Work – Page 7 – Sam Makhoul

November 13, 2013

HOW CAN YOUR FAMILY BOOST YOUR WELLNESS AT WORK?

I know what you’re thinking: how can my family possibly boost my wellness at work? They don’t work with me; they don’t know the first thing about my job, how can they help me be more productive, enthusiastic, engaging and energetic at work? The truth is, they can. When you are successful with your family first, their support, love and energy help you become a happier person and this becomes reflected in the work you do. In the 70s and 80s business people like you and I could neglect our family and still succeed at work. It came at a price, but we could do it. However, in the 21st Century, the new entrepreneurs are actually more successful with their family first and ironically these same people outperform everyone else in their work life.

Screen Shot 2013-11-13 at 5.28.50 PM — Give Family Your Time

Here are 4 tips I would like to share with you when it comes to family:

1. NEVER PUT WORK AHEAD OF YOUR FAMILY – especially your children. This reminds me of a friend of mine who confided in me because he was very upset that his daughter was moving out of home. He told me that she’s going to university and she’s moving into a flat with some friends and she’s really excited about it. And I said, you should be very happy for her; it’s an exciting time in her life, think back when you were starting uni? He said, yeh, I know Sam, but when she loaded up the suitcase in the back of her car, I just felt that she wasn’t just excited about going to her new apartment, she was more thrilled to be leaving our soul-less home. My friend was heartbroken because he had no bond with her to keep her coming back because she had no connection with him. Her permanent impression of him was the father who never arrived home in time to read her a story, or tuck her into bed. Or was too busy to go bike riding with her. He is a very successful person with lots of money in the bank. But let me tell you, he would give it back just to have that connection with his daughter. And you can’t buy that.

Which leads me to the next tip:

2. GIVE FAMILY YOUR TIME – not just your money. Going shopping or watching TV does not count as quality time. Talking and really listening is how you develop a bond. If you have kids, have one-on-one time with each child. Spending one-on-one time with each of your kids lets them know you value them as a person and builds a bond. So if my friend was doing that over the years, do you think his daughter wouldn’t come back and visit him?

I spend Saturday afternoons with my daughter: it’s Daddy-Daughter time. Do you think that when she’s older she’s not going to remember, Saturday afternoon: Daddy-Daughter time? It’s wired in her: I need to see my father.

One very simple thing you can do to really connect with your family is:

3. TURN OFF THE TV. One thing we do in our family is instead of turning on the TV on a Sunday night and instead of watching a movie, we take turns to stand up in front of each other, in the lounge room and talk about something that happened to us in the week or something we are excited about that’s coming up. It’s a chance for each of our kids to stand up, boost their confidence and engage.

4. TURN YOUR PHONE OFF WHEN YOU GET HOME.

A lot of people in sales fall into this trap. They feel that they have to be on call 24 hours. They don’t want to miss a call. But customers do not expect that. They expect to deal with someone real.

A sincere voice mail fixes that! Something along the lines of:

“You’ve called, Sam Makhoul. If my phone is off, it means I am spending time with my family or serving another customer. But rest assured when I do get your message I will call you back and give you my upmost attention.”

I guarantee that the person will leave a message because they will see ‘Hey, this person is real and he cares for his family. I respect that.’

November 4, 2013

FOCUS ON PEOPLE’S POSITIVES

A lot of relationships break down because we start to see things that irritate us about the person, when in reality those things were always there. But why have they now started irritating you? It’s not because they’re now irritating you, it’s because you’re now focusing on them. If you have a negative mindset you start focusing on what you don’t have instead of what you do have. So if your partner is a procrastinator, not very good at cooking or whatever it is, you start to dwell on those things. But no one’s perfect, you’re not perfect, right? So focus instead on their positives: my partner’s really fit, my partner’s great at their job, my partner’s very generous, very kind, my partner’s very loving, he or she is a great reader, or my partner is a great painter.

The same applies for your colleagues and staff at work. When they do something well, praise them. Focus on their abilities rather than their weaknesses and give them work that best suits their talents. For example if someone is a great communicator and enjoys developing client relationships, make sure they are on the phones instead of doing administrative work! This means that they will be happier in their role and not only feel better, but become more productive, enthusiastic and engaging. Their work performance will improve and they will become a better team member, employee and face of the company.

November 4, 2013

5 Tips on Managing Your Energy Levels at Work: Part 1

Are you distracted, stressed or worried about your to-do list at work? Does your energy wane in and out as you progress throughout the day and leave important tasks half-done or undone? Are you making errors that could be avoided?

Managing our energy levels at work is just as important as managing the energy levels of our mind and body. I’d love to share with you 5 personal tips that have helped me manage my energy at work.

DON’T CHECK YOUR EMAIL FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. Emails are time vampires. You will get reeled into reading or doing stuff that is not important. Before you know it you will have wasted an hour of your day before you even get started. And you would have wasted your most valuable energy on the least important stuff.
TURN OFF ALL TECHNOLOGY for the first 60 minutes of the day and focus on doing your most important work.
TURN ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATIONS OFF. You know what I am talking about here: rings, vibrations telling you that you have an email or SMS. You could be assessing something or talking to a customer and suddenly you get a message. Now you’re focusing not on what you are doing or on what the customer is saying. But on who could that message be from? That break in concentration will lead to poor service or mistakes. The other dangerous thing about notifications is that they constantly train our mind to focus on what else can we be doing next? Instead of what is happening now. It takes us out of the moment. Turn them off and check emails and SMS when you want to.
BRAIN DUMP in your diary at the end of each day. Write your ‘to do’ for the next day. It gets things out of your mind so you can switch off and focus on your family.
FOCUS ON A PURPOSE AND A MISSION. Don’t make your job just about making money. You will not be inspired. I know you think that people are motivated by money, but all the research suggests otherwise. The psychology of working has changed since the GFC. We want to be motivated by the mission more than anything. Put purpose before profit. I know what you are thinking. This is fanciful. Work and business is all about making money. Wharton Business School recently published a book that shows that companies that are focused on purpose before profit made the most money. They outperformed the S & P 500 by a ratio of 9 to 1.

