3 Ways to Keep Mistakes In-house

Tylenol has recalled an undisclosed number of containers of Tylenol, Motrin and other over-the-counter drugs earlier this month after consumers complained of feeling sick from an "unusual" odor.

Toyota has suspended U.S. sales of eight models, which were recalled to fix accelerator pedals that might stick. This recall will impact over 4 million cars in service. Toyota is also stopping production on 8 models until this problem can be fixed.

These recalls will impact the trust of millions of customers, negatively impact employees (how would you like to be a car salesperson for Toyota right now?) and eroding corporate reputation that will takes years to regain.

Mistakes happen and people foul up in business; they always have and always will. The big differences between mistakes today over years past are twofold.

First of all, the speed of business today is so much faster than it used to be. If you have a car accident at 5 mph there is little or no damage and the lesson can be learned rather cheaply. As opposed to driving 200 mph at Talladega speedway and a car accident is spectacular and the damage is extensive.

This dramatic increase in speed requires people to be highly trained professionals in order to ensure everything is done with precision. However, most companies are cutting training budgets and getting people on the job as fast as possible instead of when they are fully qualified. In some cases companies are leaving jobs unfilled and asking other employees to take on the extra work load. This is sure to create more mistakes.

Speed increases the stress on everything. Whether we are talking conveyor belt tolerances or human reaction time, or performing quality audits; when time is the critical factor expertise becomes much more critical and tolerances become tighter.

The second reason is the way news is spread today. News outlets no longer deliver just the facts of the news, they add commentary, look for blame, and add unconfirmed unnamed sources for additional information. Can you say dousing a camp fire with gasoline?

Want to keep your mistakes in-house?

1. Evaluate your training process to ensure you are getting a productive employee once they have finished.
2. Review the power of your quality control. Do they have the right to shut down the process when something doesn’t meet standards? If not, why not?
3. Review your corporate culture to see if the real way of doing things in your workplace is shoving things out the door to met a quota, or in making sure what goes out the door is customer ready.

Once in-house mistakes make it beyond your four walls, the blame game begins, defensive posture is created and the mistake takes on a life of its own. Do what is necessary to contain mistakes while they can be managed before they are released to do great damage to your organization’s reputation. Cutting corners is often a first step to cutting your own throat.

Are the Right People on Your Bus?

The people closest to you in your personal and professional lives will have a tremendous influence on who you become. As a friend of mine told me,

“I put people in my life who don’t let anything stop them.”

They have the same success mindset she does, and at her young age she has accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime. How does she do this?

Think of yourself as a bus driver and the seats behind you are occupied by those closest to you. What are you hearing from them? How do they act from day to day? How much of a priority are you to them? What actions are they doing you are proud of? What positive influence do you feel in their presence?

People you want on your bus

You are the average of the people you associate with. If you are surrounded by whiners and those who believe life is out to get them, then you become just like those people. If you spend time around people who are glad to see Mondays, are upbeat about life, and are eager to work hard to succeed, then you become more like them as well.

Make a list of 20 people currently on your bus. Family, friends, and the people you are closest to in your work environment. These are the people influencing your thinking, habits and drive to achieve. Are these the right people that will help you reach your dreams?

Off-loading your bus

Once you review who is on your bus you realize there are people there who really don’t have any business riding with you. What do you do about that? As you grow as a person you will be moving at a different pace than those around you who are not growing as fast. Eventually, you can outgrow some relationships.

As you reconnect with old high school friends through social media you will see how differently people have grown or changed over the years. Your current passengers on your bus are the same way. Are they growing with you?

Offloading passengers is tough to do. It depends on how badly you want to succeed. Making a choice to move beyond current friendships and family relationships can be a challenging and difficult process but one that is critical to your development and success. If their influence is negative, if you are a low priority, if they just don’t see the abundance of life’s opportunities, then you have no option but to let them off the bus. Either with a swiftness of a good-bye, or allowing things to gradually drift away; however, you choose, you need to make room for the right people to impact your life in a positive way.

Obviously, if you are only looking for people to give to you without you offering anything in return, your bus will be empty of the people you want to attract.

Getting the right passengers on your bus

Where you spend your leisure time, where you network, and the activities you get involved with will expose you to the average of the groups you are in. Not finding the right people? Then it’s time to find new places to connect with the right people.

Consider the people you want to be involved with then ask yourself the following questions: Where do I meet these people? How can I connect with these people? What is it about me that attracted the wrong people on the bus to begin with and what do I need to change in order to attract the right people on the bus? The answers to these questions could be the greatest decisions you make in creating greater success for yourself.

Burn the boats? First, Think About Who You are Dealing with.

