Improve My Business

McDonald Consulting Group recently hosted students from Texas State University’s Job Shadowing program.  Here is a guest post from one of our interns, Osvaldo Hernandez - and the reason he was late this morning!
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Unfortunately this morning, I and surely countless other first timers traveling through Austin, have now experienced the dreadful amount of traffic that can accumulate on these major highways during the morning traffic hours. If most of your life you have stayed pretty locally to your small hometown and have never ventured too far off then traffic might not be something you would have to cope with on a daily basis. However, when indeed having to explore new terrain and neighboring vicinities, it is not until then that you run into these horrible time absorbing, stress producing things that they call traffic. However as unlucky as I was feeling this morning for being in such a situation, in which every car was touching bumper to bumper and time had also seemed to have come to a complete stop, I began to ponder on how I could have better prepared myself in order to prevent being stuck in this dreadful situation in the first place. Here are just a few thoughts that I had wished I thought of much earlier.

- A great way to help yourself wake up in the morning is to turn on some television. I am not entirely sure if it is just the human voices themselves that begin to wake up your mind or the little music combination with people trying to crack some cheesy jokes that eventually starts waking you up. However It would have made the biggest difference in the world if I had not only payed attention to that, but actually stopped for a second to find out what time the traffic news was going to come on and then see whether there were any traffic delays. I would have then seen that were a few car accidents on the highway which were making traffic back up all the way to San Marcos!

- Also while I was there stuck in the endless amount of traffic I got this vision of what my mother would probably tell me once I had talked to her about how this morning went. I could just imagine her scolding me and reminding me of the countless times she has already told me that in order to arrive anywhere on time you have to leave super early! Even when you are traveling most of the distance on highway because it never fails that something always holds you up when you are in a hurry. Next time I will do as she advised.

- Now with the great advancements in technology these days, smart phones are becoming almost a necessity for a human to own. Smart phones are literally a tiny mobile computer with wireless internet access that will fit in the palm of your hand. You can do everything from quickly sending and receiving important business emails, to chatting with a friend on your facebook online. One of the apps that come in handy is the GPS program that is common for every smart phone to be equipped with. With this application I would have simply pushed a few buttons and in no time would have been following a different route to the same original destination. However to my luck my smart phone at the time had decided to not function anymore which is also an emerging problem with these new smart phones, but that’s an entirely different topic.

So these are some great tips to hopefully combat the Austin morning traffic problem. What do you suggest?

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Thanks, Os!  And, if anyone knows of a good internship for a soph EE, contact me and we’ll put you in touch!  (If you know of a good internship for an IE, let me know that too…)

From Ron Edmonson, here are 5 reasons that delegation fails - enjoy!

5 reasons delegation often fails:

There was no accountability provided in the delegation process. When someone receives a project, they need to be given a timeline for completion. They need a system of follow up, measures of accomplishment or benchmarks towards completion. A predetermined win is clear and understood in healthy delegation.

The leader dumped instead of delegated. [He has] written about this previously, but if the leader had the responsibility to delegate the task, then he or she retains a level of responsibility to check in periodically with the delegate’s progress. There’s an element of partnership in a healthy delegation process, where the leader remains close enough to assure completion.

The delegate was not properly trained. Assuming someone knows how to do a task and can figure out their way on their own isn’t only naive it’s unfair. Questions need to be asked and information given on the front end to make sure the person has the ability to complete the task or the ability to learn along the way. This may involve the leader spending more time in the beginning phases of a task to ensure completion is attainable by the delegate.

Adequate resources were not in place. It’s difficult to expect someone to complete a task when the leader hasn’t given the proper tools for the job. Sometimes anxious leaders delegate a project too soon, before the team is ready, either in structure or in resources.

The wrong person was chosen for the task. Let’s face it. Not everyone is up to every task. Many times when delegation fails because the leader picked the wrong person for the job. Selecting the best person on the front end or reassigning when an improper fit is discovered is critical to assure completion of a task.

Technorati Tags: delegation, leadership, teamwork

background:  It’s 1979.  I’m sharing an office, and a phone, with a co-worker.  A vendor calls up for my office mate, Gary, who’s not in.  I say that he’s not there, and ask if I can take a message.  The caller asks where he is, and when he’ll be back.  I say I don’t know (to both), but again offer to take a message.  The caller says that I “should know where my boss is” and then leaves a message for Gary to call him back.  As a woman, I’m sorta used to being considered the admin help rather than the engineering staff, so it’s no biggie for me.  Gary, however, is incensed that “this jerk” assumed I was his admin (back then we called them ’secretaries’) and calls up the vendor, telling him [in no uncertain terms] that I am an engineer - just like him - and I deserve his respect - just like him.  He then goes on to say that I got better grades than he did in college, and that I was probably a better engineer.  He then “offers” to let the vendor speak to me to apologize - which of course the vendor does - profusely.  I’m more amused than anything else by the whole exchange.  As a woman, in the ’70’s workforce, it was not uncommon for folks to assume that I was in an engineering meeting to take notes, make coffee, etc. rather than to actively participate.  I knew it would get easier, as more women entered the professional/scientific/engineering ranks - and it has.  I’m rarely mistaken now.