Is there something you do to manage your energy levels and focus at work? Please share your strategies; I’d love to hear them.

August 13, 2013

It’s Not Just About Ability, But Compatibility

5 years ago, business was all about authenticity. It still is. But there has been a natural evolution from authenticity to COMPATIBILITY.

We are wired psychologically to make choices based on compatibility. As children, we made friends based on having things ‘in common’. As we got older we chose a girlfriend or boyfriend based on similar principles.

And now as adults we make subconscious choices, again based on compatibility.

We choose foods that are compatible with our constitution.
We choose a restaurant that agrees with our tastes. Some like restaurants buzzing with activity while others like a quite ambience.
We choose friends who like the same sport or the same team.
We choose a café not just on its ability to make a coffee but one that serves coffee, the way we like it.
We choose a doctor not because of their ability but their manner.
We choose a school that is compatible with our children’s personality. I know some friends who send their children to different schools because of this. And it’s smart to do so.

Therefore, it’s not just about the ability of the person or the product to deliver what you want. It’s about their compatibility with you.

AND things go wrong when we ignore compatibility and make choices based just on ability.

We may choose a restaurant and have a bad experience.
We may choose a school that our children hate and perform poorly in.
We may choose a sport that injures us because we are just not right for it.
Or worse, we may choose the wrong life partner and end up getting a divorce.

So we cannot ignore compatibility. We do so at a great cost.

In business it’s no different. A product or a supplier must have the ability; that’s a given. Things start to go wrong, however, when we make commercial decisions based just on ability. If we develop a product and ignore its compatibility with the target market, it flops. If we choose a supplier that ticks all the right boxes, but their culture is not compatible with ours, the relationship will be negative and the customer will suffer.

So what is compatibility in business? Ultimately it’s about the people you’re dealing with. Do you like your customers or your suppliers? When push comes to shove, that’s what counts. You can face any challenge and meet any objective when you work with someone you like. If you are progressive, then ask are they progressive like me?

Therefore, compatibility is not about being right or wrong but what suits your business requirements. For example:

If you have a local service model, does your supplier support you locally or are their activities centralised away from your local market?
If you have national requirements, does your service provider have national coverage?
If you are focused on automation, does your service provider have capabilities to integrate with your supply chain or does the process fall into a manual queue when it reaches your supplier?
If you are focused on a personal customer experience, does your service provider have staff that are reachable and available?
Do you and your supplier have a similar risk appetite?
Do you and your supplier have a similar growth appetite?
Is your service provider’s model based on building relationships and partnerships or are they transactionally focused?

When you select your key service provider, you will likely want to maintain that relationship for the long term. Changing key suppliers can be very complicated, time consuming and expensive, so it is important to consider your compatibility in the long term.

August 27, 2012

7 Tips that will change your life in 7 days – Tip no.2

Work harder

Yes you read it correctly. Work harder not just smarter. So many of us are obsessed with making a quick buck. It has become an international obsession. There are so many books written about it. But I believe that the Western World is suffering a global financial crisis because we want to create something out of nothing and we want something for nothing. We borrow and borrow and consume and consume and think that somehow it will all pay for itself without having to work hard. This negative mindset is having dire consequences not only for the economy but also on our health and happiness. So much so that work stress has become one of the leading causes of anxiety and depression. So obviously working smarter is not working for us. What is the answer? I put it to you that we must work harder to get healthier. This may sound odd but hear me out.

The most energetic, enthusiastic, and happiest people I know work really hard. They are always beaming with a smile. They have a healthy appetite for food and life yet they are chilled and comfortable to be with. Why is that? Well we spend many hours at work, so it goes without saying that if we approach work with a positive mindset, it will have a big impact on our happiness.

So how do you change your mindset? Before I answer that question, allow me to first clarify what I mean by ‘working harder’. It does NOT mean working long hours. It does NOT mean having blind ambition. It does NOT mean chasing the almighty dollar. Changing your mindset simply entails you making a decision to love what you do.

So how do you choose to love your job? Work harder. Here’s how:

Become really good at your job. Know it inside and out. Keep learning. The way human psychology works, we start liking what we are good at. Immerse yourself in your daily tasks whatever they may be. Laying bricks, reading a contract, writing a song, listening to a patient etc… Give yourself to that moment. Don’t watch the clock.
Serve people from the heart. Make a connection with how your work directly or indirectly makes a difference in people’s lives. My hairdresser is a perfect example of that. I notice that he gets great pleasure when he holds up that mirror to a customer. Their happiness is his happiness.

I have a saying in my business. I tell my staff, ‘Treat customers like you would your own mum and dad.’ I believe that is the only standard you ever need in your working life. It will get you to work harder and that will get you to love what you do.