In 1519 Hernan Cortes sailed to Mexico to defeat the Aztec Empire and as legend has it upon landing he burned his boats so his soldiers could not turn back and had no choice but to fight to win.

Actually, due to a translation error of the events, it appears although he actually did destroy the ships, it was not by burning them but by running them ashore. This story has been used by many a speaker to illustrate removing the option to retreat. Full steam ahead. No looking back.

You can just hear the music building, the testosterone levels increase in the room, and then…panic sets in.

Explorers in 1519 were of a different breed of human being. They expected to face danger, fight for their lives, and handle meager living conditions. Losing the boats only meant they would be forced to settle in the new land and defend what was theirs.

Today’s American worker is not that same breed of individual. Arguably, we’ve never known real hardship. We are not used to defending ourselves from danger. We are conditioned to look for the side door, just in case we need an escape. To corner your employees in an employment fight to the death will cause more to abandon ship than hunker down for the fight.

Although some versions of the story differ, historians say the soldiers knew this was the plan and it was not done as a surprise tactic. Their loyalty to their commander and the cause (and obtaining the riches the new land promised) made them willing to accept this approach.

In today’s business world, it is better to spend time building loyalty and commitment to the cause in your employees for the battles that don’t require the drastic choice of burning the boats. Remember, the soldiers following Cortes were battle-tested and ready for such options. Be sure you are a battle-tested tight-knit group before deciding you are removing all options but one; otherwise, you might be facing the “enemy” all alone.

The Decision Tree of Success or Failure

Did the leaders of Enron start out trying to lie to their investors? Did Bernie Madoff intend on defrauding those who trusted and believe in him? Did you wake up this morning intent on getting so upset in a 2pm meeting where you said things in anger that could cost you your job? No, but it happens every day.

Have you ever asked how did we get here?

Every day we are faced with infinite possibilities and hundreds of decisions. The path those decisions leads us on has us end up where we brought ourselves to. Without question there is randomness and luck involved in the decisions we face. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book Outliers on the impact fortune has on our lives.

What we do with those decisions is our choice and ultimately leads us to face the next set of choices along that path. Most of us have faced decisions to try cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, illicit activity, and to cheat, to lie, to over-indulge, we get to prioritize our lives as we decide. These become significant choices that significantly impact who we become. Each day we set our path face critical moments that propel us along.

How have the decisions you made as a teenager impacted you today?

How did your college choice change your perspective on life?

What did you decide six months ago that has you now reaping those results?

There is no one path to success or one path to ruin. We choose our own way. The critical moments occur in considering the choices you make on each decision. With each decision ask yourself, “Does this get me to where I want to go?” Whether it is personal choices or professional choices, you need to consider which direction each step takes you.

Know where you want to go.

Know the direction you want to take to reach that end point.

With each step make progress along the path of your choosing.

I often hear people wanting to experience success and they always ask, “How do I get there?” You can’t borrow another person’s playbook because it won’t fit your decisions you face. You achieve success with each step in the right direction. Choose your decision steps with the desired result in mind.

Jump on Opportunities like a Caffeinated Cricket

Have you ever watched a movie or listened to a speaker at a conference that put you to sleep? You just get numb from the uninspiring information and delivery. A bad economy will do the same thing to your business. After 18 months of recession slow down and back-stepping, business leaders can get into a malaise that feels like the numbness experienced listening to that boring speaker.

Once this habitual plodding happens, business leaders miss good opportunities because their minds are more focused on just getting through one more month instead of looking for big jump opportunities.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your budget for this year set with expectation of improvement or with the fear of repeating 2009?
• Do you have wiggle room to capitalize on a fresh opportunity or do you feel overwhelmed in time and financial resources; therefore, you only hope to make it through the year?
• Are you on high energy rush and expecting to have a record performance year, or are you using the same mindset you used to survive 2008 and 2009?

Opportunities for every business will be available this year. Those leaders who are looking for them will find a way to take those opportunities and turn them into long-term success. Others will be waiting on the right time to take on such new ideas, which means those business executives will go lacking while the aggressors take more market share.

Use this month to awaken your senses, get your people vibrant in their attitudes once again and grab your share of opportunities that are ripe with potential. In talking with a gentleman who owns 600 rental properties, someone asked him if he was feeling the pinch of the economy where people were not paying or he was left with open properties. He didn’t even respond to the question, he just offered a different perspective.

He said, “I’m not worried about how many open properties I have because now is the time to focus on the great opportunity to buy more properties, so I’ve been on a buying spree getting some great deals.”

Think of your perspective. Are you more focused on the negative impact the economy has had on your business, or are you focusing on the opportunities that can be grabbed while everyone is looking the other way? This is your wake up call.