Tag: funeral employees

Is A Scarcity Mentality Keeping You From Being A Good Leader?

Written by Alan Creedy on July 7, 2014. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Leadership. 2 Comments on Is A Scarcity Mentality Keeping You From Being A Good Leader?

A Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life.

People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. They also have a a very hard time being genuinely happy for the success of other people. Yet it is a scarcity mentality that prevails in funeral service and gives rise to so much of the infighting that holds us all back.

One of the primary responsibilities of a leader is to develop people by empowering them. But this doesn’t mean just giving people the keys to the vault and hoping for the best. It is hard and complicated work.

Almost 40 years ago an article appeared that has since become a classic. Entitled: “Who’s Got the Monkey?” it used a charming metaphorical style to illustrate how we often voluntarily become subordinates to our subordinates. Characterizing problems as monkeys we learn that by assuming every problem is a joint problem we actually unwittingly cooperate in this game of transferring monkeys.

Over time, it becomes harder and harder to tell who is working for whom!

The essence of staff development is teaching people to manage their own monkeys

This makes sense and the article goes on to describe a very precise method for transferring monkeys back to their rightful owners. Also included is an equally precise outline for the care and feeding of monkeys:

Monkeys should be fed or shot
The monkey population should be kept below the maximum number the manager has time to feed
Monkeys should be fed by appointment only
Monkeys should only be fed face-to-face or by telephone
Every monkey should have an assigned next feeding time

How A Scarcity Mentality Hinders Your Ability To Manage Monkeys and Develop People

25 years after the original publication of “Who’s Got the Monkey?” Steven Covey published a followup article entitled: “Making Time For Gorillas” In which he very accurately observed that we had made little progress in the development of leadership styles beyond the “Command And Control” style that prevailed at the time of the original publication. “Command and Control” is one of the two dominant leadership styles in funeral service.

Covey’s insight included the observation that for leaders to successfully manage monkeys they must first invest in developing their people. “Command and Control” types are reluctant to do that. Worse,

They are actually eager to take on their subordinate’s monkeys.

“…many managers may subconsciously fear that a subordinate taking the initiative will make them appear less strong and a little more vulnerable.” Says Covey

Covey also tells us that surveys report that executives feel half or more of their time is spent on matters that are urgent but not important. They are trapped in an endless cycle of dealing with other people’s monkeys...reluctant to help those people take their own initiative.

If I were a “Command and Control” type here is what I would do:

Download and read the original articles by clicking on the image below
Let my wife and kids read it so they would have a better understanding of why I never have time for them
Share it with my staff
Get over myself and start making the investment in my people so that I could trust them and I could enjoy my life.

It’s your choice.

YOU CAN BE A SHOP FOREMAN OR A LEADER

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Managers Vs. Leaders: Which Are You?

Written by Alan Creedy on January 24, 2011. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 2 Comments on Managers Vs. Leaders: Which Are You?

As a student of leadership and as a “Benchmark” Assessor for the Center for Creative Leadership, I am well aware of the impact poor leadership has on results. The problem, in my mind, is the historical emphasis on styles more appropriate to factory settings than businesses that actually interface with the public.

The difference between a manager and a leader is significant and that point is often missed. Both are responsible for accomplishing goals but one has a greater responsibility of setting goals than the other. Both are responsible for optimizing performance but one is focused almost entirely on the day to day while the other must balance the day to day with the bigger picture of how to prepare for the future.

The dysfunctionality of the manufacturing style of managing has been widely known for at least two decades. It gets work done but does not optimize performance. As Drucker says so eloquently: It creates “job impoverishment, not job enrichment”. Building a team of high performers is quickly becoming one of the Critical Keys to Success for all businesses but even more so for DeathCare.

I am a “semi fan” of Seth Godin’s. As a rule ranters make me uncomfortable. But I subscribe to his blog because every six weeks or so he coughs up a gem and this link is one. It will take you two minutes so Click here to read it for yourself.

