A Great Time to Get Better

There are plenty of good people looking for work. That means for dealers, manufacturers or service companies there is the opportunity to upgrade. There just may be a tremendous performer who is now ready to move.

The good news is this is a chance for the healthy companies to become stronger and for that top performer to find a home where he or she can make a big difference.

The challenge for companies is: Are you willing and open to new thinking? Because that's just what is going to happen.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

The temptation to focus on the wrong stuff

A manufacturer I know has invested heavily in a training program specifically focused on its under-performing dealers. The goal is to improve their performance so that they can move up to being "average." Sounds like a decent idea, I guess.

But we have to watch that our limited focus and resources be spent where they really count. Maybe those under-performing dealers will improve, but if it's at the price of helping top performers do even better, then we have to re-consider those programs.

Freud said that sometimes a cigar is simply a cigar. Sometimes a low performer is merely that. If our resources are scarce, why not focus on the performers that truly perform?

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Performers are performers

Pick your favorite comedian. Why would you pay to see him (or her) perform? Well, for one, he's funny. But for another, he has to stay "fresh." You won't pay to hear the same material over and over. Staying fresh is a sign that the performer is passionate about his craft, that he's growing, developing, improving.

That was the beauty of great bands like the Beatles. Always something new, always progressing, always a reason to buy their new music. Never the same song with a different title. Never cashing in by dumbing-down their work.

Same thing at the office. A performer can "play well" and say the right things for awhile. But it gets old hearing the same cliche or office-speak or seeing the same behavior over and over again.

We're all performers. We need to make sure we're not stale - not singing the same song over and over again. Everyone around us knows it when we do; we have to face it ourselves.

The best way I know to do it is to catch yourself when you're saying the same thing over and over again - and question it. What am I really saying? Am I "mailing it in," or am I really, truly being sincere about my work or my idea or my assessment of the situation?

I'd rather be too critical of myself then have others do it for me.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com