2011 has come and gone, and 2012 has just taken off!
If you are reading this, congratulations on making it through yet another year! Can I ask you a question? Do you have any plans in store for the big twenty-twelve? Is there something you’ve been meaning to do or improve upon, and that celebratory date of New Year’s Day just seem to ironically fit the bill for a starting point? Well you’ve come to the right blog!
As cliché as New Year’s resolutions are, I actually welcome them with open arms and have set a few for myself this year. However, how often in the past have Januarys gone by with you saying you are going to quit smoking, yet continue to cave in, in the form of a sneakily, delightful after-dinner puff? How many countless times have you thought to yourself, “I’m definitely going to start working out and lose these love handles after the new year hits,” yet still cannot break the grasp of binge-playing Skyrim for hours on end? No matter what your goal, resolution or desire to change might be, here are a few common sense tips to help keep you motivated and improving towards your goals:
If you don’t remember reading my blog about goal setting and the Harvard study about writing goals down, then trust me, you want to get in the practice of writing your goals down and keeping them visible! Can you believe that statistics show that only 3% of Americans actually write down their goals? When you do this, you enable yourself to clearly define what it is you want while being able to start thinking about different ways to accomplish it. Not only are you giving yourself a defined starting point, but you are able to creatively assess what will and will not work for you and what it takes to reach your goal.
- A failure is only a failure if you didn’t learn anything from it.
It is always too easy to look for the bad in something without seeing the good first. A good friend once told me, “Fighter pilots aren’t turned into aces without going through a few dog fights!” He was exactly right. Whenever you come up against adversity or something else that blocks your way in completing or living out one of your goals, look at it and use it as a learning experience. Keeping positive during times of affliction will only breed even more positivity. In fact it was Albert Einstein that once said, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” To find that opportunity, sometimes we just need to take a step back from what we are doing and ask, “Why?”
- Short-term goals create steady progress toward long-term goals.
I can’t tell you how often I find myself in a daydream tangent on ideas about how to improve things at Incept or even in my own life really. I can’t help it, it’s just in my nature of being never satisfied. I’m someone who can formulate brilliant ideas, but I admit when it comes to getting these ideas off the ground I have a tough time executing my intentions. If you are like me, then start setting short-term goals accordingly (that are realistic in helping you accomplish your long-term goals).
So you already know what you want out of this year. What is stopping you from achieving it? Nine times out of ten we already have what we need to be successful right in front of us!
Tell me about what you want to accomplish this year either professionally or personally. What tips do you have for staying motivated and seeing your goals through?
Image Credits: http://3.bp.blogspot.com
Our very own Mike Jackson.
If there is one Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) at Incept that puts his performance where his mouth is – and quite literally, as he is part of a rap group – Michael Jackson (MJ) is the guy that comes to mind. When you meet Mike you can already tell by his mannerisms that he is as animated as a Looney Tunes’ charater and full of positivity. A great asset amongst our employees, Mike is the type of employee that really brings our company culture full circle. He is someone you can talk to about anything, and you instantly feel this type of friendliness in each conversation.
I remember recently I was having a pretty rough start to my morning. My heat wasn’t turned on yet in my apartment, so I woke up to find myself in an extremely cold daze. To make matters worse, I had overslept my alarm, and my brain had kicked itself into that “fight or flight” mode in an effort to make it to work on time. To top it off, my Z28 was thirsty for some 93 octane, but I just couldn’t afford to waste time stopping for gas. After slamming gears down I-77, crossing my fingers and coasting on fumes, I pulled into Incept’s parking lot and flew up the flight of stairs to the time clock to punch in. I found a slight glimmer of victory as I had managed to make it on time and could feel a relieved smirk grow across my face.
I found a seat right near the big screen so that I could watch the Cleveland Browns get destroyed that Sunday, and, sure enough, across the rows I caught a glimpse of my man, Mike Jackson. The thing is, he didn’t seem like himself. He seemed quieter than usual, but without a doubt was still on top of his call performance. I had to ask, “Mike, whats going on, man?” He then proceeded to tell me about how the night before he learned that one of his close cousins who he had grown up with had tragically died in an automobile accident. And I thought my day was going bad!
That put things into perspective for me really quickly. At Incept we have a bereavement policy that states you are allowed to take up to thirty days off work to grieve the death of a loved one, yet Mike was still sitting in the office making calls. I even tried to tell him he could go home, but he gently smiled and told me, “that would be the easy way out.”
