We Must Solve Our Problems
By Adam
Radzik
Marketing & Sales Coach
It is January 2010, and the good news is that we’re still here. And though we’re still in business, we must acknowledge that in 2009 we lost sales, lost profits, lost value and lost opportunities.
 Very few of us have earned what we would have liked to have earned, but we’re still alive, and like the old peddler, we are still pulling the wagon behind us – although there are more rocks in that wagon than ever before.
We look back down the road we just came up, heave a big sigh, and wish and hope that the road ahead will provide a less disappointing journey.
The problem is that wishin’ and hopin’ are just not going to be enough.
Poll after poll indicates that American businesses keep extending their assessments as to how long it will take for a true economic recovery to take hold. We do not have any choice. We are going to have to change.
What does that mean? We are going to have to fix the problems that we have at our companies. And, by the way, we know what they are. It’s not as if we have some serious disease and we have no idea what is causing it. We know the areas in our companies that are performing poorly. It is not a secret.
During my career as a business consultant for more than thirty years, innumerable times clients have said to me:
“Oh, Adam, that whole group is performing poorly. They just have a bad attitude! It’s costing us money!”
“We know that we should let a bunch of mediocre and poor performers go, but frankly we are afraid we will end up with worse people!”
“We know our website looks like it’s from the year one and needs to be revised. Even our customers complain that they can’t find stuff on it. We have to do something about it. We asked Jordan to do it, and he agreed but did nothing!”
“I have talked to her about the problem of her lateness, and every time she tells me that she is going to try to do better. Meanwhile everybody ends up waiting for Michelle, and she’s not here.”
“It’s seven o’clock at night. I am here. You are here, Adam. Where are the employees? Where is the commitment? Where is the fire in the belly? Where is the caring about your commitment to the customer? What is wrong with these people? Don’t they know we are in the midst of a recession?”
“You know, Eddie comes in and nervously asks me to reassure him that his employment with our company is assured, as his wife has announced she is pregnant again. You know what I said to him? ‘Eddie, I don’t know if my job is guaranteed here. You want to up your chances for survival? Come early, stay late and be the most helpful person in the whole Fort Wayne facility!’”
“I can’t do everything! I ask people to help me and they basically ignore me. I have come to the conclusion that I work for them instead of them working for me, and I own the damn place!”
Every company has a list of weaknesses and problems that it is fully, repeatedly and painfully aware of. Often the problems have been around for a long time. But they aren’t getting solved. And that is a very big problem.
During difficult economic times, unresolved problems threaten the very survival of a business.
Identify your chronic problems, develop solutions and take positive action while you still can. Get used to being a “problem eater” – a person who devours problems!
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Excerpt from CD Set: Quick Advice on Improving Our Relationships
Personal boundaries must be patrolled regularly.
We get comfortable in our relationships. There is a familiarity to them. We are at peace and life is tranquil. Unexpectedly, boundary violations occur in relationships we believed were safe.
For example, as Vivian walks past her boss’s desk, he pats her on the behind. Surprised, she turns to look at him and sees him smile and wink at her. Vivian shows a disapproving look and sighs at the immaturity of men. She tells no one. She doesn’t know who and what will be waiting for her the next time she visits the filing room at the back of the warehouse.
For example, Melvin is a benign father who wants to be friends with his children, not have a tyrannical relationship like his father had with him. When he asks his kids where they’ve been, they tell him to bug off. He laughs. Kids today are different, he tells his concerned wife. He doesn’t want to cramp their style. All three of Melvin’s sons are heroin addicts.
For example, Angela often refers to her husband, Adyn, as being too passionate about most things. Adyn can be very loving, but he gets very upset if Angela doesn’t do what he has instructed her to do. In recent months, Adyn has begun referring to Angela as a flunkie. Angela doesn’t answer him back; why start a fight in front of the kids? One day, Adyn will break a chair over Angela’s fleeing figure and break her leg.
When violations of our boundaries occur, we must respond and make crystal clear to the offending party that such violations are completely unacceptable.
Comedy Corner
A Jewish Mother’s Answering Machine:
If you really want cheese blintzes, press 1; if you are dying for a hot potato knish, go ahead and press 2; if you have a cold and need my special chicken soup, don’t wait, press 3; if you want matzoh balls with the soup also – and of course you do, tateleh – you know what to do: press 4.
If you want to know how am I feeling, you are obviously calling the wrong number, since nobody ever calls me up to ask me how I am feeling. Don’t give me that look. You know exactly what I am talking about. Your poor, abandoned mother is now hanging up this phone! |
Adam Radzik has been helping businesses since 1982. His experience
lies in marketing, sales, management and conflict
resolution. He has taught thousands how to
improve their results through individual coaching.