Fast forward 30+ years later, to 2011:  I get a phone call on my business phone.  Because we have the phone roll over to the home phone after 5 pm, and this call is at 5:11 pm, my daughter answers the phone a split second before I do on a different extension.  The caller asks for “Mr. McDonald”.  [My husband, though part owner in my business, is not an active participant.]  While my daughter is getting my husband on the phone, I (on another extension) ask what this is about.  Just then, my husband answers the phone.  I again say, ‘This is a business phone and Mr. McDonald is not a part of this firm; may I ask what this is about?”  and the caller has the poor instincts, and the gall, to say, “I’m calling for Mr. McDonald - and you’re interrupting!”  [You could almost hear him muttering something derogatory about the "Little Missy" interrupting him...]

…

at which point my husband states that “MRS. McDonald owns this company, you are calling on HER business line, and I suggest that you tell HER what this call is in reference to.”   The caller half-heartedly apologizes and quickly hangs up.  Now, we’ve got caller ID and are smart enough to use reverse lookup, so we know EXACTLY which company is hiring Neanderthals.  We’re not stupid.

My message to the caller?  Get into the 21st century, bucko.  Women own companies.  Women make decisions.  We are NOT interrupting when we are inquiring about inbound sales calls - we are making decisions (including a decision to block any calls from your company).  And the fact that you’re trying to sell us something?  As Julia Roberts, in Pretty Woman, says to a sales clerk who originally refused to wait on her - “You work on commission, right?  Big mistake.  Big.  HUGE.”

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Business, Business Relationships, communication, customer satisfaction, customer service, julia roberts, pretty woman

Many folks complain about how e-mail takes up all of their time - it interrupts them, prevents them from getting concentrated work complete, and sucks up all their time.

I used to be no different - until I got fed up with being in e-mail hell, and figured out a way to get out of it.  There are several techniques that I’ll list here - figure out the ones that work for YOU, and implement them immediately.

The list, in no particular order (other than the order I thought of them), are:

- the unsubscribe feature on company emails.  Do you get daily coupons from a pizza joint, weekly sales notifications from your favorite clothing store, or other emails that take up your time?  If so, scroll to the bottom and follow the instructions to unsubscribe.  Getting rid of these once and for all, rather than deleting them without reading, will eventually clear out some of the clutter you see when reviewing unread emails.

- don’t reply if you don’t have to.  Sending an email with “thanks”, or “got it”, or even “OK”, unless specifically requested, or in recognition of someone else going above and beyond for you, is unnecessary; and worse, clutters up THEIR email box!  However, if someone does you a favor that would be nice to acknowledge, write them a thank-you note by all means…

- set aside “no email” time.  I leave email processing for when I’m done with a chunk of a big project, when I’ve completed a couple of blog posts, when I need a break from writing a report, etc.  I DON’T have an email flag that pops up every time I get an email; I DON’T check my email every 30 minutes (unless I want a headache that day); and I DON’T live on my email account unless I need to (a client and I are conversing back and forth, exchanging documents, etc.)

- schedule your “email” time.  When consulting with execs to streamline their day and help them to become more efficient, we start with two basic things - interruptions, and emails.  (Interruptions will be a separate blog post at a later date…)  when we cover email, I ask them when they REALLY need to look at emails, and the most common times are:

1. at the start of the business day
2. right before lunch
3. right after lunch, to check for afternoon info
4. before going home
5. (unfortunately) at home that evening

So, if I can get the exec to commit to ONLY looking at emails these 4-5 times, for a few days, they invariably report that they had been more productive since they handle emails in batch vs continuous mode, and they subsequently had more time available to get other things accomplished.  One fun way to do this is to play the E-Mail Game, which lets you see how long you are spending on each email and provides points and timing - to make it fun.  It’s also very helpful in getting emails out of your inbox, since you can ‘boomerang’ something out for a set amount of time rather than leaving it there (and potentially overlooking it).

There are tips galore on the web about handling emails; these are the ones that most of my clients find to be the tops for getting them sprung from email hell.

Any tips to add?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Technorati Tags: Business, de-clutter, efficiency, email, managing your time, organizing, process improvement, Streamlining, Time Management, working smarter

as we approach the shortest day of the year (Dec 21), we notice that it’s dark so much longer - maybe going to work, or coming home, or both - and therefore it may be hard to be active.  Here are some quick tips to get you over the hump:

- Get enough sunlight.  Try and get outside during daylight hours - even for 5-10 minutes - to help you realize that there ARE daylight hours in the day!

- Keep energy levels up.  Exercise (yes, even if you have to ‘force’ yourself to do so) and also get enough sleep and eat right (don’t I sound like your mom now?)

- Plan activities during the evening.  If you sit in front of the TV or computer monitor all evening, every evening - do something different.  Instead of fast-forwarding through commercials, or mindlessly playing a Facebook game, get up for 2-3 mins and get something accomplished - throw in a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, sort through mail, pay a few bills - whatever!  The point is to DO something.

- Socialize.  Spend time with friends (exercising, visiting, etc.) and connect to the world at large (and yes, this means outside of your facebook friends….)

- Relax and enjoy.  If you’ve had a particularly frantic year, perhaps this is the time you need to rejuvenate interest, relax and read a book, or simply take a walk or drive and enjoy the Christmas lights… and in turn, this time to ‘unplug’ may spark you to do something else!

What suggestions do YOU have to stay energized?