Mike told me he’d rather try to come in and work than grieve for his cousin (who went by the name Sully) initially, because it was a more constructive way to deal with the situation rather than sit around. He knew he could have called off, as he had a very legitimate excuse to do so, but just the way he explained things to me really struck me hard. I was dealing with just another run-of-the-mill bad day while Mike was going through a life-changing ordeal in losing Sully. On top of it all, his call quality was excellent (as usual), and he was seemingly well above goal.
It isn’t until you put yourself in someone’s shoes that you get a real idea of how dismal and minuscule your problems are when compared to something like that. Mike received Incept’s R.A.V.E. award (Recognizing and Acknowledging Values in Employees) for being tenacious in the way he dealt with such a negative event and used it to fuel his drive. That is something I wanted to recognize and still can’t get over.
It really makes me question if Mike, a really happy-go-lucky kind of guy, can have life throw him a curve ball like that and still hit a home run, then what makes your bad day so bad that you can’t give it your all at work?
If you ask our employees “What is one thing you love about Incept?”, a lot will say the relationships they have developed here, or how Incept is like a family! As a member of the Relationships Matter Committee, we have are striving to keep that feeling going!
Our focus over the last few weeks has been how do we transition that to our trainees? How do we make our trainees feel welcome, feel like they have joined a family, not another company where they just get a paycheck! We want them to feel like Incept is more than just a job; it is a place they can call home. It is a place where they can have a career, not just a job!
That is where our Mentor Program comes in! We are still putting the final details together, but we are close to launching the program! The program is designed to place new trainees with veteran Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) that are calling similar programs and have similar interests. This gives the trainee someone else on the floor that is a familiar face – someone they can go to with questions who has been in the very spot they are.
The goal of the program is not only to make the trainee feel welcome and feel like they are family, but also to help keep the trainee here longer! We strive to show them the benefits of working at Incept and how they can grow and move up within the company.
Like how this is sounding? Want to join the mentor program? Talk with Brian Wells or Heather Porter, and they will get you involved!
I wanted to take a moment to share several, quick coaching tips to help everyone in their calls this week. Hopefully you can implement them and see better results:
- Second Attempt: I understand that you may feel as if your coaches or supervisors sound like broken records with regard to second attempting, but it is for good reason. Second attempting is one change that will have the single biggest effect on your stats. Adam, one of our data analysts, found that those who second attempt consistently perform an average of 20% better than those who do not. I am sure many people would like to have their stats increased by 20%!
- Use empathy and understanding in your pitch. If you understand the donor and are conversational with them, rather than stilted or frustrated, you will see a better return from your efforts. Remember, the person on the other end of the phone is a human – just like you – and deserves treated with respect even if they are not treating you with respect. Rather than trying to force the donor to come in and give blood, try explaining the need and why their help is important!
- Use LAMA (Listen, Acknowledge, Make a statement, Ask). When you are stuck in a place where you are unsure of what to do, make sure you use LAMA. If you are not sure what to say, how to say it, or how to overcome an issue, start with the first step: Listen. What exactly is the donor saying? Then move on to the second step: Acknowledge. Acknowledge that you understand what the donor said. Try Making A Statment that starts with “I understand,” and agree with them. Next, you make a statement. This statement should explain how you can help them, what they can do, or contain a rebuttal for why they can still donate. Finally, follow up with Asking A Question. Ask a question to move the conversation forward such as: “What day is best for you?” or “Are you familiar with that?” Even if you are not rebutting, LAMA is an important way to move the conversation forward while letting the donor know that you hear and understand them.
Hopefully these tips help you in your calls, and if you have questions about anything, make sure to see a coach or supervisor!
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Joe Gibbs (three Super Bowl titles, NASCAR Championship team owner, and two-time NHRA Pro Stock team owner) speak for an American Teleservices Association (ATA) conference where he talked about leadership. Coach Gibbs explained that three things were expected of leaders: communicate expectations, provide training, and hold people accountable. He took exception to the Peter Principle, saying that people don’t typically fail because they rise to a level that’s above them; it’s usually because leaders fail to provide adequate training.