Great Advice on Turning Your Business Around

Written by Alan Creedy on January 18, 2011. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 1 Comment on Great Advice on Turning Your Business Around

I started my career in business turnarounds in the 1970’s when I worked for a company whose business it was to buy and “refurbish” distressed businesses and resell them. DeathCare is in need of a turn around. There are different types of turnaround strategies and turnaround strategists. Many are simply liquidators who cut costs so drastically that the already wounded patient has no choice but to be sold for parts. But the truth is most businesses can be saved if you are willing to do the work.

I became aware of Jack Stack and his Game of Business in the late ’80’s. He is a savior not a liquidator. Saviors save jobs and businesses and investments. I found early on by luck and prayer that the fastest way to rebuild your business is to engage your employees. They know where the waste is, they know what customers really want and, if they really trust you, they will tell you where you might be going wrong. That is not to say that you should abdicate your role as leader and expect staff to run the place. It’s not that easy. Rather, it means engaging them to give you feedback and input and weighing that input with other information to decide what is the best thing for the firm at this moment.

Watch this 6 minute video, it will encourage you. But one last note of warning: if your financial reports aren’t in order or you don’t understand them or they aren’t timely don’t even start.

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Written by Alan Creedy on January 11, 2011. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 5 Comments on The Emperor Has No Clothes

What employee turnover reveals about your leadership.

Employee turnover can reveal a lot of things. Surely turnover is normal but both too much and too little are signs of serious management issues. The pressures of the last ten years have led many in DeathCare to be frustrated with their employees. An attitude has sprung up that suggests a feeling like: “If somehow I could just fix my employees everything would be alright.”

High turnover rates and no turnover rates are actually two sides of the same coin. Both indicate an unwillingness to develop people and poor to nonexistent communication skills. It is the leader’s role to communicate what is expected of people, to follow through and to teach and to develop. High turnover indicates they have put too much pressure on people to meet expectations without giving them the tools and resources to do the job. Tools and resources include emotional support and guidance. Having no turnover is just as bad. If you are a firm of any size it is impossible that you haven’t got at least one person who doesn’t belong. Even Jesus made a bad hire although He did it on purpose to fulfill prophesy. Most often, when someone tells me (usually with some pride) that no one ever leaves I am willing to take a bet that they have several aimless people who couldn’t find work elsewhere who are just showing up for a paycheck.

Drucker’s Orchestra metaphor is the best illustration:

When a new orchestra leader takes over a poorly performing orchestra he does not have the luxury of letting everyone go and replacing them with top performers. Instead, he must ferret out the worst and work with the remaining average players to help them want to work at peak levels

Great leaders do 4 things extremely well:

Select the right people
Set clear expectations
Motivate people to do their best
Develop people

Interestingly, there are 8 things employees really want from leaders:

Tell me my role, what to do, and give me the rules
1. Clear direction
2. Parameters so they can work within broad outlines.
Discipline my coworker who is out of line
1. Hold people accountable-be fair but hold fast to what is and is not acceptable
Get me excited
1. About the company
2. About what we do
3. About where I fit
Don’t forget to praise me
Don’t scare me
1. They don’t really need to know about everything you worry about
2. Don’t lose your temper
3. Be fair and consistent
Impress me
1. be bold
2. or be creative
3. or be smart
Give me some autonomy
1. Give me a special project
2. Trust me with an opportunity
Set me up to win
1. Indecisive leaders frustrate everyone and make them feel defeated

Do you find it interesting that financial incentives aren’t on this list? Turns out that money is only a demotivator. If you aren’t paid fairly it will demotivate you. Overpaying you will not motivate you or make you more loyal.

Are You Too Proud to Succeed?

Written by Alan Creedy on December 7, 2010. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Money: Getting it and Keeping it. No Comments on Are You Too Proud to Succeed?

A problem, certainly not unique to DeathCare but just as certainly profoundly prevalent, is an artificial sense of professionalism. Born out of defining success by what people might think of us, it blocks our ability to succeed by making us unwilling to “Stoop To Greatness”.

