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Correct or Confused?

Thinking the best leaves less room for the rest. I'm a fan of unconditional positive regard. I can assume that people are doing the wrong thing on purpose when I don't like what they do, but it doesn't change what they did and it's not likely to make things any better.  When I assume that people are doing they best they know how to do it's much easier to correct mistakes. Fix the process, not the person. Change the behavior, not the intention. People intend to do good things -- they just sometimes get confused. -- doug smith  
Recent posts

Clearly Positive

Successful supervisors keep their attitude clearly and constantly positive. Leave no doubt what you care about. -- doug smith  

Keep Your "Yes" Ready

 When we are frustrated it is tempting to say "no." When customers are unreasonable it is oh so easy to say "no." As a high performance leader and as someone who learns to balance clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion, you'll hold off on that "no" long enough to consider a useful "yes." A yes that will please your customer and you as well. A yes that builds a relationship bridge instead of constructing a negative wall of "no". Sometimes, instead of saying "no" we need to say what it would take for us to say "yes". You can always say "no" later if you need to. Keep that "yes" ready, though, and it will likely work out for the best. -- doug smith

Service Secret

How do get your staff to provide the best possible service? It is complicated and yet also simple. Here's a good place to start. Hire people who like people and you won't need to beg them to serve. It's already what they do. -- doug smith

Integrity and Belief

Does it ever feel like bad behavior is constantly rewarded? Maybe that's because in the short term, people can get away with behaving poorly and even seem to prosper. Justice is sometimes slow to react. Bold aggression bowls over good taste time and time again. It's not permanent. It won't last forever. Whether or not you believe in or call it some kind of karma, justice will find a way to even out aggression and malice. I choose to believe that integrity is not only important -- to do the right thing -- it is also inevitable. If you act with integrity, you will eventually enjoy the equity it brings. If you don't believe in integrity, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, but it does mean that you may take longer to experience it. Unless you believe that integrity wins, it's hard to have any integrity. But all that means is that lacking integrity will mean lacking justice, too. Let's do the right thing. Let's treat people fairly. Let's enjoy t

Free to Negotiate

Is everything a negotiation? Can you make an offer without holding it so close that it locks you in? If everything is a negotiation, then nothing should offend. Make a better offer. -- doug smith

Renewal

How do you feel about what change does to the past?  Or, not even the past, how about the present? So often it feels like we trash what is in favor of what could be. While change IS inevitable and necessary, it is NOT necessary to create bitterness and resentment in the process. What was got us to where we are and now that it's time to move on (because it is ALWAYS time to move on) we can take what was wonderful and leave the rest. We can honor the past without living there.  Renewal does not need to mean rejection. Go for the new, yes -- while remaining grateful for whatever got us where we are. We've done much recently to destroy tradition. Maybe we could explore what makes some of that tradition worth holding onto. What do you think? -- doug smith