Coincidentally, Incept undertook a branding initiative about a year ago with the objective of becoming a world-class organization. In setting that compass, Incept committed to a “listen before we lead” approach with both our clients and our employees. So, as part of this initiative, we asked our employees a series of questions aimed and defining our roadmap to become world-class in our service. Can you guess what they told us? Their feedback indicated a thirst for training, knowledge, and growth. No big surprise there, right?
In turning that feedback into something actionable, Incept’s Live The Brand oversight committee developed a service standard: “With education, constant improvement and growth are expected.” With every service standard, there should be a definition, so the committee went on to create the definition: “As we pursue our goal of becoming a world-class organization, we recognize that the continuous training and development of all employees is key.” And in order for us to truly live our brand, the committee created these actions:
- Employee – Every day I will seek opportunities to better myself and my career.
- Organization – We will provide tools and resources that help our employees accomplish their personal and professional goals.
Providing the tools and resources is a significant undertaking. Consequently, we formed a subcommittee entitled: Learning Never Stops. Current Learning Never Stops subcommittee members include Incept’s CEO Sam Falletta, Conversational Marketing Expert Zev Rosenburg, Program Results Supervisor Allison Legg, Shift Supervisor Amber Nelson, and VP of New Client Results Jim Beuoy.
Again, we deployed our “listen before we lead” approach and asked the employees to provide specific subject matter for the courses. The interest was beyond our expectations. Employees quickly realized that by Incept investing in them, they would become better employees, become more engaged with the brand, and provide better service to our clients.
The Learning Never Stops subcommittee outlined a plan for ongoing education, determining which trainings are mandatory, which are optional and at what intervals they should be held. Topics vary, ranging from leadership to communication to personal well-being. Plans include training curriculum, performance management (formal and informal) and an advancement path for success both personally and professionally. The outcome is Incept University. It’s run like many universities in that there are requirements for acceptance, credits for successfully passing course assessments, and majors – which are career paths through various disciplines within the organization.
The concept of a corporate learning and development center, regardless of the title, isn’t something new. Even the concept of a corporate university has been around for awhile. So far, Incept’s appears to be a rousing success as employees frequently ask about timing of courses, how they can take corrective action on attendance and performance to become eligible, and other expressions of interest. Still, there could be challenges along the way. We’re interested in hearing from others about keys to success and potential pitfalls of corporate development.
What’s your experience been in launching and sustaining a “Learning Never Stops” initiative?
I am not one of those people who are content with just vanilla. I actually quite prefer having a variety of options in life – from the clothes I wear to the food I eat and everything else in between.
When it comes to company culture at Incept, I think that is one of our strongest points as an organization. It is a company culture that feels more like a family than anything, and 
that family is made up of multiple personalities – some wild, some mild. But at the end of the day, it all seems to work into this giant, driving force of camaraderie. The thing is everyone brings something to the table, professionally and personally. Certain Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) have different techniques and work styles that rub off on one another and helps our employees to be more self-sufficient when it comes to problem solving. Furthermore, everyone is generally willing to lend advice and share their techniques.
Overall, workplace diversity is very important and sadly seems to be overlooked by many corporations trying to climb the ladder to a world-class level. Here is some insight into what Incept’s diversity amongst our employees is and how it works for us:
- We embrace a “melting pot” ideal.
When you walk into Incept, one of the first things you read is, “Through these doors walk exceptional people” on the main office door. That definitely is not an understatement. What is also not an understatement is the fact that Incept has many different demographics of people, culturally and metaphorically. Whether it’s the student working through college, the mother that just dropped her child off at daycare, or even the part-time mixed martial artist (and trust me, we do have a few at Incept!), without a doubt all these people contribute to the overall atmosphere of the workplace at Incept. It’s awesome to see so many people at lunch or on break hanging out and chatting it up like old friends, when in reality if you saw some of these people outside of work, you’d never think they could get along.
- Diversity is spread among management.
How often do you see a company where diversity is somewhat healthy amongst the company’s general employee culture, but then hits a wall when it comes to upper management? Not at Incept. One of the driving forces behind this mantra of multifariousness is the fact that when you look at our upper management team, it isn’t just carbon copies of one type of person. The fact that management is so diversified with different mind types and characters creates the opportunity to look at situations in different perspectives, adding an effective boost to being able to solve problems more efficiently and creatively.
- New employees are more relaxed.
