Morning Minute: 8/01/23: (Part 2 of a 2 part series.)
“Managing The 4 Ps!”
Superior leadership requires managing People, Processes, Products, and Promotion.
PEOPLE:
Start with yourself. Be accountable to yourself. When problems arise, look first in the mirror to determine what you can do, or should have done differently. Be the change you are trying to create.
Analyze every position on your team. Be sure that you have written job descriptions. These are used to recruit, to guide actions, and to ensure that you have the right people in the right jobs. When a performance issue with a team member arises, you must retrain, transfer, or terminate the person. Otherwise, team performance suffers.
Always be recruiting because you will always have need for additional staff due to increased opportunities, resignations, retirements, and transfers. When an additional team member is required recruit online, through your associations, and/or in media.
PROCESSES:
Processes must be written and followed. These start with your recruiting, onboarding, and training of team members. Having these processes in place fosters teamwork, while managing expectations, actions, plus individual and team performances.
Analyze every function of your team. Is the current process the best way to accomplish tasks? To create the synergy of teamwork and to manage performances, processes must be in place and followed. Get your team involved in this analysis. Be open to new ideas as technologies evolve, skill levels change, and new products become available.
PRODUCTS/SERVICES:
Ensure that you have the right products in house or readily available for your clients. Whether you have a few products, or thousands, you need a stocking guide to know how much to have readily available. This guide will help you have the right items available at the right time.
Analyze how you manufacture or source these products. Will your purchaser get them in store, online, or at their location? How will the purchaser learn how to use them properly? How will you price them? Will you offer a warranty or guarantee on them?
Determine what and how services will be offered, performed, and priced?
PROMOTION:
Promotion is last area to manage. Before advertising, determine your budget and stay within it. Investigate opportunities for coop funds to augment or offset your budget. Determine if online, mass media, or email marketing is best. Plan promotions in advance.
Your team’s success will be determined by how well you manage these 4 Ps!
(Excerpted from Chapters 8-11 in WORK WITH ME NOT FOR ME (Available in print or audio on AMAZON))
That is today’s Morning Minute.
Morning Minute: 8/04/23:
“Life’s About Changing!”
Looking back over the last 53 years, a Patty Lovelace song comes to mind with the lyric: “Life’s about changing, nothing ever stays the same!”
Judy and I have had many changes over those years. We’ve lived in 6 different cities in Alabama, 3 in North Carolina, 2 in Georgia, and 1 in South Carolina. Our work sent us all over the United States.
Tying the knot as 19 year olds in 1970, we were still students, working our way through college. She went to school in the mornings and worked at night. I worked in the mornings and went to school at night. Sundays were our escape day. After church we would crank up the old Pontiac and ride wherever the road took us. We came back exhausted Sunday night and started all over again on Monday.
We lived in Charlotte, NC when God graced us with our daughter, Andrea. That was also where we bought our first house. After relocating to Mobile, God sent us a son, Aaron. Starting in 2008, the first of our 5 grand children was born. God is truly wonderful, having blessed us many times over!
Over the years we would move 22 times and own 13 different houses. There were many changes in location as we changed jobs, changed industries, and our family grew. We both pursued different career paths with many different challenges.
Augmenting our love for each other, there is another constant that has never changed. This is our unwavering support for each other. That helped us both to be successful in our different occupations. We supported our different service organizations as well. She was president of the Women’s Business and Professional Club one year. I was president of the Rotary Club of Savannah West the next year. Understanding and supporting each other has been our life’s mission.
There are many reasons for a successful family like ours. The grace that comes from God through the Holy Spirit, guides us as we make decisions and navigate changes. Our support for each other has never changed. And, our commitment to help, support, and mentor our children and grandchildren is constant.
Yes, life is about changing. We must analyze changes, adapt, and overcome them. Our love of God and for each other is the constant that allows us to weather the storms and enjoy the opportunities that life’s changes provide.
That is today’s Morning Minute.
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