It is the only effective way to get more by spending less.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

19
Feb 18
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What Is Your Workplace Contribution?

Tags : contribution costs value workplace

Often people view their workplace as a place to earn a paycheck. Certainly for work outside of volunteering this is a truism. Should more people be assessing their workplace contribution?

Many people begin their commute with nearly the same intentions every day. Go to work, get to my work area, start my job, do a few things, and then go home. For some it is much more than that.

Building a Career

People who are engaged, those who want to make a difference, those who are building a career often have a little different viewpoint.

When career minded people go to work, they break things, they fix things that are broke, they build something, risk something, make decisions, have accomplishments, please a customer, help a co-worker, and occasionally fail in any of these attempts.

Where Is The Value

The person who is really contributing does all of this and so much more. It is work. It is called work because it is often hard and it isn’t always about what you are getting for it, it is also about what you become for it.

Perhaps too many people view their job in the wrong way. Instead of analyzing how much time you spend doing stuff, what if you measured how much value you are delivering. The most value doesn’t come from what you’re taking, it comes from what you are giving.

Where are you adding the most value? How much is that worth? Is it cost savings or revenue producing? Is whatever you are doing timely? Will it be the best prioritization of your efforts?

Workplace Contribution

Your workplace contribution matters. It should be measured because we know, “what gets measured gets done.” Value may be a bit nebulous for some, but it makes all of the difference for the organization.

Maybe it is time to start thinking about something different on your commute. Think about how you will provide the most value.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

16
Nov 17
-

Caring Costs but Saves Money in the Long Run

Tags : caring costs customer service money principle

Possibly the most fundamental principle that is so often violated in the workplace and especially in customer service is caring. Caring costs but it certainly can save money in the long run.

Workplace Caring

At our job, someone leaves the printer without paper, or prints and leaves the tray filled with unwanted output. The office microwave has spills, the paper towel dispenser is empty, and all of your shared documents have moved to a different folder.

It seems doesn’t matter [sarcasm] because time is money and everyone is running late or behind, or perhaps, they just don’t care. We’ll leave it for the next person to clean up or take care of, after all, they have more time.

Customer Service

We see it, feel it, and hear about it all the time. The unclean restroom, food that should be warm, but is cold, or even the displays that clutter the isles of our local food store making it difficult for shopping carts to pass.

Caring may feel like it is expensive. It takes time, resources, and often money to make a difference.

Too often, the focus is on the short term, not realizing the negative repercussions in the long run.

Caring Costs

One of the best benefits of caring is word of mouth, today this is world of mouth. The C Suite fears the negative social media posts, but insists that organizational performance is relative to the front line.

Caring starts internally, it begins within the culture of the organization. It is hard to show external caring when internally the measurement of profit or sales trumps any philosophical position the organization claims to be taking.

Saves Money

Yes, in fact, caring costs, but it may also more than pay for itself. Caring builds relationships, creates loyalty, and increases lifetime customer value. Considering just those three things, it seems to me that in the long run this saves money.

Is caring important? Caring is so important that I devoted a chapter to it in my recent book.

Care more. It puts the human back in the equation—priceless.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

15
Nov 17
-

Is Failure Expensive, Compared to What?

Tags : costs decisions expensive failure leadership

What does failure cost? Most people believe that the cost is significant. Is failure expensive and if so how, or compared to what?

On January 28, 1986, we lost the Space Shuttle Challenger reportedly due to an O-ring failure. The cost of this disaster probably easily exceeded $500 million. Some estimates are at more than $5 billion.

On April 10, 2010, we experienced the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Estimates on the cost of this manmade disaster reportedly exceed $42 billion.

Hard Costs, Hard Lessons

Oil spills, space shuttles, and nuclear reactor plants have all contributed to enormous costs of failure. Cost of life is of course, immeasurable.

Failure often seems to be measurable to hard costs. Have you considered the costs of doing nothing?

What if there were not any oilrigs, what if there was no nuclear power? NASA programs have also contributed heavily to technology development and innovation. What if those programs never existed?

Many of us won’t make decisions about oilrigs, space programs, or nuclear power, but we will make decisions about what we accomplish or don’t in our lives and in our careers.

What is the cost if you don’t take the new job, what if you didn’t attend college, or what are the pros and cons of starting your own business?

Is Failure Expensive

We can sometimes put a number on what failure costs, but it is pretty difficult to put a number on the cost of doing nothing.

For the individuals, businesses, or organizations that find themselves stuck, perhaps they only see the price tag of failure.

Failure may not be that expensive when you compare it to the cost of doing nothing, or worse, regret.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

14
Jun 17
-

Can You Afford The High Cost Of Rudeness?

Tags : civility costs customer service rudeness workplace

Rudeness, we might label it as disrespect, blame it on generational differences, or reference it as extremely poor customer service. Have you thought about the high cost of rudeness in your workplace?

There seems to be a growing trend with rude behaviors. Some might argue that this trend exists mostly because bad behaviors are widely accepted, or at least that they are often widely ignored.

Across the years there has been a lot of blame thrown at bad bosses. Certainly if workplace leaders exhibit rude behavior it can negatively impact employees. Christine Porath pointed out some of these in her 2015 article, “No Time to Be Nice at Work.”

Are there additional impacts associated with workplace rudeness?

{ This article originally appeared as a post I wrote for the New York City, SHRM Chapter. The article reached the top spot for popularity on that blog during May-June 2017. As I write this it is still sits in the top spot. Here is the link to the NYC SHRM article: Rudeness Costs, Can You Afford The Price? }

Learned Behaviors

Rudeness is a learned behavior. We might consider our social interactions, things we witness in public places, and of course the cultural behaviors of our workplace.