When I see a new training group for the first time at Incept, I notice the anxiousness and nervousness on the expressions they wear upon their face. But I can remember being nervous my first day at Incept; I really didn’t know what to expect. I felt like I was the new kid at school. The reason why I have developed such a passion for what I do at Incept, along with many of my fellow coworkers, is the fact that right out of the gate I could see the type of culture at Incept and how diversified it was. That made me feel that I could fit in. I didn’t feel like a black sheep because I was new, rather I felt that when I came out of training I was accepted not only as a coworker, but as a fellow peer. And that is all basically because of the company culture at Incept. When I had rough days or wasn’t feeling up to being conversational, it is my coworkers that pulled me through.
I could ramble and rant all day about how diversified Incept is. When it comes to company culture and being diverse, what are some more benefits of diversity amongst employees in the workplace?
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When it comes to company culture, there are many different angles, variables, questions and circumstances that seem to all accumulate into this one, big blender and then spewed upon an allegorical canvas to then be analyzed by the parent organization as if it were some Jackson Pollock painting, riddled with deeper meaning.
There are no instructions that come with building a world-class organization and there is nothing that will guide you towards the perfect secret recipe for creating the ultimate company culture. The whole relationship between employees and their organizations has been changing from more of an “Us to Them” relationship to being more open all across the board. Why though and what does positive company culture have to do with it? Let’s avoid the fluffy statements and dive right into what will help you in building a positive company culture like we have at Incept.
Overall, without a goal or mission statement, you are wandering aimlessly in the dark. When it comes to identifying what your company’s mission is, keep in mind it does not have to be a grand and lofty idea, but something all employees can strive towards. The tone of your mission statement will set other aspects of your company culture into motion and initially is an idea that will trickle from top-down throughout an organization. It is up to the organization to keep that feeling of “Us” or “We” appropriate in their education of their desired goals or it can come off rather imperative and make creating a positive team environment more challenging.
Without a doubt I’m a better bass guitarist than I am a drummer, although I do dabble on my kit more often now in my apartment. Everyone has something they are better at doing than another task. Your employees are no different! Strength based development and management focus on what a person is already good and simply builds off of it. That doesn’t mean ignore areas needing improvement, but when an organization addresses what someone is good at or another strong quality and encourages that employee to strive towards improving that aspect, people can be much more receptive and willing to push towards even further improvement. Are you more likely to talk about something you are good at or something you don’t excel at? Try looking at it that way.
- Effective company cultures are values-aligned
When it comes to company values, keep in mind, these are more than just words on a wall meant to sound all flowery and pleasant to clients. Company values are what your mission statements, service standards and service promises should align with! Company values aren’t just created to sound impressive, but to be used as guidance between the interactions between your clients, your company internally and externally, and especially between your employees. Educating your employees about the values and why they are what they are and their purpose is key. When Incept held our own launch event to commence our Live The Brand process back in January, we educated our company over the direction we were going in and what our values meant in that decision, and from looking around the event I could almost see light bulbs light up above my fellow employees’ heads. They understood more clearly now about what was happening and there was a feeling of comradeship between the whole organization. That is still one of Incept’s biggest qualities and is another trait that separates us from our competitors.
When it comes to building that feeling of teamwork through company culture it is not an overnight success in most cases, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned early either. When you have a positive company culture you can feel the benefits of less absenteeism since people want to show up to work, high senses of employee morale and responsibility, reduced turnover rate and so on. I could probably write another blog based on the benefits of a company culture, which isn’t a bad idea now that I think about it, but what are some more ways to increase or build positivity in a company’s culture?
Photo Credit: http://cofebuz.files.wordpress.com
Here is a tale of my own early childhood tenacity.
As a small child I had interest in many things. From what type of dinosaur was running rampant through Jurassic Park, how toothpaste got inside the tube, or even why Curious George was just so curious, there literally was nothing I did not question. For reasons of the sticky and burning kind, the following story sticks vividly in my mind.
It was a cold morning in the Dodson household, and outside looked like a scene out of The Empire Strikes Back when Luke Skywalker was on Hoth. The wind, ice and snow were brisk and too unforgiving for a toddler. My morning plans of building a snowman and sledding were put on hold. To make matters worse, I had a dentist appointment in a mere matter of hours. In the midst of everything, I suppose my mom was too tied up in her motherly duties with my siblings and forgot to make me one of my favorite breakfast time snacks: peanut butter and jelly toast.
