Perspective

I know you will think this rather bizzar but I promise to attempt to tie it all together. My friend sent me an email yesterday that showed a model who was upset becuase the cosmetic surgery on her breasts in her eye had gone wrong.
The next frame showed the mexican doctor who was "cock-eyed" so from his perspective nothing was wrong. i case you were wondering the models nipples were offset equal to the doctors eyes. Now from the outside this was a very funny email. I laughed outloud.
Here is the tie in.....when we asked others to do something do we give step by step instructions or do we just ask that it be done. If it needs to be done in a particular fashion then it should be explained that way. If we don't then we risk the results of the model. The results will not be what we expected but just fine in the eyes of the person doing the task.
So tell me, will you be specific when you ask someone to do a task?

my company:
www.theromgroup.com
my linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Interesting Thought

You know I had an interesting thought just a little while ago. At least it was interesting to me so you will have to decide for yourself.

Yesterday a friend sent me a link to a video that showed one of the most modern maufacturing facilities in the world. Can you guess what the were making????? Cars! Imagine that! Now can you gues where it was and who owns it? It was located in Brazil and it is owned by Ford Motors.

This is the video of a new Ford plant in Brazil .One look at this and you will be able to tell why there will probably never be another one built in the USA .It will also point out why more assembly plants will go offshore.http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189 and.. pay attention to the last few words. It says a lot!

I urge you to take a look at this video. Then ask yourself why this could never happen in the U.S.
Perhaps we as the workforce have gotten lazy and greedy. Maybe not your choice of words but you have to call it what it is. Anytime there are "lineworkers" anywhere in the work force products will be over priced. Do you think you pay too much for the privelege of owning a new vehicle? Think back to the video and see if you can find an answer to the problem. You should not have to look far.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My Linkedin Profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Eat Your Own Cookin'

Wow! It's 5:00 in the morning and I have been awake for an hour shoveling the snow. I was going to fix the snow blower this weekend but I never got around to it. So here is the down and dirty of it. Unless there is some type of accountabilityor action involved somewhere measurement is useless.

I know I know, you are trying to figure out what that has to do with the snow blower right? I wasn't accountable for the repair until I had to shovel the driveway by hand. So guess what's getting fixed when I get home from work!?!

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Let's Talk Turkey

No, not in the literal sense. But in the sense that we are talking reality. For some this is a new thing. Reality, that is. We as managers often times require things from co-workers that is not realistic. Hmmm, Imagine that! An much to our surprise or chagrin they actually accomplish what we asked. What were we thinking!?! I am not sure if we were thinking at all.

Is your skewed sense of reality placing not so realistics demands on othere? Stop and think about it. If they actuall get done what we've asked we should be thankful. that is unless it was a stupid request to begin with. In that case you should be ashamed. Set big audacious goals, but make the benchmark and measuements real.

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!

My Company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Too Many Numbers

There are far to many meaningless numbers floating in space that people think are concrete or important. Of course there are some numbers that exist for a reason. To show financial health of a company, to show which items are making money, or show the cost of quality.

So, which ones are mportant to you? In some fashion they all are. Company owners need to know how the company is doing. Or they wish to know what materials and labor are costing. I am pretty sure I have said this before but it bares repeating. Measure and track what is important to you. measure the things you want to get done. If you don't measure it they won't do it.

So for you managers out there don't have people measuring things just for the sake of doing it because someone says you should. It also helps to explain to those you work with why they are doing it. And for those of you doing the measuring, sometimes you have to just shut up and do what you are asked. In either case measure only what you need to!

my company website:
www.theromgroup.com

my linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Team

Are you a team leader? Or are you a member of a team? Is there a difference, really? At some point in time there may have to be a difference but 90% of the time there shouln't be.

You are a dreamer! Says you! Part of being a team member is to work to solve solutions as a unified body. Solutions that work to improve the team as a whole. So I ask, is there such a thing as a "bad" idea? I say no. There are just some ideas that may not work as well as others. THose ideas may pertain to measures that need to be taken for the sake of quality, or processes that may need to be changed in order to improve quality or reduce cycle time.

