The conventional incentive rewards the individual...usually with something monetary. Like so many things, incentives have evolved and become more complicated than a simple financial incentive. Not everyone is money motivated. A personal example: As long as I am earning what I need, money is not a motivator for me. I am, instead, motivated by discovery and [...]
Most people speak of those they work with as a team. But, in my experience, people rarely understand what a team really is. In funeral service what typically represents a team is really a group of people who are very nice but work towards their own ends independently. If the firm has clear standards and [...]
OR WHY FUNERAL DIRECTORS ARE NEUROTIC A pastor friend once told me: "The test of love is whether or not you are willing to tell someone their fly is unzipped." Funeral service I love what you do and I love many of you. Your fly is unzipped. My phone rings: "Al, this is Ron." Me: [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Booz & Company, one of the foremost consulting leaders in innovation, has discovered a link between performance and strategy called "Coherence." For a company to be described as coherent, it must be resolutely focused on the interrelationship among three critical elements: its market position (its chosen “way to play” against competitors); its most distinctive capabilities, [...]
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 [...]
Breaking The Cycle DeathCare is in its 13th year of declining profitability. Last year is reported as our worst year ever and it's beginning to tell. Answer these questions: ___Do you sometimes feel trapped? ___Do you sometimes dread going to work? ___Is it easier to do it yourself than tell someone how to do it? [...]
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. [...]
