After you get home from working your 40-hours what do you do? The average American flips the TV on and zones out for five hours. They then spend another three hours on a computer or on a smartphone. Something that my years refereeing hockey taught me is your job doesn’t end when the buzzer sounds. You can never stop learning and working to improve yourself. You must act like your competition is training 24x7x365 and…
Do you remember when you were in school and your teacher would assign a team project? You either loved or hated team projects because you knew that every group ended the same; there were always a few that led the group and did a majority of the work, the few that contributed, the one that argued every point, and the slacker who did absolutely nothing but still got the same grade. It was bullshit, and…
Email is a wonderful communication tool that has drastically changed the business world over the last 15 years. The key though is to know when it is effective to use email verses when you should pick up the phone or use face-to-face communication to improve getting your message across to your listener. Face to face communication still remains the best and most powerful way of getting our message across. When you are in a phone…
Last year we finalized Jenco’s principles. The very first principle is: Do all you have agreed to do. This is so incredibly powerful. It seems so simple, but in my experience I’ve found that sometimes people just get busy and don’t end up holding up their end of the bargain. We’ve all been there before – we told Mike, who called earlier in the day, we’d get back to him with an answer by the…
What would happen if we went back to a barter system? You know, I’ll send out one of our service technicians if you change the oil in his van. Can you image how chaotic our world would become? I have to image that we’d quickly realize our true value in the marketplace as individuals. I further speculate that we would quickly notice how inferior we all are as individuals to cope with the harsh realities…
For the last several months I noticed that Kelly has been leaving his door open all throughout the day – even when he is in meetings or at lunch. In my last two years of working at Jenco I’ve never known him to have his door open all day – he’d shut it during meetings or when he was super busy, but now it’s open 90% of the time. So I asked him, what gives?…
In reality, all people can do is manage their commitments. Regardless of what people think and do, time does go on. Do you agree? If you accept the first claim, then you can notice observe and assess that we make endless tradeoffs for one value or concern over all the others in the given moment. For example, many of us at the office are competing in a Biggest Loser competition. In order to be competitive…
One of the most powerful lessons I’ve ever received was given to me by one of my mentors. He told me to commit to ALWAYS saying “I don’t know” when I do not know what to do immediately when dealing with something that needs immediate action. This is because a situation that requires immediate action does not allow for re-work if you “try” something that doesn’t end up working. Here at Jenco, I am out…
“What’s next?” is not the question to ask…if you plan to be a leader. The question implies being orientated to completing one task and looking for the next task to start. While this is somewhat functional, it isn’t strategic or competitive. What powerful managers do is remove Constraints to the flow of work. They anticipate the work 6+ weeks out and begin to identify what Constraints exists which will inhibit the work to be performed. Constraints can…
Here at Jenco we talk a lot about being a learning organization and about all the opportunities that come with learning. This month we shine the employee spotlight on a favorite Superintendent who has earned his way up the corporate ladder. Ben Dallmann has been contributing to the Jenco business for over 14 years and he is an excellent example of what willingness, drive, learning and delivering with excellence can do for you here. Ben…
Have you ever considered what a leader really is? What does leadership look like? A leader is someone who demonstrates the superior ability to make powerful interpretations of situations and has the capacity to do something about it. Leaders make offers of help that allow followers to think and act effectively. General George S. Patton Jr. said “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with…
Trust is defined as an assessment I can make about how you will take care of my concerns in the future. Can I trust you to show up to take me to the ball game on Friday night? Trust has 3 important components: competence, reliability and sincerity. Competence is the ability to perform. Do you have the knowledge of how to drive a car? Do you have a car to use on Friday? Do you…