When these suggestions are made by team members do we pass them off as "stupid" because it is someone who has never run a machine? Or maybe it is because the teammamber is not an MBA. Whatever the case these bias can not exist if your facility is to be trully world class. Quite honestly in order to compete on a global scale every avenue must be explored in order to hold down cost and improve products. But remember this one point. Find out what good enough is and be alittle better. Not alot just alittle. We need to realize our customers may not find value in what we perceive valuable.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Benchmarks

What type of leader are you? Do you or are you asking those that you work with to attain a standard that you yourself are not willing to work to? Oh, I know you've worked hard all those years so that you don't have to now, Right!?! Are you measuring others with a different measrement that you are using? If so, why?

As a leader why would you ask someone to do something that you wouldn't do? That absolutely makes no sense. The leadership you bring to the table should empower those around you to be better that they ever dreamed possible. Now I know that this seems really idealistic. But is it really? Why is it so hard for us to assist others in improving themselves and attaining thier goals. If we can do that one thing those we work with will rise u even in the most adverse situations. here is an example.

In my past life I worked at a sprocket manufacturer and we had a huge order of idler sprockets that needed to go on a semi by Thursday at 5 or we would face a penalty. the painting process left enough paint in the bore that we could not press in the bearings. The bores had to be reemed and the beairng pressed by hand. I grabbed a machine operator to help with the sprockets. During the scramble to get the shipment out the operator kept thinking there has to be an easier way. THe result was he came up with a process that would allow us to finish bore the sporckets and press the bearings in the same operation on the machine he ran.

Here is my point. I was on the floorr helping process the sprockets for the shipment. Everyone pitched in because that is the tone we had set at the facility. But we also pushed and pulled those we worked with to improve anything we were doing. What I described above is the result of that. So be willing to get your hands dirty, you may be surprised what you get in return.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Another Week Has Gone By

Another week has gone by. So tell me what has changed in your world? The stock market is in the middle of a roller coaster cycle caused by a ton of unregulated activity.Can you tell me when it became envogue to bet on someone elses failure in real life and not on a playing field? I always thought the American dream was for everyone to achieve some sort of success. I may be idealistic but isn't that what the "dream" stands for?

There is also an unreal amout of political finger pointing going on. To put it nicely its a he said she said situation at best. The bottom line is none of the politians can agree long enough to determine the best course for our country! These supposed educated people appear to become extreamely narrow minded when they enter the district of Columbia. THose same elected officials are there to represent the people that voted them in. Can you see me laughing? I wish you could!

Still more time has passed and as business people we have a responsibility. A responsibility to the people who work for us and work with us. We have a responsibilty to the community. To actively be a part of the community. To "set the standard" in the community. To require more of those around us than they thought possible. To expect more of our public servants as well.

WHat bench mark will we set going forward. We have just come through a period of time when alot of promises have been made so people can attain positions the think are important. Can we set benchmarks for them the way we do for ourselves and our businesses. I think we should! I think then there would be a true vote on actions or accomplishments and not mere promises. WHo holds those who are in public office accountable? I want to know. Let's talk.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

How Are You Feeling?

How are you feeling about the all of the hcanges that have taken place in the past few months? Can we talk? I mean really talk.

Somedays when you come in to work you feel like you are going for a rodeo ride on a bull and you just pray you don't fall off and he doesn't turn and try to finish the job. Other days, everything kind of makes sense. I am not sure which scares me the most.

As business owners our respnsibility to those who work for us is to make sense of everything that is going on. At least as best we can. Why? You ask? It goes back to what I wrote about yesterday. Treating others the way you want to be treated. If you had the ability to have a trusted resource you would use it. For those that are a part of your team you are that resource. If your coworkers can come to you and get thier fears calmed then they become more efficient at what they are doing because they spend less time worrying about things they probably can't control anyway.