I just received this two page post from Patrick Lencioni’s blog: “Point of View”. You can subscribe by clicking here. Lencioni is one of the foremost authors of management books in the U.S. You will recognize “Death By Meeting”; “Silos, Politics and Turf Wars” and, my favorite, “The Five Dysfunctions of A Team.” Virtually all his writing deals with human relations and how to help people be more effective.

His comments should give us all pause to reflect:

Stooping to Greatness

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to spend time with the CEO of one of America’s most successful companies, a legendary organization known for its employee and customer satisfaction, as well as its financial performance. I attended their company’s management conference, listened to various presentations about their culture, and the extraordinary, homey and sometimes slightly wacky practices that distinguish them from their competitors.

Overwhelmed by the organization’s simple and powerful behavioral philosophy, I asked the CEO a semi-rhetorical question. “Why in the world don’t your competitors do any of this?” The CEO thought about it for a moment and said, “You know, I honestly believe they think it’s beneath them.”

And right away, I knew he was right.

After all, every one of those competitors, the vast majority of whom are struggling, knows exactly what this company does, how it works, and how much it has driven its financial success. The company’s cultural approach has been chronicled in more than a few books. And yet, none of them tries to emulate it. In fact, based on numerous interactions I’ve had with employees who work for those competitors, I’d have to say that their attitude is often dismissive, even derisive, toward this company and its enthusiastic employees.

And this dynamic exists in other industries, too. A fast-food company I know has remarkable customer loyalty, as well as unbelievable employee satisfaction and retention, especially compared to the majority of their competitors. The leaders and employees of the company attribute most of their success to the behavioral philosophy and attitude that they’ve cultivated within the organization, and the unconventional yet effective activities that result.

One example of that philosophy is the action of the CEO, who shows up at grand openings of new franchises where he stays up all night with employees, playing instruments and handing out food to excited customers. Few CEOs would be happy, or even willing, to do things like this, but this executive relishes the opportunity. These, and other activities that most MBAs would call corny, are precisely what makes that company unique.

This happens in the world of sports, as well. There is a well-known high school football team where I live that is ranked near the top of national polls every year. They play the best teams in the country, teams with bigger and more highly touted players, and beat them regularly. The secret to their success, more than any game strategy or weight-lifting regimen, comes down to the coach’s philosophy about commitment and teamwork and the buy-in he gets from his players. That philosophy manifests itself in a variety of simple actions which speak to how the players treat one another on and off the field. For example, players pair up every week and exchange 3×5 cards with hand-written commitments around training and personal improvement, and then take responsibility for disciplining one another when those commitments aren’t met.

And yet, whenever I explain this and similar practices of the team to other coaches who are curious about their success, I encounter that same sense of dismissiveness. They get a look on their face that seems to say, “listen, I’m not going to do that. It’s silly. Just tell me something technical that I can use.” As a result, few teams actually try to copy them.

Some skeptics might say, “come on, those companies/teams are successful because they’re good at what they do.” And they’d be right. Those organizations are undoubtedly and extremely competent in their given fields, and they have to be in order to succeed. But plenty of other organizations are just as competent and don’t achieve great levels of success, and I honestly believe it’s because they’re unwilling to stoop down and do the simple, emotional, home-spun things that all human beings — employees, customers, players — really crave.

What’s at the heart of this unwillingness? I think it’s pride. Though plenty of people in the world say they want to be successful, not that many are willing to humble themselves and do the simple things that might seem unsophisticated. Essentially, they come to define success by what people think of them, rather than by what they accomplish, which is ironic because they often end up losing the admiration of their employees and customers/fans.

The good news in all of this is that for those organizations that want to succeed more than they want to maintain some artificial sense of professionalism (whatever that means), there is great opportunity for competitive advantage and success. They can create a culture of performance and service and employee engagement, the kind that ensures long term success like no strategy ever could. But only if they’re willing to stoop down and be human, to treat their customers and one another in ways that others might find corny.