Now I’ve always been a persistent one, so to speak, so I was going to jump on the chance to be a big boy and make my own food. There was just one obstacle; I was only about 3-and-a-half feet tall, and the counter top seemed like a climb to the summit of some large mountain peak. Nevertheless, feeling inspired from recently building one of the tallest Lego towers in my short history, I decided to do the same thing, but with my Little Tikes ride on tractor, my collection of story books, and my lunch box all stacked upon one another.
I began my ascent to the the top of the counter (upon a pile of my belongings) and after a short battle to find footing amongst everything, I had finally made it up to the counter top. The bread, the peanut butter and jelly, and the toaster were all at my finger tips so I began. It was my first time making myself breakfast, so I did it the way I thought was right, by smearing gobs of peanut butter and jelly on the bread first before putting into the toaster.
Just when I thought things were going good I could feel my lunch box and storybook tower start to wobble below my little feet. This proverbial house of cards was definitely coming down, and I was ready to hang on for dear life. All of a sudden my ride-on tractor started to slide forward and it was all history from there. The tractor slid forward while books slid across the flooring and my lunch box made a dramatically loud, “PLUNK!” upon impact. In my efforts to save myself from falling, I grabbed on to the burning toaster, but the angle at which I had fallen my chin caught the toaster on the way down and held me there for a few burning intense seconds. While the scent of peanut butter toast coming directly into my nostrils wasn’t bad, the fact that I had a huge painful black and blue burn mark on the bottom of my chin wasn’t pleasant at all.
Later that day when at the dentist office my mother kept being asked why her little boy looks like he got upper cut and burned with a lighter under his face? My mom would simply sigh and tell me where and when to be there. the hat I was very persistent and passionate about my breakfast, especially peanut butter and jelly toast. Years later after that painful, yet humorous life experience, I guess I wore my tenacity right on my face.
At Incept we support being “Tenacious” as one of our core values, but that doesn’t always just mean having persistence! It is the persistence to be passionate that makes the Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) at Incept tenacious. Stay tuned for more on how being tenacious ties in with being passionate!
Photo Credit: http://www.southdacola.com
I wanted to take a couple minutes to talk about my start and growth here at Incept.
I started on the phones mainly making calls to current and potential blood donors for various blood centers across the nation. I was inspired by the work I did, and I took it very seriously. I am competitive by nature, so I was always looking for ways I could do better and produce at the rate that many of the veterans were at that time. Everyone from fellow Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) up to the CEO was very helpful in encouraging my development.
Within two months of my first day of employment, I was asked to become a Coach and assist on the floor with developing and improving other CMEs. This brought on more of a challenge, as I now had to continue making calls myself in addition to coaching people on how to make their phone calls better. This was an interesting transition – mainly because I was low on the totem pole – being that I was to work with CMEs who had been doing this job for much longer than me. Again, I was shown how great of a place Incept is to work for as these veterans accepted and welcomed my help graciously.
Shorty after this, I was given smaller blood center campaigns to run operationally. After learning the complexities of operations and reaching and exceeding goals for our blood centers, I was eventually moved to the position I am in today: Program Results Manager. Through the hard work of everyone on my team, and my constant dedication, I am managing our largest client at Incept. I set up operational strategies for reaching our units goal along with our Client Results Team and our Technology Results Team. These strategies include but are not limited to scripting, time-of-day calling, specific CMEs used for specific campaigns, testing new ideas, managing Supervisors and Coaches that work directly with CMEs, and developing new strategies with the actual client through meetings and various other forms of contact. Every day brings a new challenge, but the success of my responsibilities is worth all the hard work.
It seems like every day I work I see a new face, so I wanted to take the time to explain how it pays to be a lifesaver.
You learn in training about blood types and how many lives you can save by scheduling just a single blood donation. We feel that what you do each and every day to saves lives deserves to be rewarded.
We have a program called the Lifesaver Program, in which you earn points for every donation you schedule. Your points determine which level you are and what reward you will receive. You get rewarded at levels, 3, 5, 7, 9 , 12, 15 and 20.
Prizes include pens, coffee mugs, t-shirts, dress shirts, binders, carry-on bags and even a mini vacation! Once you reach a new level, you also get a sticker indicating which level you are, so everyone can see just how dedicated you are to saving lives.
Be proud of what you do, and always challenge yourself to get to that next level.
Image Credit: Byron Katie