The key here is to be HONEST! If you have the answer and can share it then you should. If you really don't know then you need to be HONEST enough to admit that as well. People respect honest answers and most crave stability. We can be the source for both. It's your choice.

My company:
http://www.theromgroup.com/

My Linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Business as Usual?

So, tell me. With all of the change that has taken place in the past few months is it business as usual? Can it be? I think in part we all have to do the things that need to be done. Such as, buy, sell, and produce.

As business people we will have to adjust to the changes in the financial markets and how the banks will be handling monies with regard to loan rates, or whether they loan money at all. Business is not rocket science. Business involves a lot of common sense. Some people have it and others do not. Those that do not are not always successful.

I believe moving forward businesses will have to reduce thier debt load. We can't cotinue to run a deficit either as a nation or as a business. We can not continually run our households on more money than we have. At some point it catches up to us. So as businesses we should learn to "live within our means".

We also need to treat others the way we want to be treated. We need to treat fellow workers or employees like we want them to treat us. If you always have a poor attitude about things life will come back at you on of two ways. People will quit coming around or you will get the same attitude back. It's common sense! how come we don't get it? I found this in an ancient text called "The Bible". Matthew 7:12 to be exact. Read it. It will do you good.

The bottom line is we need to use the stuff between our ears for something more than a hat rack.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

GO VOTE!

Get out and vote for the people that God is leading you to vote for.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linked in profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

A Long Time

It seems as though it has been ages since I have written anything. Not that I fancy myself a writer. Somewhat opinionated but not a writer.

Business is common sense. I have a hard time understanding why we try to make it harder that what it really is. Is it for job security, because you know if the people you work with knew how easy it is they may change thier mind about you. I think it is more about moving people into positions where thier strengths outshine thier weaknesses. Not being in a position that fits your skill set is when complication comes into play.

People that are working in areas for which they are not suited have to create systems to offset the weakness. Those systems inturn create bogus measures of items that ypically mean nothing to anyone. But Hey! It looks good!

I guess what I am really trying to say or asking is for you to take a good look at yourself and your staff to ensure you all are in your areas of strength and not weakness.

My company website:
www.theromgroup.com

My linked in profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Is Measurement For You?

Wow! I feel really dumb. This is the second time I have written this because I erased it after I used the spell checker. I love technology!

I have posed the question is measurement for you? So what do you think? Are there parts of your business that you are measuring that are meaningless? I know this is a novel concet but you have to honestly ask yourself that question.

If you are a sales organization or have sales people how do you measure or track what is in your pipeline. Do you mark them green, yellow or red? Do you measure "qualified" leads. If so do you know what makes them qualified to you? Or is the sales process just a numbers game to you? (the more people we call the better chance we have that someone will buy stuff).

If you are a manufacturing company, do you use statistical process control? If so why is that really important to you. If you don't adjust your process to correct for the anomolies then SPC is useless. How about inventory turns? is that important? Still other companies use the number of inventory turns in a years time to measure the health of the company.

If you are a financial person in a company what do you measure? The percentage of A/P vs A/R? Or are you only concerned with the net margin?

The bottom line is thatno matter what you meaure it has to be these thing:

1. Easy - It has to be easy and not cumbersum to consistently measure

2. It has to be meaningful. Make whatever it is you measure useful to everyone. Measurement are taken so improvement can be made. Those changes can be and are visable to all.

My company:

www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

What's Important?

What's important? To your career.Your business. Almost everyone you come in contact with will have an opinion on your behalf as to what should be important to you. We all know what conventional wisdom says but what is it that defines success. Not in the eyes of others but in your eyes.

If you had to define success what would your answer be with regards to your career or your business. What benchmarks can you set in place to assist you in know you are headed in the right direction. Obviously sales is the first thing that comes to mind. But sometimes that is a timely process. So how do you know? Know that what you are doing is really working. Is is the number of leads in your sales funnel? Or is it the number of "qualified" leads. What to you is a qualified lead? Is it just someone who has shown interest or is it "they have a pulse"?