We see it on television shows that resemble cartoons, reality TV programming, and many of the modern day news channels. The same is true for social media where rudeness might sell with likes and clicks, thumbs up, or by going viral.

Rudeness seems to sell, and often sell big.

Cost of Rudeness

Does it eventually cost your business or organization? Yes, some of the costs are buried in employee turnover, loss of customers, and an unfavorable reputation.

There might be other costs too. In one recent example, a major news network encountered at least several harassment suits from employees, former employees, or contributors. True or not true, settled in or out of court, there is a price to be paid.

In any business, the behaviors associated with the work environment or customer experience has a price.

For most organizations it starts with the culture. How an organization communicates, interacts with customers, and treats its employees will have a lot to do with the behaviors that are replicated.

These costs can be minimized with employee training programs that target improving workplace civility, building a customer service culture, and developing better leaders.

Affording the Price

There is always a price to be paid. You can utilize prevention and maintenance that keeps your culture in check, or hope that things will never breakdown.

If you believe rudeness costs, prevention and maintenance seem like the logical choice.

If you don’t believe it, you might want to consider what happened with United Airlines or Allen Kovac before you make your final decision on your budget.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

23
Mar 17
-

20 Items to Squeeze into Your Leadership Budget

Tags : budget C-Suite costs leadership ROI

Everything on the budget might not have a direct connection with money. Budgets are important and so are trust, talent, and teamwork. What is in your leadership budget?

Leadership is important for the C-Suite and it is important at all levels throughout the organization. It doesn’t really matter if you have formal direct reports, if you are a team leader, or a committee chair.

Sure organizations budget for salary and wages, marketing, and office supplies, but what about the things which are harder to measure? What about the intangibles connected with culture?

Leadership Budget

Some of the most important things often don’t have a direct cost associated with them. They still require effort, heart, and a commitment.

Here is a list of some of my favorites:

Ask more questions
Listen to understand
Recognize facts versus opinions
Be accountable
Acknowledge extra efforts
Be trustworthy
Do what you say
Stop judging
Give more credit, take less
Be consistent
Make decisions
Show passion
Take responsibility
Care about people
Live up to standards
Show appreciation
Be ethical
Have courage
Keep your promises
Be respectful

Money may not buy love or happiness, and when it comes to leadership it doesn’t guarantee success. Organizations need leadership and it’s hard to put a price tag on culture.

Budget for What?

If you want to budget for employee of the month, the pizza party, and a night of bowling that is great. Those things sometimes help and they matter.

Budgeting for the video about your culture matters too, but it’s much less important than what you illustrate off camera.

The next time you’re struggling to balance the budget give extra consideration to the things that cost less but give more.

You might find that doing the right thing doesn’t really cost that much.

It pays.

– DEG

Originally posted on March 23, 2017, last updated on December 17, 2019.

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

28
Jul 15
-

Questions to ask…

Tags : change costs pivot

It isn’t so much that we hate change. It is that change makes us feel uneasy, nervous, and afraid. Economic factors, competitive factors, and even government regulations may force our workplace to change, but those aren’t the only reasons to consider change.

Change is happening all around us, and for that reason, staying the same may put your survival at the biggest risk. Maybe instead, ask yourself, “Why should we stay the same?” Of course, you’ll give yourself lots of reasons, things like:

it works
we’re growing
we’re exceeding our goals.

If those are your answers maybe you should ask yourself, “How long will that continue?” If those aren’t your answers, you probably already recognize something needs to change. I’m certainly not talking about just carelessly throwing around change efforts, I’m talking about purposeful change for long-term success.

Anything can work for a period of time. Continued success is likely conditioned on how well you change. Staying the same is easy and probably the fastest path to the finish, but in this case, the “finish” is not a line you want to cross.

Perhaps the best question to ask is, “What costs more, change or comfort?”

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, corporate trainer, and keynote speaker that specializes in helping businesses accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. Reach him through his website at http://DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

19
May 15
-

Small Failures

Tags : costs failure inaction think big

What costs more, failure or inaction? Too often risk is measured by the calculated cost of failure, a mind-set that inevitably causes people, employees, and businesses to freeze up, hold, or at the bare minimum hesitate.

The objective shouldn’t be about measuring the cost of failure. The cost of failure is most likely small, that is, when it is compared with the cost of inaction. Listen carefully in your next meeting or in a one-on-one with your frustrated friend. Someone will offer the risks, the costs of failure, and make the case for why taking no action at all will cost the least.

You can change this mind-set, but you have to think small to create big. The cost of failure is small, the reward for being first, unique, or innovative is big. Most people or businesses can’t do this, which is why the percentage of change, success, and growth stays small.

Small. Failures.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and consultant that specializes in helping businesses accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. Reach him through his website at http://DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Photo Credit: Creative Tools, on Flickr, Miniature Queen Anne Chair

Tag Archives: costs

Jan 19

-

Change and People

Workplace Change

May 18

-

Keep Costs Low

Measuring the Experience

Care More

Feb 18

-

Building a Career

Where Is The Value

Workplace Contribution

Nov 17

-

Workplace Caring

Customer Service

Caring Costs

Saves Money

Nov 17

-

Hard Costs, Hard Lessons

Is Failure Expensive

Jun 17

-

Learned Behaviors

Cost of Rudeness

Affording the Price

Mar 17

-

Leadership Budget

Budget for What?

Jul 15

-

May 15

-

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