Best,

Patrick Lencioni

The Tyranny of the Ten Call Man

Written by Alan Creedy on August 10, 2010. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 4 Comments on The Tyranny of the Ten Call Man

A Management lesson from the bible

One of the most common and pervasive staffing problems in funeral service is the man or woman who undermines almost every current and future issue management tries to address. They are the “Mayor of the Prep Room”. No matter what initiative you attempt, they quietly work behind the scenes to undo it. Sometimes they employ a subtle mechanism I call being “cooperatively uncooperative”. This means giving the appearance of being on board but quietly “forgetting” to do what they have promised. Worse they are absolute geniuses in providing what seem reasonable excuses why exceptions must be made. As “Mayor of the Prep Room” every attempt to communicate to staff is answered by a meeting after the meeting where they hold forth on “what we are really going to do.” The worst of them are blatant about simply ignoring expectations and just doing things the way they want rather than the way the are asked to do them. Effectively daring management to “Make Me.”

An example is worthwhile. Recently the more progressive funeral homes have implemented monthly, weekly and even daily staff meetings. Attendance is mandatory. Yet every owner that has been successful in establishing regular meetings has shared with me that it meant they had to chase down and face down at least one staff member repeatedly to make them attend. Many owners and managers simply gave up trying and either exempted them or stopped having meetings. This obviously caused other employees to lose heart and wonder (sometimes openly) who was really running the business. Formal power said the owner –but informal power didn’t agree.

Why do owners and managers allow this behavior? They say that it’s because they believe the person is too valuable to lose. They have convinced themselves that they would lose 10, 20 or 30 calls. And maybe they would. But over time the lack of progress in responding to the many challenges we face and the loss of employee morale (not to mention the loss of owner morale) cost much much more than the loss of those calls. I call these trouble makers “ten call men” because the owners live in daily fear they control that many calls.

I don’t like “ten call men” because they arrogantly wield informal power and prevent opportunity without assuming any risk. They play owners and managers like puppets.

Jim Collins, in his “must-read” book, “Good To Great” makes this observation about them:

“We have a wrong person on the bus and we know it. Yet we wait, we delay, we try alternatives, we give a third and fourth chance…we build little systems to compensate for shortcomings…We find our energy diverted…that one person siphons energy away from developing and working with the right people.

Letting the wrong people hang around is unfair to the right people…

The reason we wait too long often has less to do with concern for that person than our own convenience…Meanwhile all the other people are still wondering: ‘when are you going to do something about this?'”

It is not unusual in my consulting practice to find inspiration in The Bible. On more than one occasion a verse from Proverbs has enabled clients to take long delayed but desperately needed action:

“Cast out the scorner and contention will go out; yea strife and reproach shall cease” Proverbs 22:10

How “Best Purpose” Trumps “Best Practice”

Written by Alan Creedy on May 24, 2010. Posted in The Creedy Commentary, Practitioner Forum: Insights and Ideas. 2 Comments on How “Best Purpose” Trumps “Best Practice”

How a part time hostess taught me the most valuable lesson.

It was late 1989. Rachel was then in her mid 70’s. A retired school teacher, she had worked for us for about 6 or 7 years. She was a quiet, unassuming and gracious woman who had that gift of always making you feel welcome. As a part time hostess she was stationed by the front door of our main facility during public hours…often during visitations. I was President of the nation’s oldest and among its most prestigious independently owned funeral homes. We served 850 families and operated two cemeteries and a crematory. Rachel always received more positive comments on our Family Surveys than any other employee full or part time.

The funeral home was widely respected and even admired by both the public we served and professional colleagues for its high standards of service. We believed our 70% + market share was a direct result of those high standards. Certainly, they were a large part of our success.

But Rachel taught me an important lesson about an even more powerful market driver: Best Purpose.