What needs to be done is to find out what the customer wants and then do it. And don't do the stuff they don't find value in. Hmmmm?!? Where have we heard this before? To some it is common sense. To others it is "lean". To others still it is "customer centric". No matter what your flavor it comes down to one thing. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER.

My Comany:
www.theromgroup.com

Linkedin Profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Why Measure Anything?

What's the point? Really what is the point of measuring anything if you don't move on the information gathered? Analytics is like any other business movement that has taken place in the last 3 decades. If you use it, and by that I mean not paying lip service, then analytics and measurement can be great tools that will allow you to make informed decisions for your business.

If you do not use the information then you are just like the other 90% of companies who are struggling. Your information be it about your website, your process, your finances, whatever you are measuring, is just keeping the paper industry in business if you don't do anything with the information. Most people when asked what measuremnts they are taking can tell you. Others can't. Others still measure just a little of everything. Just enough to make it a pain to everyone involved. Kind of like a bad soup mix.

So, what's my point?!? Good grief, if you are going to measure anything use the information for something other than a door stop.

My company:
www.theromgroup.com

My linkedin profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Measurement

I think what I am finding in this venture I call a career is that most businesses measure things just for the sake of measurement. They can spew forth volumes of information but personally I am not sure most of them know what they really mean. You shoould only measure what is important to you. Information that is relivant to making your business move forward.

WHat do you need to measure? Is it leads? is it qualified leads. Is it the channels those leads took to find you? Or is it lead conversion?

Let me know what and how you are measuring. I would like to know.

Company:

www.theromgroup.com

Linked in profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Speed and Analysis

Has anyone paid attention to the speed with which we are becoming dependent on the web? It appears to me that out thirst for information has turned the web into a huge conduit. Anything and everything that you need for oth your personal and professional lives can be found on the web. Which for me is a great thrill but also scary at the same time.

Thrlling because I can follow what people are looking at on our website. I can see where they came from I can even get information about screen resolution. All of this allows me to adjust what we do to optiomize peoples response to our website.

This is also very scary to me because we are bording on Orwell's 1984. If you really try to you can track anyone's activity on the web. Your digital footprint. What we do on the web is open for all to see. We just need to remember that when we do whatever it is we do on the web.

our company:
www.theromgroup.com

my profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

I'm Amazed

I am amazed at what you can find on the web. No! I am not talking about porn! I fancy myself to be rather handy fixing things around the house. Last evening my garage door broke. Now mind you I have worked on these doors before but this repair was pretty extensive. Broken spring and stripped gears.

To make a really long story short. I got ni the middle of the job and went brain dead. I could not remember what I had done to take the door apart. Trust me that's not a good thing. So I got on my trusty computer and found a website that walked me through the whole process. What a life saver!

What are some of the helpful sites you've found?

Company link:
www.theromgroup.com

Linked in Profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

WEB Analytics

What makes web analytics so important? Or better yet why should they be important to us? The use of the "digital" space is becoming more and more prevelant. People are using the web for everything from personal ads to business advertising. Consumers are using the web to discover ways to fill thier needs and to validate decisions. People have a tenancy to act more naturally when the do not feel they are being watched.

So why are analytics important? Because they allow us to track activity on our web site. Where visitors came from, what they looked at, and most importantly how they looked at it. Anayltics in this space allw us to tailor our messaging to meet our consumers, whoever they are, where they want to be met.

Remember we have to talk like they are talking.

http://www.theromgroup.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim

Question

You know I wonder what it is that causes people to who need help or assistance to not seek it? Let me know your thoughts.

Company Link: http://www.theromgroup.com

LinkedIn: Edit My Profile

This is a start. Here is Our company website and my linked in Profile link.

"www.theromgroup.com"

"www.linkedin.com/in/autenjim"