Newsletter topics: Company Assessment, An Employee's Blog, Culture and Brand, Planning and Preparation, Selecting a Consultant 

• Feedback On The Need For Company Assessment  
• What Should We Do About An Employee's Outrageous Blog?
• UCME 1X?
• Planning and Preparation
• How To Hire The Right Consultant

You see me one time. This is someone’s license plate in the community that I am living. Since it is on a Corvette, at first I just thought it was funny. The more I saw it, the more it got me thinking—it’s true! We make decisions all the time based on this simple philosophy.

 

Prospective clients normally make their decision about a company with the very first person they meet or speak to and within the first minute. WOW that is a lot of pressure! It sounds like interviewing for a job . . . wait it is!

 

Think about when you hire a new employee. You are very selective, want the most for the best price and try to decide if you will like the person’s personality—if they will fit. Is this someone you can work with? Is this someone who your current team will work well with? Will this person be able to help us grow? (continue)

Have you ever thought about the difference between Firefighters and Pyrotechnicians? 

 

Firefighters: They wait in the firehouse until the alarm goes off. Then they race to the scene of the fire, put it out, and then go back and wait for the next fire. Despite the fact that they do occasional fire safety education, they are reactive in their work.

 

Pyrotechnicians: They select the fireworks that will go off, the sequence, the music, and the timing. They are totally proactive in their jobs.

 

So what are you? What about your staff? What did you hire? What is supported and recognized in your company culture? What do you need to drive your company forward?

 

What I offer to you this month is to consider if you have trained and conditioned your employees to be the consummate firefighter, while urging them to become better pyrotechnicians. 

 

The problem is this.  Proactive skills are exactly that – skills.  They need to be learned, practiced, and fine-tuned if we are to be good at them.  When we are constantly fighting fires, we may only have a few short minutes to put on our “proactive” hat.  Just when we think we’ll have time to do something proactive  (continue)

 

There comes a time when every executive or entrepreneur realizes that he needs help – the kind of help that nobody in his company can provide.  Usually it is a task that requires specialized expertise and he either doesn’t have the proper skill set or has no time to devote and can’t spare any of his employees for the job.

 

When you define what you need and hire a well-regarded consultant to fill that need, you not only get the task done properly but you save a lot of money and anguish.  On the other hand, the wrong consultant hired for a vague reason can cause a lot of expensive damage, and waste valuable time.

 

Define your need

First:  Ask yourself what you want to happen that isn’t happening.  If you are in doubt about the true source of poor performance or cannot decide where change is needed, you might want to ask for a short review and recommendations from the consultant you are considering hiring.  You should expect to pay for this, but it will allow you to evaluate the consultant’s work before committing to an extensive engagement. (continue)

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