Part of the reason that company was so admired for its high standard of service was a very rigid and unyielding set of employee expectations. We all had a clear understanding of the “musts” and “must-nots” of our daily behavior and routine. Mistakes were typically only made once, if they were made at all. But lest you think this was some closely watched and supervised culture, I should be clear. The resulting quality and superior performance created a level of “Esprit De Corps” that made the behaviors more or less “self sustaining.” The problem was not in the performance but in the unrecognized limitation on “above and beyond” initiative that it unconsciously imposed.

Rachel, independently and without permission, deviated from one of our “cast-in-stone” rules and I was delegated to tell her not to do it again.

Raleigh, NC, where I live, continues to this day to prefer receiving lines over mingling. We discovered that about half way through visitations Rachel was taking the initiative to bring a glass of water to the widow or widower. Food and beverage of any kind was strictly forbidden in any of the public areas of our buildings. It was this act of kindness that I was told to stop. Now, lest you be too harsh, this was the 1980’s and this type of courtesy was not so obvious back then. And besides, this story is not about rules (good or bad) it is about purpose which we had but did not emphasize.

I began my conversation reminding Rachel of the rules and asking her why she was doing it. She responding so graciously that I still remember it. She said, “Mr. Creedy, I understand the rule. But when you buried my husband I remember standing in that same line and thinking I would kill for a glass of water. So, I try to make their life a little easier by bringing it to them.” I remember answering: “Rachel, you just forget that we had this conversation and continue what you are doing.” I went back to the owner and told him that Rachel was doing the right thing and we all needed to be thinking like Rachel.

The lesson is this: Maybe the company was successful because of its high standards but Rachel was more successful because she had a higher purpose.

What is your purpose? If I asked you without warning, could you tell me in less than 60 seconds without thinking? Could your staff?

Simon Cooper, President and COO of Ritz Carlton Hotels, strives for “Scriptless Service.” This means that employees must be able to think, anticipate and act without being told. They must have the ability and latitude to take initiative when they see an opportunity to help a guest.

Rachel taught me that the highest of standards and expectations without clarity of purpose can cause us to miss the most important things.

How people behave is what they believe. Does the behavior of your staff indicate they have high standards and high purpose? Does your behavior?

You may reprint this article by including the following on your publication:

Why Are We Here?

Written by Alan Creedy on May 13, 2010. Posted in The Creedy Commentary. 1 Comment on Why Are We Here?

An Easy, Practical Way to Engage Staff

In an aprocryphal story a “burned out” Russian Priest takes a sabbatical in a wilderness retreat hoping for renewal and reenergizing. Depressed and discouraged, he takes a walk in the nearby woods and stumbles on a military encampment. Immediately, he is challenged by the sentry: “Halt, who are you and why are you here?” The priest responds, “What did you say?” The sentry repeats his challenge: “Who are you and why are you here?” Now the priest asks his own question: “What do they pay you?” Startled, the sentry responds, “What does that have to do with anything?” To which the priest replies: “Because I will pay you that for the rest of my life to ask me those two questions every day!”

Who are we and why are we here?

The answer to these two questions is one of the secrets to engagement. We talk a lot about motivating employees. But what we really want is engaged employees. Employees who see meaning and purpose in their work. Employees who see their job not as a task but as a responsibility. Connecting meaning and purpose is the way to do that.

Zig Ziglar talks about his “Wall of Gratitude” where he keeps photos of people who have meant something to him. I don’t have a wall but I do have a “Book of Gratitude“. When I look at it I am often renewed.

Maybe one thing we could do is take a wall in a non public part of our building and put a sign over it that says: “Why We Are Here” and then put photos of those we have been privileged to serve over the past year. Maybe some of those pictures could include pictures of people hugging our staff. I am told that happens every once in a while. Then on those bad days we could go stand in front of that wall and remember “Who We Are and Why We Are Here.” Yes it will take some work, but not much, and my bet is you will start to become even more creative and add pictures of folks I haven’t mentioned here that give meaning and purpose to what you do.